All Girl....All The Time

I cant believe believe how much Ella has grown in the last year. We went and got pictures of her and her cousins for the grandparents and the change is so drastic. Last year, Ella was short, smiley and munchkin like. This year, she is long, tall and has a maturity about her that scares the crap out of me for 3 years old. Before I know it, she's going to be a teenager going out on dates! Aargh! Maybe I shouldn't let her play with make up yet?!

In any case, I let Ella have at the makeup for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It worked out great for her, but she scared the begeebies out of her Daddy when he came home from work. Reason being, she was playing with my makeup and I only have colors like gray, brown and a slight purple. It was cute to watch, but the outcome was a little darker than I had envisioned. It looked like war paint. Though she felt beautiful....Daddy wasn't too sure about the outcome either. This first picture was the beginning of the war paint experiment.


I wasn't sure if I was going to post any of those, but Keith told everyone at work and our family how she scared the crap out of him. So I sorta feel like I needed to post at least one picture of the experience....But you only get one!

The remaining pictures in this post are post-Christmas. Yes, Ella got makeup galore for Christmas from Santa, so we had at it again. Bright pinks, blues and purples. Just what a little girl should use. And lots of lipstick. She LOVES lipsticks. She loves lipstick so much (be it chap stick or kiddie lip gloss) that when she gets up to go to the bathroom first thing in the morning, most days she puts chap stick on right after (and calls it lipstick).






Hey there bright eyes!










Aw forget it. Its just too cute to see her put on make up and admire herself in the mirror. And besides...The tilted head, squinty eyes she gives me when she feel beautiful is something I cant resist. There's no doubt we'll do it again!

Rounding Out Our Holiday

Last Saturday, we had our big family Christmas with Keith's extended side of the family. We went to his Aunt and Uncle's house and his Uncle made an ice skating rink in their back yard. They did this last year too and I was excited to see Ella get out there now that she is a year older and not as scared of everything! :o)

Once she realized that it was ice and not snow she did pretty good. She fell a few times and cried, but we just picked her back up and off she went. The big kids were playing hockey. Jack and Ella picked up some sticks and played a game themselves. Even little Everett got into the swing of it (although he really just sat there and held the stick). The kids ate snow, slid around on their hands and knees and had a gay ole' time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY BLOGGY FRIENDS!

Sunkissed Morning

Our dog Lulu is getting old. She is only 6 years old, but arthritis has set in and her joints are way crackety. Seeing that puppy behind those eyes is kind of deceiving. We used to let her up on our bed alot before Ella was born. But after Ella was born, we didn't want her jumping on the bed anymore in fear that she would smoother Ella one day. She is still quite a spunky dog, but pays for it usually later in the day.

Recently, she has started jumping up on our bed and napping again. When I go to look for her and peek in my room to see if she is under the bed or in her kennel and find her on my bed, I cant help but feel bad for her. I just know that her little arthritic legs had to have hurt jumping up there and she must have really wanted to get comfy on our bed to feel the pain. (To hear more about what she did with those arthritic legs click here). So I usually walk in there, pet her for a minute, give her a kiss on the bridge of her nose (my favorite place to kiss her) and tell her what a good dog she is.



I've probably mentioned before, Ella LOVES Lulu. She is ultimately her playmate at home. Available to her at all times. Completely submissive enough to play hide and seek under a sleeping bag with her. Calm enough to let Ella hang like a monkey around her neck. And humble enough to let Ella treat her jowls like rubber.

Sometimes you can look at a moment and know if it is going to look good through a camera lens or not. On this morning, I could not resist taking pictures of Ella and Lulu. Up crawls Ella with her blanket (tag in hand) and gently cuddles with her. Lulu didn't move. I also knew that I had just downloaded Pioneer Woman's new set of PS actions, which included a sunshine action.





I could have shown every single one of these shots by using the sunshine action. This series was just too perfect not to take advantage of that. But I thought it might have been a tad much to make a whole post using the one action....So I mixed it up with a few b&w shots too (which by the way, I have been feeling very b&w lately with my processing over Christmas for some odd reason).




This last shot has to be one of my favorites of all time of Ella. The sunshine effect and the milky, hazy, sleepy feel it has just melts my heart.

Best Shot Monday

I can remember when I was little how our presents would be scattered around the living room for at least a week after Christmas. Everyday I would go and pick a new toy to play with. It was so exciting to scrummage through all the new toys that I had received from Santa. Its no different at our house with Ella.

Keith and I have now made plans to go through Ella's old toys (after she goes to bed, of course) and start thinning out the mess. She doesn't play with half of them anymore and some are still from when she was a baby. I usually cringe when I buy a child a toy now because I know that every other house with children has basically turned into a toy store, like ours. But that's what they love. Toys. So I am convincing myself that as parents, we will just have to put up with the mess like our parents did. But it doesn't mean I cant make the mess a little smaller than it was. :o)

Hmmm.....I wonder if my Mom and Dad ever thinned out my toy collection after I went to bed......?



For more Best Shot Monday images, head over to Tracey's.

Christmas Eve to Day

Long post.....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ella went to church on Christmas Eve with her Grandma and Papa. She got all dolled up in her dress and felt like a princess. Ella is a girl in every single way. When she puts on dresses she starts to squint her eyes, tilt her head, throw her hands up slowly and make a deep sigh....That's her "feeling pretty" move. It will never get old to me. We took a few pictures by the Christmas tree before sending her off to church. Keith and I had some alone time and then met them later for Christmas with his Dad, Stepmom and sisters.

(Aw crappers...I cut this off and mistakenly delete the original)



We were told that night that Ella and her cousin Jack were the cutest things. They walked around holding hands in their dress and suit and looked like an old married couple skipping away. Its hard to get Jack to pose for me, but I love them holding hands in this picture.


They have a baby grand piano at their house and every time we go over there Ella jumps on it and starts to play. She has music in her blood I swear.



On Christmas morning, we had Ella went potty and brushed her teeth before we let her go downstairs to see if Santa came. That gave Keith enough time to go to the bathroom himself and get the video camera. The first thing she did was check to see if the cookies and milk were gone. Check. Then she ran over to the stockings. She opened all of her gifts in the stocking and then opened Keith's, Lulu's and mine. Off to the Christmas tree. A few of the presents she got were a Snow White doll, a new camera (from our friends, which she loves) and a guitar.




Keith's mom came over in the morning. She knit an adorable hat and scarf for Ella. Then it was off for an afternoon nap for Ella and Daddy. Keith did not like waking up to the sound of my shutter going off. Oops. :o)


After the nap, my parents came over. The plan was they were going to bring a turkey over and we would have turkey sandwiches after Ella opened her gifts from them. As we are sitting downstairs, we hear a big crash upstairs. My mom says, "I hope that wasn't my turkey!" Sure as sh*t, the dog had eaten half of the turkey off the counter and finally pawed it down to the floor. O-M-G!! We were in shock. Lulu is the most well behaved and mannered dog I know. She was never a garbage picker as a puppy and has NEVER tried to grab anything off the counter. Its not like the turkey was sitting on the table or some place lower. It was on the counter and she would have had to have thrown her arthritic paws up on the counter and pull it to the floor. We were all stunned. I still cant believe she did it.

Needless to say, Keith was livid and she sat in her kennel for the next few hours. Keith ended up cooking a wonderful dinner for us. My mom hit it on the nail though....She said that for all the love and companionship Lulu has given us over the years, the least we could do is give her a turkey dinner! I agreed and wasn't so upset after that.



I have to add...for humors sake, that later that night after Ella went to bed, Keith and I were downstairs and he told me that Lulu would be spending the night locked in her kennel. He said he knew the turkey would make her want to poop and he was not going to clean it up off the carpets or something the next morning. Just as he said that, Lulu walked by us, started to go upstairs and let out the biggest fart ever. I swear it was the best timing in history. We laughed so hard.

So, one of Ella's favorite gifts was from Mama and Daddy. We had given her a doctors kit and a flute. The $0.99 flute was the hit of the day. I really need to remember that for next year before I start spending $40-$50 on toys she wouldn't enjoy as much.


All in all, I am thankful we made it through the day. Keith is on vacation now until January 5th and I am SO excited. It will sorta be like a little vacation for me too!

Merry Christmas!

My in-laws gave me this beautiful candle centerpiece for my birthday. It was so festive, I just had to post it for Christmas.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Love Thy Hot Cocoa

The snow fell again last night and I hear we are going to get more later in the week. The joy that it gives Ella is amazing. No matter how cold it is, she wants to play out in the snow. I think we have figured out that part of the idea is that she knows she will get hot chocolate when she gets inside.

The second she walks in downstairs, she is yelling at me for hot chocolate, and driving Keith crazy because she cant wait to get upstairs to demand it from me. Little does she know that I have it all ready and sitting on the table for her....Tinkerbell cup and all!

Oh, those cold little cheeks. "Mama, Dont forget the marshmellow!"