Happy Easter 2012

We had a lot of fun with Easter this year.  We started out with an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Judy and Grandpa Cassity's on March 31, 2012.  I am so glad they did this because Ellie didn't really understand what she was supposed to do and this was great to be able to show her what she was doing without a million kids swarming all around her.  She would start by opening each egg and getting so excited, which was actually really fun to watch, but then when she realized there were more, she started running to each one.  

Here she is relaxing with Grandpa afterwards.

Then on April 7, we went to the North Logan Easter egg hunt.  There were so many kids there, but it is nice because they separate age groups.  So Ellie was in the 1-2 year olds and didn't have so many older kids getting everything. We had heard they start promptly so made sure we were about 10 minutes early...that was the longest 10 minutes ever trying to keep a 1 year old away from picking up all the eggs.  

She decided to take a short nap on Patrick's foot.

She did really well and got a whopping 7 eggs:)

After this egg hunt we went to the mall.  I heard they were doing little Easter egg hunts and figured since it was on our way home we would stop.  They also had split into age groups.  It was crazy because they just through out a TON of candy and then let the kids race to get it.  Even with Ellie checking out each one and being a little choosy about which ones to pic up, she still got a TON of candy.  She was even very nice and shared some candy with a little boy who was scared of going out and getting the candy.  I think this picture is funny with all of the moms pointing where to go.:)

For dinner that night we had bunny pancakes:)  Okay, so I only made one that was a bunny and the rest were normal...but this one turned out cute.

We colored eggs after dinner and Ellie thought it was great.  We let her watch while we put a couple of those cover things on the eggs and she was mesmerized by it.  

Coloring on the eggs was fun, but she didn't like that she couldn't see the writing.  

She had all of them colored rather quickly but enjoyed showing each one to Patrick for a picture and then just being able to examine them herself. I had to put a few pictures of her showing them off because Patrick and I find my facial expression pretty funny.  I was trying to make her excited, without worrying about all the eggs cracking....We only had 2 cracked eggs out of 12, I think that is quite the accomplishment.

Here is what Patrick did while we colored eggs....

The next day, April 8, 2012, the Easter bunny came.  Ellie got the new Winnie the Pooh movie, shapes box, alphabet puzzle and lots of candy.

     

My parents came up after church and had dinner with us.  My mom brought Ellie an Easter basket as well and she was very excited for more presents and treats!  With each new thing she would say ooooaaahhh and get this awesome look on her face.  My mom found these cute little chocolate bugs.  Ellie didn't realize they were chocolate at first and played with them.  Then after dinner, she figured out what they really were and I think she ate 4 of them before we noticed she was opening and eating them:)  

We all had a great Easter this year and had lots of fun spending it with family!

22 Months

22 months and cute as every!  Here are some things that Ellie is doing/saying right now.

• Ellie loves to help cook.  She is a big helper with cooking as well.
• She is super social and says hi to everyone...everywhere we go.  I really love this about her.  I think it is much better to have her talking to everyone than crying or glaring at them all the time:)(I'm sure that's what I did when I was little)
• Ellie is very sympathetic when it comes to babies or other kids crying.  She will always ask me very concerned why they are crying or just tell me they are.  I hope this is a good thing when it comes to our baby and having her help out:)
• She loves to play hide and seek.  It is hilarious because she will hide and be completely still and make no noise at all.  She won't even giggle.  But, when you start to ask if she is in certain places that she isn't, she will laugh and say no!!!
• Still loves singing and is singing more words.  Her favorite right now is singing Rapunzel.  We can start the song and she will sing, "brush and brush and brush and brush hair."  Or when you go to brush her hair she sings this too.  The other day while walking home with Patrick, he started singing opera and putting his hand up when he would sing.  She copied him and now loves to sing opera.
• We finally changed her to a forward facing car seat.  I can't believe she made it so long, but she really didn't have issues riding rear facing so we waited.  It has just been the last couple of longer rides that she doesn't enjoy.  She loves being able to look out the window and being able to see us in the mirror!  March 22, 2012

We sure love having Ellie in our family and she brings so much joy to us.  She is starting to get a little more of an attitude and sassiness, but the things she says and done are just so cute and funny that we can't help but smile each day!

Baby Animal Days 2012

 We had such a great time at baby animal days this year.  Ellie was actually old enough to really enjoy it and it was really good weather on the day we went.  Patrick was able to take a couple of hours off of work to come with us.  It was sad because there were so many people there that we had to wait in line for a really long time and he didn't get to spend quite as much time as he would have liked to, but we still had a great time.  We got lucky to, because we had a friend coming in as we were leaving and so Ellie and I stayed longer with her.  She loved the cow and has talked about it ever since.  She calls it a silly cow because it licked her hand.

 I am really glad that she wasn't scared at all.  She is always really good with animals and sometimes scares me how she will go right up to anything and get in its face.  But at the petting zoo, this was perfect.  She thought it was so cool that she could go by each of the animals and get to see how they felt. 

 She was able to see horses a lot closer than what we normally see.  We have horses by our apartments, but they aren't usually right up by the fence.  The little baby was really cute too.  I love this picture because she wanted to be like the other kids that were on the fence and was so excited to be up in the action.  She is also saying cheese in this picture....Such a funny girl.

 This was my favorite.  I worried that she would be scared to ride the pony.... NOPE...not at all.  She was in heaven.  She even said YeeHaw as she rode.  She looks so tiny and yet like such a big girl here.  Patrick did walk with her the whole time:)

I think besides the pony ride, getting to hold the bunny and duck were a favorite.  She was so soft and gentle with them and I am pretty sure if there hadn't been a long line of people she would have stayed there the entire time.  

 

Ellie has always loved chickens and these were no different.  She kept putting her fingers in the cage though and I had to keep pulling them out.

We took a little break and Hadlie and Ellie found these fun toys.  They were really thick rubber and blown up and the kids could just bounce on them.  Pretty fun.

 After getting a little lunch, we got in line for the wagon ride.  By this time Ellie and Hadlie were pretty worn out and didn't want anything to do with lines!  However...we got lucky enough to have a huge mound of dirt/gravel that all the kids played on.  It's hard to see in this picture, but Ellie thought it was great to slide down on her tummy.  When we got home later that day and changed her clothes and diaper, there was sand everywhere!

 Here we are on the wagon ride.  They both thought it was great.  Ellie was extremely tired and decided it would be more comfy on the floor of the wagon...she even laid down.  She was getting laughs from everyone around us.

 We had so much fun.  It was a really long day our and Ellie crashed when we got home.  I had to wake her up around 5:30 because I didn't want her to be up all night.  We also both got a little sunburn on our faces.  Overcast days totally catch us off guard at the beginning of the season.  I am so glad the weather cooperated and we were able to see all the animals this year.

Playing, Experiments, Cooking and More!

I have been feeling like we are watching way too much tv at our house lately-mostly due to being sick for a few months....so after finding lots of fun things to do on Pinterest and other fun websites, we decided to try some of them out.

Moon Sand-I saw this on Pre-school play and had to try it. You just mix flour and baby oil and it comes out super soft and really cool feeling. Ellie really liked to play in it. We made quite the mess in our place, but the next time it was warm enough to go outside and play with it. I enjoyed playing as much as she did:)-March 14, 2012

Fruit Loop Necklaces-March 23, 2012

Playing with Daddy-I just love both of there faces. They have so much fun together! March 25, 2012 I don't remember where I saw this, but I wanted to try it. I was actually pretty surprised at how excited Ellie got over this one. All you do it put a little vinegar in a bottle. Then fill a balloon up with baking soda and put it over the top. Turn the balloon so it empties out the soda and it will start to blow up the balloon-March 27, 2012

I don't remember where I got this idea either, but Ellie spent some time putting all the pipe cleaners in the colander. At first I got out our little colander that has slightly slanted holes. She couldn't quite make them go in and just wanted me to help(do it) for her. I switched out the colander and she did great.-March 27, 2012

Making pizza's-Ellie really enjoys helping me cook. I thought this would be a fun thing for her to actually be able to help with. She had fun decorating the pizzas....and only a couple of them were mashed all up by the end:)-March 27, 2012 Mini volcano's-This one came from Preschool Alphabet-I thought this was awesome and so easy. You probably have everything in your cupboard already. It's just baking soda and vinegar. I colored the vinegar and then Patrick and Ellie used little medicine droppers to make little volcano's. Perfect activity while I made dinner. March 30, 2012

I found some fun bubble accessories at the dollar store. Ellie loves to help with everything that we do and she was actually able to get bubbles to come out with some of the gadgets.

March 30, 2012

Although it is super messy and sometimes takes a little work, it has been fun to watch Ellie experience the new things. And it has helped to drag us away from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:)

Ahhhh! I'm Going to be a Big Sister!

Yep, that's right, another little baby is joining our family. We're due Sept 1, 2012 and can't wait to meet this little one!

Bee Sting

We have been playing outside a lot lately and have been really loving the nice weather. I was outside BBQing dinner and Ellie was just playing. All of the sudden she was pointing at a bee and saying bug. Neither of us had shoes on, so I called for Patrick to come and take care of it. I told Ellie to go inside because I didn't want her seeing him squishing it or picking it up and think she could do the same(trying to avoid a future bee sting). All of the sudden we heard her screaming inside and Patrick ran in to see what was wrong. She just kept saying bee got me over and over and pointing to her arm. We found a little stinger and I of course....had a mini heart attack. Thinking of the worst that she may be allergic to it. Patrick got the stinger out and I called my mom and she had me put baking soda and water mixture on it to draw out the poison. Ellie did so good with it. She cried a little, but was mostly just really distraught about being stung by a bee. She was so still on the chair with her arm up while the mixture dried and we had to call each set of grandparents to tell them all about what happened. It was so sad, but luckily she wasn't allergic. Her arm did swell up a bit, like a mosquito bite that it scratched too much, but she was fine. For a couple weeks after she would always say that bees will get her, or bugs. I just kept saying they won't and that they are outside. The worst was when there was a fly in our house while we were eating and it landed on her highchair. She freaked out and wouldn't stop screaming. She doesn't seem quite as afraid anymore, but is still extremely cautious. She will sometimes still point to her arm and say that the bee got her. Here she is being so patient. March 25, 2012

Happy St Patrick's Day

We love St Patrick's Day around her and I feel like it snuck up a little bit this year. We have been pretty busy and it seems like I had so many things I wanted to do that didn't get around to. Next year I will have to be more on the ball. We did have a green breakfast...for dinner:) Ellie thought it was pretty interesting. We changed it up a bit and had breakfast burritos....so yummy!Ellie and I made a trip to Old Grist Mill to pick up there yummy sugar cookies earlier in the day and she was super excited to finally get to eat it.Testing it out...Huge hit!!!

Valentines Day

This year I decided it would be fun to have a little bag for Ellie each day in February leading up to Valentines. It was fun to be able to have her come down and get a little gift. Here are some of the days.Window stickers-these came off and on over and over throughout the month:)Coloring book and crayon roll(I finally got around to making this and love how it turned out)We made cookies one day. Ellie had a great time doing this. She enjoyed decorating them, and especially enjoyed eating them. She was showing us just how messy her hands were.

I found this little butterfly that you wind up and it goes forward and flaps its wings. Huge hit.We made Valentines cards for Grandparents and Daddy. Got this idea from a friend last year:) thanks Alycia! I did a few other things that I didn't get pictures of:( We also had some great packages come in the mail. Thanks Grandma's and Aunt Krista! Ellie LOVES getting things in the mail. She gets super excited. Once we were even leaving to go someone and there was a box on the doorstep. We had to come back in and make sure to open it up to see what was inside. She's a funny girl. Daddy also brought Ellie home a flower for Valentines day. She was so excited and loved smelling it. Patrick brought me the pretties flowers also. He is such a great husband. I made some yummy strawberries filled with cheesecake!

21 Months

On March 7, 2012 Ellie was 21 months! She is growing like crazy and I'm pretty sure she has gotten a bit taller now. Some of her pants are turning in to floods and it's crazy. Here are some things Ellie is doing now.

• She takes one nap from 1:30-4:00ish. It changes each day but is usually 2-3 hours. Going from 2 to 1 nap threw me off for awhile. I loved being able to have the time in the morning to shower and get ready, but I have to say that one nap is awesome. She sleeps longer than before and I find that we are able to go and do more during the morning. It did take Ellie a little while to get used to doing only one nap. She would get really tired around 11am, but when I tried to do one nap earlier, she wouldn't sleep as long and the day was a lot more whiny!
• Ellie has really started climbing more and more. The other day while I was getting her lunch breakfast ready, I turned around and she had climbed almost completely into her high chair. I am sure she could do more before, but she never really tried to. Now she climbs onto chairs and will pull them over to different places. And...she will eat much better if I let her climb into her high chair by herself:) February 18, 2012
• The weather has really warmed up and Ellie loves to be outside(What kid doesn't?) She just loves to explore and see what everything is. We have horses close to our house and she really likes to go over and see them. It is nice to be able to spend the time outside with the weather. She also loves to play with chalk. Patrick took a soccer ball outside with her the other day and showed her how to kick it. She will run up and kick it now and is pretty good. She thinks it is a lot more fun to run and fall over it and then she laughs and says she fell down. We have a sandbox and she ends up there almost every day. March 14, 2012
• Ellie really loves singing with us. We noticed a couple weeks ago that she will really sing a lot of the song if we pause and let her. Her favorites are I love to see the Temple, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam and Popcorn Popping. If we stop on a certain word, she will usually say the next word.
• She loves action songs or sayings. Her favorite right now is Ring around the Rosie. It is funny because she will actually say the whole thing if you just start her out with ring around the rosie. She will even fall down at the end now and LOVES it!
• Stickers have always been a favorite, but recently they are so much fun. Grandma Brown bought Ellie a Tinkerbell sticker book and she will sit for a long time and put the stickers on the pages. She can actually get the stickers off by herself now too. She is also getting much better and not sticking them onto everything. Only sticker books and her clothes. She also always seems to like the bug stickers.
• We tried to teach somersaults awhile back and she just can't seem to get quite all the way over, but she will spend a few minutes sitting like this. March 14, 2012
• Ellie has done so good with coloring and always only doing it on paper(or in the tub with her tub crayons) last week she decided to color all over our couch!!! I was shocked....and kind of worried about getting it out, but it all came out and after a time out, she hasn't done it since....Lets see how long that lasts. It was funny because at the end of time out I asked her if we color on the couch and she said very enthusiastically, YES! So I said no, we only color on paper and then I asked where we color, and she said the couch:( Hopefully she was just saying what she had done, and not what we SHOULD do...
• She is talking like crazy. The other day when she woke up from her nap, I asked what she would like to eat for a snack. She sat and thought for a minute and then looked up at me and whispered....Eat Cookies:) We had bought girl scout cookies the day before and they were a huge hit.March 7, 2012
• She has really started saying prayers more and more. She still won't say the whole thing by herself, but she starts and ends it and then will repeat what we say. It is really cute.
• Lastly, she still loves dancing. Patrick taught her to shake her bum and it is seriously the cutest thing ever.

Love having her around and she really keeps us on our toes and laughing all the time. So glad she is part of our family!