TOOTH!

This was quite by accident.... but... do you see it?!?!?

Tooth #2 is on it's way as well....

Mount Charleston

Yesterday was Nevada State Proficiency testing at school. Students are tested as sophomores and if you pass everything -- you are done. Since Keola is a freshman and Bruce is a proficient junior, they had the day off. Mitch also took the day off (hmmm...sit in a classroom assistant proctoring or stay home....) and AFTER getting the new furniture, we headed up to Mt. Charleston.

It was a quick 20 minute drive up to about 7,000 feet and it was snowing off and on. Bruce and Keola are originally from Hawaii so they were looking forward to getting in to the snow. And they did! Boy, did they enjoy themselves. We parked at a hiking trail and let them out to play. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch at the adorable Mt. Charleston Hotel. Pricey, but quaint. We're looking forward to heading up this summer for picnics with the girls.

The New Nursery

We were given new living room furniture (photos to come once the dust settles) so we had to move EVERYTHING around to fit in a chair and an ottoman. Many things were manuevered, including the kids' room.


Ella modeling the "new" bed. Didn't move places -- it just got a new bedspread and sheets so that 16 yeard old Bruce would feel more at home (Tink just wasn't cutting it for him).


The "toy corner": We moved the toy bins and a small shelf unit to the right of the bed next to the window (the glider/rocker used to be here).


Ella's bed -- again no change except the picture on that wall.


The name wall -- I put this in because I cleaned up the dresser. Pretty!


And finally....we moved one of the bookshelves in to the kids' room. I like it!

Blue Man Group

Yesterday morning Mitch received an email that a fellow educator had 80 free tickets to the Blue Man Group that night. Despite the fact that it was for the 10:30 PM show (YIKES! We didn't get home until 1 AM), we were able to snag 5 tickets for us, the boys and Terry, the orchestra director at Mitch's school. Overall, we enjoyed the show -- very entertaining and not at all what you would expect. So I don't kill the surprise for anyone who may go in the future (I will say there is massive amounts of paper and I've yet to figure out why), I'll leave it at that. But I wouldn't pay the $100/ticket they ask. If ever you are in Vegas with a pre-teen -- they seemed to like it the best. The boys (teens) enjoyed it as well, but the middle school crowd seemed to have the most fun. Save your money and go to see a Cirque show -- much cooler!

The Nursery

Ella's baby book has a place for pictures of her nursery. Since I plan to have this blog made in to a book... here they are!

All the parenting books tell you to take the mobile down when baby is 5 months. Well, we didn't because Ella can't reach it yet. Yesterday, daddy turned it on when she was screaming and crying (and exhausted) in bed... and who knew? Worked like a charm ... and for bedtime and for a nap this morning. Haven't used it in 8 months --glad we kept it on!

Tooth

Ella was sitting in her high chair the other day just smiling away after eating and I could see her tooth really well. So I figured, what the heck... try and get a picture.... here is what we got!

Eight Months Old!

Ella is officially 8 months old! She has her first tooth and is scooting around on her belly quite well. She likes to eat anything we give her for the first try and prefers to eat at the table with us, but still does baby food. She has figured out how to get from sitting down to her tummy so she can move around and today she figured out how to follow mommy when she leaves the room! Ella is quite attached to mommy and daddy right now and is not happy when left alone if even for a few minutes! She also gets really mad when mommy walks in the house from being gone (even though Ella didn't realize mom was gone until mom gets back!). She really loves other kids and to play with her kitties!

Not visitors

As I may have mentioned, we've "adopted" two new family members.... and here they are....


Bruce





Keola

Visitors

We recently had a visit from Dennis and Maria (Perrin) Bato! Maria was Cammie's roommate in college. Dennis and Maria live in Seattle and are expecting a daughter in early August. They were in town visiting Dennis's uncle and we had a chance to have lunch and catch up. Pictures provided by Dennis!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From our little leprechaun!

Ella has started scooting around -- pulling with her arms and pushing with her feet. She hasn't quite figured out how the knees are involved, but she is getting around quite well!

Baby, It's WARM Outside!

I can't say "HOT" because in Las Vegas, 88 degrees is just "warm" (110 is HOT). But it was (hot). We've been having troubles adjusting to the time change and I've read that the best way to beat that is to get out in the sun. So we did! Ella had a great time and we stayed until I realized that it was way to warm to be wearing a black tee shirt while sitting in the sun/shade.

Ella is starting to scoot around on her tummy and squealing with absolute delight while doing it! Especially if she can manage to grab a handful of cat! She's sleeping on her knees (with butt in the air), but isn't quite crawling yet.

We've added two new members to our family this week -- Bruce and Keola. They are both Mitch's students and will be living with us indefinitely. Ella LOVES having her new "big brothers" around. And I love that they play with her so I can get something accomplished!

The First Tooth!

A week ago today Ella decided she no longer wanted to eat baby food. She spent all week refusing anything but crackers to eat. She also went through about a gazillion diapers. I thought she was just under the weather. Turns out, she was teething (silly mama!)!

And who discovered that first little tooth peeking through her gums? Nick Davidson -- a trombone player from Mitch's band who happened to be over on Friday afternoon. He was playing with Ella and said, "Oh! You have a tooth peeking through!" And I said, "No, she doesn't have teeth yet." It wasn't until we were in Wal-Mart 2 hours later that I actually saw a glimpse of white when she smiled at me. Lesson learned: Listen to the teenagers! (No really -- I do know better than that!)

Once the tooth is actually up so we can get a picture of it and Ella lets us see it -- we'll get a picture for you!

First Mickey Ears!

I almost forgot! Here is Ella in her first set of Mickey ears!

Happy Friday!

Spike

Ella is currently sporting an old man come-over and I thought that it might be cute if I put it up in a little pony tail. Thinking, of course, that it would spill over like a little water fountain... ummm... nope. It stuck straight up!




Sorry about the crazy pictures -- I was playing around with the flash and the pics are blurry without it, but you can see Ella's hair better! And then Violet decided to join in on the fun!

Three years later...

Here is where we (and a lot of you!) were three years ago today. It's much warmer today (high of 77 -- woot woot!!) and we'll be having sushi rather than prime rib, but it's still a happy day for us.

P.S. Have you checked out the "tickers" at the very bottom of this blog? Go on... scroll allllll the way down and see how cute they are!