Monday, November 10, 2008

Vote for Dave at http://www.kansascity.com/twilightextra/story/882382.html

Dave entered a Twilight Fan Fiction contest in our local paper The Kansas City Star. We're so excited because he's a finalist. Please help us by voting at
http://www.kansascity.com/twilightextra/story/882382.html
It's Jacob and Leah by David Hill
The story is only 400 words long so if you get a chance to read it that would be great too. Thanks for voting.
If you're a Twilight fan too post a link on your blog and help Dave win. Thanks ahead of time to all my blogging friends. :-)

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Watch Week

Every few months they have watch week at Ella's dance studio where the parents get to come into the class and watch. I think this was the best hour of my life. I'm used to Ella being kind of shy so I kind of expected hers to stand there and do nothing since there were a lot of strangers watching her class. She totally surprised me though. She danced and twirled and had the best time. It was so fun to watch her.



Occasionally she would stare off into space or get really into watching the teacher and forget to dance, but her teacher was really nice and would hold her hand and encourage her to follow along. I really love her teacher too. She's really encouraging and positive, but she also wants them to get the steps correctly and will take the time to individually help them do the step.

I think her favorite part was lining up at the end of the room to practice their steps. They would all race down there. Some of the steps they did were kind of hard. I think they felt really confident with lining up. It was something they were all good at and excited to do.


They even had the moms dance for one song.



She was really outgoing during tap and was stomping her feet around like crazy. I was really proud of her, and I was glad to see that she was enjoying the class. I can't wait to see her Christmas show in December.



Friday, October 10, 2008

C is for Cookies and Craziness


Ella and I have been doing a little preschool with some of our friends. It was my turn to teach the letter C on Tuesday. We made cookies and decorated them with Halloween candies and the letter C . Ella doesn't like frosting so she decorated it for Mommy and then she ate a plain one.


Afterwards Ella and her friends decided it would be fun to climb in her old crib and throw all the stuffed animals on them. It was a big mess, but they had fun.

New Twilight Trailer

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Dorthy


Ella just loves dressing up as Dorthy and playing with her Wizard of Oz Barbie dolls.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Nap time

A few days ago we had a busy day and Ella's nap just never happened. She was coloring at the kitchen table, so I went down stairs to make a quick phone call. When I can back upstairs I found her asleep at the top of the stairs. We try not to skip nap time anymore around here.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Parade

The dance studio that Ella attends was in the local parade about a month ago. Ella was so excited to be a a parade. The morning of the parade was really wet and rainy, but it stopped raining around the time we needed to leave for he parade, so I threw my umbrella in my bag and headed off to line up for the parade. As soon as our float started moving down the parade route the rain started also. Ella still had a lot of fun though and waved her flags underneath the umbrella to all the people lined up along the street. As soon as we finished the parade the rain stopped again. It was kind of funny that it pretty much only rained while we were doing the parade. Ella had a great time though and I still had fun even though we were all wet.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Ella's Dance Class


Ella has started taking dance class one day a week. It's an hour class and they learn tap, jazz, and ballet. She loves it and shows us her arabesque and first position every week. She said she wants to be like Angelina Ballerina.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

California, Texas, and Libby Lu

OK I thought summertime was for being lazy and doing nothing, but we had a busy summer. Thankfully it was filled with FUN busy activities, but it was still really busy. So that's my excuse for being a blogging slacker (that and my new addiction to facebook). So here is our summer in one long post. Feel free to just scroll though the pics. Sorry it's so long.


Ella had a blast at Disneyland. She could have cared less about the rides. All she wanted to do was see the characters. She just loved them. It was like all her dreams had come true.



Ella got some money for her birthday that she wanted to spend at Disneyland. I suggested a stuffed animal that she could sleep with at the hotel since it was late and she was cranky by the end of the day. Out of the thousands of stuffed animals there she wanted Bride and Groom Minnie and Mickey. It was a good 2 for one deal since they came attached, but really a 3 year old who loves weddings. My sister-in-law saw what she picked and said, "Have fun with her wedding!" She's probably planning it now.


Also while we were in California we went to the beach. Ella loved the beach especially when her uncle would dip her in the water when the waves would crash onto the beach. We asked her to say cheese every time a wave came so we could get a good picture. After we were done taking pictures she would still say "Ah Cheese" every time a wave came.
I think she has sand on her tongue in this picture.



Although she loved the waves of the Pacific Ocean, Ella's favorite part of the beach was the sand. She played with it for hours one day.

Her favorite part was just running it through her hands. Ahh the gritty look of being at the beach all day. She had sand everywhere when we got back. I was even digging it out of her ears!

She really played hard at the beach.

About a week and half after we returned from Disneyland, we went to visit my husband's family in Texas. Ella loved playing with her grandparents, aunt, and cousins. We went to a little carnival one day. Ella would only ride the pink rides because that was the color she was wearing. When her cousin jumped in the pink one first, Ella decided that she would rather not ride then have to sit in an unmatching color. Sometimes I don't know what to do with her. :-)



Ok she actully chickended out of the spaceship ride before it even started.

She loved the little boat ride though. I don't think it could go any slower. The bell was a huge hit.

Grandma Hill wore a sparkle headband one day. Ella told her how much she loved her crown.

My mom promised Ella that she would take her to Libby Lu's after she was potty trained as a special prize for being a big girl. Ella was a little shy at first, but as soon as they let her put on a costume she was a whole different child. She loved it when the Libby Lu girl did her make up and hair. It was really fun to watch her have such a great time. Plus I thought it was a pretty good deal. She got her hair and makeup done, a princess crown, a sash, a bag pack, and 5 hair goodies all for $25. Plus she had a fabulous time. Why didn't they have cool stores like this when I was a kid.



OK that was our fun summer. I love that Ella is 3 now and we can do so many more things with her. Everything is new and she has no expectations, so she's always surprised and greatful for whatever we've done together.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Belle

Ok we were so crazy when we got back from California that I don't think I posted my cute Belle and Ella Disneyland story. At the Princess Fantasy Faire inside Disneyland, we waited in line an hour to see Mulan, Jasmine, and Belle. I have never been in a line that moved soo slow. I wasn't sure how Ella was going to react since she is usually pretty shy when it comes to meeting new people.

When it was finally our turn Ella just ran to Belle and gave her the biggest hug. She wouldn't let go. Belle was so nice. She just let her hug her forever. She told Ella to put her autograph book down so she could give her a bigger hug. Then she sat Ella on her lap and told her they could be best friends. I've never seen Ella so confortable with someone who wasn't family. Ella didn't even look at us. It was just her and Belle. I finally looked over at mom and we both had tears in our eyes because it was just so presious.

The line was long, but Ella got to spend as much time with Belle as she wanted. Belle signed Ella's book, and we finally moved on to see Jasmine, but Ella could have stayed there forever. It was definitly worth the wait.

Now that we've been home for a while Ella still tells me and other people she meets that Belle is her best friend. Just that moment was worth the whole trip.