Life With Ella

Today, we took Ella to the Jelly Belly factory.  We had a lot of fun there.  Ella was really patient and paid attention during the tour.  She wanted to eat a lot of jellybeans and  she had plenty.  On the way home in the car she announced that she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed like Stella and Juliet.  We told her that she could have her big girl bed whenever she wanted.  She then said, “I want it tonight – I want my big girl bed to sleep in tonight”.  We came home and set up her bed (we left the crib in the room just in case it didn’t work out).  Then all of a sudden, Ella said, “No more binkies.  I am a big girl in a big girl bed, no binkies”.  We told her that she could do whatever she wanted, that if she needed her binkie, she could have it until she was 3.  She didn’t really respond. At bed time Ella said, “No more binkies for me” and went to sleep without her binkie!  I found the binkies in the bottom of her crib.  I guess Ella put them there.  Ella is now sleeping soundly in her bed. Ella loves jumping off the steps in our lobby. Welcome to the Jelly Belly factory! Picking up a few things in the gift shop. We had to wear hats on our tour. Barefoot in the grass. Our happy little girl. Aloha. Ella had to change into her “ballet” when we got home. Here is Ella in her big girl bed. WE pushed the ottomans close to her bed so she wouldn’t fall out.

Ella had a great day at school today.  Every day when she comes home, she wants to “put on ballet”.  Then Ella names her articles of clothing.  “I want a leotard and a tutu and tights”.  Today she was doing some very special spins in her outfit.  We are thinking that maybe we’ll have her take a ballet class.  She loves it so much.

Ella after school.

When we got home, there was a surprise in the mail from Uncle Jesse.  He sent us a DVD of the original Peter Pan.  Juliet and Stella came over for a little while and the 3 of them sat down and watched it on the little DVD player.  They were concentrating and focusing so hard!

Ella helping mommy by pushing the cart down the hall.

Playing with the “rainbow” on the wall.

What a jump!

Ella had a great day at school today after a little sweatshirt morning trouble.  When we picked Ella up from school we went over to the playground at the school.  A whole bunch of other kids were there and Ella was having a particularly fun time with her friend Kaliko.  He was running up the structure and then laying down and hang his head upside down and said things to Ella that were making her laugh her head off.   Very cute.  I took Ella swimming after school.  I went to watch Sunny and Amy do a podcast on incarceration.  They both did a great job.  I’ll post it when I find out the website/blog for the podcast.  I was happy to be there. Play-doh early in the morning. Looking up at Kaliko. Mommy and Ella laughing. Amy, Sunny and Deborah at the podcast. Their thank you gifts.  Great job ladies!

Today was picture day at school.  I think we are going to get the pictures in about 2 weeks.  I asked Ella what they said to her while they were taking her picture and she said, “They asked me what I liked better, a birdie or a kitty cat”.  I asked her what she said and she said, “a kitty cat”.  We’ll see how the pictures come out.

Ella walking into school this morning.

Playing with the guys.

Singing “Buenas Dias” with Bella.

Becca came over for a while tonight.  Here she is reading Ella a good night story.

Ella on her way to school this morning.

After Ella’s bath, she asked for her robe and she danced around and laughed.

We all had the day off today, so we decided to take Ella to Lemo’s farm for some fall fun.  We played around there, fed some goats, went on a train ride, played on a playground, and just had a blast.  Ella brought little pumpkins home for Stella and Juliet.  She loved picking the pumpkins out.  I am really tired so I am going to post some pictures.

Mommy and Ella feeding a baby goat.

Petting goats with mama.

Fooling around in front of the HUGE tire.

On the train.

Ella called this place “Tiger Lily” from Peter Pan.

Ella jumping in the bouncy house (didn’t last too long)

We ran into Ella’s old friend Ava along with her mom and sister.  It was great to see them all.

Shopping for albino pumpkins.

Ella was watching these crazy ducks swim and jump and run on water!  It was pretty funny.

Beautiful Ella/

Doing some pretend riding on the stagecoach

Introducing Ballerina Ella!

On top of tall mountain.

Mommy, Towby and Ella.

Hanging out on the top of tall mountain.