Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our friends: Manny, Christina and Emmi; and Jeff, Sara and Wyatt. I cooked all day and the turkey came out perfect, the gravy didn't lump and the food was delicious. It was a great evening and I have so much to be thankful for.

I am very thankful for the many blessings in my life: my family, my friends, my husband and my daughter. My parents who helped me become the person I am today, my childhood friends who have become my sisters, and my new friends who have become family away from home. I am especially thankful for having a wonderful family in Atlanta, who helped Ron become the kind and generous man I fell in love with and who continue to support us. I am most grateful for my wonderful husband whom I adore and my little girl who is my heart and my light.

Ella and Ron are asleep with full bellies, the house is clean, and the wine is finished... a happy thanksgiving indeed! :)

Ella the Elf

Ella loves to watch our family Elf dance and we play it over and over for her. It must be so hard for a 2 year old learning about the world to comprehend technology. Ella will try to mimic the moves but sometimes seems a little confused as to how she performed so well on the computer. You can see her thinking: "When did we dress up and get a mirror ball for our dance?" And my favorite quote after watching the dance: "Mommy, where my elf shoes?" :)

Home Portraits

Haircut

Portrait Attempt #1

This pretty much sums up how our family "photo shoot" went. It's too hard trying to take the picture and be IN the picture....

Time

Has it been a week already?? We've been inside most of the week because of the weather; we've had a lot of rain lately and in the past couple of days I've come down with a bit of a cold. I took Ella for her Christmas portraits this week and once again spent more than I intended because this girl cannot take a bad picture (of course that's my totally biased personal opinion). :) They are adorable and can't wait to get them back so I can post them.Here's Ella, this morning with her Play-doh. We are going to take photos today for our Christmas card and I have a hair appointment to chop off my locks... pics to come later...

Weekend

Here's some pictures from the past week. We went hiking to Koko Head Crater Botanical gardens last Sunday with Manny, Christina and Emmi:We were able to set up the pool this week with break in the rain. Here's Ella with her new Ariel swimsuit (or swimsoup as Ella would say):Our little spa lady fresh out of the bath:And the artist at work:Ella and I have been walking every night and the jogging stroller I have doesn't have a swivel wheel in the front making it difficult to turn. With all our walking and Ella's toddler size body, my wrist has been afflicted with tendinitis. I decided to invest in a better jogger and this one has the aforementioned swivel wheel as well as built-in MP3 speaker and odometer. Very nice!

Visit

Yeah!!!!! Uncle Joey's coming to visit! See you in a few weeks, Uncle Joey!

Reward Doll

A month or so ago I found this adorable doll. She's one in a series of 4 that were clearanced and I got the one that looked most like Ella. We put it up in her dresser and promised her she could have it once she was finished with diapers. It's been over a week and we've been shopping, out to dinner, to Chuck E Cheese, playgoup, gymnastics, over at friends' houses, on long walks and hiking, and are still successful with the "big girl" underwear.

I gave her the doll today after she woke up from her nap. Of course I couldn't resist dressing her up like her doll...disregard the bad braiding attempt - I'm working on it:)

Back to Ella

Now that the election is over it's time I started posting about Ella again. On Sunday, we went hiking to Manoa Falls again, this time we took Daddy.
A few days ago Ella fell off the slide at the playground. I'm not sure exactly how it happened but I have a hunch she went down it face first. She came over to me crying, her face scratched up and covered in spongy playground gravel. Within minutes she was back to her usual self and running full speed to the playground again.

And the biggest news of all... Ella is potty trained (knock on wood). Last Thursday was the first day of no diapers and no accidents. Almost a full week and only a few accidents. We haven't used any diapers (except at night and a lot of the mornings she's still dry) and even went to gymnastics class and Toys R' Us today. All it took was a simple "Ella, go to the potty." Up until now, I have been taking her but Thursday morning, I just told her to go while I cleaned up breakfast, thinking it would take her a few minutes to get undressed and situated. In the minute it took me to dry my hands and go down the hall, she had gone and was flushing the toilet. The rest of the day I just reminded her to go and she went every time. Now it's a matter of reminding her and we either get an "Okay" or "No Mommy, I good". Maybe it was an issue of privacy with her.
Today at Toys R' Us, she used the restroom and I put a towel under her in the shopping cart, just in case. I also rewarded her with new Tinkerbell furniture (bookcase, table and chairs, and a toy box) for being such a big girl. We've already started "tea parties" with the pots and pans Aunt Sarah brought her from Holland. Note the barbie, doll and puppy "eating dinner." She's spent hours playing with the pots and pans and the table and chair set is going to be the perfect completion of Santa's Christmas present (the play kitchen). I foresee hours and hours of quiet time in this house!