Disneyland!!

A few weeks ago, we got to go on a wonderful trip to Disneyland with the Henniger/Donaldson/Lacey crew! Wow - the delight in Ella's eyes was pure joy to us. It was such a fun vacation. I have sooo many pictures. We have such great memories. Ella still talks about it daily, and remembers to tell people she meets that she went to Disneyland and met Mickey Mouse. Most nights before bed, she tells me a list of all the people she wants to take there someday. Our little girl loves a shared experience. :)

The first picture...excited women about to enter DISNEYLAND!!! I am feeling so giddy in this picture to run in and see everything!! Yes, I've been there before; and yes, I felt like a little kid all over again. Ella soaking it all in from the comfort of her stroller...
The pretty castle behind us....
Our first order of business was to get all of us on an Ella-friendly ride before we all parted ways for the day. It's a Small World was our first destination.
The crew on the boat behind us....

Ella didn't really enjoy her first ride. :) She mostly rode the ride saying "All done!" and covering her eyes with Dada's hat. :) She was adorable, and did like it by the end. But it was very over-stimulating for this 2 year old.
ToonTown was where Ella found her happiness. There, we met princesses, and cartoon characters. She LOVED meeting the characters.
Ella and Dada in Toontown....

Meeting Pluto, who she still talks about "honking his nose", which she did love doing...
In Mickey's house!!!...
And the man of the hour himself....
We met him again the next day....

Ella insisted that she share her water with Mickey, so we gave him a drink...and then she slept with her special pink cup that Mickey drank out of....
Oh, and Donald was thirsty too of course....
The carousel!!!


And her ultimate joy was the teacups....


Showing their excited faces....

And the Disney SoundSational Parade at the end of the day was also a huge HUGE delight. Ella waved her arm so long and so vigorously, that we wondered how she had the strength to continue. She blew kisses, waved, and got lots of attention from the characters in return. Jason and I would both say that the parade was a highlight. Just delightful. By this point, Ella had a cold and as you can see she was a little rashy and sickly, but still so happy....


Riding the Disney train....
Dad took the grandkids for a WHOLE DAY while Jason and I got to spend a day of freedom at Disneyland and California Adventures. Such a perfect gift to us. We had so much fun, we walked about a hundred miles, went on all the rides our hearts desired, held hands, ate ridiculously good corn dogs, and avoided the teacups. :)
Oh, and...cute cousins!
Thanks for the fabulous vacation Papa Mike and Nana Lisa!!
More pictures to come soon of the last part of the vacation - staying at Jay & DeeDee's home with the family!

Ella and her Dada

Oh how she loves him...

Just for my recollection....

A few things I want to remember about Ella as a new 2 year old:

• She loves to sing songs to herself to the tune of "twinkle twinkle little star" and makes up different lyrics.



• The three real songs she sings the most are "Twinkle Twinkle little Star", "Jesus Loves Me", and "Where is Thumbkins".



• She loves to pretend to read books to herself or to her Lamb but the words are always the same, "Ride the horse up and down, don't fall down" or "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so". Always ending with "Amen".
  


• Every now and then Ella wakes up early but if we pull her into bed with us, she'll sleep another hour or more.
  


• She loves for me to sing her a silly song each night before bed or before nap and will give me a topic or person to sing about. Michelle Young, I think you actually did this for Gavin too! Funny....


• Ella has LOTS of opinions on things, like what she wears or how things are done, and she communicates her opinions clearly. She especially wants you to acknowledge things that she says, and will repeat something over and over again until you acknowledge it.


• One of Ella's favorite games it to play "Push". This means that she pushes us over on the floor and we wrestle and play "ride the pony" and "airplane" on our feet and tickle each other. We do that every day.


• She loves to play hide and seek and counts to 5 hiding her eyes and then says, "ready or not here she comes!" She desperately wants to be found and will actually pretend cough to get you to go to where she is. :)


• Ella is very cuddly still. She loves to be held and still sucks her thumb when she is tired or going to sleep...thumb in mouth, first finger on nose.


• Her frequent use of the words "love it" when we do or see something she likes. And she says it very matter of factly. Cute.
  


• Ella loves to pretend play, especially when it involves taking care of her babies, or lamb, or cooking, or cleaning.

For example one day, I was upstairs drying my hair and I came down to see she had been cooking....

And was feeding her baby some "Potato Soup"...


Then she cleaned her dishes.

And just a few cute poses to end....

I think the previous list may seem somewhat insignificant to anyone else, but to Jason and I they are sweet things to treasure. They help us to remember the little joys of each stage, because there certainly are challenges mixed in too. (As I'm typing this, I hear Ella upstairs trying to negotiate her way out of bedtime!)

Thanks, Nana!

Nana flew out from Kansas to play with Ella for a few days while Jason and I went to a business event at the Oregon coast. Thanks for coming, Nana! Ella had fun with you...and we had fun being away! (no offense, Ella....)

Laurelhurst Park Play

It's BEAUTIFUL today, and COLD. We went to the park with the Austins, and then promptly made our way to Playdate PDX, and indoor play gym with Stumptown coffee. Fun Saturday morning!! Family Shot....

I put on this hat to go to the park, which I got years ago at Saturday Market....it's made of recycled t-shirts.... SO Portland. Ella pointed at it and said with a straight face, "Mama Silly Hat".

January Snow

We got a little bit of snow in January and Ella made her first snowman. It cracks me up becuase she made it on our tiny back porch on top of our cooler. So funny!! Here is the proud girl and her creation....

Also, Ella has taken a liking to holding my coffee every morning because it keeps her hands warm. I think it's just so cute, although I get a bit nervous that she will dump it's precious contents. Here is where we sit and cuddle every single morning while she drinks milk and I drink coffee...

And lastly, Ella has been fighting sleep recently. She does NOT want to take a nap, and she does not want to go to bed. Life is too much fun!! So she had a few days of nap refusal, and one day eventually just passed out on the couch at 4:30 with Dada becuase she was SOOO tired. Thankfully, she is napping better again.

Some of my favorites

Ella has been into making silly faces lately. She does them on cue if you ask her to make her "smoosh face" or her "silly face" or her "crazy face". Here are just a few cute shots I got while Jason and Ella were playing on the kitchen floor....

Ella is REALLY into her Dada these days. She askes for him to come home from work, she only wants to rock with Dada before bed, and looks up at him cutely and says, "Dada hold her". I love it.