Murphy's Law

I am very happy with Murphy. A couple of months ago, Walmart came out with rain boots for the little kids and I debated on buying Ella a pair. I was sure it was a waste of money as we've had such a beautiful year of weather. I didn't buy the boots back at the end of October and it's pretty much been raining since. Every night, most days it's misting, and the rest of the time it is overcast and gray.
I bought Ella her new pink rain boots on Monday and it's been gorgeous since. Murphy's Law finally worked in my favor!
So today we took the girls to the beach. It's Ron's last day off and we decided to get a good dose of Vitamin D in. Ko Olina was deliciously sunny and warm but the water a little chilly. Ron played with the girls while I welcomed back my tan lines... bring on the sunshine!

Dentist

Today Ella had her first dentist appointment and had her teeth cleaned. Yup, it's official, our child is PERFECT! Ella sat in my lap in the dentist chair and did everything the hygienist asked her. She didn't pull at the paper bib around her neck, she let the hygienist clean all her teeth and even floss them! The dentist looked at her teeth and Ella has a very healthy set of pearly whites. They were astounded at how behaved Ella was. She is so proud of her new tooth brush too! and carries it around with her... even in her tricycle basket.

New Year, New Tricks

Here's a video of the other night at dinner. Ella has started to learn how to count. If you start her on one she can get to five... we've gotten to seven once but five is a great start to the new year!!!!

Happy New Year

We hope everyone rang in the New Year in style. This year, like every other, I've made some resolutions and hope to make this year a grand one; working to do better, live healthier and be greater. Working to improve your life each year are really what new year's resolutions are all about, right? :)

First, I have kept last year's resolution to get healthy and maintained my 30+ pound weight loss to date, but in striving to make this year better, I've re-committed myself to another 20. Ron has been working out and his body looks fantastic so I'm aligning myself with him as my personal trainer. (This one may require extra devotion to the next resolution^^)

Secondly, I resolve to make my marriage even stronger: to work on balancing our time together with time to ourselves (golfing for Ron, pedicures and girlfriends for me), to have dates with my husband, my love, my rock (we have some trusty babysitters now), and to continue to have patience, trust and understanding...even if I don't want to work out, I should trust that Ron actually knows what he's doing.^^

And finally, I look forward to another year with Ella, the light of my life. Her joy, curiosity, wonderment and spirit make every day a blessing. I am "Mommy/Mama" to the best little girl in the world. She is kind, loving and joyous - what more could I ask for? As I continue to guide her and teach her, I strive for the knowledge, good judgment and patience to get her through her "terrible twos".

May 2008 be as fantastic as the last! We wish you all love, peace, prosperity and good health in the year to come.

Safety Patrol

(Those of you who know Disney Channel will know "Safety Patrol".) Ella is our little safety patrol around the house. We have kept closet doors, cupboards and doors closed if we don't want Ella to get into things. Now, if we ever leave a door open, Ella goes around and closes them. She's quick to close cupboards and closets. Today, I left my hot air curling iron on the bathroom counter to warm up and then got distracted by email. Ella came up to me, "Mommy! Mommy!" and was pointing to her hair. I followed her to the bathroom and she stood there saying "Mommy" and pointing to my curling iron. What a smart little girl she is! A lapse of judgment on my part but luckily Ella is good enough not to touch it and it doesn't get hot enough to cause any damage.

She's also learned how to say her name and will say it whenever she does something she shouldn't. When she's getting into mischief, she'll belt out "Ella!" I guess we've been saying her name so much when we try to stop her from doing something, she's taken to saying it as a warning to us. She will point to pictures of herself and say "Ella" but it seems to be mostly repeating what we always say to her: "Ella!" which translated means come here, don't touch, no, stop....

After Christmas Calm

Here are the girls in their new pj's...
Ella's new quilt I made...
Future profession perhaps....
With her new outfit from Grandma and Granddad...
Classic Ella....

Spoiled

We were spoiled rotten... Ella especially: a new laptop, cell phone, books, DVD's, teddy bear, shoes, slippers, pj's, clothes, music flower, Leap frog... the list goes on. Ron got his XBox360 and Nascar game and I have a new watch, pink laptop case and a spa day. Yippie! Santa has been very good to us this year!
And because there are just too many photos to chose from, here's a slide show...

Trying to figure out Ella's new laptop...
The Groovin' Flower...

Santa Has Arrived!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas,

We Wish You A Merry Christmas,
We Wish You A Merry Christmas...
And a Happy New Year.

Croup Baby

Grandpa arrived safely on Tuesday evening and Ella has been on her best behavior, showing her grandpa all the things she's learned. We went shopping yesterday and braved some of the shops and even a mall for lunch - these last minute shoppers are crazy!

Ella has croup cough. She started on Wed. night with a bit of a cough and runny nose. During the day she is her great, energetic self; Grandpa's been taking her to the playground. Last night was what I'm hoping was the worst of it. Her "barking seal" cough was waking her up and at 10:30pm she was up for good, so exhausted but unable to sleep. I brought her to bed with me (Daddy was working) and cuddled her until 1:30am when she finally passed out for a little bit. Her cough is quite scary sounding, and must hurt her throat as every fit of coughing had her agitated and crying. I was up most of the night with her and finally around 3am she was asleep until morning. All day she's been great and so far she's only had one coughing fit that really didn't wake her (and it's 1:30am). Apparently there's no medicine for it, and it should only last 2-5 days. Seeing as tonight is already better, maybe we're coming to the end of it. All I know is I'm sleeping in tomorrow as Daddy and Grandpa have a date with little miss Ella.