I absolutely love holidays!!! It was an entire weekend full of fun and completely free of work!! Aside from cleaning the bathroom, I had so much fun. We started off Saturday by going to Bates Park that morning. We had so much fun. I didn't have my camera, but luckily Josh was close by with his phone. If you know Ella, then you know that she is too busy to sleep. She doesn't sleep in the car, she won't fall asleep in your lap, she won't sleep if it's noisy. She has to know that the entire world went to sleep during her nap because she can't stand to miss anything. So these pictures are priceless.

Here she was doing some major relaxation in the swing:

And here, she just couldn't take it anymore:


What a power nap!



We had such a great time at Mimi and Grandad's house all weekend. We spent Sunday there playing and eating. It was Avery's 2nd birthday party, so it was fun getting the kids together to play. We went back over on Monday afternoon and had a great time jumping on the trampoline, swinging, and riding the four wheeler all over the place. We love Mimi and Grandad's house!


We spent memorial day last year swimming at our pool, so Monday morning we decided to head back to the pool. We bought Ella a Springfloat (for all of you parents out there with babies, you definitely need to splurge for one of these). She had an absolute blast swimming in the pool! Josh would start swimming towards her and about halfway to her he would go underwater and "get her feet". She would just starting giggling uncontrollably as soon as his head went under. She knew what was about to happen! I'm terrible and forgot my camera though, so no documentation to our Memorial Day fun this year. So I'll leave you with a few pictures from last year:


Thank you to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our county and for my family. You are true heroes.

Last night, I tried to figure out what the heck I've gotten myself into. I've got a pretty busy next few months. Well I just started teaching the preschool Sunday school class and it has already been so rewarding. I love all of the kids and we've been having a great time. I've also signed up to work a Chrysalis for one of my favorite people...my sister-in-law Heather. She's lay director for a flight coming up in July and I agreed to join her as head logistics. I've got to say that I'm definitely not scared. I've got the greatest group of people working on my team. I haven't met all of them yet, but Gina has done an amazing job picking up the slack for me (I missed the first meeting!!!) And we've also got this awesome thing coming up called "4th on Main". It's a 4th of July celebration that several of the churches in Danbury are collaborating on. So I've got a full plate, to say the least. I'm just excited to get to do so much work for the Lord this year!

Other than all the stuff for the church I've been signing up for, I've been having so much fun with Ella! Josh and I recently sold our Jeep Liberty so that I could switch over to part time and stay home with Ella several days a week. This was my first week to stay at home and it has been AWESOME! Well, mostly awesome. I was gone from Ella for my first full weekend, so I was so happy to be back. Then Ella got sick with the stomach bug on Sunday night. By Tuesday morning, I knew I was in the clear if I hadn't gotten sick by then. But by Tuesday afternoon, I was sick too. So staying home with her wasn't exactly how I had planned, but it was still wonderful. Next week will be better! I'm sure of it! Here's a few examples of the fun we're going to have this summer!

Since Ella and I have been living on applesauce, bananas, and toast this week, Ella came up with a new way to eat applesauce:

Josh just recently finished his Spring semester at UHCL. He is well on his way to becoming a high school history teacher. He's definitely ready for a break from school. Plus, he's getting a lot more days at home with Ella now that he's free. Ella days are the best days!

Here's an old Ella and Daddy picture (one of the few times she got to sleep in our bed):

Here's a more recent one. This is my world in a photograph:

God amazes me everyday through my amazing and beautiful daughter. She's my world. She teaches me so much and every day I love her more and more. And every day I don't think I can love her any more than I already do. Being a mommy is the most amazing thing I've ever done. I'll leave you with a few pictures that I found on my computer the other day. I don't even remember her looking like this. It's crazy how fast time goes by when you're having fun! :)

She looks like she has scrawny, little bird arms. Scrawny was never a word I would use to describe Ella.