Ella's Friends

A little background regarding this post...
Ella has 3 imaginary friends - Sam, George & Sarah.  She knows that she is the only one that can see them.  She talks about them constantly and if you didn't know better, you would think that they are real.

A couple of weeks ago Ella told me that she needed to put lipstick on because she was getting married to Sam.  I asked if you had to wear lipstick when you get married and she said yes.  We had some more conversation her wedding and she came back to the lipstick again.  She said that she had to wear it in case Sam wanted to kiss her on the lips since they were getting married.  I told her that we don't kiss boys on the lips.  Boys are yucky.  She agreed, but stated that Daddy wasn't yucky, well, except his armpits.

And then Pete was putting Ella to bed last week.  She told him that she was marrying Sam in 16 months and Sarah was marrying George in 18 months.  She said that she had to pick out her pretty white dress and Sam had to get some handsome clothes because the picture that they took looked gross.  His shirt was stinky, dirty, and had holes.

Ella will be 4 on tomorrow (/9/21).  We can't believe that 4 years have passed already.  She is such the little storyteller.  We generally can't get a word in!  We don't know what we did without her!  Love you so much Ella!

Ella & her best friend, Tiffany

Things to Remember

Just a couple of things so we can remember Ella & Kate at this age...

Ella:

She starts preschool at the end of the month.  I can't believe it.  She is so excited to go to school where Ann works (although I do believe that she thinks Ann is a student as well)

She is getting to be such a big girl.  She loves her sister and *nearly* always looks out for her.  We went to the library to get some new books.  Ella LOVES "The Pigeon" books and so do I.  Our doctor actually recommended the series and we got one last time.  It was really cute, but I wasn't sure if she liked them or not.  We went back to the library and she wanted all of them!  We both laugh when we read them.  She wanted Daddy to read them to her so he could see how silly the Pigeon is.  She also insisted that we get Kate a couple of books while we were there.  She picked them out and "read" them to her when we got home.

Ella has such a great memory - she remembers logos for stores, places, restaurants, hotels, FedEx, anything.  If we have ever been somewhere, she knows it.  She apparently also remembers what people wear.  Her new cousin, Lauren, is going to the same babysitter as they go to.  Ella insisted that the babysitter change Lauren's clothes because she wore them when we went downtown a couple of weeks ago.  Ann confirmed that she did.  Apparently it was a fashion faux pa on Ann's part - come on Ann!! 

She loves to sing, dance, and have fashion shows.  She makes me or Daddy be the announcer and we have to introduce her and state what she is wearing and she struts her stuff across the living room and then she strikes a pose at the end.  She could do this all day!

She is at such a fun age (when she isn't tired!) I asked her if she could stay 3 for me forever.  She told me that she wanted to turn 4 and 5 and 6, but that maybe Kate would stay 1 for me instead!

Kate:

Oh Kate.  Ella was/is a high energy, type A child.  We thought that there was no way that we could get one with more energy than Ella.  We thought wrong. They both make us laugh constantly, but they are definitely limit pusher...

I went to pick her up at the babysitters and I will shorten the story, but Barbara was making lunch and Kate was in the kitchen with her (like most days).  She turned her back for a minute and turned back around to find Kate with a chair pulled out, table cloth on the floor, Kate standing in the middle of the table reaching for the chandelier.  Barbara thought I might be upset that she wasn't doing her job - but this is just a day with Kate.  You can't take your eyes off of her for a minute or she is going to be doing something.  And my Grandma always tells me how easy girls are because they just sit in one spot and play with babies!  Not my girls!

Kate loves and I mean LOVES Moose A. Moose on Nick Jr.  When she wakes up in the morning I hear her saying "Mom-my"  When I get to her room, she asks for "Dad-dy" and then "Moo".  She knows the ending songs to most of the shows and can hear them from the other room so she knows when she needs to get moving and says "Moo, Moo"  as she runs to the TV.  (For those of you that don't know Moose, he is the MC of sorts of Nick Jr and is on every half hour between shows)  She does this all day.  Yesterday she started crying when she asks for him and we don't turn him on.

And Kate loves her big sister.  She can't say Ella so she calls her Na Na.  She likes Ella to help her get her babies in and out of the stroller and help her do puzzles.  Mommy or Daddy can be sitting right there and she will yell for Na Na for help.


Here are some pictures from the weekend...

"Touch a Truck" event - lots of our community trucks come together and the kids get to sit in them and blow the horns...it was LOUD!!!

Ella getting her picture taken through a pipe with a camera and Kate wondering what she is doing...

Police officer Ella

This is generally what happens when we try to change Kate's clothes - she's gone!

Being a police officer at home.  She was calling "Officer Kate" but she was slow to respond!

Officer Kate was busy with this buckle all day.  She can snap it, but can't get it open again!

And finally our Sunday evening self photo shoot.  Daddy, Mommy, and Ella were cracking up - Kate wasn't so interested.  That darn buckle still had her attention!

This was the first one - I told Pete he had to hold the camera because he has long arms and I didn't want to have a double chin.  We laughed when we saw the picture because he was so serious - trying to concentrate!

Summer is almost over...

We've been busy this summer.  Ella has had soccer, VBS, playdates, birthday parties, parties and has been to amusement parks.  Glad that at least she has a social life!!!  She starts preschool as the end of the month.  It's really hard to believe that she is old enough!  She can't wait!

More pictures to catch up!

Lauren's baptism - Ted and I are the lucky Godparents

Kate

The Grandkids - Poor Kaiser is the only boy!

Ella is a tiger!!

Checking out the tiger at the Zoo.  He paced in front of us for quite some time.

Daddy & Kate waiting for Ella at our Church Festival - it was HOT!!

Ella & Hudson at Holiday World - again it was HOT!

Ella & her new friend, Camryn - they played the entire evening.  It was amazing!

Grandma & Grandpa with the girls

Ella & her best friend, Tiffany.  They haven't seen each other since February!  They didn't miss a beat though!

Getting ready to ride the horses

Our little princesses

Our Summer in Pictures

Since I haven't updated in a while I thought that I would just give you pictures of what we've been doing - all in one post! 

After Ella's Sunday School program in May

We spent the night at a hotel in Indy passing through on our way back from Kaiser's 1st Communion.  Kate loved the girl in the mirror.  She spent a lot of time with her!!

Ella & Mommy took a big girl trip to the Zoo.  Just a couple of monkeys!

A trip to the playground

Mommy won tickets to see Toy Story 3 the Tuesday before it came out.  It was Ella's first movie (which started at 7:00 PM-she normally goes to bed at 7:30).  She did great and we all loved it.  She didn't keep her 3D glasses on - she said that she couldn't see very well with them on...hmmm.  In her defense, they were one size fits all - really, for a kids movie?  Seems like them would have had a bit smaller option.  This picture was before we left for dinner and the movie.

Our downtown area has Concert on the Creek every Saturday night which is a free event.  Every 2nd Saturday of the month they have kids activities prior to the concert.  Kate was sitting in bubble water playing with the bubble makers.  She was soaked, but didn't care a bit!

The kid activities included tie-dying a banadana, making a disco ball, and facepainting.  Ella requested flowers.  Here she is with Daddy getting her groove on during the concert.

Last weekend was the Blues & Jazz festival was downtown.  On Friday night we went down with Ann, Zac & Lauren.  It was HOT!

Ella started soccer this past Sunday.  She enjoyed it, but it was HOT again!  She's on the yellow team.  Can you pick her out?  We were practicing "squashing it like a bug".

Kate getting in on the fun!

Just Funny

Kate will NOT keep a barrette of any kind in her hair.  Yet, she loves to wear Pete's sweatband.  She seeks it out and tries to put it on.  Our neighbors called her Flashdance.  Silly girl.

Baby Lauren Elise

Baby Lauren arrived on Monday, April 26th at 7:26 PM.  She was 4 weeks early, but ready to see the world!  She was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 20 inches long.  Even with her being premature she was a good weight and didn't require any oxygen.  Ann and Zac are adjusting to parenthood and the lack of sleep that comes with it.  We haven't been able to see them as much as we would have liked because our house has been sick since she arrived!  Ella has seen her a couple of times and Kate has seen her once.  Kate isn't sure what to make of Lauren or why Ann doesn't hold her.  She just looks at Ann like what are you doing with that thing.  As soon as I took Lauren, Kate made herself comfortable in Ann's lap.  She didn't care at all that I was holding a baby!

Zac's first (ever) diaper change

Kate's One Year Pictures

We had Kate's pictures taken the end of April.  We just went downtown and walked around.  She wasn't really into smiling, but they still are great!  I love all of them and I'm not sure how we are going to decide.  The only good thing is that our photographer sends us a CD with all the pictures on them - we can order from her or just print our own!  She's AWESOME!!  And she came to us for the photo shoot - even better!!!