It is such a privilege to be a parent. We tried for so long to get pregnant and when it finally happened, we felt like it was a dream. But no dream could compare to actually being a parent. I get to experience so many things all over again through Ella. My daughter is so incredibly smart and such a fast learner. It's not something that I feel that I somehow taught her, but more just what she was born with. Since the day she was born she has been outspoken, opinionated, and passionate. During the newborn phase, I felt like this was more of a curse than a blessing. As Ella has grown, I've gotten to watch her use those traits for good and not evil...anymore :)

Yesterday, she was at work with me and she has this really cool table that she got for her birthday from Mimi. It has lots of different colors and my mom discovered yesterday that she can differentiate between yellow and red. Today, she got down green and blue. Orange is still a little confusing, but she's definitely on her way to getting those primary colors down. It was so cool to watch it click in her brain. These may seem like little things to most people, but to watch your child learn is one of the most amazing experiences. She is so smart and I am so proud!

Well, I've finally gotten a moment to sit down and write. It has been a hectic few weeks. Work has just absolutely eaten my lunch almost every day and then all of the little projects for the church have really filled in what few gaps of time I have left. Last week as I was driving to the 4th on Main meeting in Danbury, I had a break down. I hadn't seen Ella hardly at all that week and I wasn't going to get to see her at all that day. She was asleep when I left for work and I ended up working until I had to leave to go to my meeting. But then I realized something. Life was pretty easy before I started working for the Lord. Satan was really attacking me on my way to that meeting, although I didn't realize it until later that night. But this week has really rejunvenated me. I got to stay home on Monday with Ella since both my mom and Drew were back at work. We went to Bates Park and Ella was in the swing for 25 minutes straight! It's something about those swings....Then we went swimming with Aunt Heather, Alley, Cane, and Nonnie. It was a great day! It was so much fun that I didn't even think about breaking out my camera, so no pictures.

Josh started back to school this week after a short break. His schedule isn't too bad, though. I'm just excited that I get two to three days at home every week. Tomorrow is another one of those days :) Josh has also been helping my parents around their house doing some home improvements. We all spent the day over their on Saturday. Here are some pictures of what we were up to:

Daddy was definitely not having as much fun as us....


And here's a picture of my little white trash baby girl in her swim diaper and crocs....

Rowan actually learned how to ride her bike a few moments before this picture. What a cool day to have the camera ready. I still remember the day Chase taught me how to ride my bike.

Ella and I hit a milestone the other day. I got to fix her hair for the first time! :) Here are some pictures of Ella's first pigtails:

To finish it all up, I'm going to tell you to go by the Tenth Avenue North CD. I had one of those moments last night where I encountered Christ in my car. I think those moments only come to me through music, so I love it when it happens.

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.