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!

Ella and Daddy

Ella has not always been the most friendly to her Daddy. After she was born, she would just scream at him if Mom left. Not much has changed in that department, so I always love catching the moments showing that she is connecting with Daddy more and more! Here are a few from the last few months and how I imagine Ella would tell you about them.

Wearing his shoe:
I love wearing parent shoes. I can put my foot, shoe and all, inside Daddy's shoes!

Snuggling daddy:
Sometimes I will snuggle up on Daddy's lap to read a story or some scriptures from his phone. Just sometimes so it is still a special treat.

Bed Time:
Daddy may be the best bedtime story teller. I'm always handing him more books at bedtime

Animal Train:
Daddy's always have the most fun games like putting all of the animal friends on the stacking train for a ride.

Day letter:
Mom loves Daddy too. We wrote him a note telling him how awesome we think he is!

"Tummy Time"
I never liked tummy time as a newborn. I would just scream and cry. I do love sitting on Daddy's tummy and doing the "people on the bus go up
and down." I also like playing his tummy like a drum. Tummy time has grown on me.

Pillow Talk:
Sometimes I'll lay my head on a pillow and insist that Daddy lay his head on the other pillow. It is lots of fun for a few minutes, anyway.

Christmas Time!

I probably should have written this post a long time ago.  Unfortunately life gets busy, and it's hard to keep up with everything -- and I don't even seem to be all that busy compared to other people.

Ella was surprised by all the extra things in the room on Christmas morning, but she was most intrigued by the raisins she found in her stocking.  First, she just thought they were fun to shake.  She the realized that it could be opened, and she spent what seemed like an hour up on her activity tower playing with her raisins (note that she didn't seem at all interested in eating them, even though we showed her that's what they were for).  After she got tired of the raisins, we finally started opening our presents.

We got lots of presents from people (thank you everyone!) and a few generous people even gave us lots of what we gave Ella this year.  She got a set of stacking blocks, a Mega Blocks set, a bunch of books, a set of tea cups, a Winnie the Pooh bear, and even a set of musical instruments.  While everything was a hit (even the Ritz crackers), I think that Pooh bear was more like infatuation.  She clung to Pooh even more than she does with mommy.  Luckily, she got a little less attached and still likes to play with him.

December Fun

I know you can't all drop by and see little pieces of our lives.This post is going to be a few of vignettes from the month of December so you can feel like you just dropped in a few times and caught us being absolutely normal.

Ella the Mail Carrier

I'm pretty sure Ella considered mail delivery as a career for at least a day. We went to the mailbox cluster and she opened and closed the unlocked package lockers for at least 10 minutes.

Walking with Friends

Our friends Miss Anah and Ollie come over to walk and talk with us. We all love to get out and see friends! This day was a little wet and cool, but we had fun seeing each other anyway.

Learning to Color

Ella has been working on her coloring skills for a while. If you consider pulling crayons out of the box and then putting them back in coloring skills. This month she finally started to actually try drawing on paper. It might have helped that I taped a piece of paper to a box.

Playing In the Activity Tower

Ella can't wait to get into her activity tower. She jumps in before breakfast clad in her footie pajamas. She jumps in wanting a standing snack. She plays while I make dinner. She is up and down and up and down all day -- dropping things for someone to pick up.

Friends in the Car seat

Daniel took the infant car seat out of storage in order to get to our Christmas decorations. Ella promptly started putting stuffed friends (and a few unstuffed ones as well) in the car seat to be buckled and unbuckled!

Daddy is So Fun!

Ella has started to warm up to Daddy. She likes to take him by the hand and show him things. She'll follow him up the stairs, and she'll even hang out with him when I'm not there!

Choose Your Own Adventure: A Day With Ella

Surely you remember the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books, where choices seem to not only have logical consequences, but they change the very fabric of reality (my memory is foggy, but I seem to remember that depending on if you pry a number pad off of a phone with a screwdriver in one of them, the house is either haunted or it's not).  I hope to take you on a brand new, but nostalgic journey through a day with Ella.  This story is written in the perspective of you being her parent, although, obviously, WE are her parents ;).

It's 5:45 AM, you hear Ella start to call out for you.  "Not until 6:00," you think to yourself, "not that it'll help me get more sleep."  Fifteen minutes later, a cry jerks you back to consciousness and you slowly get out of bed and get Ella from her crib.  You're half-conscious as Ella plays with toys and drags you around the house until it's breakfast time; oatmeal, as usual.  After breakfast, Ella runs immediately toward the stairs.

Help her put her shoes on so she can go outside.

or

Help her climb up the stairs.

Fall Weather

This fall weather has been great for playing!

Some of it was good for playing inside because it was cold. One day Ella and I went to an indoor play area just to get out of the house. Sometimes we go a little crazy if we stay in the house too long! Since Ella was under two, she got in for free. My entrance fee was a dollar, and it was worth every penny to get out of the house! They had lots of fun new toys to play with.

Some days were cold, but lots of days were good for playing outside. Ella loves to get out and about. She'll grab her shoes and then walk to the door to let us know that she is ready to go! (Even when it is cold and she has short pants on)
Sometimes we just play in our yard. (Front and back are fun!) Ella likes to play with rocks, bricks, mulch and dirt the most.
Sometimes we head to the park. Especially when Daddy can come too. Ella is learning to play on the equipment now.

Apple Tasting

I decided to put together a fancy date for Daniel and I one weekend. (This is a shock for anyone who knows us, I know.) I decided that it would be a great time to do a fancy apple tasting.

"Why an apple tasting?" you ask. We aren't allowed to go to some tastings (beer, wine, other things not Word of Wisdom approved). Some tastings can be expensive (fancy cheese, fancy food, fancy desserts). Finally, the real reason, because apples were on sale.

We tried 12 kinds of apples. Two varieties per plate. I tried to keep it as anonymous as possible by cutting up the apples, putting them on a plate with their identifying sticker on the bottom. Daniel kept them anonymous by mixing up the plates and having us sample them out of order. (Numbers 1 and 2 were not on the same plate) It was a very official anonymizing system.

We even downloaded fancy score cards so we could keep track of our opinions.

Winners: Jazz, Pink Lady and Empire. (Just in case you were wondering.)