Blocks

Ellie loves plaing with blocks. She can sit and play for a looong time. She loves to build towers, or just stack them up. "Look at mommy!," or "look at daddy!." Maybe someday she will build her mommy and daddy a house!

Elli talks a lot! She went from short phrases or stringing three words together to saying full sentences. Unfortunantely, this is when it it tough to understand what she says, unless we get a word and can figure it out! She still loves to dance and sing. She is such a big girl.

Ellie has hair!

Ellie finally has enough hair for me to play with it (when she lets me!). I was so excited when I was able to do pig tails! Ellie kept them for let's say...as long as it took to take the pictures, then she was done. "No ponys mommy, off." Well, we are getting better at this, I am trying to teachher that she needs to have her hair done when we go to places, but sometimes it is not worth the crying (her crying that is :))

Isn't she the cutest!
And for those of you who wonder how big I am this time, well, not that different from Ellie's pregnancy. This picture was taken at 20 weeks, and I have to say that now that I am 23 weeks, my belly has exploded (figure of speech of course!). But I am afraid I am considerably bigger.

Florida

For General Council we had togo to Florida the last week of May. We were very excited to take this "family vacation," even though Andy had to be a part of many meetings. Ellie and I spent our mornings swiming with her friends Carlee and Brooklyn, and we tried to spend the afternoons at the worship services (and taking naps).

Friday was a free day, and since Ellie is so young, we figured the beach would be enough entertainment and Disney would not be necessary. We were right! She loved the beach! She walked on the sand and was amazed that there could possibly be such a BIG sandbox, where the sand never ends, and you can dig anywhere you want! And the ocean was even better!

When we got to daytona beach it was a rainy and cloudy, but as the day went by, it got nice and sunny :)

One of our friends built a sandcastle for the girls. they were loving it. I am afraid they did not help much to bild it, but it was fun stepping on it or digging the sand.
At daytona beach, they have these fountains so you can clean up, and kids love them! Ellie would run to them and try to step on the stream of water. She sure loves water!

Isn't Ellie the cutest? She loved swimming with her friends and Elmo of course.

Ellie, Brooklyn, and Carlee.
Oh yes...this what Ellie looked like most of the time; she wore her purple sunglasses and her hat to protect herself from the sun. The hast is a little big so she takes it off, but even at home, as soon as she walks outside she asks for her sunglasses, "too bright," she says.

Cocoa beach was wonderful, we went there after lunch. Note to parents: when you go to Florida, don't bother going to Daytona, cars drive on the shore and kids cannot just run free and play. Cocoa beach is kid friendly and clean!
Ellie loved the ocean waves. She would get excited and say, "here it comes!," and laugh and giggle as the water would "get her" and then pull back while her feet would sink in the sand. She was so sad when we left. She cried as we carried her away, "back to water." Maybe some day sweetie.

Ducks

My dad and sister visited us middle of May. There is not much to do in Charles City, so we went out to feed the ducks. Unfortunatelly there were not very many ducks, but lots of geese. Geese are not very friendly animals, in fact they are mean. Ellie did not have as much fun because we kept keeping her from running to them since she can't throw the food, but those geese were hissing and ready to come at her! She liked the "baby ducks" the best, and kept asking to hold them, "hold you." We have been practicing throwing and catching, maybe next time we go to feed the ducks she will have a better aim.

Let's Play!

We had a MOPS rummage sale, and I could not resist getting an inflatable boat that you fill with balls. Ellie loved it! but even more she liked to put the balls in the laundry basket and play in there. Maybe a smaller area makes it seem like there are more balls. She comes up with such clever ideas.

Finally we had some pretty nice days, so Ellie and I got to go and play outside. Besides playing with rocks, Ellie loves to swing. I put up a hamac we have and she loved it, she could have stayed there for hours! Eventually she asked for Elmo (her toy, and yes, she loves Elmo) so he could rock with her. And since it was pretty hot, she got to eat her first popsicle! It was a mess, but she sure liked it. She was bothered however when it started melting and falling apart.

Ellie loves to wear hats. Sometimes she wore this winter hat all day! Just because she likes it.

Ellie's Friends

This last year, I was able to take care of our riend's daughter. Her name is Jennifer and she has become Ellie's best friend! They play so well together (and sometimes they fight too). It has been great for Ellie to learn how to share with someone else, hopefully by the time her baby sister is born, she won't mind giving up a toy (doubtful, but I can hope!).

Ellie and Jennifer have another best friend, her name is Elise (did I mention the moms are also very good friends?) The three of them have a lot of fun together. For us parents it is wonderful to have friends that are going through the same stages of life. Our girls are only 5 months apart and so far all three are the "only child." Not too much longer for Ellie, just four more months and she will be a big sister.

Ellie's cousin, Alyssa, is also one of her favorite friends. We wish we could see her more often, but we do look at her pictures. Ellie calls her, "Lisa."

Finally More Pictures

It has been a long time since I updated Ellie's page. I tried to, but our computer is old enought that it cannot always handle uploading photos. Today I thought I would give it a try, and after four tries (yes, FOUR!) it worked! It is also extremely possible that it is my fault and not the computer's.

Ellie continues to grow and she is such a fun little girl. She loves to sing and dance, and she is very loving. Hugs and kisses abound in our house, and we love it!

This is a picture taken during Thanksgiving. We celebrated Christmas with my family so we exchanged presents then. We had a wonderful time together.

We had two bad winter storms during February. And there was lot of snow. Ellie is not able to enjoy playing out in the snow very much yet, but she thught it was a lot of fun to walk as you sink in the snow. She also made her very first snowman! (Ok, Andy and I made it, but she watched us the whole time!)
Kids can do more than parents realize. So one day I walked in the playroom, where I had left my makeup bag, and Ellie was in the process of putting on makeup. "Ellie pretty." She is so cute. It is one of those moments where you cannot stop laughing, and that as a parent, you know better next time.
Ellie loves to color. She had never tried to color on walls, except this one time. Orange was her favorite color then, and she must have thought that the white kitchen walls needed some color. She had to go to the naughty corner, and then she had to try to clean up the wall. She was very sad. Till this day, the orange is still on the wall. (Attention to parents: Orange crayon on walls does not come off easy).
Ellie makes us smile. Little things she does, or says. She is such a joy. How fun when she has a little sister to play with. Children are a blessing from the Lord and we are so thankful He has chosen us to be Ellie's parents, and this other little girl on the way.