Road trips and stuff.

Over the course of the past few weeks, we have made a few road trips to visit my brother and his crew as well as Trent, Kim and the newest addition to our family - great nephew, Abbott.

It was girls only on the first trip and Ella was an amazing partner in crime.

 

I was so happy to see her hanging out with her Aunt Cathy and Uncle John while I got to take off with my niece Haley and do this all afternoon:

 

 

It was such a good time and we hated to go that next morning, especially since Ella had finally warmed up to Riley puppy by then!

 

 

 

The next road trip was overdue. We needed to meet Abbott and we finally made it happen at his 6 week birthday. He did not disappoint, nor did the chickens in their backyard, the dogs or the cats. As you may have guessed, I had my camera. Ella showed the most interest in Abbott than she has ever in an infant. And when it came time for a feeding she was enthralled...

He is probably the pudgiest 6 week old child I have ever held. And he is perfect.

Trent and Kim are a wonderful mama and daddy-o and Ella scores AGAIN with this great shot of them loving on one another.

We cannot keep them out of the bathtub. Ever.

Thomas is not happy unless he's nearly smothering his humans during naptime.

I can't keep Mavis from this tight-rope act either!

Laughter spills out of our house whenever Ella, Thomas and Mavis are awake at the same time. She has taken her mothering to an all-new level with carrying them around and pretending to feed them her plastic kitchen food. They roll with it and still like to be in her bedroom best of all.

The record store: a staple in their weekend errand routine.

Ike, Jack, Bobby, RJ, Ava, Isabella and Ella reunited!

We also recently got schedules together with my old buds and let the kids run wild. Here is the motley crew all barefoot and dirty on a beautiful Friday evening a few weeks back. And our once-a-month Dumplings FCC class has started back up again. There is a big group of kids Ella's age and it is great watching them all grow up together.

Not ladylike.

I found her quietly reading from my old Bible, a story about Jesus and shiny pennies.
The sermon just days before was about losing coins. She DOES listen!

Sticking the landing on the bouncy house at the Greek Fest!

Our friend made this sculpture. This friend also grew up in our home back in the day.
Such an awesome connection.

Not everything has to be serious :)

She's off to great places, I think.