Busy Bee

It is such a cliche to state the obvious but time really does fly by so fast, especially in the summer. Despite the record heat we have been having in Charlotte, that hasn't slowed us down at all. Between our twice a week swim lessons, fun lunch dates with friends or Daddy, lots of birthday parties and multiple playground/ swing set trips with our best buddies, this July has just flown by. And it also helps that we have had lots of fun visitors to keep us busy as well. Mike's sister, Kelly and her husband Ben came down from Pennsylvania last weekend. Ben had a soccer training session to attend near Raleigh so we only got to see him for one night but "Aunt Kelly" got to stay and play all weekend and Ella was in heaven!
Ella is lucky to have a couple friends in the neighborhood with fun swing sets to play on and some of our best buddies, Addie and Wesley just got a new one and this little girl loves to swing on the big girl swing now. Especially when Aunt Kelly is pushing her!!

On Saturday, it was HOT HOT HOT, so we decided to beat the heat and head to our favorite museum. Ella wanted to cook us a special meal in her "deluxe kitchen."

Sampling some of her delicious creation!

After working hard in the kitchen, it was time for a cow ride. In this picture, she is saying "moo" for a cow. We also played in the gym, aquarium, airplane, fire truck, bank and the list goes on and on. We love that museum and Ella never gets bored.

After playing so hard, we all worked up an appetite and headed out for some lunch and then we had to cool down with some ice cream. When turned turned one, she devoured her birthday cake but since then hasn't been a huge fan of sweets. She likes a couple m&ms or jelly beans here or there but lately, she has been loving all things sweet. She loves popsicles, italian ice, candy and of course ice cream.

Especially when it is topped with sprinkles and m&ms and so many other yummy things. She tries to get as much in her mouth as she can and then she makes this funny face like she forgets every time that it is cold! I think we definitely have a sweet tooth on our hands.

It doesn't just have to be the big girl swing, she will pretty much be happy in any swing these days. When we say, "How high do you want to go?", she responds with a "So high!" Plus swinging is more fun in your bikini after you have just taken a dip in the baby pool!

All that playing, eating and swinging is exhausting work so these 3 decided to cuddle under the blanket an watch a movie. (Note: this lasted about 60 seconds before they ran off the play again but how cute when they do all sit still!)

We love all things Minnie Mouse these days and especially the Minnie Mouse pajamas. She asks to wear them every night and doesn't like to take them off in the morning. But how can you have a bad morning when you wake up to this sweet face repeating "minnie shirt minnie shirt" over and over again.

Finally, DeeDee came up to visit this week just for a night because she was missing her Ella and her Ella was missing her also. Ella had to show DeeDee her new favorite movie, Toy Story.

She told DeeDee all about Woody and Buzz!

So, as you can see this see, this little lady is a busy bee and loving every minute of it. The heat doesn't slow her down (although she doesn't love Mommy coating on all the sunscreen!). And I know August will be even crazier with her birthday party and hopefully a week long trip to Seabrook (right Papa??).

Grandma and Grandpa visit

We had some special visitors come see us last weekend, Grandpa and Grandma were down in Charlotte for the weekend. And Ella was in heaven with all the attention!

We celebrated Ella's 2nd birthday a little early and Ella loved opening the presents and playing with them all at once. She carried around her monogrammed lunch bag for school like a back pack and tried to drink from all the straws at 1 time.

She loved pulling out and putting back the tissue paper and carried around the paper bag until it ripped. It's really the simple things!

But she did some new fun toys that have been a big hit this week!

Ella loves her Grandma so much and immediately went right to her when she arrived. Grandma even got to babysit Ella when I had a lunch to attend and Daddy and Grandpa went golfing. Grandma brought some of Mike's old books down for her also and she has quite a large book collection now.

And while she instantly bonded with Grandma, she wasn't too sure about Grandpa right away. She liked teasing him but she didn't want to be too close to him, she is a little weary of men still. But as the weekend went on, she slowly started warming up to him!

We did so many things fun things while they were here like Ella's new favorite game, building and destroying a fort!

And playing with building blocks (and yes, Grandma and Grandpa also got Ella all set for football season. They stopped by Blacksburg on the way down and got Ella a VT football jersey! She will hold up her arms and say "touchdown, go hokies!!" I think it's going to be a fun football season!)

Ella is really into coloring lately and she wanted Grandma to sit next to her on her new kitchen bench and color with her and Grandma was so sweet to play along.

Grandma also came bearing a new dress homemade dress and matching bow for Ella. How adorable is this dress and I am pretty sure from the look on Ella's face, she loves the dress as well!

We of course had to take Grandma and Grandpa to the park to play, it wouldn't be a weekend without some park time.

Our little monkey swinging on the monkey bars!

We decided to take a little stroll after dinner on Sunday and Ella decided that walking would be much more fun than riding in her stroller. And she even warmed up to Grandpa enough to walk and hold his hand! That is a big step for her!

We walked over to the best buddies backyard to see the new swing set they just set up. It wasn't full up yet but the swings were so we had to test them out!

It was definitely a fun weekend and like I mentioned, Ella loved being spoiled by all the attention and "weeee rides" she got along the way!

Who needs the stroller when Grandma will carry you home after your feet get tired from walking???

Happy Birthday USA

We had a quiet and relaxing July 4th weekend and had a lot of family time. A lot of friends and neighbors were out of town so we had some fun family outings and of course put on our festive red, white and blue for the big day.
We went to the YMCA pool together on Saturday morning. Ella and I have been a bunch during the week and telling Mike how much it was so he wanted to check it out for himself. It was perfect because we practically had the pool to ourselves when we arrived.

This pool is so great because there is graduated entry splash area, small slides for little kids and big slides for big kids or Mike!

Ella doesn't love getting the water dumped on her head but she loves walking around the splash area filling up her watering can or letting the water fall on her hands or feet. She even got brave at the end of the day and went down the small slides. And when the sun got in her eyes, she got to wear Daddy's sunglasses!

The rest of the weekend was spent at the multiple trips to the park, playing in the pool in the yard and helping Mommy and Daddy water our vegetables. I am not a green thumb by any means but this year, our vegetables and herbs are actually doing well. We are growing large tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers and mint. All of the vegetables have been so good, we eat the cherry tomatoes right off the vine and they are so sweet and yummy.

I think this was our first July 4th we have spent at home in the 12 years we have known each other, we couldn't remember another one we spent at home and we definitely missed seeing our friends and family but sometimes it is nice to have a relaxing weekend. Unfortunately the fireworks went off close to 10pm and Ella was fast asleep but maybe next year she can make it up late enough to take it in.