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: