This year I hosted my first Thanksgiving. 

The food was great, but the company was better.

 You never get to see pictures of Ryan and I, so I thought I should include one. 

We were made for each other.

 

Memorable quote of the night: 

Naomi to Ellie upon seeing Ellie with no pants: "You have a bum too!!!"

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

 

Here is our own little Mary Poppins. She is in love with her, and constantly states that she is Mary Poppins.

 Ah, tis the season, where humidity disappears and I can have my bangs back. I have missed them.

Ellie put the lion in time-out. When asked why, she said "He hit me."

Vacation

We recently went on a lovely vacation to Utah. 

Here is Ellie with her uncle Ross. She likes him.

Thank goodness for these cousins. Ellie had so much fun with them that Ryan and I got a real break.

The cousins did make-up and Ellie wanted some too. After 1/2 hour it had all smeared together and looked like black eyes instead of the bright pink and blue seen below.

 Dad and I had a lot of fun in the shop making these wooden blocks. It has been a source of entertainment for me(and Ryan), as Dad predicted. Ellie isn't as interested in playing with them. Maybe when she gets older.

 Father/Daughter bonding time.

 I am not even sure what to say about this, but it made me laugh.

This breakfast was too yummy not to take a picture. I have adapted a granola recipe to our liking, and adding fresh fruit makes it perfection!!! I was very satisfied after eating it.

 Ellie started using scissors last month. It is a favorite now. She seems to feel awfully important when she uses them. (For those worried I am being unsafe, I do stay right by her any time she has them and watch carefully. She seems to be a natural though.)

Ryan is now officially DONE with classes. Rotations start in July, and after June 25th (boards) he will be a truly happy man.

Ellie loves to play the guitar and sing. We love it too.

 Ellie also loves to paint. I laugh now when I see this picture, because the next time she painted, her entire stomach and arms were covered in paint. So this picture is super mild.

 Here is her first painting.

Ellie and I got to go to the Kansas City Temple open house. It was great to see. Alan and Peggy were our tour guides, and we toured with Lauren, her family, and Will. Ellie was really excited about the temple until we got there and she saw the water fountain. Since these are her favorite thing, all thoughts of the temple were gone.

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.