You Are My Sunshine

A little song for those of you who need a bit of cheering up. :) Enjoy!

Almost Two

My favorite picture in this group

Ellie is learning to sit "criss cross applesauce"

At Meeker Days Festival enjoying first snow cone

Here Daddy, you have to try this stuff!

Mommy and Ellie eating ice cream and a cookie for dinner :)

Ellie with swirl ice cream cone (safe to say we ate a lot of fair food today!)

Hello friends and family! Here are some new pictures of Ellie, us, etc. No real new stories just lots of snapshots. Ellie is now singing songs with me and that is really fun. I will try to get it on video if possible. Her favorite songs are the ABC's, The Apple Tree song, You Are My Sunshine, Itsy Bitsy and Fruit Salad (a Wiggles song). She is also only a few months away from her second birthday and really showing her "TWO" personality. She is playing "pretend" play much more now and with a lot more sophistication, and demonstrates narrative skill as she recounts memories of Mexico, Mema's house, Auntie Tara babysitting, or anything else special or memorable. She tell stories with some form of beginning, middle, and end and really likes us to react with exaggerated listening cues. It is just so fun to watch her grow.

We have a fourth of July kiddie party at our house this coming Monday and then the Ciabattari and Chavez families (Mema, Papa, Lisa/Manny and boys) are coming to stay for awhile. It should be a lot of fun, a lot of kids, and a lot of chaos. I'll be sure to take pictures when I can!

(Disclaimer: I do not feed Ellie Marie junk food on a regular basis. I do, however, think it is essential to childhood that one eats as much fair food as possible in any given summer. :) )

Later,

Angela

Special Olympics

Ellie and her dearest friend Gabriella

Mommy helps Ellie with forward roll

Hooray! Way to go Ellie!

Ellie is presented with her medal

Ellie admires her medal (my friend Angela C. in background; we match!)

Mommy is so proud of you!

Gabriella, Liam, Ellie, Ava, Matthew (some of our closest friends)

So most of you know that Ellie goes to both Gymboree and Little Gym, two skill based play classes that help social, physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Anyway, she recently had "Show Week" at Little Gym. The kids all "showed" what they could do and at the end of the class, they each received a medal and all the parents smiled/sighed/cried whatever. It was really cute. Are you ready for this? Ellie WALKED ON HER HANDS and then did a FORWARD ROLL...on the HIGH BEAM!!!!!!!!! It was so great to see how proud she was. I forgot my camera so some of my "mommy friends" took pics for me. I thought I would share them with you. Ellie LOVES these classes and talks about them all week long. Enjoy!

Having a Blast

My two favorite people sharing a banana and honey sandwich

Yummy picnic lunch on our patio

Ellie shares her watermelon with Jaxie...how thoughtful :)

It's rough being Jaxie

Going for a ride in stroller

What a great picture!

Ellie tickling mommy

Race for the Cure, Quest Field

The WSP Race for the Cure Team

Even Pink and Yellow Lovies wore the breast cancer ribbons

Mom, look at my race number!

Ellie at Green Lake with little trooper friends

What a day!

Summer is so much fun this year! The last time I remember a summer being this fun, I was a kid. Dan and I are enjoying every minute with Ellie this season. Each morning, Ellie wakes up and then comes into our bed for another 30 minutes of snuggle/snooze. She and I then get up and start coffee/breakfast/feed dog/rediscover toys/etc. I try to shower while she is engrossed in a book or something. Then we are off and there are so many activities to choose from! We go for walks on trails or down by the water (Redondo or Ruston Way); to parks for picnics, swings and slides; to Little Gym or Gymboree for crazy fun; to friends' houses for kiddie pool chaos; to the library for new books and cd's; to farmer's markets and small town festivals (there are a TON around here!); to dog parks and zoos and local events. Then we make it home in time for Ellie to conk out for a couple hours while I do yard work or read or housework etc. Dan wakes up (he is on night shift) then Ellie and we spend the afternoon being together doing one of the aforementioned things or just enjoying each other on our patio and BBQing. By the end of the night, Ellie is SO sticky and dirty with watermelon, popsicle, grass and dirt: bath time is a must. Why can't it be summer ALL THE TIME??!!! Anyway, we are so happy and having so much fun and I hope the same for all of you. Here are some pictures of our recent sunny days. Enjoy!

-Ang

Happy Father's Day!

THERE ARE SIMPLY NO WORDS FOR THIS PICTURE.

Have your people call my people, OK?

Ellie wakes up to her new table and chairs

Bear is Ellie's first guest for tea

Ellie and her daddy try to fit inside her lady bug tent. This didn't go so well for Dan. :)

Being silly with Daddy



Our little monkey



Relaxing on the patio



Dan and his dad

What a day. Jaxie is exhausted!

This Father's Day, I really wanted to get a family picture of Dan, Ellie, Jaxie and me, but somehow, it didn't happen. Still, I think I got enough pictures of the rest of the day to keep the memories.

Ellie and I started the day at 6am...grocery shopping (I saved $114 dollars today! Wahoo!), watering the flowers, and preparing all the food. She was a very good girl today and helped mommy a ton. She decorated everyone's paper plate with VERY impressive drawings and even helped mommy make the fruit and pasta salads. We also started a new tradition this year. Ellie made Dan a card with a tracing of her hand. I wrote a special memory from the year in each finger and dated it. I hope to do this every year so Dan can look back on years passed and note the change in Ellie's growth. I hope I remember to keep it up! Sunshine, great food, family, stocked coolers, kiddie pool, and the entire day spent on the patio. Perfect. :)

Of course, the best part of the day centered around Ellie. Auntie Tara bought Ellie her first pair of "heels." Watching her try to walk in them (especially with her interesting choice of clothing) was just too much. I haven't laughed that hard since the dinosaur dance. :) Hope you all enjoyed your Sunday. Happy Father's Day Dad! Missed you!

Sunny Day at Last!

Cool baby!

Dumping water on her head

Look at that belly! (By the way, Ellie grew these flowers all by herself!)

Such stunning eyes!

The sun finally arrived (if only for a short while) and Ellie quickly made good use of her kiddie pool, paint set, and mommy's leniency regarding diapers outside. :) She had so much fun and Dan and I had even more fun watching her. She is growing up so quickly. I notice it in the little things...she appreciates accessories to her outfit, I can use larger rubber bands in her hair, she can set things on our kitchen table with ease, and she watched her first "big kid" show (Enchanted...it's ALL she talks about now) with me and actually followed the general plot line. And now she loves to point out castles and princesses (big houses and girls with long hair). Oh yeah, and she orders a "tall iced soy latte" every time we go to a coffee shop. No joke.

Today, we purchased a little table and chair set for her bedroom and some other fun odds and ends. Her play has become so sophisticated this last month so I hope the table and chairs will help her creative pretend play go even further. Tomorrow, we are off to the farmers' market for some produce for Sunday's BBQ and then to the dog park to play with Jaxie. It looks like this weekend should offer decent sunshine so we will definitely be outside as much as possible. Well, that's about it around here. We are healthy and happy and together...what more could we ask for? Enjoy your weekend and I'll put up new pictures after Father's Day. See ya!

Mommy's girl?

OK, so I admit that I ask Ellie these questions pretty much every day but nonetheless, I adore it every time she answers like she does. What a light she is in our lives. Enjoy!

Noah Daniel is Born!

Mommy and Noah Daniel

Bright eyes on his way home from hospital


Noah next to birth picture of Lisa

Happiness, Happiness, Happiness

Ellie LOVES her new cousin

Seriously, I'm exhausted. Being this cute is tough!

Auntie La La with Ellie, Noah, and Nick

Welcome Baby Noah! My GORGEOUS nephew was born May 30, 2008 at 2:16pm. He weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces and is absolutely perfect. Lisa had a VERY fast labor. Her entire hospital process was less than two hours and she only pushed for about 5 minutes. She had just gotten an epidural and Noah's heart rate dropped dramatically. They rushed her to the O.R. for a possible emergency C section but Noah quickly righted himself and decided he wanted to be born the old fashion way. I was VERY fortunate and was able to join my sister and Manny in the O.R. just in time to see him born. How special to witness the birth of Nicholas and then Noah. They are my two little handsome boys and I am such a lucky auntie! Lisa is doing well and you would never know she just had a baby. She still is gorgeous as ever and is walking, talking, and mommy-ing like it's no big deal! Amazing! As for Ellie, she LOVES "Baby Noah" as she loves to say over and over and reads to him the entire book "Polar Bear Polar Bear" (which I must get on video because it's too cute). We leave tomorrow (I miss my Hubby!) but have had a great week here in Spokane. Next weekend, I hope to visit my friend Erin who just gave birth to her son, Wesley. Whew! Babies, babies everywhere!

Take Care,

Angela