First day of Ballet for Ella! - August 2010

Ella had her first day of Ballet class with Miss Sharon. She said she learned how to be a flower and later showed me how at grandma and grandpa's where we celebrated grandpa's birthday. But Ella also had her four year checkup today after ballet. We were at the doctors for two hours total. The girls were very very patient. They played in the play area for a long time before going in to see the doctor. They played on the toy teeter totter and took burger and ice cream orders in the little play house in the waiting area. Ella also read a book to me while we waited. Ella was being a little shy at times with the doctor although she had no qualm playing with the privacy curtain with Keira and the foot stirrups while I talked with the doctor. She listened to her heartbeat and the doctors heartbeat and got a kick out of it. But I declare today as opposite day because Ella whispered to me that she wanted the doctor to give her her shots today at the end of her appointment because they were getting along so well. I had not warned her about the shots, she just guessed that she had to get some. And she seemed a little excited that she was getting four of them because she just turned four and likes everything in fours because she was so looking forward to being four. And then she crashed before Keira did on the way home which never happens. Good times.

Happy 4th Birthday Ella! - August 2010

I can't believe that our little princess is really and finally four years old! She is thrilled. We put together a princess party and had a fun time making and hanging stars and a sign that said welcome to Ella's enchanted kingdom. We played a race dress up game that didn't last long due to impromtu tea parties and sleeping beauties in the play castle. And we played a target game and had cupcakes. Fun was had by all. Madelyn, Aubrey, Avery, Zoe, Griffyn, Aeden, Rebecca, and Alara all came. Ella also wanted to celebrate with family at Red Robin, so we did.

Grandma and Grandpa Boo's 40th Anniversary! - Aug 2010

Happy 40th anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Boo! We spent last week at their house and did something fun every day. We had a great time from the Lighthouse to the Library to the Aquarium, to the beach, swimming with the Lotti's at their hotel, getting Abby's Legendary pizza and eating on the picnic bench on gma's and gpa's back porch. We didn't want to come home! The black and white photo is a photo setup at the lighthouse museum - is it real or fake?!? We didn't bring buckets or shovels on our beach outing because we though it'd be too cold and we'd just get our feet wet. Turned out to be pretty warm but we didn't need buckets or shovels to have a good time.

Some memorable moments from our time in Newport: Grandma read a book to the girls that repeated the word "ridiculous" over and over and it became the word of the week because the girls were so cute trying to say it. Ella would say "redic-li-ous." The girls played about the same amount of time at the Aquarium kids area climbing on the cement animals as they did looking around at the Aquarium. Keira crawled out of her pack-n-play one night to tell us that she went poo. Ella would bring out her picture she colored each night to hang on the fridge and catch us playing Ticket to Ride. Ella wanted to play too, but Travis had to point out that the game was only for people who were at least 8 years old like it says on the box. Keira talked to her teacup one night for a while after we tucked her in. We giggled listening to her as we played Ticket to Ride. Ella was almost tall enough to go inside the Yaquina Head Lighthouse this time but she was just shy of the required 42 inches. The bird stench at the lighthouse was insanely potent. Ella got to play Tokyo drift with dad (a racing video game) at Abby's pizza.

And last and best of all, we totally surprised grandma and grandpa boo with a 40th Anniversary luncheon. It almost didn't happen on two accounts but in the end they were totally surprised and it was worth it! Dad was scheduled to do a baptism on Saturday at 2 and didn't think it'd be a problem to still go out to lunch with us but he didn't realize we were planning a surprise anniversary party. As luck would have it, grandma, me, Ella, and Keira ran into their Bishop and his family the night we found out and told him about it and he covered it. And then mom said that she didn't want to come. But thanks to Travis she made it and didn't regret it. Ella and Keira were just as surprised as grandma and grandpa about the anniversary party (we didn't tell the girls about it for fear of a possible leak) but once they realized they got to play with their cousins, Ella and Keira were all smiles. Ella loved following Ailee around and playing with their iPad when she could. Overall I think that our trip was a success because we surprised grandma and grandpa and there was no car sickness!