Summer so far.....

Here is what we have been up to so far since I am on summer break.......

Ella Grace finally got to meet Chloe, Amber and Jason's little girl.  They have something in common and that is their love for wagon rides.  They had a great time together at Amber and Jason's Derby celebration, and Wes and I had a blast too.  There was some cornhole playing and bubble blowing and, of course lots of snacking.  Jason and Amber put together an awesome slow country boil that was ahhh-mazing!!!

 Wes won us some tickets to the Indians game and he was the fan of the game.  With this a prestigious honor was giving to him and that was the fan of the game.  We got to take a ride in a Toyota around the field and then we got dropped off at our seats on the third base line.  We also got the chance to win the new truck if they hit the truck that was in the outfield with the big target on it.  We unfortunatley did not win the truck due to the Indians playing horribly that day.  We still had a blast though.

Also, my little sister graduated from high school on May 13th.  Congrats Sami Jo!!!!

It's been awhile.....

I know it has been some time since I have updated all of you on Ella Grace's life, but it has been super nuts since I have started back to school. I think we were busier than we expected, but finally we have a break and can take a big sigh of relief. That is until school starts back up and we all get crazy busy again.

Ella Grace has had a birthday since the last time I was on here and she has started walking. She also has gotten a lot more teeth, eight to be exact. Four of her molars are coming in, so that's not been too much fun for her, but we are trying our best to get through it. She can also say "apple" now, along with a few other words. She is growing up more and more everyday and it is so much fun to watch her learn new things.

Playtime!!

Ella Grace has been going to the play area that is in the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood.  She loves it, and so do Wes and I, because she can crawl everywhere without finding something that she would probably be better without.  The floors are really soft and cushy, so she really can't hurt herself and there is a little area for the babies that she plays with.  Sometimes though she follows the bigger kids around and tries to go up the slide, so we help her with that.  Some of the kids that are there play with her or she tries to play with them and she has a blast.  She still is too small for us to just let her go though because she tries to climb on things that she isn't quite big enough for and sometimes there are kids that are too big and old playing in there and they almost run over her giving me a heartattack.

Little Miss Ella Grace also loves loves loves to go to the park that is at the school that is next to where we live.  When it's not to awful hot outside, we walk over and she mainly likes to swing.  She doesn't really care for the big slides yet and she can't walk right now, so she crawls around in the grass, picking up whatever looks interesting and tasty.  We went the other day when it was probably way too humid out, but she was a trooper and played in the shade for a while.  She slept so hard and took the longest nap on record that day.

 It's so funny when she gets in these swings and we start pushing her.  She just starts cracking up like it's the most fun thing to do EVER!  I love how simple she is.

 I wonder how that tastes.  She is so crazy!  She doesn't really play with anything, she just tries to eat it.

She ate like a champ that night to.  She is becoming so independent.  She loves to feed herself.  Now if she could only use a spoon the right way I will be set.

Pool Day!!

As promised, I am attempting to catch up on some of the happenings this summer.  First thing on the camera I found was Ella Grace's first trip to the swimming pool.  This was the week of Memorial Day, so it was not to hot out and the water was super cold.  The cold water definitely did not stop Miss Ella Grace.  She loved it!  I don't believe she cares for her hat too much as evidenced by her grabbing at it and yanking it off.  She prefers to chew on it, but then again she prefers to chew on everything.  She loves being in her float and everyonce in a while she will kick her little legs.  Ella Grace also likes to splash the water and watch it go all over the place.  She really liked it when we would get her out of her float and us just hold her while we bounced around in the water with her.  I believe we may have us a little water dog!

 Daddy and Ella Grace loving the water!!

 Ella Grace haning out with Mommy outside of the cold water.

 Ella Grace and Daddy love swimming!!

Ella Grace enjoying drinks poolside thanks to our cute cabana boy.

We love summer!!

So if you can't tell, I am still way behind with this blog.  This has been a super busy time!  Ella Grace has been a very busy little girl.  She has been swimming tons and swinging at the park.  She has also tried to take a few steps (five to be exact), but she has not done that again.  She has spent a few days at her Pawpaw Brett's house in Owensboro and she has also spent about a week at her Mimi's house in Glasgow.  During this time Wes and I have taken her Uncle Zachary to a Reds baseball game and we went to Las Vegas to get married.  If you didn't know, now you do and like I mentioned before I have tons to catch everyone up on.

First things first!  I wanted to post some of the pictures Ella Grace and I had done for a Mommy and Me shoot that my friend, and very talented photographer took of us when Ella Grace was about 6 months.  I completely forgot to share the pictures that we chose to put on a CD.  Her name is Whitney Ulm and she her business is called Eminence Photography out of Columbus,IN, so if you love these, and I know you will, then you should definitely look her up.  She does an amazing job, but then again Ella Grace was one of her subjects.  Everytime this little girl sees someone taking her picture she just lights up and poses for the camera.  I think she may be a natural.

We also got a great photo album with more pictures that Whitney designed and it is so stinking cute!!  I mean we just love it.  It is going to be a great album for Ella Grace to have when she gets older.  If you haven't seen it yet, yell at me next time so I can show off Ella's pretty pictures.

Zachary's Graduation

Ella with the graduate, Zach, and Jackson, Anthony, and Sami Jo.

Wow!!!  I have so much catching up to do with this blog, but we have really been super busy since the weather has allowed us  to do a lot more (not that I am complaining or anything cause I love summer weather).  I promise I will get to all that soon.  We have been having a blast so far this summer.  We like to go to the mall in the mornings so that Ella can crawl around and play without picking anything up off the floor and finding something to put in her mouth.  They have a little play area in the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, IN for little ones and Ella absolutely loves crawling around in there.  I will post pictures of this soon. Oh and we also had our first trip to the swimming pool which she loved.  She was so cute trying to kick her little legs in her float.  She's going to be a natural swimmer, I suspect.  I will also post pictures of this soon as well.  I have to get caught up.  Since I have started this blog I have been picture crazy, which means I have tons and tons of pictures.

This past weekend, we spent a few days in Owensboro, KY to visit with dad, stepmom, and brothers and sister.  Also, Zachary graduated from Owensboro Catholic on Sunday and we definitely had to celebrate that huge accomplishment.  Ella Grace, of course, had a blast as she always does when we visit family.  She thrives on all of the attention she receives from everyone.  I love it to since it gives me a little break from everything.  She showed off all of her new talents, like pulling herself up on everything in site, crawling, and saying mommy and daddy.  She wowed and amazed everyone with how much she has already grown up and changed.

On graduation day, we impressed everyone with how well behaved she was in church and at the restaurant we went to afterwards.  She was so perfect.  Well, then there was the actual graduation and she was not having any of that sitting still stuff.  She likes to make sure everyone knows that she is there so of course she announced herself with her set of lungs.  She has a very loud scream, but she still is super cute when she does it and people were telling me how entertaining she was.  I think she was just really excited to watch Zach walk and graduate.  She loves to celebrate and party just like her momma!  Uh oh!  Watch out!

Overall, we all had a great time and wished Wes could have gotten off work to come with us.  He was a little bummed about it, but his frown was soon turned upside down when Ella Grace started clapping for him the other day.  It was pretty fantastic to watch her finally learn how to do it since we have been trying to teach her how for a few weeks now.  Ella Grace and I had a great time visiting and can't wait for all the other celebrations we get to attend.

 This picture looks a little slanted.  Hmmmmm.....

 The graduate!!!

 Ella and her uncles.

 Ella and one of her favorite aunts.

 Ella and PawPaw.

Ella and Jackson.

How we spent our weekend.

Wes and I decided to make a trip to Kentucky to visit with my Mom and Stepdad.  It was a really good weekend even though it rained most of the time and the temperature dropped, which left us ridiculously cold.  I thought this yucky stuff was behind us, but I'm afraid not.  Oh well!  We tried not to let it ruin our time there.  Ella Grace got to spend some quality time with her grandparents and that's all that really matters.  Red absolutely had a blast running around through the woods and tracking whatever it is she thinks she is tracking.  I think she thinks that she is some kind of hunting dog, the way she carries on going after things.  It's the funniest thing.

Our first day there was really nice and it was definitely a beautiful day out.  The sun was so warm, so we played outside for a while, and Ella Grace got to eat her dinner outside.  She also tried to eat grass, sticks, and dirt, but we managed to pry all of that stuff out of her hands and mouth before she swallowed it.  YUCK!!  While she was not eating everything in sight, she was attempting to chase the dogs around the yard and screaming at them while they ran circles around her.  When she figures out how to walk and run, they better watch out.  All she wants to do is play with the dogs.  It's so cute!

 Diaper change in process.

Ella Grace also started saying Daddy this week.  She woke up from a nap and BAM!  "Dadadadadada."  Over and over again.  I got so excited I called Wes at work so he could hear the good news.  It made his day.  She is trying to say Momma too.  She started saying that while we were in Kentucky, but she only says it when she is eating or wanting something.  Hahahaha!  She is a fast learner.

Another thing she started doing this week was pulling herself up on the furniture.  She was only doing it in her bed and then this weekend she was pulling herself on the coffee table, stairs, and ottoman.  She has been doing it even more since we have been back in Indianapolis to.  It's so funny.  She will grab her little car that she can ride on and try to walk and push it, but she falls everytime.  I bet she will be walking sooner than later for sure.  I can't wait (not the sarcasm)!  Then she will be everywhere and in everything.  Thank goodness she is learning to do all this during the warmer season, or what's suppose to be warmer, so that we can go play outside and crawl/run around.

Overall, this week and weekend were a great weekend because we got to get away from Indianapolis for a while, but we are always glad to be back home to.  Now I just have get Ella Grace back on schedule.  She has been waking up at 5:30 and 6:00 am since we have been back and it has made for a couple of long days.  Wish me luck! 

Here are some more pictures from this weekend.  Please notice my brother's new look.

Ella Grace had to help daddy because he wasn't doing to well on his own.

Ella and her Mimi playing with her doll that lights up and sings.  Ella loves it!!