Christina and I took Ella and Emmi to the Hawaii State Fair this afternoon. It was a first for Ella on the rides. She loved them all and was even excited to just watch the big kids on the scary rides. After a bit of hesitation, I let Ella ride solo with Emmi on some of the kid rides; she just made the height requirement of 36". 
Nothing exciting this week, hence the lack of posts. Ella's finally learned to sing Happy Birthday so we were able to leave Uncle Joey a message on Tuesday (Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Joey!). She still eludes the camera when I try to capture her singing. These are some pictures from today...
Ron put in for leave and was informed he's had too many days off this year... we're hoping the command will approve it anyway. There is a chance it may just be Ella and I... anyone up for a road trip to the Rockies for two weddings of people they don't know??? Anyone? :) If Ron isn't able to get the time off, Ella and I will only go to Cranbrook for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. I can't foresee a two day drive across the Rockies, alone with a toddler as ending in any sort of sanity. We're still keeping our fingers crossed for Ron's leave.
Today it was an almost empty bottle of Turtle Wax car interior protector. I was cleaning the car and took the top off the bottle as it only had a few drops left. I was distracted for a mere 30 seconds and sure enough I look over and Ella's holding the bottle. Great. I'm really working on mom of the year with my third call to poison control (remember the Vaseline and toothpaste?) Anyway, I'm sure she only put her mouth on it and the few teaspoons that were left in it, were still there. But to be safe, I called poison control and learned it's not at all toxic to a 2-year-old. Good to know but as toddler-proof my home is, I really need to get the outside shed organized and locked.
We bought a portable DVD player for our trip next month. I figure with the long flights, hours upon hours of driving, and staying in places with no kids, it might be a good investment to keep Ella occupied and us sane. Now, normally I don't agree with parents who use them and it was a long process of weighing pros and cons before we resigned to the fact that it will probably make our trip a lot easier. I decided to try it out and put in Ella's new princess DVD while I cleaned the car. It was great to have her occupied for a decent amount of time while I got the car cleaned out. It wasn't until Ron got home and I put the DVD on pause so we could say hi to Daddy, that she was able to get into the turtle wax. It's now out of the car and put away for our trip - I may have caved and bought one, but there is no way I'm getting her used to watching movies every time she gets in the car.
We went to the skating rink to celebrate Lahrissa's 6th birthday today. This was Ella's first time on the ice and she loved it... at first. She eventually got frustrated that she couldn't move herself and cried until I took her off the ice. The crappy rec skates that hurt your feet made it a short adventure for both of us.
Here is a picture of Ella from sometime this week, pretending to be Daddy. It's been a pretty uneventful week for Ella but a great birthday week for me! We had a BBQ last Saturday for all our friends complete with a fabulous cake I made. Dear Grandpa L. and Grandma B.,
Thank you for my birthday gift. I did a bit of browsing and finally settled on the garden canopy I've always wanted. It's iron with mosquito netting, so during the day I'm protected from the sun and in the evenings we can sit out to have dinner without the mosquitoes. Surprisingly, even Ron likes it :) Thank you for thinking of me. Here are some pictures from our lunch today. As you can see, it's goes great in our backyard alongside my growing sunflowers.
Love, T.
Yesterday, we decorated sugar cookies and the girls had them for breakfast... after toast, fruit and orange juice. Needless to say it was a spastic morning with the girls on a sugar high. :)
