Back from Kansas!

We took a little road trip to El Dorado, KS this past weekend to visit Callie's family. It was a really great escape from our regular old routine here in OK. The Graber's are a wonderful, loving family and they make you feel so at home. Not to mention those people can cook! We ate like royalty all weekend. The weather was perfect and we spent everyday outside watching the kids play in the sprinklers and on the slip n slide. Ella was a little hesitant with both, but still had a lot of fun.

Friday night fun! Tickle torture by Andi (Callie's sister)

No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed (Ella actually said this over the weekend! It wasn't perfectly clear, but both Callie and I heard it!!)

Ella searching for a bubbles partner...and Tucker whisks her away to the sprinkler instead!

Unsure about the sprinklers...boys can be intimidating;) Especially twins!

What can I say? I love this face!

How's my hair? I'm trying a new look other than the ever popular mullet.

Redneck bobsledding

Tucker teaching Ella the perfect spiral throw. Tucker and Treyton were so nice to her all weekend.

I'm always behind the camera now so I'm grateful for these shots with my sweet girl.

Looking at the flowers in Grandma Mary's garden...

And she found one! My new favorite pictures of her.

Thanks for checking in on us!

Ella's first dance with Daddy

Just thought I would share this video. I love looking through Ella's newborn photos and the videos we took of her when she was brand new! It's amazing how teeny tiny she was. She was about 3 weeks old in this video. It's her first dance with her Daddy and I am surprised she didn't end up with whiplash after;) But it's definitely a favorite of mine.

My girl.

Just when I start to feel all alone and a little overwhelmed (at this point the tears start flowing), Ella sees me crying and walks over to me. She hugs me, gives me a big smooch and looks me straight in the eye and says "sawweee" (sorry). *sighhhh* All of a sudden, I'm not so alone anymore.

Bring on the sunshine!

With all the rain we have been having, we jumped at the first chance to enjoy the sunshine. It's funny to think back to last summer when Ella was just learning to walk and the park didn't interest her all that much. Now she can't get enough and yells "hiiiiii" down the tube slides and "weeeeeee" on the swings! **warning picture overload...it's been A LONG time since we've seen the sun**

I thought I would throw in a view of Lawton from the park. Don't be jealous. And yes, that's a tractor in front of the water tower. You know you want to come visit.

TGIF

Are we all happy it's Friday?!? I know I am. This week has been a rough one. Between getting a flat tire, my wireless router dying, the wicked weather and my cell phone fizzing out on me, I am very ready to see the week come to an end. I used to get all excited for Fridays, but with Tom away, it's just like a Monday or Thursday or any other day of the week. If anything, weekends are even harder with Ella because there aren't many kid-friendly things to do with her. But I'm really not complaining here. It's quite the opposite! As I typed Tom a little email before I went to bed last night, I started to ramble (typical of meeeee) about what I was grateful for...and I could have gone on and on, but I decided to blog about it instead. All of you (all three of my readers..haha) are the lucky ones who get to read my insightful ramblings...

3 things I am GRATEFUL for today...(Just 3. I might do this every Friday..can't use them all up in ONE day).
1. Skype-What would I do without this? We get to talk to Tom everyday and see his handsome face. For free. He will be able to see Ella grow in the next year even though he's thousands of miles away. Amazing.
2. Magic Jack-a special phone jack that Tom paid $30 for on the base and it has a 727 area code so we can call each other and not have to pay international rates. It's like dialing my neighbors (not that I would ever call my neighbors b/c I don't even know their names).
3. Callie's husband John coming over this evening to mow our lawn which is about a foot tall right now b/c I have NO idea how to turn on our lawn mower. I will buy him his favorite beer in return. Bartering...gotta love it.

Now tell me, my 3 readers, what are you grateful for this Friday? Leave me a comment...

And of course, a few pictures of sweet Ella (these are for you Martha! Ella thanks you for the adorable non-pink cardigan!)Practicing her statue poses.
PS. If you haven't read Tom's blog yet, you are totally missing out on some laughs. Check it out
Tom's Blog <------ click that link. :)

Driving Miss Ella

At playgroup today, Ella decided to play in the trunk of dress up clothes. Notice her two hats and little purse. Callie had to take a picture with her camera phone...just had to;) Ok I made her take a picture, but isn't Ella too stinkin' cute?

We need a basement.

Last night was a little stressful on my heart. I think I lost a few years off my life. The weather here has been awful to say the least. It has been raining everyday just about since Tom left. But last night takes the cake. Between the tornado sirens going off ( I will never get used to those sounds-see below) and then the softball sized hail pounding my bedroom window in the middle of the night, I thought for sure I was going to have to tap my ruby red slippers to return me back to Oklahoma one day (make that Florida though). I truly believed I was going to be sucked up in a giant tornado. Me and my little dog, too;) But seriously folks. The people in OK don't understand that 75-100 mph winds is NOT normal. In Florida, that is considered a Category 1 hurricane for goodness sakes. The locals here don't even flinch. Half of them sleep through this stuff. HOW? I looked outside last night and our garden looked like I had emptied a cooler full of ice in it from all of the gigantic pieces of hail. It woke me up with such a loud bang, I swore one of the 100 gangs in Lawton had finally picked my house for a drive-by shooting. (I promise we live in a safe neighborhood so more than likely a drive-by wouldn't really occur on our street...but...it really did sound like gunshots.) There were reports of skylights breaking, windows breaking and parts of rooftops being blown off.

I did manage to stay brave and fall back asleep without any hiding under the bed. Although I did bring my little dog in with me to cuddle just in case Oz was in our near future. Can't go without Toto;) Oh and Ella slept through it all. Like a sweet baby.
This is what our sirens sound like for all of my Florida cronies who will never have to listen to this ever.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to wish all of the fabulous moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! Especially my mama! I don't know what I would do without her. She's the strongest, most beautiful, creative, genuine woman I know. I hope one day Ella looks up to me like I look up to my own mom. Miss you and love you always!And I have to brag and show off my prizes Tom and Ella bought for me for Mother's Day. I needed a backpack for when I travel this summer to NY, CT, FL and hopefully South Korea. Ella must have learned how to shop online somehow because I received this in the mail earlier this week along with a little note...
The picture isn't great, but it's pink and maroon...and girly enough that Tom will never want to borrow it;) He has his own anyway! And now for Tom's thoughtful gift me...It's the perfect mother's necklace for me and my little bird:) The best part about it is, you can add more birdies as you add more children to the nest! Thank you babe...I can't tell you how much I miss you and love you!

Doggonit.

Lately it seems Ella and Riley have entirely too much fun together. Now if you ask Riley if it's fun playing with Ella and she could actually answer back, it would probably sound something like this..."You are out of your dog gone mind. Do you think it's fun to have your ears pulled, your eyes poked, your food stolen, your water dumped out, be constantly chased around, things thrown at your body, woken up from every single nap by a small human trying to sit on you and pull your legs out of the sockets? Is this "fun" to you lady? There's only one good thing about that crazy daughter of yours and it's the food she drops to me from her highchair. And even that's limited since she eats so darn much."

I truly picture Riley saying that. She was my first baby and sometimes I do have a little guilt because she doesn't get all of my attention now. But Ella adores her. And definitely considers her a buddy. She loves to open Riley's cage in the morning, take her for walks and hold her leash, and always, always says "bye bye Riley" whenever we leave the house. I know deep down Riley loves her, too. I think. I hope.
I imagine Riley is thinking to herself after being dressed up by Ella "This girl needs a little sister. And soon. Please...before I am wearing dresses and high heels."

Her baby

When I put Ella to bed at night, we have a little routine. We rock in the rocking chair and we say our prayers. We turn on her Twilight Turtle and I lay her down in the crib. She bounces right back up and she gives me kisses through the railing and she says "night night." After all that cuteness, I always try to tuck her in under a blanket. Typically she kicks it off and it ends up at the foot of the crib never to be touched again during her slumber. Well, the other night I told her "mama needs to tuck in her baby" and she let me put the blanket on her. I was amazed she actually kept it on. So much to my surprise, this is how I found her blanket when I checked on her before I went to bed...She had tucked in HER baby. But really, the coolest part of this photo is Ella's kick ass mullet. :)