Last Week in Photos

We spent a day downtown on the riverwalk...

Decorated for Valentine's Day

Ella had a rodeo at her school.  All the kids brought a stuffed animal and each got a ribbon for the "best in show"...

On Wednesday, her preschool friend, Alexia came over for the afternoon and the girls played for hours..

One thing hasn't changed... Ella still loves to read all her books...

On Friday, we went to the San Antonio Rodeo carnival with some friends from ballet...

The petting zoo at the rodeo even had deer... very friendly deer :)

Riding a plastic horse

Playing with a hairpeice from Korea I found...

First Tooth Lost!

Today we headed to the San Antonio Rodeo for dollar days at the Carnival.  We had just walked through the gates when Ella spit her tooth out!  She was a little shocked that her loose tooth had finally come out.  Shocked that it didn't even hurt.

Tonight the toothfairy will come and she was so hyped up on sugar from the carnival and the excitement of the special visitor, it took her a while to fall asleep.  She hoped the tooth fairy brings her a present but I told her that I think she only deals with money.  Then she asked, "Uh, Mommy?  Will she look in my mouth?"  

I have it on good authority that the tooth fairy will be leaving her a special note and a quarter.  Plus 4 one dollar bills, one for every year.  I think she even leaves behind fairy dust. :)

SIngle Ladies

Yesterday, being stuck inside because of the cold weather, Ella played most of the afternoon in her room.  Here she is dancing to Single Ladies by Beyonce.  She even put a ring on it :)  And then of course it's conversations on her Cinderella cellphone.

SNOW!!!!

It's ridiculous how cold it's been this week.  I had to brave the freeze on Wednesday and make sure the exposed pipes were insulated.  Of course, I broke off the frozen hose by accident (only where the plastic meets the metal end so the spigot is fine).  We've had our faucets dripping and the heat has been on pretty steadily.  22F, 23F, 26F (-3C to -5C)  degrees with windchill in the low low teens(-11C).  This is not the San Antonio weather we were told about!

All week the weather forcasters have been predicting snow.  It snowed here once in 2004 but barely a dusting - much like today - and then back in 1985.  Needless to say, everyone was worked up.  The ice that came along with this snow had the city shut down this morning.  Schools closed and businesses opened at noon.  Really, in comparison to real winter, this is a bit ridiculous.  But I know someone who thoroughly enjoyed her 5 minutes of snow!...

Last Week in January

January flew by!  The last weekend was gorgeous and in the 70's.  And now, we're starting to thaw out of a deep freeze we've been in since Tuesday.

Here's Ella and Mia playing dressup:

Playing in the gorgeous sunshine last weekend:

Playing her Leap Frog games on my computer...

Ballet

We're still going to ballet every week and the girls are getting more co-ordinated, more confident, more balanced and more ballerina-like every week.  We look forward to Tuesdays, we both get to hang out and catch up with friends....

Star Student

Ella is star student this week.  Each kid in her class is choosen for a week of star treatment.  They have to take a collage to school telling all about themselves and fill out a questionaire.   The poster collage goes on the board and the kids get to learn about each other.  
Ella was so excited it was finally her turn (they went in alphabetical order).  We put her collage together this weekend.  She picked out the pictures she wanted and the buttons.  She loved the stickers!   Here's the finished product:

 Here are some pictures of her before school on Monday...

When I picked her up after school, I asked her what was her favorite part of showing the class her collage.  She said she loved to show them Uncle Joey throwing her up in the air. :)
For more pictures from the collage go to my photography blog: INSPIRE ME PHOTOGRAPHY

The Girls

Ali is about 8 months, but I believe she has no clue she's a dog.  She follows Ella around, and wants in on all the action.  If Ella's on my knee or giving me a hug, the dog tries to jump up on the other knee.  If I'm scolding Ella, Ali will sit loyally next to her and the two of them will look at each other like "this lady is crazy."  Ali goes outside, Ella follows and visa versa.  Ali has her own ball and has learned to play fetch, but if Ella is kicking around the soccer ball, the dog is right there trying to take it away.  It's cute for the most part, but every once in a while, Ali will nip at the soccer ball in excitement and miss...

Today, Ella got a little teeth to the thigh as they were running around.  Accidental and outside the initial shock/cry, they were back at it...

Someone needs to learn how to share... and it's not Ella:

And this looks scarier than it is... Ali is super sweet, my camera just caught her mid-bark.  She wasn't trying to bite, really.