Old Fashioned Days

Elli waving to the people on the parade.

Dogs on hogs. lots of motorcylclists with their pups perched on the cycle with sunglasses and bandanas. Hilarious and very cute.

When I told Elli we were going to a parade, she told me to make sure I brought a bag. I asked for what and she replied, "For the candy." How did she remember from a year ago that there was candy at a parade? As you can see, she was not shy about getting it!

Later that night, Elli and I went to Shawnee Park to enjoy some of the festival. We got cotton candy and dippin dots. Yummy.

We also watched the balloon glow. Eli was sad that the balloons didn't go up high and started crying so needless to say, we didn't stay too long. We did enjoy what we saw though. Very fun to see them so close. At least for me:)

Disney on Ice

Our neighbors went with us as well. Emilee and Elli play very well together.

The rest of the gang, Masters and Raymonds. All kids were too enthralled to think about misbehaving. Yes!

Elli was quite excited to see Nemo and Dori!

But the best part was all the princesses. She loved the castle, the dresses, the princes in their sparkling outfits and the music. She talked about princesses and ice skating most of the way home, even singing the songs from the evening. She trully did enjoy it.

At the end, she just kept waving. I would love to do this again with her. She seemed to really enjoy herself. The program was very good. Brent and I also liked it. Such a fun thing to do with our little princess.

First Ballet Lesson

Brent watching Elli learn ballet.

Elli and Lily hugging after their first lesson.

My sweet little ballerina. She was so excited. I tell you though, we laughed a lot during this half hour event. She was so funny and cute all at the same time. She was also a little "ham" making sure others were watching when it was her turn to try something. So fun.

The Queen

I can't remember if I put this story on the blog, so here it is. One night when Elli was praying, she said to God, "...and please protect my mom, the Queen!" Love her. I guess if she is the princess, then I must be the queen. Logical and so very true:)

Got Facebook?

Elli called me from Devin's phone last night while we were all eating at Olive Garden. It didn't matter to her that we were across the table from each other. We still had a great "phone" conversation. Just as we were hanging up, we said our goodbyes and I love you's, then she said, "Oh I forgot one more thing!" "What's that, Elli?" She replied, "Do you have my facebook?" Well, we all burst into laughter, but I did answer her that I did have her "facebook." This could be a marketing slogan. "Got facebook?"

Elli's first jokes

E- Knock Knock
Me- Who's there
E- Lackasarah
Me-Lackasarah who?
E-Lackasarah tree
Lots of giggles.
My turn:
Me-Knock Knock
E- Who's there
Me-Billy
E-Mommy, who is Billy
Lots of giggles.

Sunflower Fields and Young's

Nothing like Young's ice cream to end a good day.

All the kids sitting by the sunflowers. It started to get a little dark but at least we got a shot of all of them. It will be fun to see them grow up together. Elli's face is due to the fact that she fell and bloodied her knees.

A good family picture. What a beautiful field.

Fun picture of Elli and I.

She was making them talk to each other. Hilarious.

Second Visit with Seth

Elli cannot get enough of this little guy. He wasn't the happiest, but Elli doesn't mind.

Such fun to be there for his very first photo shoot. He is sleeping on the blanket that was a gift from Aunt Lori made by Jeni. Thank you again Jeni for making everyone so happy with your designs. He did a great job.

What a precious little guy. He is so sweet. Don't you just want to squeeze this little one?

My turn to hold him all by myself. I also got to help feed him today. He is so sleepy that he doesn't want to eat much, so I got to help feed him with a water dropper. I guess he has had a rough couple of days. His whole world has just changed completely. Now, Megan and Kyle's world will change completely:)

Seth Isaac Ferguson

Uncle Devin holding Seth.

Brent getting his chance.

Elli loved him. She kept asking me to unwrap him so she could see his body, especially his feet and tummy. She kept telling me he would get a belly button soon.

The very excited new parents. Don't they look so sweet? Little Seth is so small. Born 09/09/09, 1:23 pm, 5 lbs, 13 ozs, 19 3/4 in long. Brown hair. Adorable.

It's a Duber

Elli showing off her swiming skills with her uncles Kyle and Devin and daddy. She has gotten so good in such a short time.

Little Emma Grace stayed at our house while her daddy helped dig the hole in the back yard. We loved it! (Not so sure she did though)

It's a duber, aka, a family gathering making a memory. We all helped move the dirt from the newly dug hole onto a different dirt pile so we could save our grass and get the dirt out of the way for when the window goes in. Labor Day weekend was a great time of spending time with family.

Asleep, school, and a pile of dirt

I always check on Elli before I go to bed. This is what I found last night:)

Today was Elli's first day of preschool for the fall. She told me on the way home , "mommy, school is really great. There are lots of kids and I learned about tacos and french beef." ?

Brent decided to dig the egress with a machine. Yeah! The basement progress has begun. He did a great job and was so very thankful for this machine. He cleaned up the edges by hand and was realizing just what a good investment this was.

What kid wouldn't want to jump in here? Now to teach her to say away from it.

Just some funny pictures

Getting her vitamin. Notice the clothing here: pink dress, different color pink jacket, red socks, blue shoes, and her blanket. Love it!

Playing in the fountains at the Greene. There were only two other kids playing today!

Visiting her Papa at work. She was playing with his "light sabre." She wanted to see in his tool box drawers, but thought she might get dirty. Then, she held her hands over her ears because the tools in the shop were so loud. We didn't spend much time here today.

This is one of many funny looks I get when Elli wakes up from her nap. Notice the "sleeping" socks and three of her babies. She is such a funny little girl. I love her so much and love the way she makes me smile. Glad to finally get a couple of the "I just got up from my nap" pictures.

Dragon's Game

A nice man in front of us offered Elli the rest of his popcorn and being the highly protective, don't eat after strangers, mother that I am, we took it:) Elli loves popcorn, especially at a Dragon's Game.

Getting some eskimo kisses. Love this girl.

Self taken picture having a blast at the game. Leah and Matt were there behind us a few rows. We have Heather and Gary's tickets since they are on their honeymoon. Thank you guys!

Friends and Fun

Care groupe kids minus two, having fun Thursday night. Love these kiddos.

Have you seen three cuter faces? I have not!

These three girls had matching dresses and we needed a photo shoot. They were playing ring-around -the-rosy here. Love the smiles!

Elli and I went to the pool on Thursday. She is swimming like crazy, not hardly wanting to touch the bottom anymore. I can't believe how fast that happened!

Our last day for Moms and Tots was at Orchardly Park. It was so fun. Lots of moms came and we were able to enjoy fun times together chasing our kids. We even decided a run to Graeters afterwards was a must:) Here, Elli and Lily have on their "hoods." Sweet little friends.

Summer School Accomplishments

I wanted to write about what Elli learned from summer school before I forgot.
Learned: All letters, most sounds, match upper and lower case, trace letters and lines, opposites, clap out syllables, three new Bible verses, patterns, recognize numbers 1-10, crab walk, skip, jump forward, throw a ball above her head and catch it, cutting, rhyming ending sounds, writing letters, and I am sure there are more things, but I cannot think of them now.
Improved:coloring, gluing, counting (to 20), writing her name, riding her tricycle, sorting, puzzles, color recognition, shape recognition of objects around us, finding letters in books and other reading materials, telling stories from a picture, and again, I am sure there are more things, but I'll have to just stop here.
We had a great time. There are so many things to teach Elli and so many things for her to learn. I am sure this list is no where near complete, but I wanted to remember as much as possible from the specific things we worked on over the summer. How fun to see her learn and use those new things in her life. Makes me smile:)

Duck and Goose

Elli wanted to play duck, duck, goose. I told her it was a little hard to play with only two people. She said, "that's okay. We'll call it duck and goose." We began playing and then she didn't pick me to be goosed. I looked sad and she turned around, after starting to run, and said, "Don't worry sweetie. I'll pick you next time." So she outran whoever was chasing her and came back to "duck" again. This time she picked me. I was so thrilled! So on and on we played for about 15 minutes. Fun times being an only child with a crazy mommy!

A little side story that I want on the blog. One day at the pool, Brent and I were tossing Elli back and forth. We stopped for a break and Elli looked at Brent and said, "Daddy throw me in the air so I can fly like an angel." Love it!

Hilton Head Again

The boys and Elli checking out a sand dollar or starfish or jellyfish. Anyway, it has their attention. We didn't spend much time playing in the ocean after the first few days. The jellyfish were terrible. Dad got stung pretty bad on his legs and Matt got it in the leg and face. Not many people were in the water due to the severity of the stings. Nearly everyone we passed had been stung or someone in their family had been. Awful!

Grammy and Grandma watching the dolphins at Sea Pines.

Elli played Little Red Riding Hood in the puppet show at Harbour Town. She was so serious, as always, but of course was loving it:)

The family in front of the Light House at Harbour Town.

We went to Sea Pines and wanted to eat at Salty Dog Cafe, but it was a long wait, so we ate at The Wreck of the Salty Dog. Great food, most of us got fish and chips. Elli played with the figurines and colored on the floor. She loved it.

By the end of our vacation, Elli as wimming all by herself. That's right, Elli has joined the ranks of those who can swim all on their own!!! If I knew how to post a videa, it would be on here. I'll work on it.