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!