Elli's first night of ballet, Sept 16

Hugs before practice.

My pretty little ballerina.

What would ballet be without Lily? In Elli's eyes, not that much fun:)

Baby Shower for Leah Sept 11, 2010

Leah and Debbie are the background of the flowing chocolate! Leah's choice for her showers was flowing chocolate with a side of breakfast food:)

We all enjoyed it!

The huge pile of gifts. Elli was the helper and Leah actually let Elli help her open them!

The Brown girls missing Heather who was at the lake:(

The ladies responsible for the shower. Katy, Laura, Debbie, Leah, Chris, and Melissa. It was absolutely beautiful and delicious. Leah got many wonderful gifts for the twins and fun was had by all:)

Labor Day at Heather and Gary's

Conversations with Grandma by the pool.

Seth was on his way to do as AnnaBelle was doing. I caught him right before the face went it:)

Lunch made by Heather and Gary. Delicious and great company.

Kyle with the babes. Elli loves him so much. Obviously Seth does too:)

Labor Day Weekend Mini Golf at Young's

Elli had as much fun dancing as she did playing golf.

The girls with the babies. Such a fun evening.

This looks adorbale however, just after this shot was taken, Seth took a club handle to the eye:)

The whole gang on an adventure.

Seth turns One!!!

Elli was helping Seth open his gifts. This is the football outfit in Michigan colors we got for him to wear this fall. Of couse we are praying for conversion, to OSU that is:)

He loved his cake! He couldn't get it in his mouth quick enough. Elli was standing in the background with a sad face because she was told not to feed him anymore but to let him do it hinself. She just couldn't pull herself away from him though. Who could? He was so cute.

Happy birthday Seth. Such a wonderful family.

Elli was giving him kisses after he woke up from his nap to join his own party!

Good morning, sleepy head!
How cute is this nephew of mine at his birthday party?! We love you Seth!

Unforgetables

Elli, "Mommy what will Fergi do if we all die and Gonga and Papa die and they can't watch her?"
Me, "Well, Elli, Fergi will not live forever. Dogs die like people do."
Elli, "You mean on their side like this?" (She layed down on her side and stuck her tongue out.)
Me, "It is possible, but let's pray that we all live together for a long time until God says it is time to go to heaven."

On the news we heard it was going to rain in the west, Elli said, "But not in our world, right mommy?"

While eating tuna fish, Elli says to me. "Oh no. My throw hurts. It must be the tuna tail stuck in there."

After picking Elli up from preschool the other day, she says to me, "I had a good day at school. My friend didn't lick me. We have a licker but she didn't lick me, only other people."

And finally, for this post that is, I want to leave you with something that I love about Elli. I love when she wakes up from her nap, comes downstairs all sticky, stinky, and sweaty and asks, "mommy, can I have a sweet?" I will miss these days when she outgrows them and want to record as many of these precious memories as I can.

The Club days are ending soon

This tree has an 8 foot diameter and it fell down in a wind storm this spring.

Elli started the afternoon going down the slide with Jenna, then with me, then we had to walk her up and she would go down, then we didn't have to even walk her up the stairs, and by the end of the night, she was going up and coming down without anyone even in the water. She told us Sunday evening she was going to go down the slide and sure enough, she did!

More shots of her flying off the end of the slide. She did this over and over again.

Before she had the courage to go in the water alone, we took turns catching her. Look at her blowing the air out of her nose and mouth already. She really has learned well.

And here she is all by herself getting ready for the climb. What an adventure. We did go down that really curvy slide once. She told me at the top, "I am not sure about this but I will do it anyway mommy." We went really fast!!!!

First Day of School, Aug 31, 2010

Though preschool doesn't really start until next week, I started Elli yesterday. I am teaching now at Cedarville and needed her to start school. She loved her first day because they got to play games in the gym. That doesn't happen during regular preschool very often:)

We picked out this outfit together for her first day. Since there are flowers on the back of her shirt, she wanted me to braid her hair so others could see the flowers.

Monday, Aug. 30, 2010 Park Day

We love Shoup Park. The shade makes it nice and cool. Elli loves these baby swings. We decided she might be too big next year for them so we better swing as much as we can now:)

She was running so fast. She really has gotten faster and loves to wear her new tennis shoes.

What a cute smile. She was laughing very hard when she was done spinning. So, when she tried to walk she was dizzy and giggly.

Elli goes to big kid Sunday School

There were 24 kids in Elli's class this Sunday and that is about what it is every Sunday. They are a lively, sweet, and special group of kids. I love them and am glad Elli will be growing up with them.

Sitting in big church. She looked so serious.

Mrs. Liz was helping Elli put her sticker on the chart for bringing her Bible She told me afterwards that no one else had a baby Bible like her. She wants a big girl Bible.

In line with some sweet girls waitng to go to big church:)

Elli loved this little bag and wanted a church bag for her Bible, cup, and hand sanitizer. That's my girl! Such a big girl now.

Swimming Progress

Swimming underwater.

This was supposed to be a smile, but the sun was a bit bright.

Elli has made amazing progress this summer in her swimming abilities. We ended last summer with Elli swimming on her own. This summer she has learned many things on her own. Here they are: jump in alone, jump in and swim, jump in and go under and swim, float on back, swim on back, go from tummy to back to tummy all while still swimming, go down slide to waiting parent, jump off diving board to mommy, wear goggles, wear goggles and swim underwater, swim underwater, dive down to get rings or diving sticks, and finally today, practicing hand stands!!!!! She seems to be really good at swimming and loves the water. I hope she continues to love it and try new things. We'll see what happens by the end of swimming season. Maybe I'll have another new trick to report:)

Seth spends the weekend

Is he not thrilled because he knows he is in a pink towel or is he just sad that the bath is done?

She was so excited to get a bath with him.

Having fun at the pool. She showed off pretty much the whole time:) "Seth, watch this." "You want me to do a handstand?" "You want to play with the ring and then I will go get it for you?" Such fun with these two.

Big smiles for us in the morning.

We got to keep Seth Friday night through Sunday morning. It was fun to have him. He is a sweet little boy and Elli loves playing with him. We played, went swimming, went to church and played some more. The night before he came Elli was praying and said, "Thank you God that Seth gets to spend two nights." She loves this baby. She also told me before he came, "Well, mommy, I guess I'm going to be babysitting."

The Greene Fountain Fun

AT just the right moment:)

After the soaking fountain:) Lily and Elli. Love these pictures. They are such sweet little friends.

Little musician?

Our neighbors are talented musicians and came out to play with Elli one night. Here is Paul playing violin with Elli. She was so excited and copied what he was doing.

He let her play his violin. I was a little nervous because his is a little bit nicer than hers!!!

Dragon's Game Aug 24, 2010

She did give Gem and Heater a high five, but this shot doesn't quite catch her courage. She even wanted to go back and do it on her own, but Gem had moved on.

Gary was out of town, so here is Elli with Heather.

Family picture at the game. We snuck down to the front row. Yes, we missed catching a t-shirt which landed in our old seats, but we got to see front row play!

Elli LOVES the Dragons. She has so enjoyed going with HEather and Gary this summer and someties we get to go too. Last night was the last night we would be able to go for the season. Elli was able to give high fives to the catcher for the Dragons, Heater and Gem. We were proud of her and she was excited.

P90X

Elli knows many of the P90X moves and tries them out sometimes. She is so cute. Here we are doing wall sits. She is wearing her exercise clothes including the head band. (really it is a dress, but she changed into it to exercise with me) She acts like she is so tired and even gets a sip of water when needed. She says things like, "Woo, I am getting sweaty" or "I need some water." We have a lot of fun doing it together.