Zilker Adventures

We had a fun adventure with Grandma and Grandpa to Zilker park downtown.

We started in the science and nature center. Ella loved digging in the Dino bone sandbox. She also liked seeing the rescued bobcat.

After that, we went to the Zilker playscape and played. There were lots of new things at this park! We ended up staying and playing longer while we waited to ride the little train!

Christmas 2015

Ella's reaction for Christmas could probably be summed up like this.

And here is the aftermath of Ella's Christmas. She enjoyed all her gifts so much that after she opened each one she didn't want to stop playing in order to open another one. I know that this is something that won't last forever, but for now it made me feel good that she genuinely liked everything we got her.

Ella also got Mom and Dad each a dollar store present to put under the tree. I got bows to put on presents. Daniel got a blue, squishy, light up ball thing. Hopefully her picking skills will improve in the future.

Daniel and I also had a good Christmas and enjoyed our gifts and watching Ella enjoy her gifts as well.

Ella Sings Songs

Ella has started to sing us little songs on occasions. She is still figuring it out, but it is super cute! Sometimes it is a song she already knows, and sometimes it is something that she makes up.

This made up song thing shouldn't surprise us because she expects us to improv songs several times a week, and then remember them for a random time in the future when she requests it. Recent request: tractor song, sleepy tractor song, white kittens, penguin song, Tabby Cat song, Ella Song, mommy song.

I Love to See The Temple

As a family, we decided to take a long weekend to San Antonio so that we could have fun and go see the temple!

First we stopped on our drive down to see the Cabela's aquarium! Ella made us walk through five or so times. Then we drove down and played at the children's museum. They had a fun room for little people -- a whole town that was toddler sized! Ella got to fly a plane, delivered the mail, go grocery shopping and practice her veterinary skills We played at the hotel pool before dinner and took no pictures. In the morning, we all got dressed and went to visit the temple! It was a fun little trip.

Princess Ella

Ella loves to play pretend. Lots of times she will pretend to be a cat, but lately she has also enjoyed being a princess.
What I have learned:
Princesses love a good tutu (regular or tutu dresses).
Princesses often bring along a cute cat.
Princesses love to dance
Princesses love pink and purple clothes
Princesses love a good cape.
A princess is not above being a fireman. (They have great headwear)
Nothing makes a girl a princess faster than a "crown" on their head.

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year. Some people in the ward hosted a "people in the area" Thanksgiving dinner. We made mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. There is no question what Ella's favorite part was. (And who can blame her?)

Ella's Big Imagination

Ella loves to pretend.

She pretends to be a cat all the time. (The other day she decided to eat her banana like a kitty cat.)

She currently likes to dress up like a princess fire woman!

She sees things in Daddy's kaleidoscope.

She even comes up with clever ideas for her duplo blocks. (The first "dog" and a second "pet")

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Call came for in impromptu after harvest visit this year. They came at a perfect time. The weather was great!

We did lots of bicycling. Ella loved sitting on the little seat Grandpa brought and wearing her "hat" (helmet). They went through the tunnel by the pond and had a great time

Ella helped play a few holes of disc golf. While we were there, she also gave Grandma some loves!

On Saturday, we went to the park at the elementary school. Ella loved to go down the slide and have Grandpa airplane her back up to the top.

Halloween

This year I decided I would actually go to a little effort and get Ella a costume together. She went as a kitten, who lost (and subsequently found) her mittens. She loved the idea of it when we tried it on a few days before.

For the trunk or treat Daniel and I went as the other two kittens who lost their mittens. Unfortunately, Ella decided she wanted no part of it. Never fear. We just told everyone she was a crazy cat lady.

She was also hyped up for trick or treating all through dinner, but once the time came she stopped at two houses before starting to melt down. Life with  toddler.

Ella's Fall Adventures

Fall has been warm and sunny here in Texas! The leaves did change colors and fall from the trees. One day we made a cool leaf picture!

We went to a new park and saw a "kitty house"

We went to a fun fall sign language storytime and sang lots of songs about pumpkins. We even learned how to say pumpkin in sign language. With the coordinators directions, we made fall sensory rice.

Things We Don't Want to Forget

The are lots of somethings that we are going to forget, but there a few things that I don't want buried in the sands of time -- lost forever.

Ella has decided that only Daddy can be awesome. If you say "Ella is awesome." She will retort,"No, Daddy awesome!"

Ella has started to say "Pretty! Thank you!" When we give her a new surprise that she likes.

She has also started to say," No thank you " when she doesn't want somethin

She calls her Pooh Bear "Mama Pooh Cat"

She likes to yell "Run way" and then proceeded to run away. She runs back with open arms when I squat down with my arms open wide and yell,"Can I have a hug?"

Texts to Grandma

I will sometimes send the grandparents picture text updates. I thought I'd share the most recent with you.

Cute Ella

Sometimes your family is TOO cute to not take a picture and share it

Just checking to see how her pictures look

"Eek-Boo" in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

I asked her what she made and she said,"made Temple"

"Kitty House"

Ella was very excited about her "Suess bag" 72 hour kit

This is a little old, but this girl can jump!

Ella to the Dentist

Ella finally went to the dentist. Things pretty well all things considered. Her teeth did get cleaned and examined. (Despite some cranky moments)

On the way out of the office a little boy passed by and got an elephant mask for a prize. He put it on upside down (on purpose.) Whenever I asked her about the appointment she'd say "'phant! Silly 'phant" The other things she found memorable were the treasure box (She'll correct you if you call it a prize box.) and the duck she got to bring home.

On a side note, who knew that having a new pink tooth brush would totally change brushing time? She now opens her mouth and doesn't fight! She also loves the dolphin flosser we got.

Kitchen Cabinet Doors Reveal!

It is time for the long awaited cabinet door reveal. Our timeline was definitely destroyed pretty early on when it took forever for each coat of stain to dry. (Didn't use a strong enough grit sandpaper we think.)  Then we had to change out the pulls that inspired the project because they didn't look great with the color we selected for the stain.

But the results are still awesome!

Wildflower Seed Cookies

This year our stake did a service project to help out a local middle school. Daniel helped to pull weeds, load dirt, and lots of manual labor.

Ella and I helped to plant wildflower seeds. First we made seed balls by mixing clay, compost, wildflower seeds, and a little water. We had to tell the toddlers to roll them up like cookie dough. Ella insisted on calling them cookies the rest of the morning. After rolling the balls, we were told to throw them out onto the hill behind the school. Ella made a little friend and they spread the seed balls far and wide. Service a success.

Cat Sitting

Our friend from down the street went out of town and asked us to feed and check up on their cat. This was something akin to Ella's dream job.

She got to play with a cat and different toys everyday for almost a week!

Being a Big Girl

Ella is getting to be a big girl. (Not that big!)

She loves to help

She loves to baby her Pooh Bear 

Blows the Cutest Kisses

Swings on the Big Girl Swings
She can talk with so many clear words!

Daddy Dog and Ella Cat

Ella has dived right into the world of pretend play. She is obsessed with being a cat. She meows, crawls on all fours and even rubs against your leg to give you loves. She has decided to transform into a cat in all kinds of exotic places (The library lawn, the park, the hall in the church building), but she will meow any place, any time and to anyone.

She also loved when we introduced "parent pretends to be a pet" play. We really didn't intend for her to demand "Daddy Dog" pretty much every time she sees Daniel.

Daddy and Ella

Ella is growing more comfortable with Daddy all the time.

She will give him big hugs and snuggles.

Other times they play fun games or dance! Daddies know the most fun games, especially when all of Mom's activities are boring from playing them so often.

Family Home Evening.

So we've been trying to hold Family Home Evening on Mondays. In Ella's opinions, some of the evenings are hits and some of them are misses.She loved pointing to our "how to be a sunbeam" picture. She was less interested in playing "mother says."

One afternoon she decided to gather her animals and hold her own meeting. It looked like everyone was having a good time.

Ella's Birthday

Ella had a good birthday:

She got a Pooh Bear birthday cake
They sang Happy Birthday to her in nursery
She got lots of presents from Mom and Dad
She got a cool Mommy Fox and Baby Fox from her friend Emmy
She got "Suess" books from Grandma Larsen, and scripture scouts from Grandma and Grandpa Call.

Cooking Adventures

Ella likes to help cook. She loves to taste test things for us. (Frosting, sesame sauce etc) She once even managed to "taste test" an entire cupcake while no one was looking. Good thing it was one of her birthday cupcakes!

Daniel decided to make a cool shaped cake for Ella's birthday this year. He went with the obvious choice, Pooh Bear. It turned out really well, if I do say so.

We also decided to make Utah Scones one Sunday afternoon. They turned out really tasty.

The Pooh Bear Incident

Sometimes you are trying to get your toddler comfortable with the idea of sitting on the toilet so you let them practice on a special little seat. They get the idea that their favorite stuffed animal should sit on the toilet too, and they don't realized that a stuffed animal should also sit on the little toddler seat.

That toddler might come to you saying "Pooh, wet!" (Fortunately he was wearing a cloth diaper keeping everything but his feet dry.)

Don't worry I saved the day with my mom powers.

Flies, Flies, Flies!

Yesterday we visited the Wildflower Center.  Ella wasn't sure how she felt about it (especially the long drive down), but when we got there she decided it was exciting.  She would see a flower and have to tell us about it, over and over (seeing as it is a big place with a bunch of different wildflowers growing in it).

As we were wandering around, we came across some flowers that had a lot of butterflies on them (Gregg's Mist if anyone cares to know).  Ella was super excited for the butterflies and kept saying "flies, flies" and giggling.  Elissa was trying to identify potential flowers to use in our landscaping (anyone know what this plant is called?  It didn't seem correctly labeled), so we ran into the butterflies over and over again, Ella was just excited each time.

Later on, we went to the 'Family Garden' where they had an area for kids to play at, and they had a craft thing we could do for free (which is questionably free since we had to pay to get in).  Ella really enjoyed the caves and the waterfall, as you can see from the pictures.  The craft was this cool photosensitive paper that you could put things on so some of it was exposed to the sun and some wasn't.  After a couple minutes you put it in water (in the shade, I think) for another minute, then let it dry.  The parts that were in the sun turn dark and you get a cool gradient effect on things.  Ella enjoyed picking out some things to put on the paper, but wasn't too interested in the paper itself.

4th of July

This year we had a pretty low key 4th of July.

We went to the All Abilities Park. Ella had a great time going down the slides, climbing and jumping with Daddy.

We went to the recycled reads store. I bought books. Ella and Daniel had a book reading party! (Ella made sure that everyone had a seat!)

On the 4th we made ice cream in our ice cream ball! Ella loved to help stir up the ingredients. She wasn't so sure about eating the ice cream though.

We also went for a walk, and played around the house.

Ella the Kitty Cat

Ella got a Cat towel for a baby shower gift. (Long before she was born.) We would use it on and off to dry her after her baths. Recently she has really gotten into being a kitty-cat when she puts the hood on. She will say "meow," and beg to not take of the towel. She even asked to wear it to bed.

Park Fun and Other Ella Cuteness

Ella has finally gotten big enough to use the park equipment independently. It is lots of fun that she can climb up and then go down the slide over and over on her own. She also loves to "drive" at the park.

Ella also likes to climb into the empty cabinets in the kitchen. She is getting smart though so she slides open the drawer above so it won't be too dark when she closes the cabinet door.

She likes to climb into her basket and hang out with all of her stuffed friends. She will ask until every stuffed animal is in the basket with her.

Ella also loves shoes. Sometimes she gets into Momma Shoes!

Splash Pad Adventures

This week we went on our first summer splash pad adventure.

We played in the big sand box.

Then we played at the splash pad!

Ella had a great time and would run back to me with a happy squeal after getting all wet.

Birthday

This year Daniel made me a delicious pie for my birthday. He knows my feelings about frosting, so he went to the effort to make a pie.

I decided to use my birthday money to buy a project (Before and After). It was supposed to be a microwave cabinet, but it ended up being too big. We finished it up and decided that it would make a great craft room storage unit.

The Puzzle DASH

No, it wasn't a mistake that I capitalized 'DASH', and I'm also not yelling the word as I write the title.  It's just the acronymn for the activity Elissa decided would be my birthday present.  A couple years ago we heard about the 'Different Area Same Hunt' and thought it sounded like fun, but we were going to be out of town when they did it, and the next year we had a happy addition to our family and suddenly found ourselves with a lot less time and energy for something like that.  Well, Elissa was really thoughtful this year and thought she would register a team for me to go with some friends while she selflessly stayed home devotedly missing her dear husband.  (I really hope she had a good time and did something interesting while I was away).

I find it really hard to describe the format of this thing, but I'll try to give a quick description.  It consisted of 9 puzzles (+ a pretty-much-mandatory-if-you-want-to-be-competitive bonus puzzle) over the course of ~8 hours.  Each puzzle starts with a prompt and some materials (a diagram, tiles with words on them, etc.) and you had to figure out what the puzzle actually was, how to solve it, and obviously solve it.  Usually there was a pretty obvious hint how to get started. For example in one case we had to figure out how to place game tiles, then assign each tile a letter, then look around until we found a message with a new hint, then we had to flip the whole thing upside down and unscramble some words before taking a single letter from each word, finally constructing the single word answer.

All in all we had a good time and finished with a probably respectable score putting us ahead of 1/4 of the contestants, which seems pretty good for it being our first time and choosing the "Expert" difficulty instead of "Novice".

Hopefully I'll be able to find equally nice to do for Elissa (maybe we'll send her next year or we can be a team or something).

Crazy Weather

We had some pretty crazy weather this last week.  We knew it was going to be wet -- and that's a very good thing given our drought conditions -- but we had no idea how much water to expect.  Right before all of this we thought it might be a good idea to try to plant some grass seed in our lawn because it's dying and sad.  Within a couple of days probably half of the seed had rushed away from where we planted it due to the heavy rain.  It continued day after day and came to a head on Memorial Day.  That day we ended up with a squall line that basically stayed stationary over our area and dropped around 5" inches of rain over the course of the day.  It also brought my first experience with a tornado warning (no tornados came close to our area but we got a warning).  Since nothing crazy happened during the warning, it was a good drill showing us several holes we had with our preparedness.  What we were surprised by is all the people who were driving around with all the weather warnings in the area as we watched some coverage.  I took a couple of videos of what the storm did do our front and back yards after the warning was over.

Weather Warm Up

The weather has warmed up for spring, so we have finally started to get outside.
So far:
We've played disc golf
We've go for walks
We've pack (pretend) picnics. (This one is for Daddy because it is full of treats!)
We've Put outLaundry

When it is too hot:
We go to the thinkery
We play instruments
Kiss boo boos
Put shoes on Pooh Bear

Eating Bubbles

Ella loves bubbles like any toddler. Unlike most toddlers, she doesn't like popping them. She likes to try and eat them.

After lots of practice, she has also managed to blow the occasional bubble too :)

To My Little Friend

To My Little Friend, Ella:

I love your big smiles and how silly you can be. (1, 2, 3!)

I'm glad you have started to give Mommy and Daddy hugs. That is awesome. I'm also glad that you make sure that Daddy gives both of us a kiss before he goes to work.

I like to go on adventures with you, and I love see how everything is so exciting to you. It is great how you love to play pretend!

I'm glad that first thing in the morning and last thing at night you want to read your books! You are a girl after my own heart: books, teddy bears, and Daddy!

I love how you are creative,(sometimes very creative!) determined, and interested in the world. (Your favorite question is "What's this?") People who just meet you always say how it seems like you are just soaking in the whole world.

We may have our hard days, but I do love you!

Love,
Mommy

P.S.Thanks for making my selfies tons cuter! (1,2,3)

Finished Cabinets

Pictures of the long awaited bathroom cabinets! So three coats of gel stain and three coats of top coat later we have this!

Doors
Frame
Assembled - Close Up

Still trying to decide for sure if we are going to take the kitchen plunge and do those cabinets as well. If we do decide, that will be a post for another day.

Bonus: "In Progress" pictures

Taped, Papered and Sanded
Coat One
Coat Two

Yogurt Making

My mom called the other day and said,"I know how hard it is to find yogurt with fat in it for Ella. Here is a recipe for Greek yogurt! "

She might also know how much I dislike paying $4 for 20 oz of yogurt.

I was in.

I killed my first batch by getting it too hot. Oops.

I tried again, and it worked! I had to strain out the whey to get yogurt.

It took a long time.

Ella wanted lots of samples. Did you know fresh yogurt is sweet?

She waited and waited...

It was delicious!

We only got a pint from a half gallon of milk, but that was like getting yogurt half off!

Bluebonnet Pictures 2015 ( And Other Spring Adventures)

These are really late, but here are our blue bonnet pictures for 2015!

Cute, cute, cute!

(Outtake. Just trying to be like Mommy.)

First Cabinet Staining Samples

I've been thinking about gel staining our cabinets for a while. I'd seen all the tutorials (I'm very thorough :P) on pinterest about General Finishes gel stain. We had used some on our nightstands project. I used some to refinish a little table we had in the house. I loved how it worked, and I felt pretty confident in using it. But before sacrificing our cabinets (and before I thought I could pick a shade), I wanted to do a sample cabinet. We picked up a sample at the ReStore. Here is the progress so far.

Front (two coats)
Front (three coats)

Conference Fun

Conference this year was great. Ella had lots of fun while she was awake: distracting us! She and Daddy had lots of fun going through her make shift tunnel.

We had Easter Treats to supplement our 72 hour kit rotation. (Our new family conference tradition.)

Ella and her Books

Ella loves to read. She has decided that sometimes she just wants to sit in her rocking chair and read. But, if that isn't available, she will use a laundry basket, or (if times are tough) she'll even sit on Daddy's lap.
Ella even likes to "read" Mom's books. It never fails that if I'm trying to read a book she will drop everything to come and take it so she can read it herself. (It is like a peek into teenage Ella)

New Fence and Other Projects

This spring we've ended up doing several big projects for our house. One of the major projects was putting up a new fence. Our old fence had been on it's way out and wind storm finally did it in.

We decided to have the fence people use these cool posts which only stick out one picket's worth instead of being a big metal post in the back. Here is the finished fence.

We also had our front trees thinned and trimmed, and the pest control people out to help us deal with our ant problem in the yard.

Pigtails

I have been waiting month after month for Ella to have long and thick enough hair for pigtails. Month after month I've been disappointed. She must have gotten her thin, slow growing hair from me.

We have gotten the semblance of pigtails using barrettes. Someday we can use real pigtail holders. :P

I guess until then, we'll have to enjoy Momma's headbands!

Daylight Savings Time Rears its Ugly Head

As most of you know, I think Daylight Savings Time is quite possibly one of the most aggravating and useless vestiges of the 20th century.  I won't argue that it never did any good -- in fact, I won't make any more statements about my opinion of it at all.  I'll share how Ella reacted to it.

Sunday morning she actually slept in -- the calm before the storm.  She hadn't yet realized that Daylight Savings hit, but she figured it out pretty quick.  She was unusually grumpy and much, MUCH more determined that her mother should not leave her sight.  I think it all came to a head when her usual nap time fell right on top of the beginning of church (as opposed to part way through church).  All of the children were grumpy and there was much more pushing and crying than usual at nursery.  If you were to ask Ella how she felt about the change, I'm pretty sure you'd get an incredulous look like this one.

Dates

This month the local library did a "blind date with a book" activity. (Don't worry, Daniel said it was okay)

I picked up my blind date with an open mind, but was soon looking for a reason sneak out of the date early. The book definitely didn't know what it was looking for!

On the bright side, my handsome, "eternal date" took me to the symphony. This date was significantly more successful. The soloist was a very talented pianist. The songs selected were Russian, and the were full of movement and interest. We had a really great time getting out and enjoying the music.

P.S. My book date was:

(in case you wanted to know)

Ella Vignettes

Wheels in the Bus:
Ella has started to play wheels on the bus. You know she really wants to play when she climbs into a laundry basket and starts doing the motions. Sometimes Daddy will push her around the room while we sing the song.

Dress up:
We got some dress up clothes from the cousins in Utah. Sometimes a girl just wants to be a princess!

Teddy Blanket
Ella loves teddy bears. She loves her teddy PJ's (She'll point to the bear whenever anyone is looking). She really loves this teddy blanket she got from Grandma. She asked to sit in her crib when I put it over the sheets.

Vacation Week 2

This last week, we got to visit with my mom (Daniel is writing even though the author says Elissa) and a bunch of people from my family as well.  It was really good for Ella to get a chance to see everyone.  We kept busy trying to get in as much visiting with my family and friends there and the time went by in a hurry.  I'll mention a few of the things that stand out (though I'm not going to mention everything fun we did because that would take too long).

All the family in the area came over to my mom's house for dinner (and to visit) on Sunday.  It was pretty crazy how many people were there but it was fun to see them all.

We played several rounds of Settlers of Catan with my mom, and even invented an alternate version where apparently the robber is a cow that just moves around and grazes in random places (or gives your settlements dirty looks).  I'm not quite sure how that one happened.

Ella loved the back yard.  She was wary at first, but then she realized that the roller coaster was safe and fun, and she even decided to become a pirate (ok, I'm probably embellishing here, but you can see how she's breathing in the salty air, right?).

I got to show off VirtualBench (the super-secret product that I may or may not have remembered to tell people about on this blog), which was fun.

I think we had way too much chocolate and too much tasty food (but I think Elissa would assure me that we couldn't possibly do those things).

All in all, it was an awesome trip, and I wish it wasn't so hard to get out to Utah more often.

Vacation Week 1

We went to visit family on vacation. The flight there went pretty well. We had a whole three seat row to ourselves and Ella did pretty well on the plane. We did have a one member of our party go MIA in security. We will miss you Monkey.

Daniel was busy doing recruiting the first weekend, so Ella and I went up to Idaho! I got a haircut because there was no one to stop me :P (Actually my mom set up an appointment for me.) I must have been combing my hair more than usual because Ella decided to brush her hair too.

We saw cousins, and Great Grandma Call while we were up visiting as well as Grandma and Grandpa

These faces are what sitting in the car too much feels like, according to Ella. (After the plane ride, was three hours to Idaho, and at least an hour in the car every other day in Idaho and four hours back to Utah). But, we had lots of fun seeing everyone and having fun adventures.

Ella's Spot

Ella has decided that she has a spot in the play room. I find her here all the time! She loves to color here, or just stand and giggle with her toys. It is kind of like a standing desk. Even though it is just a file cabinet and a safe box for standing, she loves to play here.

We need to make her a real Ella sized desk up there or something. Hopefully she'll adjust to a new spot when we get around to it.

Ella's Adventures

Ella has had some fun adventures the last couple of months:

Water fight with myself:
Your toddler finds a spray bottle...

Using a fork
If it is too hard, just put the food on the end of the fork with your fingers.

Eating an orange
Somethings are too good to wait!

Honking my nose
If Mom and Dad's noses make noises so should mine!

Pushing laundry basket
Beep Beep! Coming through!

Shoe sandwich
Anything can be a sandwich if you try hard enough

"Cooking"
Mmm. Banana Soup!

New Backsplash

When we bought our house, we didn't make many major design changes. We kept the paint colors etc. The previous owners had put up antique style ads as stickers for a backsplash in kitchen. Instead of falling more in love with them, we got more and more annoyed.

Daniel didn't want to put up tiles because someday we'll probably replace the laminate, and you don't want a weird gap back there when you're done!

After lots of asking he agreed to try a beadboard backsplash. We decided to use my parents' expertise to figure out how to install it. We used a big sheet of beadboard panel from Home Depot, and painted it with high gloss paint.  Ella even helped a little.

We think it turned out looking good. It turned out to be a good solution.

Grandpa and Grandma Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Call came for a visit. We had lots of fun playing around the house. We read books, played with toys, and helped Grandpa work on his computer.

We went to the thinkery (children's museum) one morning, we and had lots of fun there.

Nightstands

For those of you who don't know, I love browsing pinterest for ideas for cool projects. I'd been itching to try gel stain on something for a long time, and Daniel, wisely, didn't want to ruin something that was perfectly good.

Fortunately, I got a great deal on a pair of IKEA nightstands, and we desperately needed to nightstands. At $5 a piece, Daniel agreed that it was worth the risk to jazz them up!

We gel stained the top, (several coats),painted,

 and added some molding and pulls.

They turned out pretty great!