Ella's Birthday Pics

 So, Thanksgiving week happened thus I'm a little late with the party pics but here they are!  Chris and Amy took some great pics of the party and I couldn't choose a reasonable # to share here so check out the slideshow with some extras at the bottom :-)  It was a really fun party complete with ceramic cupcake banks to paint, coloring/activity sheets, a pinata, face painting, real cupcakes to decorate and eat and tons of other food. I already confessed going a tad bit overboard and I've learned my lesson so now I'm just gonna show the pics and revel in the crazy pinkness!

My first attempt at Oreo Truffles.  YUMMM.

I was especially proud of these because they really do look like the cupcakes in the Pinkalicious book we based the party on!  I rarely have success with making something look like it does in a picture so I was pleased with these!

Me, reading Pinkalicious.  And yes,  I really do own hot pink shoes.

 

The finished products drying outside.  The girls did a great job!

I was so impressed Amy caught the actual fall of candy from the Pinata!

My MIL did an awesome job with face painting!

Party Prep!

So, I kind of lost my mind a bit when planning Ella's Birthday party this year.  I knew I wanted to limit the # of kids and not do another "let's invite everyone we've ever met" party like we usually do.  This was mostly motivated by the fact that Ella wanted to have the party at our house which simply cannot support a huge crowd.  So, we invited the girls from preschool and a few other close friends.  And no parents!  It was her first "drop-off" party which some parents embraced and others preferred to stick around (which was fine-it was nice to have the extra hands!).

Anyway, back to how I'm crazy. So, this being my first at-home party since Ella's first birthday, I got a little excited.  And had a great theme (Pinkalicious*).  And had months to plan (no school or work is great!).  And I went a bit overboard.  This didn't occur to me until hours before the party when Chris arrived with 30 pink balloons to decorate our already VERY pink house.  Hmmm...a little much. Slightly more Bat Mitzvah or Wedding than birthday party but even the prep was mostly enjoyable....until the night before/day of when we realized we had to pretty much empty our house of all but major furniture in order to fit everyone and everything in.  Yeah, a little much.  But, what can i say, the kids had fun, Ella felt loved and we'll be eating pink and green food for weeks. It was a learning experience for me-definitely more restraint for future parties.  I promise :-)  Here are some pics of the prep.  Party pics to come soon...

*Pinkalicious is a cute kids book about a girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink.  She has to eat green foods to return to normal-hence cupcakes and pink and green ALL over my house!

Pink cupcakes!

Oreo Truffles, pink and green of course :-)

All set to paint ceramic cupcakes

Score!

  Arms Ready...

 Lining it up in her sights...

 Hesitant, but eyes on the prize...

 

And we have contact!!  Score!!

 

Sadie and Noah-3 months old!

As I've seen many friends do, I'm going to try to start taking Sadie's picture with the same "object" every month as a visual monitor of her growth.  So, here's Sadie at 3 months old with Noah, the beloved monkey Chris and I made at Build-a-Bear 7 years ago right before he left for Iraq.  Sadie's already outgrown him!

Some info about Sadie at three months...

*She is still a really good, sweet, easy baby.  She doesn't cry much-just if she gets too hungry or tired.

*She's been congested for 3 weeks now.  It's so sad-she sounds horrible but we've been to the doctor and had phone consults and its just something that will have to pass on its own.  She seems to feel fine, hasn't had a fever at all, and not even a runny nose-she just sounds like there's stuff rattling around in there all the time. 

*The congestion has affected her sleep and she's been waking up 1-3 times during the night for about 3 weeks :-(  This has been a shock to my system after a few weeks of sleeping through the night!

*She continues to love the swing (it's magical I tell you!) and is almost always content there.

*She has fallen easily into a Eat-Play-Sleep routine and is super smiley and in a great mood right after eating.  Her favorite thing seems to be to just lay on her back and kick around and chatter.  She makes mostly "oooo" sounds at this point.

*in week 13 she has started to be interested in toys and stare at them and sort of reach for them (still seems a bit accidental if she does get a toy in her hand)

*She's still eating every 2-3 hrs all day and then goes to bed around 8pm when i nurse her for the last time.  Chris does a dream feed at 11pm (we tried to skip this a couple times but she is not ready, which is no big deal).  And with this cold/growth spurt in the last few weeks I've fed her during the night but she stopped eating as well during the day so I've stopped doing that so she eats again at 7 or 8am.

*She's been a hero (like her big sister) about just going to sleep quietly in her crib while drowsy but awake after a short bedtime routine (nurse, burp, sing 2 two songs-one while holding, one while she's laying down, pacifier if she wants it, stroke her head, leave).  I PRAY this lasts!

*She likes playing "the tongue game" and will often initiate it by sticking her tongue out and getting us to do it after her.  It's so cute!

*When we went to the dr. for her cold they weighed her with clothes and diaper on and she was a tiny bit over 12lbs!  She's bigger than Ella was at this age and started off a pound smaller! No weight gain issues here anymore!

Writing these days!

 

This is what Ella's writing looks like these days :-)  To translate in case you need it, it says "Ella To:Mom  Ella To: Dad  Ella To: Hannah Ella To: Christopher Ella To: Mom Ella To: Dad"

She usually has a "To: Sadie" in every paper also :-)  She has memorized all the names except Christopher which she copies from a 3x5 card she had us write it on months ago.  At the bottom is a picture, in very accurate height order of our family and her cousins' family.  I love this stage!  We never told her to write/draw like this or even suggested the height order or labeling people with their first initial so it's fun to see what she comes up with! She mass produces art work and "writings" at this stage and even made a book last week totally on her own and surprised us with it-go Ella go!

Sadie at 13 weeks!

Ren Fest 2010

The Ren Fest is quite the family tradition (Chris's family introduced it to me 12 years ago before we were even dating).  I must say it's even more fun with kids!

Showing off her head sized pretzel!

Amy and I got henna art done on our hands :-) **Note to self-you wash your hands a lot so the design doesn't last long (1 week rather than 4!)  Henna elsewhere next time!**

Love it.

Amy, Chris, Nancy-they look so much alike!

The huge canopy of trees is one of my favorite things about the Ren Fest!

Ella and Hannah REALLY wanted face paint this year

I was SHOCKED Ella wanted to rock climb-she did great!!!

She made it to the top!!

Trick or Treating 2010

Cousins!

Sadie got in on the action but was not a fan of her costume :-(

My little mermaid

See?  Sadie did not want to be a pumpkin.

Ou

We went trick or treating with our small group from church and Chris and Dave held the sleeping babies.  Now I know why they make huge bulky baby costumes-the kids were warm and fell asleep right away!

Our friend works for a lighting company and their house was decked out with black lights, fog machines and more!

Fall Farm Field Trip!

Sadie and I went on Ella's annual fieldtrip to a local Petting Zoo / Farm.  It was a beautiful fall day and we had a great time.  Not sure how Sadie and I would do any of these outings with out the Baby Bjorn carrier.  I'd do a commercial for that thing!

Ella's BFF Sophie

Can you say DRAMA?!!