Funny Ella

Our Ella-Bella turned 4 last month! While I don't have any cute ones of her on her birthday, here are some recent photos showing her true character!



Here she is pretending to be an alien!



She got caught with her hands in the whipped cream!



This is some seriously bad hair from the back...



And the bad hair from the front. Good morning!




And here she is, our cute Ella!

Halloween 2009

Thank you for making our costumes, Grandma!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We read in the scriptures that "out of the mouth of babes" will we be taught gospel truths. Recently, we have had moments where our sweet Ella has given Rhyetta and I important insight into our lives. Kian and Abby also contribute to our daily dose of "You Can't handle the Truth."

• We have unfortunately lost our focus with our good eating habits. Ella hasn't skipped a beat to make mention, "Daddy, you have a big belly." Always nice to hear, eh?
  
• Today, we had some friends from the ward visiting us. I am sitting in our recliner talking while Ella proceeds to climb up on my lap. Again, without skipping a beat she says, "Daddy you stink." After our friends left, Rhyetta came and smelled what Ella was talking about. Rhyetta mentioned, "Daddy doesn't smell," but Ella exclaimed, "Yes, he does smell."
• Today, during sacrament meeting the primary presented their program. Kian, Abby, and Ella did awesome jobs saying their parts. During the songs, you would hear Abby sing her heart out. This was especially true during the song "Together Forever." During this song, you could tell Abby believed what she was singing about and wanted to tell the whole world about it. So sweet to see her talent shine!

There's an old saying, "The Truth Hurts," but truths are also the sweetest words ever to fall on the ears of man, even if we don't want to hear it.

A good night's sleep

I was the first one up Saturday morning and to my surprise, Ella was asleep on the couch. When she awoke, she said to me, "Mommy, I came to the couch and went to sleep." When I asked her why, she replied, "I was just not comf-table in my bed. I didn't have enough comf."

Nighttime Discoveries

On the eve of Ella's fourth birthday, Rhyetta and I discovered our cute little princesses fast asleep on Abby's bed.

Before Rhyetta and I went to bed, we blew up "Happy Birthday" balloons for Ella and put them on her bed and on the floor. We went to bed and late at night (around 1:30 am), Abby woke up to go potty. After she was done she went back to bed. About 30 minutes later, I hear Abby and Ella talking in their room. Mind you they are still on the top bunk of the bed. I get out of bed again to investigate. I get Ella out of bed to help you to go potty, and she notices balloons all over the room. In her Ella excitement voice, she asks several times "Daddy did you and mommy do this for me?," and with me trying to keep her quiet I answer yes. With Ella smiling her big Ella smile while on the potty, I sing "Happy Birthday" to my new four year old. After a couple more times of getting out of bed to calm our girls down, have them stop playing with balloons in their bed, and to finally go back to sleep I get to head back to sleep.

Since today is Sunday, we had to still get ready for church, but that doesn't stop Ella from having a special birthday breakfast. She had pancakes with PB, and four PB M&M's on each pancake. Do you think she enjoyed her special breakfast? Felicity was the upset that she didn't get M&M's and even more so when she tried to take one off of Ella's pancake and being told no. Gracious Ella took an M&M off her pancake and handed it to Felicity. What a good big sister!

That has been just the beginning of Ella's fourth birthday. How time flies!

I'm going to the library...

I've wanted to work at the library for years. I love the library. It is my favorite place to go to get a break from home life. It is quiet (aaaahhhh). It is orderly (lovely). It is full of books (cool!). It is free (hello!)! Kansas City, Missouri has the coolest library system that I have ever come across--it is 30 branches all connected, so they almost always have the book I'm looking for! You simply request it and you get it. The libraries have drive-through windows so you don't have to get the kids out of the car to pick up a book or movie on hold. How cool is that?! When we first moved here and I had fallen deeply in love with my local library, I asked if I could volunteer and they said no. They don't do that anymore. Pretty much you have to get hired. So, I applied. And interviewed. And I got the job! It pays little. It is pretty much going to be shelving books and pulling books. But for two nights a week and every other Saturday I get to be in the library!!!

Alexander the Good!

You know your kids are really learning when they take what they've been learning and incorporate it into their play. So tonight when Abby and Ella were in the bath with their barbies and Abby's barbie was "Alexander the Good" in her castle of diamonds and wubies (rubies), I had to chuckle.

And can I brag for a moment? That Abby is smart on math! She's been begging for math lately and is mastering addition. Ask her what is 4+3+7 and she'll answer correctly in about 3 seconds. She's loving it.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Ella is reading. No joke. This 3-year-old can read Bob books. Probably not a surprise for some of you with smartypants kids, but in this house when our first child didn't read till he was 7!, it is surprising to me.

Felicity is learning too. How to hit, how to push, how to bite, how to yell. Sigh. It's 'cause we've laughed at her for so long, but now she can really do damage. She starts crying before I put the brush to her hair because she's learned that's what Ella and Abby do!

Great kids.