Visitors

My Mom and Aunt Diane came to visit us this past weekend. We took a trip to the Oxbow Zoo and went downtown to RochesterFest where we saw a parade.  We went to the Farmers' Market, the mall and to Trader Joe's. They were giving out samples of these tiny ice cream cones at Trader Joe's so there are a couple of pictures of her devouring hers!

























Playing Dress Up

The girls decided to dress Ellasen up in "princess outfits" the other day. With each outfit Ellasen would come out of her room and say "Pretty?"  Here are some of the results!











This is a little long so feel free to ignore...I still don't know how to edit videos!

Dancing

This video is sideways (I have to remember that!), but it is pretty cute!

19 Months

Getting a good photo of Ellasen was really hard this month! She did NOT want to cooperate for some reason! This was the best I could do! I think the biggest reason is that this girl is ALWAYS in motion. She never quits moving. Very little will get her to sit down and concentrate on something. Ellasen is really talking in sentences a lot more these days. She can usually string two or three words together and tell us exactly what she wants or needs. She has always had a few funny terms for things that she made up along the way, but she is starting to give up those "Ella Terms" in favor of the correct word. Here are some examples:

Correct Term                   Ellasen Term

1. Goldfish Crackers  -    Ducks ( I guess because they are yellow...kind of?)
2. EyeEye's -                    Sunglassess
3. FeetFeet -                    Shoes
4. OhWoah -                   Water
5. Pip -                            Can either mean "pick me up" or "let me sit in your lap"
6. Neno -                         Elmo
7. Big Girl -                     Brooke (one of the girls I nanny)
8. Trees -                          Broccoli

I am sure there are more, but these are the most common Ellasen Terms. She has corrected a few of these, and I know that soon we are going to lose them all so I wanted to record them so that we can share them with her someday.  Her favorite things to do right now are to go swimming, go down the slide (either the one at our house or the one at daycare), give the dog and cats treats, help feed Titan (she even knows to count to 4 cups), talk to Nana, Papa and Reilly on Skype, color, play with stickers, read books and climb up on Mommy and Daddy's bed. Her favorite foods right now are sausage, watermelon, cantaloupe, raisins, applesauce, cheese, broccoli, peas, corn, pancakes, waffles and milk. She has decided she doesn't like taking a bath anymore which is great fun for everyone. We are hoping this is a phase. She is still in size 3 diapers, but we are moving to size 4 overnight due to a few overflows lately. Overall she is so much fun. She is silly and happy and fun! We are so blessed!

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer



We have been spending as many lunch hours as possible at our pool. We usually swim for 30 minutes then take a lunch break in the shade. Watermelon has been on the menu for the last few weeks...she can't seem to get enough. We usually share a couple of pieces a day....gotta love summer!

Oxbow Park Zoo


So wonder of wonders, there is this little FREE zoo about ten minutes from our house in Rochester! Catherine and I took the kids the other day when we had some sunshine. We had a picnic lunch on the grass right out front and then headed in for the grand tour. I didn't start snapping pictures at first, but there were wolves, a bear, otters, buffalo, owls, eagles, badgers, prairie dogs, horses, cows, goats, chickens and many more! It was super clean and well kept. So much fun! Here are some pictures of the kids at play!