Grandma and Grandpa come south

And so did the heat and the humidity! Yesterday hit 101 so we spent a lot of time inside playing with Ella.Ella was so happy to see her Grandma and Grandpa and she was ready to show off all her new tricks!

Look, I am all ready for football season and to cheer on the Hokies with my touchdown move!

They are going to score lots of touchdowns so I am practicing a lot!

Grandpa and Ella share a favorite food, Bananas! And the way to Ella's heart is through her tummy so she was very happy!

Ella and Daddy having a good time!

Ella is a wild thing lately and getting into everything and definitely testing her limits. She loves to crawl under the kitchen table and then pull herself up under it and also try and crawl up her highchair. We have to keep a close eye on her!

Hi Mom and Dad, catch me if you can!

Check out this smile and laugh, I think someone is having fun and loving all the attention from Grandma and Grandpa.

Someone else is not as happy, she misses all the attention she is getting. But she is also right in the action!

Grandma and Grandpa can't make it down to Ella;s 1st birthday party so they gave her presents early. It's safe to say Ella's favorite part was the tissue paper!

Look, I got a Fancy Nancy doll! The box is so fun to play with!

Ella is definitely growing like a weed, I can't wait to see how tall she is at her 1 year appt. When she is standing, you can really see how tall she is!

When we went back to Pennsylvania in May for Kelly's wedding, Ella wasn't too sure about Grandpa. Not sure if it was her age, stranger anxiety or she was scared of his crutches but this time they came a long way and are good buddies!

As you can tell, due to the extreme temps, we stayed inside and Ella entertained us a lot of the time!

Ella showing off another new trick, clapping! She loves to clap when she gets excited (mostly for meal time!)

How can you resist that face??

Ella with Grandma and Grandpa

The one thing we did do both days was set up Ella's pool on the deck and splash around and have some fun. We even got some new fun pool toys this weekend since she didn't have any and stole all the other kids' toys last week at the pool. She loves to try and "catch" the water.

We were sad to see them go this morning but despite the HOT weather, we had a good visit and lots of bonding time! Hopefully next time they visit, it won't be extreme weather since last time they came during the huge ice storm in the winter!

Ella started swim lessons this morning and I will blog about that later but let's just say, its a pretty safe bet to say she is not the next Michael Phelps.

What do you do when it's this HOT outside?

You obviously go to the pool!

And not just the blow up pool we usually have on the deck,

A fancy pool with a splash area and fountains!

And have the best time ever and will probably go back tomorrow because when it's this hot out, the only "cool" place to be is a fun pool!

More Videos

Ella just got a new push toy (well it's actually borrowed from her buddy Wesley) and she loves to push it around the house. She just hasn't figured out how to turn it so she runs right into the walls and can't figure out why she has stopped! She needs to work on that!

Who are you laughing at?

Here is a recent video of Ella laughing at her Daddy. Of course before we got out the camera, she was laughing so much harder, belly laughing but still you can hear her sweet little laugh in this one. Her laugh is so infectious and no matter what kind of day you are having, when you hear, it just makes you smile!

More videos to come if they aren't too big to download.

Dog Days of Summer

It has been so HOT here in Charlotte and we are trying to do anything to try and stay cool. The scary part is that it is only beginning of July and we have a long way to go! I am trying to remember how cold it was this winter because I know it will get cold again and I will be longing for warmer days but a little less humidity would be nice.

Dakota even thinks it is too hot outside for her.

Our thermometer read this temperature and I had to take a picture because it was too hot until I saw this...

Yeah, that is correct, almost 112 on our back deck around 5pm the other night.

But even with this heat, we are still playing a lot and having fun! Ella loves playing with her Winnie the Pooh scooter.

We had such a fun weekend! On Saturday, we went to the Michael Buble concert with friends. They all came over beforehand to see Ella and Ella loved Katie's LV purse! What can I say, she has good taste! Then we all went to dinner before the concert!

The boys and the girls!

The four of us used to all sit next to each other at work and always have so much fun when we get together. By the way, Buble was awesome! Such a fun concert and I would definitely recommend it.

On Sunday, we met our friends Brooke and Ayden for lunch, watched some World Cup soccer and then of course, played in the pool to cool off!

She was practicing her new trick in the pool, we say "Touchdown" and she raises both of her arms! Of course her new tricks are sports related. She is also showing off her pulling up skills, this is step one.

And this is step 2 where she is officially standing up, she is all over the place these days and lots of little bumps on her head.

So, we will try and stay cool here in Charlotte and are hoping for cooler temps soon. By the way, today is Ella is 11 months old! I can't believe our little peanut will be 1 in a month, time is just flying by.

Frequent Flyer

This was Ella's third flight in her short 10 months but by far the longest so Mike and I were very stressed to see how she would do on the 3 hour flight to Denver. It was also right in the middle of nap time so we were crossing our fingers she would sleep but since she didn't sleep a minute on her last flight a month ago, we were nervous. But this time, she couldn't have been a better traveler! We used our frequent flyer miles so we were able to fly in first class which was great, so much more room and Ella and I could sit together in a seat and not feel crammed.

My little travel companion ready for the big flight across country! And after some coaxing and walking around the plane to check everyone out, she finally gave in and fell asleep, in fact, we both fell asleep! She was sleeping away until I got something caught in my throat and had a little coughing attack and she woke up, oops! But she was good the rest of the flight and entertained all the other passengers.

She was born to ride! Ella with Papa on my uncle's motorcycle. Too bad that will be the closest she will get to riding one if I have anything to say about it! She did manage to hang onto the keys though and she and Papa are ready to go!

Some more pictures of the two of us at the reception. Ella was very into the toasts, I think she wanted to give one to Matt and Ashley.

Ashley and Matt's Wedding Weekend

Our busy and fun summer continues! We packed up and flew to Colorado for my cousin Ashley's wedding over the fourth of July weekend. Ashley and her new hubby Matt live between Denver and Boulder so we spent time in both those cities and had the best time! It was great to see all of my family and since they had not seen Ella since Christmas, they all loved seeing her and how much she has grown. We all LOVED the weather out west, 80's, sunny and no humidity! One morning we went walking and it was actually a little cool and I loved every minute. Of course as soon as we got off the plane back in Charlotte, the hot and humidity greeted us again. Ugh. But back to the fun long weekend and lots of pictures!


Thursday night started off with a couple's shower and BBQ for the bride and groom! Cousin Brad loves Ella and couldn't wait to hold her but I think from the look on her face, she wasn't sure about him!

After a busy Friday of playing golf, exploring Boulder (which is one of the neatest cities we have ever been to), Banjo Billy's bus tour through Boulder, we all gathered for the rehearsal dinner. This picture is my Mom and her 2 sisters with all of their daughters. None of us have sisters, so we like to think that we are sisters!!

Court and Jennifer after the rehearsal dinner

Day of the the big day! Matt is a smart man and not only got Ashley a gift for the wedding but got her 2 blue boxes!! She has him well trained! Also, the flowers were so beautiful, I loved them!

My Aunt made all of the bridesmaids these adorable flip flops for the reception, our feet were all so thankful!

Ashley was such a beautiful bride, just glowing and her parents were so proud and happy!

Our little peanut also got all dressed up and was ready for the party!

At this moment, Ella decided to pull out a curl in Ashley's hair, not kidding! Good thing for extra bobby pins! The cousins with the newest Dougan cousin and newest party girl!

Ella loves her cool cuz Ry! She also loved her high chair with the chair tie:)

Who loves a party and to dance? This girl! She loved the band so much and I think the band liked her just as much since they dedicated a song especially to Ella, so sweet!

Ashley and her Dad dancing the first dance and Ella was jealous, so she got out on the floor shortly after that to start dancing! She loves music and a dance floor.

Brad and Ashley letting Ella play with her veil, she is all ready to be a bride! Also, she was breaking it down with Daddy and Uncle Court!

More dancing with Daddy and yes, she is pulling up like crazy these days so she has many bumps and bruises on her head. Why does she always go for the sharpest corner? I love her face and expression in the second picture, so cute!

Dancing with Papa before she had to go to bed but she was a rock star and lasted until 9:30!

Then came the real fun and my Dad and my uncles started it with shots and then all the guys had to join in!

But the girls couldn't be outdone so we had to do it also! It was a great wedding and fun reception!

The day after the wedding, we went to my uncle's house in Denver and went out on his boat and the partying continued! My Aunt is turning 60 this week so we had a small party for her. As usual, it ended with the sisters and then all the girls dancing to the Pointer Sisters! Some things never change! At least no tables or lamps were broken this time!

Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of Ella in her cute July 4th red, white and blue outfit! Ella with my Aunt, the birthday girl!

It was such a fun weekend and congrats to Matt and Ashley who are now off to Europe for 3 weeks (not that I am jealous at all!). My cousin Brad is getting married in April so only a couple more months until the next crazy family wedding, can't wait!

(P.S.-more pics to come of Ella on the plane)