A walk in the park

For the last 3 years we have had the chance to live across the street from a park, pond (with duckies), and the Fraze (an outdoor amphitheater with some great concerts!) 

Ella has enjoyed going for walks even in the freezing temperatures to see the ducks. We are so glad for some nice weather now so we don't have to bundle up!
Ella and I enjoyed a morning walk to see the ducks and smell some flowers. We will sure miss this area!

Ella's new shirt

Mom made Ella a new shirt and she was so excited to show it off to the family (as well as her toothbrush!)

We are excited to welcome a new little one to our family the end of September!

Sledding

We took Ella sledding today but we are poor law school students and spending money on a sled was not in the budget (sleds are a little pricey!)....so we had to get creative...

Yes, we put our daughter in a laundry basket and sent her down the hill. She absolutely LOVED it!

Ella was giggling so hard at times. It was fun to watch her get so excited!

December Delights

Our month of December has been full of fun!
The last day in November the city of Kettering lit the Mayors Holiday Tree along with several other trees around the park that is across the street from us. We bundled all up (thinking it would be cold) and headed out to watch the lighting ceremony. We had lots of fun counting down with the Mayor and watching the "millions of twinkling lights" turn on. 

The first of December started with a piano recital for all of Nicole's piano students. Each week she teaches wonderful little students how to play the piano. It has been so much fun to watch them come not knowing anything and within a few weeks they can play songs!

Christmas eve we went over to our wonderful friends house (Hansen's) and had a yummy dinner and a dance party with glow sticks. Ella and her friend Cole loved dancing to the music with glow sticks on. I think I say this every post but we really are so grateful for our wonderful Ohio family out here!

Our Christmas was one of the best ones we have had so far. We were able to enjoy a Christmas day as a little family. We enjoyed french toast for breakfast and then we loved watching Ella get so excited to open all the presents. She was given a stroller from her grandparents that we had set up for her to see. Once she saw that, she didn't really care about anything else until we showed her how to unwrap things. Later in the day we went to check out the Kettering City Christmas day celebration at Polen Farm. We sang carols, saw Santa Claus, and ate food. We missed being with all of our extended family but we loved having the time to do our own thing!

 We have also enjoyed reading stories, making yummy treats, snuggling with our little pumpkin, and play in the bath tub (Ella).

Our little ballerina

We wish you all a very happy 2013! We look forward to what this new year has in store for us (GRADUATION for one!!!!)

Happy Happy Birthday Ella Dear!

Happy birthday to our sweet little Ella. She is now one!
It has been fun to reflect that last few days on a year ago and think where we were at that time and how our lives were about to change.
Her birthday was on Friday November 23. We got home late Thursday night from celebrating Thanksgiving in Kentucky.

Ella slept in a little which was very nice! She woke up and we had a pretty normal morning minus that fact that she thought her parents were completely crazy because we kept saying happy birthday. We took a walk to see the ducks since that is her favorite thing.
We decided we would open presents and celebrate starting at 3:42 pm since that was the time she was born. We had my family on Skype, Ella was undressed and her cupcake was waiting for her.

First attempt at eating the cupcake

Cupcake

We put her in her high chair, sang happy birthday and gave her the cupcake with a candle. She got scared, started crying and wanted to get out. We pulled her out and she put her head on moms shoulder. We tried to open presents but she didn't like that. She just sat on moms lap holding on for dear life.
The next day she finally ate a different cupcake after mom put it upside down so she couldn't see the frosting. She was probably the cleanest baby ever!

We were able to have some dear friends over on Saturday to help us celebrate and eat all the cupcakes.

Not liking the cupcake

See it is good!

Attempt #2 with a different cupcake

A few of Ella's likes:
*reading stories
*playing moms piano...she now has her own piano and she LOVES it!
*the ducks at the pond
*standing up and walking around
*dancing with dad
*saying hi to people and waving

Ella now weighs 20 pound 3 ounces (56%)
and she is 28 3/4 inches tall (32%).

We love our little pumpkin and are looking forward to what the next year bring with her. 

October Adventures

Kettering Ward Trunk or Treat

We enjoyed our wards trunk or treat and chili cook off this year. We dressed up as beekeepers with our little sunflower. We had the back of our car decorated as a beehive. We enjoyed eating dinner and mingling with all of our dear friends.

2nd annual Spook gingerbread houses

We continued on with our fun tradition of making gingerbread houses and decorating them. My mom makes gingerbread houses during Christmas time. I wanted to continue that tradition but we decided to do it during Halloween and make Spook Houses. So, this year I made 6 spook houses and put them all together. Darrin told me he doesn't like the part of the tradition when I make them and put them together because it puts me in a bad mood.....so I tried really hard to not be in a bad mood and I only burned myself 3 times with the melted sugar!
We invited some of our friends over to help decorate houses. We are once again grateful for all of our friends out here in Ohio!

Burnham's Spook House

Lyle's Spook House

Dalton's Spook House

Roth's Spook House

Hansen's Spook House

Jensen's Spook House