Holp a Hangle

Some friends of ours across the street are moving to Michigan and said we could have their play set. Elli is very excited about the new swing and slide. She was climbing up to go down the slide when she looked at me and said, "uh oh mommy. I need to holp a hangle." I too was confused until she reached up to grab the handle. Apparently, she was saying "hold the handle!"

New Truck

That's right. We are the proud three way owners of a 1987 Ford pick up truck. It is big, noisy, and lots of fun. We used it for the first time to take lawn equipment over to the rental property. Elli loves it too.

Pichure mommy

Elli told me she needed a "pichure mommy" because she was wearing a pretty dress. She even asked for a bow for the occasion. She is pretty, but I hope I am not creating a monster who needs a picture every time we put her in a pretty dress:)

It's Broken Mommy

Elli is really coming along in the potty training department. She wears pull ups now during the days and she does pretty good at keeping them dry. I haven't changed a poopy diaper in a long time. The other day I was tired of waiting for her to go poopy, (after 15 mintues it gets a little tiring!) so I told her if she went poopy she could have some of mommy's gum. (she gets a tiny piece and then swallows, 7 years later:) Anyway, she tries to push, then asks me to push, then tries some more. (oh to be a fly on the wall of these adventures!) Finally, she leaned forward, patted her bottom and said, "It's broken mommy!"

Myrtle Beach

We had the best time on vacation. Elli was a blast in the water and pretty fun on the sand too. She had some classic statements. Here are some to keep you laughing.
1. A truck released its air break and Elli says, "Uh Oh Mommy. Truck tooted!"
2. Since we all slept in the same room, I didn't sleep as well as the other two. Elli woke up to Brent's snoring one morning at 5:00am. When I asked what it sounded like when daddy snores, Elli said,"Hooooooonk!"
3. We went for a walk down by the boats one evening. An older gentlemen saw Elli and said to her, "Hi, sweet girl." Elli replied, "Yeah!"
We love our little girl:)


Family picture at Spring Brooke Gardens.

Elli looking at the fish at the aquarium. She said she was scared when the sharks came up to the glass!

Elli riding the carousel(sp?) with daddy. She was kicking and squealing from the car when she saw the "horsies going fast!" But was of course straight faced while riding. Classic Elli!

Elli helped daddy build a big princess sand castle. She did however tell me that she was yucky and I needed to help her wipe off the sand.

Aunt Heather bought Elli this float for her birthday. She, as you can see, was "scared" of it and ran away from the pool when we put it in:)

We couldn't wait to walk on the beach, so we headed over the first night. We put Elli down in the sand only to hear and watch her scream for about a minute. Then, she was better when we got her in the water. She changed her mind and decided sand was okay.

Aunt Jenna's Graduation

Aunt Jenna, Brent's sister, graduated from Cedarville University on May 3rd with her nursing degree. Elli was very excited to see her after looking for her in the crowds of people. It was a special time with family and celebrating her hard work. Congrats Jenna!

Sweetest Sound

I now think I know the sweetest sound ever. Elli sings all by herself now. She began singing a while back, but only with us. On vacation, she started singing along with the Old MacDonald Had a Farm Baby Einstein dvd. It was so sweet to hear the little "eieiooooo." She will also sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "My All in All", Sesame Street Theme Song, our special good night song, and a few others. Her voice is so soft and little I cannot help but tear up sometimes.

ABC's

Elli is now saying her ABC's to a certain extent. She is very cute when she does it. About half of them are recognizable, the rest just go along with the song:) This morning though she began saying them for me and this is what she said, " a b c d e f g h 9 10!" How funny is that:)

Just Because

These are some pictures just because she is cute in her new birthday clothes and new toys!

Birthday Daddy

I just remembered this story and wanted to share. Brent had his 31st birthday on April 14th. We had family over for cake and ice cream and it was fun. Well a couple days later was our care group night and all 4 families were here at our house. It was after 8:00 and Elli was showing signs of needing to be asleep. So we put her to bed and came downstairs to a birthday cake for Brent. We all sang Happy Birthday. Then, I hear Elli upstairs crying really loudly. I run up to see what's wrong and she is holding onto the side of the crib saying,"I want Birthday Dadddy!" How sad that I put her to bed and she didn't get to sing to her daddy. So we brought her down, sang again, and gave her as much cake as she could eat!!!! She is really into birthdays this year. She likes cake, presents, and ice cream:)

Elli's first Owie

Look at her knee. Yes, folks. She has an "owie". She keeps asking mommy to kiss it and rub it. Then she is all better for a while. That is until she sees it again.

Memory

One of Elli's new toys was Memory. (from mommy and daddy) She was asking Brent to help her play yesterday when he got home. How cute is this! Here is the dialog: "Dadddy, see it? New toys. Daddy help you? I wan pay it." I love her little words and sentences.

Birthday Girl

Elli will be two on April 25th. We had her party though on Saturday the 19th. She was a lot of fun. She flew through her presents very excited to see what it was and then to see what the next one was. (Here is a public "thank you" since they didn't get said during the unwrapping!) She wanted to eat her cake with a spoon then realized that to get the icing it was much easier to lick it. It was a fun day with friends and family. Thank you for sharing it with us and if you couldn't be there, here are a couple of pics to enjoy.

I wan wide it peeze!

In Elli's words it means, "I want to ride it please." She really only pushes herself on the ground and is really fast going backwards!(legs are too short for the pedals)

Hard Work

Elli had to work very hard to get herself up and out of the pool at swim lessons. She did learn to do it pretty efficiently though, only to jump back in to daddy!

Pokibots

Elli has on new jammies with "pokibots" or polka dots. She was very excited to wear them. She also wore a dress on Sunday with pokibots which she was happy to tell people about.

"MMMMM" Mell Good

This is Elli's expression for "Mmm smells good." She was excited to see two flowers in her yard so we spent some time smelling them. I am excited too since it means spring is coming.

Youngs

Last weekend Aunt Leah and I went to Youngs Jersey Dairy with Elli to see the baby animals. There were baby goats and cows. Elli seemed a little timid but she told her Papa they were soft. She didn't touch them but I guess she could just tell by looking at them!

Funny

My comedian daughter put these stickers on her face. She then called out to me and said, "Mommy! Funny." Her expression while making this comment was exactly what you see here. No smile, just the word funny! I of course laughed out loud which then cause her to laugh, but that's my girl!

Swimming Lessons

Elli has started "ABC Come Splash with ME" swim lessons. She is doing well and having fun at the same time. She is learning to blow bubbles in the water, (with her mouth:), scoop her arms, kick her legs, float on her back, splash, and slide! She has a lot of fun even if she is shivering by the end.

Poo Poo

Elli is now going poo poo on the potty. She told me last Monday the 31st that she needed to go poo poo. She was at the time standing in her bedroom, naked, having just gone pee pee on the potty. I turned around just in time to see her going poo poo on her floor. "Uh Oh" she said. I picked her up and ran her into the bathroom where she finished on the potty. Even though we had a rough start to the process, since then it has been much better! Way to go Elli.

"I a Mess"

We had to put on our Easter Sunday finest of course. I have a new dress purchased for the occasion after wearing the same dress since either High School or College Days. (It's so old I can't even remember when I got it!) Elli also has a new dress. Brent did not get new dress:) It didn't last long though. Elli wanted a drink from the water fountain at church. She was leaning up against the fountain and as you can see, she got most of the water on her! She held her little arms out, looked up at me and said, "I a mess." Her Aunt Heather helped her clean up in the bathroom.

Easter Crafts

I will not go into the story of how I wanted Elli's crafts to turn out and how they didn't. Just look at the adorable picture of Elli coloring her bunnies for her family! I just had to remind myself that these were from Elli, not me:)

Elli's first Easter Egg Hunt

Our Care Group from church had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. It was very cute watching Elli and the other young ones find their eggs. Elli caught on rather quickly developing a winning phrase, "Open. I want snack!"

Open and Close

Elli can now turn the handles on doors to both open and close them. This door got her though. Brent and I heard her saying, "Uh Oh. Uck" from the other room. This is what we found:)

Happy Birthday Gea

I let Elli pick out Leah's birthday paper and she took it seriously. She looked through lots of wrapping paper and decided on Sesame street paper. She helped wrap Leah's presents as well. When we got over to mom's to celebrate, Elli threw the presents at Leah!

Her shirt says "Happy Birthday Gea" since Elli calls her Gea. She had fun playing in the tent (blanket over her head) with Leah as well. Then, once she knew there was going to be cake for dessert, she kept saying "I want cake." She finally got some cake. Heather was scooping ice cream and when Elli realized she didn't have any, she loudly repeated "Hebo, Hebo (Heather)" until Heather gave her a scoop. I tell you, the bocat, (chocolate) monster has arrived! It was a very fun night.

Ta-Da!

Elli and I watched some cheerleading competitions on TV not too long ago and she has come to like to show off her moves. Here she is doing the "spits", splits, and saying "ta-da!" She will also hold my hand and put her leg in the air, also saying ta-da as loud as she can. What a funny little girl. I guess this is another thing she cannot help but do. It truly is in her blood.

Little Talker

The joke at our house is that Elli cannot help but to be a talker, she is with me most days! She enjoys talking on the phone too as you can see. She can have a whole conversation of "uh-huhs", "ess", "giggle", and "bye-bye." Here she is talking with her Aunt Gea and really relaxing. Look at how cute her little legs are:)

Butt Prints

In our last big snow, or blizzard-like conditions, the snow ended up being very deep. Elli really enjoyed playing in it. When the snow was shoveled, she could sit on it. Therefore, the butt prints pictures!

Email Cookies

Elli and I made "Email", oatmeal, cookies together for her Awana group at church. This was our first mother-daughter baking session where Elli really helped. She put the ingredients into the mixer, she helped stir, and even licked the spoon when we were done! She did a good job but her favorite part was stealing them from the other kids that night at church. You have to eat fast when Elli is around!

Eggs and Becatch

Elli really likes eggs now for breakfast. When we were in Indianapolis, she wanted eggs for breakfast. We were eating at the hotel restaraunt, so there were nice table linens as you can imagine. I ended up having to apologize for the amount of ketchup on Elli, the table cloth, the napkins, the floor, and all the dinner ware! They were all good sports about it and were laughing with Elli as she was turing on the charm. Later when I asked what she had for breakfast, she said "becatch" (ketchup).

Indianapolis

Brent had a conference in Indianapolis so Elli and I decided to go as well. Since Brent was gone during the days, Elli and I shopped, played in the hotel room, rode the escalator and went on walks around the lobby. Then, when daddy got home, we went swimming! Elli hasn't gone swimming since the fall but she squealed and laughed and wanted "mo, mo" swimming.

Goguk and Email

Elli told me she wanted to eat "goguk and email" for "bekpast". You can understand my confusion again. What she actually wanted after a few trials and errors, was yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast. What a cutie!

Finger Painting!

Okay, so those of you who know a little about me know I don't like messes. So, this was a big deal for me. I of course had a box of wipes nearby, a plastic full body bib, and lots of distance between me and the budding artist. Elli enjoyed her painting experience, but soon into the project held her hands out to me and said, "ucky. Wipe!" I am afraid I am raising a "mini me:)" But, as you can see, she has created her first finger painting masterpiece! This will be on the refrigerator for days so please stop by to see it.