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Monday, April 30, 2012

Flower Girl Extraordinaire.


She came. She went. She conquered.


I promise to have more photographs up later this week. We are an exhausted crew after a whirlwind weekend of wedding festivities for our nephew Trent and his wonderful bride, Kim.

I took this photo moments before we left the hotel for the ceremony. If you think she looks serious, she was - pensive even. But she hit it out of the ballpark, bounding down the aisle with the biggest aqua Gerber daisy known to mankind, a hop in her step and a smile plastered from ear to ear.

It was a colorful day, despite the gray skies. And I think this sneak peek of the bride gives you some idea...


We'll be back with a more detailed report. Promise!!

Monday, April 23, 2012

An Artist's Take.


Would you look at that....

Local artist Scott Horn finished up his masterpiece last week. Ella went to his studio of a million paintbrushes and paints galore for a photoshoot.

We think he did an amazing job. We think she did too.

Our pretty girl. Almost three.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

~H

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"Grandma first, then me."


This past weekend, we gathered together to celebrate my mom's (Ella's grandma, of course) birthday. Ella is starting to understand first, second, third and so on. Translation? She realizes that now Grandma's birthday celebration is behind us, she is up to bat next!

It was a beautiful day and the added bonus is having my mom's brother here from Florida. This is his first time meeting Ella and it is great having him back.

Roz and her parents are family in every sense so it was only natural to have them with us to celebrate. My mom had double the love from her pretty little ladies.


Hope everyone is having a great week!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A new Easter frock.

Grandma had Ella all prettied-up on Sunday. She looked like a walking, talking, singing Impressionist painting. Not everyone could pull this off!

Lollipop at 8:45 am? Yes, if it helps with photos. I have no shame.
After heading to a packed house at Ah-men where we met up with family, we headed to my brother's new home for a wonderful day. Ella so enjoys bopping around with her cousins.

I'm glad two out of three of them know how to smile.
My brother outdid himself with the Easter egg hunt. And Ella actually had fun (and a lot of help from her cousins and Papa) looking for all the loot.



Loot counting. Serious stuff.


Baby Lily is growing like a weed and such a good little girl. Ella continues to be unsure of her - she can't figure out why she's not walking yet but shows no interest in fussing over her either. In fact, I would venture to guess she views her as 'competition'. As I was holding Lily in church, Ella jumped to attention came to my side and whispered, "You aren't taking her home?" And really, it was more of a statement than a question.

Kindle break for Michael, Ella and Papa.

Aunt Cathy scored the biggest cool points by bringing her famous-brand tablet with her. She set it to the camera setting (the irony does not get lost on me when you consider her refusals to be photographed) and let the kids have turns. The squeals of delight were fantastic (adults included). So are my pictures of them...




~H

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

That's big mulch, mama.

Part of our spring yard and garden work always includes a mulching extravaganza. The big truck dumped a load of mulch last week. Ella declared, 'That's big mulch, mama!' She is quite the worker. She seems to get the importance of creating a beautiful outdoor living space - just like her daddy-o and mama.

More Easter photos later as I feel my way through a new photo editing software that has left me feeling rather lost. :(

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter 2012 Part One


What a great weekend. In a nutshell? Good Friday church services (yes, two); Opening Day celebrating for our local baseball team; breakfast with Larry's band; a party at the park in honor of our friends' upcoming wedding; Easter egg and bunny preparation; more Ah-men and an Easter celebration at my brother's house all day on Sunday. Is it any wonder that our girl melted down in epidemic proportions for a full hour last night?

Contrary to how she has been sleeping as of late, she passed out for 11 consecutive hours last night. No wake ups. No screams demanding, "Cover me up!!" I woke up to her singing at 6:30 this morning and had to pinch myself.



More to come later, including Ella in her Grandma-made Easter frock!

~H

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Pictures.Pictures.Pictures.


Rozzie gave Ella a sweet little Easter bag full of goodies including new bubbles. She was most pleased and suprisingly cooperative when the camera came out. Enjoy!









~H

Monday, April 2, 2012

Eggciting.

Saturday morning, Ella took part in her first Easter Egg Hunt with the neighborhood crew. I set out early to meet up with the other co-pres from our mom's group. We had the honor of tossing 400 candy-filled eggs in a huge field near our university. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we love our neighborhood. (My six month tenure is up as co-presiding over our mom's group and it has been great getting to know the other families a bit better because of my role.) The ground was soaking wet and it was pretty chilly.


We lined up the little ones first and let them snag a few before the older kids were cut loose.
 Ella carefully selected three eggs from the wet grass and declared she was done. See that expression?


Unlike some of the other kids who had a blast stuffing their baskets to the brim! Truth be told, she saw the donuts ... with chocolate frosting.

And we hardly ever have donuts, so it was as big of a deal as looking for Easter eggs.

~H