Ellison Reese

Can ya tell?!  Such a big, fun day that little Mookster was WIPED out!  I'll explain the day in a moment, but these first couple pics are what we found when we turned around in our front seats of the mini-van at 7pm on the drive home.  One moment, she was watching a DVD and playing with her stickers.  The next minute I turned around and found all the stickers covering her little body and she was zonked out.  Hilarious!

My heart still smiles when I see these.  So funny.

The day started off with the 3 of us heading out in the morning to drive to Concord to meet up with Tato & Nilda (Jonathan's nephew and his wife).  We are SO excited they are moving from the Buffalo area to Concord next month!!!  Ellison will finally have some cousins she will get to see and play with.  Anyway, they were in Concord looking for a house while their girls were back in NY.  They were successful in finding a BEAUTIFUL home - we went to see them and their new purchase before they headed back up to NY to finish up everything.  Ellison thought it was so much fun to run around in an empty house, and wanted to keep playing hide-and-seek.  And she was so happy with her new baby doll and carrier that Tato & Nilda were kind enough to present to her.  After viewing their new home, we all headed to a nice lunch.  By the time we left Concord, it was past Ellison's naptime, but we thought for sure she'd fall asleep on the way up to High Point.  Despite the bedtime, relaxing, soothing DVD, that child never even shut an eye.  We were thinking "disaster" since we were headed to a birthday party.  We were driving to High Point for Ella James' 2nd birthday party.  But she did good - she played til her heart was content, loved having a cupcake and "chippies" for dinner, and enjoyed the great party (as did her parents).

Sweet Ella James blowing out her candles.

Ellison thought Ella James' sunglasses were the coolest.

Ella James discovering a pinwheel sticking out of one of the gifts.

Caroline, Mollie, and baby girl having some fun.

I tried and tried to get a pic of just Ella James, but only succeeded in getting this one. 

Ellison and Caroline sharing an umbrella in the sprinkling rain (note the backwards, upside down tiara hanging off the back of Ellison's noggin - this is how she insists on wearing them).

Lovin' swinging on the "big girl swing" now.  Totally content.  For as much as she wasn't into swinging when she was littler, this girl LOVES to swing now.

[April 19, 2009]

My dad surprised me and my two siblings recently by giving us a very generous gift.  My particular gift?  A new stove!  Here's an ironic little story.  My dad told my mom how he wanted to give each of us kids a monetary gift, and they mentioned between the two of them that they'd like to buy me a new stove with that money.  Literally two days after they talked about it (which was unbeknownst to us at the time), I was on the phone with my mom while cooking when suddenly I stopped our conversation to complain out loud because my two back burners stopped working right in the middle of my meal preparation.  OK, so it's not an ironic story, it's a God story.  Isn't it amazing how He lets such little details fall into place, knowing exactly what we're going to need at the right time, and He gives us the means to do what we need when there doesn't seem any other way?  Thank you, God, and thank you, Dad!  We absolutely love our new appliance!  Now, we just need to accent it with something other than green countertops. :-)  A special shout out to Dave on getting us in touch with my new fave kitchen toy!

Funny thing was, Ellison was just as excited over the new stove.  It was like the circus came to town when the delivery truck arrived.  She was in awe of the whole process, and was totally flirting with the 3 delivery men, who were SO sweet to her!  (Go Ferguson!).  She lit up when she saw the final product in its new place, and we quickly figured out how to put the child lock on the buttons.  She was animatedly talking about the stove that whole day, announcing to people that "we got a new stove!".  Again, thanks Dad!!!

We had a beautiful Easter.  The weather was absolutely perfect throughout the day - so appropriate for the beauty of the day and the celebration of our Savior risen.  Ellison woke up and we immediately went downstairs so she could find the eggs the Easter bunny hid (about 5 minutes prior, during her potty time - hey, the eggs can't go bad, man!).  She had fun finding them, and we thought for sure she'd get sidetracked by the basket o' goodies sitting on the fireplace, but she didn't even notice.

With the hunt behind her, and with us pointing out her new treats, Ellison pulled out every item one by one.  I know, she looks less than thrilled, but she really was excited.  It may have been her pesky parents rushing her through so we could get ready for church.

Attempts at family photos never turn out in our household.  I know.  I've said it before.

I love Elli's face in this one.

Our little crack-up tearing into a Peep.  She is still asking for one every single morning for breakfast.  Marshmallow anything, and this girl is sold on it.

After a beautiful church service, we went to Lucky 32 for Easter brunch where the Sbihli clan joined us.  I imagine Lucky 32 will be a tradition in our house for Easter brunch - we went last year for the first time when my parents and aunt were in town visiting.

The rest of the day was very relaxing, and just family time.  Very peaceful.

[April 12, 2009]

The Perez clan came over for a long-overdue evening, and of course I had to snap the two "big girls" playing around.  One of these days I need to post pics of the 2 of them when they were just infants together.  I hope they'll be life-long friends someday.  Our little Latinas need to stick together! :-)

Caroline & Ellison playing in the sleeping bag together.

Having a tea party complete with Cheerios.  Ellison shall never be called an improper hostess.

Sweet hugs.  This pic cracks me up - it looks like Caroline has Ellison in a headlock.  There was a photo of Ellison reciprocating, but it didn't quite turn out.

Our first family Easter egg coloring.  Gosh, it felt like it was over in like, 2 minutes.  We didn't bother to get crazy-creative with our eggs this year.  Ellison enjoyed it.

Yes, a God-awful photo of a make-up-less me, but I have to prove I was there.

We RARELY have a pic of the 2 of us both smiling and looking at the camera...

Way behind on posts, obviously.  I know I've mentioned it before during the Christmas season, but an elderly gentleman in our neighborhood decorates his yard all up for Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.  This year he had some trees with hanging Easter eggs on them that Ellison loved.  We took several walks throughout the Easter season to take a visit.  She would become very concerned when she'd see a couple of Easter eggs in half on the ground from the wind.

[April 9, 2009]

Ellison has definitely been a lot more clingy to me lately, even when Daddy's around!  She walks around the house and asks Jonathan, "Where's my mom?".  I'm loving every minute of it since I know it won't last long, and I'll soon enough be 2nd fiddle again around here.  I absolutely LOVE those moments where she just snuggles into my lap and we watch TV together.

Ahhh, heaven... (for Mommy anyways).

[April 7, 2009]

All right... this is going to make me crazy.  Anyone know how to rotate pics on this sucker?!

Well, Ellison and I had such a good day on Monday.  We spur-of-the-moment decided to blow-off our usual Monday library storytime, and decided to head to the Children's Museum.  Ellison wanted to go there instead.  We were off to a slow start (she can be a little lollygagger), so we missed the Easter Egg Hunt we didn't know they were having that morning.  But we still had a great day.

Trying to get us out the door, but Mookie had to read her Thomas the Train books first.  She was sitting on her bear, just reading aloud all by herself until I eavesdropped.  She absolutely loves books and "reading" (she makes up the stories based on the photos) and being read to.  A girl after my own heart.

We had spotted the Easter Bunny from afar in the museum, but had to make a quick potty run.  By the time we got back out, we just spotted him/her sneaking behind an employee door.  Ellison was SO bummed.  She kept looking out the museum window asking where the Easter Bunny went because she "wanted to hug and kiss him".  I felt so sad for her.  Then, much to our surprise, as the museum was closing at noon (another thing I'll remember in the future), the Easter Bunny was holding the door!  Ellison was SO thrilled!  She was beaming and totally not afraid of him/her at all!  She gave him a hug and kiss, and the sweet Easter Bunny reciprocated. 

Next stop: Harris Teeter to pick up some groceries.  I never have any coins on me, but just so happened to have the quarters this time so Ellison could ride the dinosaur (I think it's supposed to be a dragon, but that's what we call it).  She gets so excited.  I love being able to carry a tiny camera in my purse now to capture our more mundane daily life moments. :-)

This little Aquaphor lotion has become such an important fixture in Ellison's life.  I had to finally take a pic.  For some reason, I know I've mentioned before how Ellison gets attached to random inanimate objects.  This is one of them!  She calls it "my lotion".  She wants to just hold it, carry it around, sometimes apply it, has to sometimes kiss it goodnight (since we won't let her take it to bed), and sometimes asks for it first thing in the morning.  If she forgets about it for a few days, and then finds it again, she just grins from ear to ear.  We just love her little quirks...

When we got home from our good morning activities, Ellison had a surprise Easter package from Grandma & Grandpapa.  Bonus!!!

Wearing her new candy jewelry.  Perfect for our girly girl.  That's what she says several times a day: "My a girly girl!".

After naptime, she had to put on this shirt (she wants this shirt nearly every day), and usually requests to keep her pants off.  She was decorating the front door with her new Easter clings that Grandma sent her while she was watching for her daddy to pull in the driveway.

And these last 2 are Ellison being told to "smile". :-)

[April 5, 2009]