Birthday girl with toast.

Ellie had her birthday a couple weeks ago. She is now two! Her favorite present was of course, the balloon!

A new favorite for breakfast is cinnamon toast. Does she actually eat the toast? No. She just licks it.

I made a try at making play dough. It worked out great! Even better is that Ellie loves it. She has been playing with it and hour and a half now, and is still playing as we speak. I think it might be all dried out by the time she stops!

Sunglasses and Flowers

I don't know who showed her to wear sunglasses like this, but she loves doing it.

I found the key to getting your kids to smile for the camera is to tickle them right as you take the picture. Too bad I will always have to be in the picture to make this work.

So Ellie came up to me, and handed me this paper with a pink cup in it, and exclaimed "Flower!".

I was in awe. She made it all herself, and it looks like a bouquet of flowers! Her creative juices are already flowing.

We got this dollhouse for Ellie. I wasn't going to get it because I didn't know if she would really care about it. Well, the first day she played with it for 7 hours, with a nap break. She played with it for a week, almost continuously, and it still remains a daily toy. I think she probably likes it... Sorry about her grimace. Every time I said smile, she did this face.

Counting and Dress

Ellie can count to 10! She only goes to 9 in the video, I think she was teasing us.



Here is the dress Grandma Barlow made Ellie. She loves wearing it. Thanks mom!

Poor Sicky

Poor Ellie was just sick too long and got dehydrated so she had to spend the night in the hospital. These pics are in the ER before we were moved to a room. I have never seen her hold so still! She is much better now though.

Below is faithful Ryan, trying to study and take care of a sick baby at the same time. Luckily his school is very understanding and let him reschedule his test.

Snow Snow Snow

I kept hearing about snow in Utah, and I was thankful I wasn't there. But then one morning not so long ago, I woke up to 5 inches or so. It was the perfect packing snow so I couldn't complain! The snow was a little heavy though so an upright snowman wasn't working well. Ellie helped by eating my snow and then deserting me to the cold while she watched from the warm window.

I love seeing Ellie learn new things. We have been working on counting for awhile. She would do up to 3 in order but that was it. Today as I was reading, she was talking and it took me a second to realize what she was saying. ...5...6...7...8..9..10. I cheered her which she thought was great so she did it two more times for me, the whole 10!

Grandparents/parents/fun

Guess who came to visit?
Papa introduced Ellie to Curious George. She then kept asking him for "monkey".

We went and saw several Des Moines attractions. The Bodyworld exhibit. The Capital Building. And a few malls. I felt like I was on vacation myself getting to be a tourist! We loved it!

My two loves, with Ellie's only true love...the lion. Papa bought it for her and she carries it everywhere.

Thank you for your visit! We sure had fun!

Orange

Ellie found an orange shirt that was in the "get rid of" pile. She LOVES it. She has worn it every day since she found it, until today since it was Sunday. But as you can see, she tried to persuade me.

So, what is going on in my life:
I have been getting into nutrition and being healthy. I am reading a book called "The Ultramind Solution". I really recommend it. Especially if you have depression, or anxiety. It is really hard to get into exercise though. I still only give half efforts. Any suggestions on how to pump up my efforts?