Staying Cool by...

Meeting friends at Baskin Robbins

We love ice cream!

Going to Leaping Lizards, an indoor inflatable bounce house place. 

Mommy with Brody, Ella and Carter going down the slide

Going to the free kids flick movie with Brody and Will

Playing in the fountains after the movie

The 3 boys!

Celebrating Jen's 30th birthday playing bingo

Playing in the pool!

Ella loves the water

I cover her in layers of sun screen!

Not sure what to do today with the 104 degree heat. UGH!

18 Months

Wow! How far she has come. She is BLOOMING into a beautiful, strawberry blonde headed toddler.

We had her 18 month check-up with Dr. Stuppy. She said Ella is absolutely amazing...thinking of all the issues at the beginning. She is right on track in all areas! YEA!!

Miss Ella is 22 pounds 6 ounces (21st percentile)

29.50 inches long (4th percentile)

18.3 inches head circumference (54th percentile)

Dr. Stuppy said her height to length ratio is good and looks great! She will probably be  petite like her Mommy, Guh Guh, Nana, Aunt Patrice and cousins...runs in the family. 

At 18 months Ella is Blooming by:

+ Moving off whole milk to 2% milk. Dr. Stuppy said for us to now ween her off her nighttime bottle.

+Can eat anything she wants...she loves crackers, cheese, apples and broccoli...she is a great eater.

+ She just tried Peanut Butter for the first time and likes it

+She wears size 4 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes

+Walks everywhere..sometime even tries a run

+Loves her brother and wants to follow him everywhere and do everything he does

+Ella wakes up every morning "talking" in her crib. As soon as she gets up, she asks for "bru" (brother)

+ Sleeps about 11 hours each night and takes 1 nap that is usually about 1 1/2 hours. She tells us "night night" about 7pm each night to let us know she is tired. She is the easiest baby to put to sleep.

+ Loves to shut doors

+ Has loved the pool this summer and loves to blow bubbles

+ Loves the bathtub

+ Loves to have us sing to her. Her favorite song is "clap, clap your hands..." a song Carter and I learned in our Baby Sign and Sing Class.

+ Loves to hear the sound of her own voice. She talks and babbles so much! Her favorite words are clap, bru (brother), Da Da, Ma Ma, Dog, Debbie, Bye bye, shoes, GO, eat, cracker, ba ba, more

+Can follow simple directions. " Give this to daddy" " Put it in the basket"

We love her so much! She is doing great in every way!

New Cans

We got a flyer about a month ago saying they were coming...

Carter was SO excited when they were delivered. So excited that he wanted to get IN them.

I told him that this was the ONLY time he could get in them because they were clean...

So exciting for him that he had to call Daddy right away that they were delivered and he got in them.

Will Carter be a recycle man when he gets big? It sounds a little better than trash man. :)

Touch-A-Truck 2011

This is Carter's FAVORITE thing about summer. He loves the trucks. But I am not just talking about a normal truck-I am talking about a Pepsi delivery truck, ambulance, firetruck, police motorcycle, SWAT team vehicle, coffee truck, excavators, combine, tractor, train, recycle truck, Carter Energy oil truck, mobile game RV....awesome day!!

We were glad Will, Lydia and Brody met us there. So much fun!!

One of our first stops was the recycle truck! Here they are in it.

The boys driving the truck. They even got to honk the horn.

Sitting on the back of the Recycle Truck.

Daddy and Carter in the Children's Mercy ambulance. 

Carter and Ella wanted to ride in the train.

Carter held Ella tightly the whole trip!! We were afraid she would stand up...but she didn't.

Inside the little excavator

Driving the race cars at the Carter Energy truck.

Vroom...vroom!

We even found a PINK tractor for Ella to sit on!

Ha! There was an antique tractor and a photographer that was taking pictures of kids dressed up in old time attire. We dressed Ella in a lace dress, bonnet and pearls. Carter wore a silk shirt with a bow tie, matching derby at and knickers!  

SO cute to their Mommy.

Standing on back of the antique firetruck.

On the way out, our last stop was the big excavator!

It was a very special day for my boy. He is already talking about Touch-A-Truck 2012.

TBall Season

Carter's 1st season of T-ball is over. His last game was last Saturday.

They had an end-of-the-year Pizza Party!

The boys' table...it was LOUD. Carter and Will are in the back in the right side. Carter is wearing a yellow shirt.

They got trophies. Carter was very proud.

The boys and their trophies! Good job, Incredibles!

We are so proud of Carter! He made good progress throughout the season. He says he enjoyed the snacks after the game and stopping the ball the best.

Ella enjoyed the pizza party, too. (And yes, that is a bow/flower clipped in her hair).



Bubbles in the bathtub

Ella blowing bubbles in the tub. She loves the bath and water.

(Push the "PLAY" button to start the video. Make sure your volume is turned up).

My Grandma Marie

My great-grandma passed away last week at the age of 91.

She was the sweetest woman and had the sweetest voice. She loved to sing to us, especially the song "I love you, a bushel and a peck. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck". She made the BEST sugar cookies in the world. When I was little, she made me doll clothes for all my dolls. My parents still have them and I can't wait to get them out for Ella to play with someday soon.

We visited Grandma Marie (we called her Gram) at her home in Branson last summer.

I was so glad she got to meet Miss Ella, who she had prayed so hard for.

We loved seeing her. This was the last time we saw her.

I also brought Carter to meet her in June 2007. He was her first great, great grandchild.

Carter giving Gram kisses in June 2007.

I know she is happy now-out of pain and seeing my Papas Papa again. I know she is in heaven looking down on us with the same sweet smile.



Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken this week. I cannot wait to see how they turned out. Our kids were tuckered out on the way home...

and Mommy and Daddy were happy and enjoyed the quiet ride home.

Baptism

One Year Ago...so big and so blessed

God definitely has a special plan for you, my Ella!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It is SO HOT. There are just a few things you can do outside when it is this hot.

Go to the Pool!

Play in the Sandbox alongside the Pool. (Yes, they let you go from one to the other and dirty the pool with sand).

Go to a friend's house and make your own pizzas!

play inside while lunch is cooking:)

Go to 7 Eleven on 7-11-11 and get a free Slurpee!!

Play in our pool on the deck...and Lucky (our dog) enjoys it too.

splish...splash

Drive the play car after playing in the water

Go to Johnson County Museum and enjoy their exhibit...and their air conditioner.

This was the "health room".

Ella rolled cars saying, "beep, beep"

Dr. Carter

Checking the baby's health

pool time...again

Splash Park!!

So fun!

We love the water!

Lookin' stylish in the water.

We are trying to stay cool!