20 Months Old Today!

It's hard to believe that this little peanut turned twenty months old today!  She is so little compared to Logan and Lia at this age that I still feel like she is my baby!  We all just think that Ella is the cutest thing on the planet.  Her personality has really started to come out these past few months and she really is starting to make us laugh.  Ella loves to dance whenever she hears music and runs from place to place in the house most of the time.  When she is really excited, she will run while screaming, "Weeeeeeh!"  Ella is still really active and gets into anything--mainly with the help of my white, desk chair that is in the kitchen.  She will drag that thing everywhere and then hop up on it when she has reached her desired destination.  I told Ron that we need to sing the Jaws theme song every time she grabs it.  A cute thing that Ella started doing this month is insisting on grabbing only one finger when we hold her hand to walk places.  She refuses to hold anyone's hand the "normal" way.  She also started saying, "choo choo," for train, but will only say it with her mouth closed.  I have no idea why she does this, but it is so funny.  Whenever Ella hears the train whistle blow in the distance, she will say it.  So cute!  Ella has continued on her journey of wonderful-eater-gone-bad.  She is still extremely picky and refuses to eat a lot of items at dinner time.  So sad.  She still sleeps great at night and takes an afternoon nap every day for 2 to 3 hours.  Ella LOVES her ya ya (pacifier) and asks for it ALL day long!  Although we constantly tell her that it is only for night night time, she will sneak upstairs and fish one out of her crib a few times a day.  She's a sneaky one that Ella.  She also loves her blanket and learned how to say that word this past month.  She loves cuddling her blanket and any soft, stuffed animal.  Ella adores her older sister and asks for "Weeee-uh" all day long after we drop Lia off at school.  Ella loves any attention from her parents or Lia and will giggle, giggle, giggle if one of us engages in any sort of game with her.  Ella loves her story time before nap and bedtime and really loves to be snuggled and rocked in her big chair before going to bed.  We just love this baby girl and can't believe that her second birthday is around the corner!

Trimming the Tree!

One of our favorite activities during the Thanksgiving vacation is put up our tree and decorate it!  We bought it last night and got it up tonight with minimal drama which is amazing considering the fact that Ron just had knee surgery one week ago.  The kids had such a fun time helping me put the ornaments on the tree.  This is the first year that little Ella was super involved in the entire process.  I just love seeing my babies (both big and small) get into the Christmas spirit.  It's so cute!  Lia, Logan, and Ella did a good job putting up a bunch of ornaments on the bottom half of the tree and I am happy to report that I only had to move a few of them around after they left the room! :-)

All three kiddos decorating the tree.

Logan striking a very strange pose for the camera and me.

Baby Ella working hard to hang up her ornament.

Lia putting up one of her many ornaments that she has acquired over the years.

Lia letting Logan push the music button on the beautiful, Cinderella slipper ornament that she got from grandma and grandpa last year.

Ella and Logan listening to the music.  Look how mesmerized they all look!

Lia letting Ella see the Cinderella ornament up close.

Ta-da!  Lia striking a funny pose with the ornament of the hour!

Lia's Fall Gymnastics Meet

Lia participated tonight in her third gymnastics meet at Roach.  Although Ron had knee surgery the day before and had to stay home with baby Ella, my parents agreed to drive down from Issaquah last minute to join Logan and me.  We found great seats on the front row of a little section that was set up right before the meet began and enjoyed watching Lia up close and personal for the entire meet.  She did a great job competing in all four of her events.  It really is neat to see how much she has improved in the last 1 1/2 years since she has been going to this gym.  I love seeing her straight legs and pointed toes.  She is such a cute, little gymnasts.  Good job, Lia!  I'm so proud of you!

Lia running down towards the vault with her coach looking on.

Lia jumping off the springboard.

And flying through the air.

Sticking her landing...

and going into a handstand.

Lia beginning her bar routine.  Look at those strong arms, straight legs, and pointed toes!

Lia going over the bar...

and coming back up again.

Lia finishing her back-hip circle...

and sticking her landing.

Lia finishing off her bar routine.

Lia starting her beam routine.

Lia going into an arabesque.

Lia going into her standing lunge on the beam.

And going into her dismount..

Lia finishing off her beam routine.

Lia participating in her final event of the evening--her floor routine.

Lia doing a handstand.

And a cartwheel.

Lia finishing off her routine with a passe.  Look how cute she looks in that pose!

At the end of the meet, all of the kids got called up onto the blocks to receive their metal.  Here is Lia posing to the audience after receiving hers.

And then she turned directly toward me to pose for a picture.  Such a well-trained child. ;-)

Lia posing with her grandma and grandpa who were so nice to drive almost an hour to watch her!

Lia posing for my camera one more time after the meet was over!

Disney's Frozen on Ice

After buying tickets an entire year in advance, the long awaited day to go to Disney's Frozen on Ice arrived yesterday!  I took a total gamble last year and bought four tickets with the hope that Logan would have matured enough in twelve months to be able to join Lia, Ron, and me.  I am happy to say that he did a great job and sat still in his seat and quietly watched the show the entire time!  That was a major relief.  The four of us had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed this two hour production.  They did such a great job retelling this beloved movie from beginning to end.  I'm so glad that we were able to go and very thankful for my mom who drove down from Issy to watch baby Ella the entire time we were gone.

Lia's last soccer game of the season was unfortunately scheduled for the same morning as Disney on Ice.  We were able to go and watch her play for the first half of the game before leaving.  Although she only knew two kids on the team before starting (her good friend, Lilah, and a boy, Austin, from school), Lia ended up being on a team with a really nice group of kids with really nice parents.  I'm actually going to miss seeing these people every week.  This is the funny picture they took before their final game showing off their team numbers while facing the wall.  From left to right:  Lilah, TK, Fletcher, Cannon, Austin, Bradly, Alyssa, and Lia.

Lia and Bradly defending their goal.  Lia got really comfortable playing defense this season and did a great job "foot fighting" with her opponents.  

Lia chasing down the ball.

After fighting some crazy traffic, we made it to the Showare Center with 45 minutes to spare.  Here are Logan, Lia, and me in the lobby amongst the rows and rows of Disney goods for sale.

Lia and Logan checking out the Disney toys at one of the many kiosks.

Lia and Logan enjoying their popcorn before the show started.

Ron, Logan, and Lia waiting for the show to begin!

The opening scene included the young Elsa and Anna playing in the snow before Anna is struck in the head by Elsa's ice powers.

The long-awaited coronation day arrives.

Elsa, Anna, and Hans at the coronation party.

Anna and Kristoff riding in his sled.

Elsa "letting it go!"

Elsa in her ice palace.

Olaf singing, "In Summer," with the seagulls and butterflies.

Anna trying to convince Elsa to return to Arendelle and bring back summer.

Anna throwing snowballs at the giant Marshmellow. 

Anna, Kristoff, and the trolls.

Hans attempting to kills Elsa before Anna steps in and rescues her.

Elsa and Anna hugging.

A glorious finale--including Olaf getting his own, personal flurry! 

Oh, how I love this story!