Messy Cousin Fun

When you're a girl and you have a brother or a boy cousin, thing can get fun and messy in a hurry. This week we visited with cousin Trey, Aunt Leshia, Grams and Grandma.

Shootin' the breeze with Grams

The kids played in the dirt (obviously), played hide and seek and then played water guns. After all that we headed over to the Mayfield dairy for some yummy, double-scoop, ultra-fresh, $1.50 cones.

Dirty Faces

I think this may have been one of my favorite afternoons of photographing our child, ever. Messy is cute in my book.

Playing ring around the lamppost at Mayfield

Trey (frightened by the mess) had vanilla, she had chocolate, and so did her face, and legs and arms...

Father's Day #2

No it's not Ella's second Father's day...in fact it's her third. But we celebrated with Granddad on Saturday so Daddy's celebration becomes #2 in the order of things. Who cares, right? That's my OCD kicking in.

Anyway, Daddy got a cute hand, er foot-made card from Ella which she created at school. He also got a new pan and...a three person hammock. We spent most of the morning in that thing, rocking and swaying in the breeze.

After her nap we went to the neighborhood pool with the grandparents, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Rob and Emma. Then we ate some leftovers and called it a day. A good day.

Ella's New Do!

We're not cutting bangs b/c I want her hair to be all one length. But the process of growing out that hair has often left her looking a bit scraggly. Her hair is thin and fine and wavy and grows very slowly. But recently her bangs reached to just beneath her ear lobes so we decided...it's time for a bob. We couldn't be happier with the adorable results. She loves it too!!

Daddy took her to the kiddy salon and the nice lady sheepishly asked, "Does Mommy know we're cutting off this much hair?" Ha! I bet she's had some people go "Springer" on her.

Father's Day #1

We celebrated Father's Day a day early with Granddad. We all headed over to Granddad and Babci's house for some fun in the sprinkler (shhh...don't tell, we're still in a drought) and some yummy KFC.
The kids had a fun time getting wet and playing in the jumpy thing. They finished the night with messy ice cream cones.

Oh yeah...and Granddad got a new TV and a few other nice gifts. We think he had a good time too.

Friends From Cali

Aimee and her little girl, Caela came to visit from California. They lived a mile or two away from us in Redondo Beach. The funny thing is...Matt and I went to high school with her.

Aimee's mom accompanied them to our house for a late brunch. Susan (Aimee's mom) lived in Cali with them for a while but now she's back here in Georgia. It was so nice seeing all of them.

And...bonus...Aimee's pregnant! I'm sure the next one will be as beautiful and as Blessed as Miss Caela.

Big Girl Room

Okay, it has taken us easily five months and it's still not completely done, but we're nearly there in terms of finishing Ella's big girl room and transitioning her from the nursery, which will remain a nursery while we wait...and wait...for Mr. Stork to flap his wings our way. In case that wasn't clear, we're not yet pregnant.

Anyway...we're very proud of the room. We still need curtains and Babci has to help trim down the size of the quilt b/c we decided to put her in the twin bed we already own instead of buying a full size mattress set. However, we made this decision after I'd purchased the bedding. Anywho!!

Matthew put up the bead board and the little shelf and he painted the entire room. I refinished my little girl furniture and it looks great. I really wasn't sure what to expect when I started in on the old yellowed 1970's stuff. It did take work. I sanded, cleaned, primed, sanded again and then put on several coats of paint. But the end result is good, I think. Now we just need to hang a few pictures, put up some curtains, buy some bed rails and commence the milestone of her first night's sleep in her big girl butterfly room!!

In Contention for Christmas Photo

She laying in the bathtub surrounded by bubbles. She thought taking this picture was the funniest thing...as did I.

A Peanut by Any Other Name...

Ella was taking a shower with Daddy the other day. This is a common occurrence for she and I, especially when Daddy's out of town. She's learned all about my anatomy but Daddy's is a new discovery for her. It seems like suddenly she's realizing...he's different.

So as they were showering she asked, "what's that?" To which Matthew yelled out to me, "Dean...she's asking what that is!"

To which I responded, "grow up and tell her it's your penis!"

So he did. I listened as he explained that Mommy and Ella have vaginae and he has a penis.

A few days later we're having stir fried veggies over rice. Ella finished eating and got up in my lap for seconds. We were pointing out the peppers, onions, mushrooms and so on. She then made the observation, "that pepper looks like a peanut!" And indeed it did. Then without missing a beat she asked, "Daddy, you have a peanut in your pants?"

What can you do but laugh? And of course say yes.

Now whenever Matt comes out of the potty, she asks, "Daddy you went pee pee in the potty with your peanut?"