Whale Pool

Aunt Heather got Elli a whale pool for her birthday and we inflated it this week. Elli was, of course, "scared of big fish." She did play in the pool but refuses to go near the tail. If one of her toys goes near it she cries for me to get it from the big fish. Such a funny little personality!

New table

This is our first meal at our new table. We are finally rid of my parent's 1974 chrome table and padded chairs. It has been replaced by this lovely oak dining table and chairs. Yeah!

Too Many, so enjoy the pictures with small captions!

The jail at Boon Shoft museum. Can we keep them there? (Lilly, Andrew, Caleb, Elli)

150 year old alligator turtle. Not very attractive, but quite impressieve.

One of the 4 fox(es) we have living in the field/wood behind us. Fun to watch and very pretty.

Upon returning from Norris Lake, Elli got a very bad cold. She was so sick as you can see in this picture. She wanted to eat lunch, but would cry everytime she sat down.

Elli gets very messy eating cake and we didn't want to ruin Gary's carpet, so Elli "eatin cake naked!"

The girls in front of Gary's condo in TN for Heather's birthday weekend!

"I scared little boat. I want Gonga" Elli was less than impressed with her ride on the "little boat" aka jet ski this past weekend. She wanted to ride in the big boat with her gonga. (Gonga is her grandma:) She did however have a great time playing in the pool, running around, wearing her life vest, riding in the boat and swimming in the lake. In fact we all had a great time.

How many dogs will eat their breakfast one piece at a time from a 2 year old?

We LOVED seeing the Clewetts though our visit was way too short. The kids have grown so much and are taking on such fun personalities. It was fun seeing them interact with each other. We miss you guys and wish you lived closer. (Aubrey, Caitin, Reagan, Elli, Riley)

Elli is not quite into dress up yet. She will put on a few things here and there, but how could I pass on this Snow White dress at Good Will? $1.99! She wanted me to take her picture in this pretty dress. She even told me "Thank you Mommy" whne I bought it. However, it has yet to be put on since:)

Strawberry Day

Elli, Gonga (my mom), Aunt Megan and I all went to the strawberry fields to pick strawberries for jelly. We had a good time. Elli kept asking, "where's my bucket?" She would put it down to help pick, or squish, then get a drink, then have no idea where her bucket of 4 strawberries went! We all had a good time. We ended up with lots of jelly, so we'll be spreading the wealth.

The Piano Player

Elli enjoys playing the piano. She also enjoys being naked. What a combo!

Water-Water table

We got Elli a sand and water table for her birthday. But, you know me. Sand would be way too messy! So it is a water-water table and she loves it. We recently put it under her play set where she is partially shaded from the sun while she splashes about with all her cool sand toys:) When she gets wet though, she says, "Uh oh mommy. Wet. Close off!" I love this little naked girl.

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.