Birthday Portraits

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe that every year comes and goes and I have no idea where it went. Ella is 4 today and it seems amazing that each day, each week, each year gets better and better. For another wonderful year with the love of my life, for all the smiles, laughs and hugs, for all the memories and all the love, I am grateful to be celebrating a great day with my gorgeous, funny, wonderfully loving, energetic and charismatic baby girl.

I love you xoxo.

Ella'a Birthday Bash

Papa and Great-Grandpa flew in for Ella's birthday and on Saturday, we had a Tiana and the Frog birthday BBQ. We finally got the play structure up a couple days before and Ella has been enjoying her backyard playground, as well as some perfect, sunny 75 degree weather. Since it's completion on Thursday, she has not once asked to watch TV, and she's usually dressed before breakfast so she can get outside as soon as possible. It's the best family birthday present from all the grandparents, great-grandparents and us.

Here are some pics from the birthday party last Saturday:Tiana Cake and cupcakes:Because there aren't any gift bags with a Tiana theme, I made all the girls tutus:

March Update

We are having some computer issues and I am back to using my old Dell while Ron tries to fix my laptop... I am hoping to get an iMac out of the deal but we'll have to see. For now, I can barely run 2 programs at the same time, and forget about browsing more than one webpage. This computer is slow and irritating, and I've had little inclination to post with all the hassle of uploading pictures.

Ella and I have made friends with group of girls who do play dates and most have girls around Ella's age. It's been a great and welcome addition to our days and we've been to playgrounds, bounce house gyms, and today a birthday party. Here are some pics...

Ella Funnies

Ella has become such the funny little girl and everyday surprises us into laughter with her random thoughts, expressions and banter.

* In a Walmart parking lot she randomly and aggressively yelled out, "HEY BUDDY!" This was to no one in particular, but there happened to be a pickup truck full of construction workers nearby...

* When we ask her to eat her dinner, if it's something she doesn't want (veggies in particular) she replies, "No thank you. I don't like them. I'll like them when I'm older."

* Yesterday. Everything is yesterday. "I saw it yesterday." "I wore it yesterday." "I went there yesterday."... it could have been last week but in her time frame, if it already happened, it happened...yesterday :)

* She is married to Emmi. Emmi is her husband. She'll talk about how I married Daddy, and when she takes notice of my wedding ring, she understands I am married to her Daddy. One morning, she looked at my ring, looked at her hand and declared with woeful drama, "Oh no! Where's my ring? I lost it? Emmi didn't give me a ring. Mommy, I'm married to Emmi but he doesn't give me a ring yet." (Christina, she misses Emmi sooooo much!)

* Chores. We have introduced chores to Ella, the little mommy. She mimics me in so many ways and I often find her engaging household "chores" that usually involve more cleanup on my part in the end. The other day she took her bath towel, soaked it in the sink and then used it to wipe the bathroom mirror...water everywhere. So now, she is responsible for making her bed in the morning and doing her dishes. I wash her dishes and she dries them and puts them away. We have very little cupboard space so I have some baskets on a shelf which also makes it easy for her to set the table too :)

Three has been a trying year, two has nothing on a 3 year old! But now that we are weeks away from her fourth birthday, I've seen a tremendous change for the better. Her fits are few and far between and in order to keep her in line I threaten to never do things again if she can't "act like a lady." At the playground, she would often throw tantrums (as all toddlers do) when it was time to leave. Now, we have a little talk before about being a big girl and how if she can't act right, we won't be coming back. Now, I give her a 5 minute heads up that it will soon be time to go, and when it is time to leave, she tells her friends, "Bye friends, see you next time!" and skips back to me... it's the best!

Ballet Class Part Deux

We had another ballet trial class this evening, and as adorable as it was, it was very structured and the teacher far more strict than this morning's class. This is the kind of place I would take Ella if she was a little older because of the discipline and the fact that it is quite acclaimed.

The other dance studio this morning was geared more towards her age, the instructor was great with the little girls, and well, let's face it... the costume for the recital is cuter :) I guess it really comes down to this: this morning is where she would learn to love dance, tonight is where she would become a dancer, and at almost 4, I'm looking for something that will teach her to love, not mold her with rigidity.

But, that said, it was another great photo op:)

Ballet Class

Today was Ella's first ballet class. I'm not sure who was more excited, her or me :) She is so grown now and went into class without hesitation and instantly made friends and introduced herself when called on. All the girls are just too cute, it's ridiculously adorable how pink tutus and chubby toddler bellies are!

Today was an awesome day! After ballet class, Ella and I went for lunch at her favorite restaurant, Chilli's. The manager came by and when he found out it was Ella's favorite place, he gave her a free lunch. Then at Party City, shopping for Ella's Tiana and the Frog birthday party, Ella got a free balloon. I tell her it's only because she's being so good for me today :) Her balloon eventually blew away and after only a few seconds of tears, she said, "It's okay,Mommy. I'm not going to cry. We can get another one." Melted my heart for sure!

Happy Valentines Day!

It was a beautiful day. Ron and Ella got me a pink rose bush and a pink plant for the house. We headed into town and met with an old friend I met backpacking in Europe at the river walk. We met 14 years ago in a train station in Italy and he and his wife live in Austin, TX now. It was great to catch up and meet his wife and some of their friends.

Ron, a sleeping Ella and I spent the afternoon going on a drive to a bike shop, a dance attire store and a dance studio, all of which were either closed or not found, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the weather none the less.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Settling Down

We have finally settled in and unpacked... now time to catch up on all the things I've been putting off. We rented a house in the same neighborhood as our friends and are just happy to be stationary for a while. Ron's work is going well; he loves it and is thriving in the civilian world. Ella, as usual is a constant joy and was over the moon to see all of her things finally come out of the boxes we've been living around these past couple of months. Of course, it made us realize how ridiculous the amount of toys and stuff she has is so I've put some toys she's grown out of away and have a huge bag of donations to go as well. My next project is finding ballet classes for Ella and getting back into the busy social life of a three year old :)

Here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks... and a proud Ella in her new room:)

You Can't Always Get What You Want...

It has been a while since I posted and for good reason. San Antonio has given us some challenges that have tested our patience and our ability to accept that life doesn't always give you what you want. We have been house-hunting and spending all our free time concentrating on buying a new home for our new life here. After repeated postponements, glitches in paperwork, negotiating with banks and builders, we found a home we were excited about moving into. However, financial news on our rental property in Georgia, the day before closing, meant pulling out of the contract and the beginning of a frantic search for a rental here in San Antonio.

Rental properties have proven difficult to find, budget restrictions and high expectations do not mesh well as we are learning. :) Great properties are quick to rent and we looked at many homes that were already under contract... my advice for the management companies: if it's already rented, take it off the internet and stop wasting our time!

We have put an application on a home that we really like. It's in the same neighborhood as our friends and has all the features we need including a fridge and water softener! Now, it's just a waiting game and we hope to be moving on the 1st. Of course we are not getting our hopes up as nothing, since we arrived in San Antonio, has gone according to plan and we have been consistently disappointed. We are even exploring the idea that perhaps, sadly, San Antonio may not be the place we should be. As has been life for the past two months, we shall see.

Ella, in all of the transition has continued to grow into a great little person. She has taken all the house-hunting in stride and has a positive attitude about each house we drag her through. "This is my room!" or "I like a brown house, please!" "How about this one, it's pretty!"

Our fingers are crossed that the Georgia rental gets sorted out, and a move into the rental goes smoothly. At this point, we are optimistic and look to the universe with strength and say, "Bring it on!"