Ella's gymnastics

OK so she's probably not going to be an Olympian, but she's pretty funny doing her gymnastics. :-)

Flower Girl

My cousin, Kristin, asked Ella to be the flower girl in her wedding.  Ella loved every minute of it.  I think she thought that she was the star of the wedding.  

California

Dave lost his job in Missouri during the recession. Boo. It was a pretty sucky time. That's all I'm going to say.

After looking for a new job for a few months, we realized there were not a lot of companies using the computer language that he had experience in and wanted to do.

We found that the bay area had a long listing of available jobs in his field, and after a few interviews, he accepted a job at a company in San Francisco.

Dave moved out here in October. Ella and I joined him in March after selling the house, packing etc... We decided the city wasn't the best place to be with a kid, so we found a great place in the East Bay.

For years I said I would never live in California, but here I am. Besides being far away from family, we think the area is great. Luckily it is not what I imagined.

Favorite things about Northern California in a random order:
a lot of family activities
great weather (no humidity)
wonderful parks
Trader Joes
friendly people
laid back feeling
tons of outdoor activities
if you don't feel like showering, shaving etc... people just think you're really into going green :-)
public transportation (only have to have 1 car)
fun day trips to San Francisco

Belch things about Nor Cal:
family is far away
traffic
everything is more expensive

Ella's version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Who's better than Santa? The Fairy Princess

The Fairy Princess has been a holiday tradition in Kansas City for 70 years. When I was a little girl we went to see her, and after telling her what we wanted for Christmas, a little present would come down a chute. It was pretty cool. My mom even saw the Fairy Princess when she was little. Needless to say we were both pretty excited to take Ella to see her this year.

Like usual Ella wasn't too sure at first, but then after she saw a few other kids talk to the princess she wanted a turn. She got to sit with the Fairy Princess and tell her what she wanted for Christmas. Then Ella waved her magic wand and opened up the box. It was filled with Princess crowns.

My favorite part was that the whole thing was free. The crown and 5x7 picture were even free. We saw the Princess at Zona Rosa in KC. I think she's at the KC museum on weekends until Christmas if anyone in the KC area wants to go. I definitly recommend it.

Ella's interesting Christmas tree

Dave and I went out to a movie the other night and my aunt watched Ella for us. Ella convinced my aunt to set up her little Christmas tree for her (the one I had been promising to set up for a week), and then they decorated it. The only problem was Ella didn't know where the ornaments were (I guess she didn't think to look in the scary basement), and so they had to improvise. They decided to put her favorite toys (little figurines) in the tree instead. Ella was so proud of the tree. She made me close my eyes and "surprised" me with it when I got home. It was really funny, and I'm glad she finally got her tree up.

G is for Gingerbread

Ella was very organized and neat with her decorating. I loved how she made little frosting dots all over the cookies and then carefully placed an M&M on each one. I would have drowned the whole thing in frosting . The cookies were delicious and Ella and her friends had a fun time.

Santa

We took Ella to see Santa before Thanksgiving on a weekday afternoon. It was the perfect time. No one else was there, so she got to spend as much time as she wanted without me feeling like we were holding up the line.

She was really excited the whole way there, but then she got a little nervous when she got close. Since no one else was waiting in line, Santa was really patient and waited for her to be ready. After a few minutes she hugged him and told him what she wanted for Christmas. He's such a great Santa. I think we'll go back to him again next year.

Halloween (in December. I know I'm a little late:-)

We had a party at church for Halloween. One of the activities was a cookie walk instead of a cake walk. Ella loved it. She just loved walking around and stopping on a number. She didn't even want the cookies that she won. She just didn't want to stop playing.


Last year Ella didn't want to do anything at the Halloween party, but this year she wanted to try it all. I thought it was pretty funny watching her and another "princess" trying to eat a donut off a string.

I was Hermione from Harry Potter and Ella was Cinderella. I knew Dave's old high school graduation robes would come in handy some day.

We had the most beautiful weather on Halloween. I think it was in the 70s. Mom had the day off of work and she took Ella and I shopping and out to lunch. It was a great day and Ella really enjoyed spending the day with Grandma Pam. Of course she had to wear her costume out all day. :-)

Sorry I havn't blogged in awhile. I blame it on my Facebook addiction.

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in October to get our Halloween pumpkins. Last year Ella loved all the extra activities they had, but this year she was pretty much only interested in the actual pumpkin patch. She really wanted a small one "just my size" and I had to go to the very back of the field to find one.

While I was searching for the tiniest pumpkin that Ella wanted, she was busy twirling through the pumpkin patch.

My dad (Grandpa Rob) likes to come out to our house to visit about once a month. He is the only one who can play the piano, and Ella just thinks he's fabulous. Usually he'll play and Ella will sing and dance, but sometimes she likes to play along with him.

We took Ella bowling a while ago. She loved it. I just gave her the ball and led her towards the lans. After she dropped the ball, fell over, and busted into tears, Dave decided he was going to be the one to help her bowl. She liked Daddy's help better.