Since Ella and Natalie will be in dance class together starting Thursday, the mommies thought it was a good idea for them to meet. We had a fun afternoon at the park and these two girls hit it off immediately. They were swinging, climbing, sliding and acting silly. ...
Sunday Afternoon Stroll
Since Ella is suddenly addicted to cartoons, we are trying to capture her attention and creativity in other ways. We've been eliminating television during the week, except for thirty minutes before bed. The weekends, however, are more difficult. We're all tired and want to relax and somehow find ourselves piled into bed watching Toot & Puddle and Wow, Wow, Wubzy. Today after nap, SD suggested we play outside. The weather has been great this weekend - beautifully sunny, with low humidity and a sky full of fluffy white clouds. Although we only spent about a half an hour outside, it made her forget about cartoons {or the lack thereof} and pay attention to the grass and the bugs and the clouds. Here are a few pictures from our sunny Sunday afternoon. hanging out in the fort with ...
Two Ballerinas
Today, Ella was a trooper. Me, Ashley and Beth set out at seven o'clock this morning in search of a consignment sale far away. The two little babies stayed home, but Ella was in tow. She didn't want to play golf with daddy and she didn't want to stay at home. I got her several cute outfits, which I'll share later in the week in a fashion post. The one thing she picked out was a pair of ballerina pajamas. They were in great shape and at $5, it was an easy sale. Then, as if that weren't enough shopping, we picked up Alston and Ava Reese and headed to town. We went to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Tuesday Morning, Ross, Hancock Fabric and Home Goods. I didn't buy much except for birthday party accessories, but in Homegoods Ella found another little prize. She had been such a good girl today, I ...
A Promise is a Promise
Today was the big day. When I got to Garan's this afternoon Ella was beyond excited. She was all dolled up and the only thing for me to do was whip up a ballerina hairdo. She got up on the ottoman in the sunroom and gave me a couple of good poses. That girl is good at taking pictures! Isn't her dance bag cute? I couldn't bear to spend a lot of money, so I picked up a $2 tote bag from Hobby Lobby, had it monogrammed and added pink rick rack and ball fringe! When we got to class we saw some girls we knew and we were a little more relaxed. The mommy's got to go in for a few minutes which was fun. I swear I was on the verge of tears the entire time. I know that's silly, but she looked so big and did such a great job. There are about 18 kids in her class and two boys - she was very happy ...
Today is the Day
Guess who gets to dance today? ...
Vera & Ella
All summer long Ella and Garan have been visiting my aunt Vera. They go to lunch, to the pharmacy, to the market. Ella pushes a tiny metal buggy full of her groceries. Vera has loved spending time with Ella and... well, the feeling is mutual. On Saturday, we had a family reunion to celebrate Vera's 94th birthday. Ella was so excited about "Vera's party". We talked about it for days and she worked hard on a birthday card for her. These are my favorite pictures from the day. ...
A Little Fancy Practice
I ordered Ella the CUTEST fancy outfit for her birthday party today. Then I set off in search of accessories. Dress up shoes were $12, so instead I bought pink glitter flats from Target for $9. She can actually wear these in public and won't kill herself trying to walk. I bought little colored clips to assist with her requisite "up-do" for the soiree. Mommy even got hot pink tights to sport! Ella was so excited about the whole thing that we wore the shoes all afternoon and we did a practice run on her hair. She looked adorable. Seeing herself in the mirror was shortly followed by, "Get me fancier, momma!" We threw on what we could find and had a little photo shoot. Her party dress is a surprise, she'll be opening that on her birthday before the party. Until then, enjoy this ...
Sweet Daddy
Today when I picked Ella up from Garan's she asked if SD was at home. She's so used to him being gone during the week that she was very surprised when I said yes. She said, "Oh! Is he spending the night with us tonight?" ...