Sit and Learn video

Ella received this sit and learn chair from her great aunts and uncles on the Clinger side. It was definitely an instant hit for her. It plays music, reads the book and makes noise when she sits down on it. Here is a video of her "dancing" to the music!

Pigtails

As long as I sit Ella in front of a mirror, she lets me put her hair into a pony tail without too much of a fight. Yesterday we successfully completed pigtails and they looked great on her!

Ella's Birthday Bike

Ella received a Dora tricycle from her Great-Grandpa Clinger for her 1st birthday. She won't be able to ride it until she is 3 years old, but she loved trying to sit on it (with support of course).

Baby video

Ok, here is a video of Ella saying baby....enjoy.

So stylish

We are attempting to do Ella's hair as it finally starts to grow out a little more evenly. Today, we were able to manage her hair with this stylish headband. She posed perfectly for us by the fireplace.

More photo attempts

Ella is just so busy that it is hard for her to sit still for more than three seconds. Which happens to be one second too short for my camera to snap a good photo. Here are a few silly pictures that we ended up with!

Baby and Dog

She did it! Saturday afternoon Ella was playing with her baby doll and she very clearly said "Baby". Aunt Lissa and Amber were witnesses and we were all in shock.

She has also been saying "Dog" a lot too. It sounds a little like Daahhhhg, but she knows the word quite well.

I will try to get a video posted tonight so that you can all enjoy her silly new words.

Sleeping beauty and a ponytail

Every morning I have to wake up Ella to go to school and I try to describe to J what it is like to wake up sleeping beauty after 11 hours of rest. So, in an effort to capture the moment, I walked in to her room this morning with camera in hand.

Also, Ella's hair is almost fitting into a ponytail. She does not like it when I put it up (like mother like daughter?), but if I can distract her long enough, here is the final product.

X-mas picture attempt

I thought it was hard to get a picture of Ella smiling last year for the Christmas card, but this year it is even harder! She won't sit/stand still, and if she does it is usually because she has something in her hand or mouth that she shouldn't!

I will save the final product for you to see on the actual Christmas card, but here is one picture we captured in her dress and tights looking so innocent.

Also, I included some of the pictures from last year's photo shoot when she was just two months old.

Thanks for looking and Happy 14 month birthday Ella!

Trimming the Tree 2007

On Saturday we went as a family and bought a Christmas tree (fake) and decorated the tree and the house on Sunday. Ella was a big help. She tried to eat the lights, pulled off ornaments and carried two of them around as if they were her toys. We quickly made the adjustment and now the lower part of the tree has no ornaments, just to be safe.

Here is a picture of her carrying around her ornaments.

And here is a picture of our first tree:

Class picture

Ella had school pictures last month and we all were given a class picture to take home. Three of these kids have moved onto the older classroom now, leaving Ella and Luisa the oldest in the class for two more months.

Cinder-ELLA Earning her allowance

With all the work around the house that has to be done, we decided that Ella is old enough to start earning her allowance.

Here she is sweeping the kitchen floor.
And here she is cleaning out the fridge and wiping down the shelves.
And finally, she has to load and unload the dishwasher every day.

Thanksgiving 2007

Ella's school had a thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday where parents could come and eat with the kids. Since her school is so close to mama's work, I was able to come and eat turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, corn and stuffing with her and her classmates.



Here is a picture with the older kids in the class that enjoyed the feast.
(left to right: Camden, Luisa, Ella, Valerie. Also Miss Megan in the red apron, and Valerie's mom in the striped sweater).

Bath time fun

Aunt Rebecca (Meena) stopped by today right before bath time and played with Ella in the bath tub. She played with her bath time cabbage patch doll that she received for her birthday and had a blast.

Her first real boo-boo

Last night Ella wanted her very own grands biscuit that J and I were having with dinner. When I handed it to her, there was no letting go. She ate a good portion of it, and then tried to clean with it. She wiped down the couch and the coffee table with it and wouldn't let go. Polly continued to follow her all around hoping for a piece to fall on the ground (which many pieces did, and Polly quickly ate them).

As Ella was walking around, she tripped on something and fell. Of course she didn't let go off the biscuit, and subsequently banged her forehead on the coffee table. The bump and bruise looked pretty scary last night, but this morning it is looking a lot better.

Here is a picture on the way to school this morning:

Her little tricks

We have been working on teaching Ella some new things and she has proved to be a very fast learner!

Here is a video of just a few tricks and a picture of her being silly.

Professional pictures - 1 year

Some of you may have seen the professional pictures we had done of Ella for her first birthday. We only ordered two different poses (because quite frankly we would have needed another mortgage to order any more), but they did upload them and we are able to share them digitally.

Enjoy.

Our Halloween Bunny

We managed to get out and trick or treat for about 30 minutes before Ella's cheeks started getting pink from the cold wind. All of our friendly neighbors blew our cover and said they know who is really going to eat the candy (oops)!

Here she is just before we ventured out:

Another one with Ella & Mama and Ella & Papa:

New video

I have received a few requests asking for some more videos of Ella attempting to walk so here is a new one from today. She is doing really well, and walks about half the time and crawls the other half.

Bouncing, Spinning, Zebra

The Sigrist family was kind enough to pass along the Bouncing, Spinning Zebra that Morgan and Brianna have outgrown. Ella is still a little hesitant about it, but we caught a cute picture of her trying it out!

102.5° temperature

Today Ella spiked her highest fever ever. I took her to the doctor because she has been hitting and pulling on her left ear. Turns out she has an ear infection in her right ear! Poor girl has been cuddling, hot and tired all day! But after her two hour nap, she did manage to get in a little play time!

Goebberts Pumpkin Farm - Ella and Mama

Unfortunately Ella had a tummy ache yesterday and school said that she can't come back until she stops pooping every hour! So, lucky for me, Ella and I got to spend a gorgeous day outside!

We did a little shopping and then went to Goebberts to play with the pumpkins and have an apple cider donut! It was 74° with a little wind, so please excuse her crazy hair!

Here she is checking to see if Dora and Boots were real...

Catching a ride on the Goebberts express....

She's walking!!!

She did it!!! Tonight (10/14/07) Ella walked from the speaker to the stairs without any coaxing! Now she thinks she is a pro and it was actually pretty easy to catch it on video!

First Birthday Party

We had a great turnout for Ella's first birthday party. She did pretty good with all the people passing her around, especially considering it was about 85° that day.

Here is Ella just as the party was starting, looking like a diva:

We also got Ella her very own cake to dig into (it is called a smash cake or a crush cake).

Here she is digging in to her cake:

Unfortunately, she wasn't very interested in opening gifts. By that time, she was tired and ready for a nap! She did help me open the first present though.

So, three outift changes, a sugar high, great friends/family and a very generous amount of gifts really summed up Ella's first birthday.

Thank you to everyone who helped us out (Meena, Aunt Lissa and Aunt Colette), Oma and Opa for letting us use their house for the party and everyone who was there to help us celebrate such a special day!

Ella's cupcake party at school

Ella's school let her bring in cupcakes and celebrate her birthday with a few friends from school.

They are all so cute and were very excited to share in the mess.

Here is my little friend Sloane, she always wants me to pick her up when I come in.

Here is Luisa who started the same day as Ella and has the same birthday!

And Danny, who was the most excited about eating a cupcake!

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a beautiful day for the pumpkin patch! Ella's birthday buddy from Wisconsin was in to visit, so Ella and Ellie went out to Goeberts in Hampshire.

Here are the girls playing with Winnie the Pooh and friends.....

And one of Ella and I sitting by the giant pumpkin!