Little Poser

Trey is 4!

Sunday we celebrated cousin Trey's fourth birthday. It's hard to believe he's already four. I remember flying home from California to greet him when he was just a few days old.

His party was at a nice park near a lake with lots of room to run and play. The kids painted pumpkins and enjoyed all kinds of fun treats.

As usual, he got way too many presents but at least he got a few educational items and some fun board games too.

He seemed to have a fun time...and that's what really counts. Happy Birthday punkin!

Pumpkin Patch

We actually went to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

As usual we left nice and early so as to arrive before the huge weekend crowds. It was a warm day...we were all hoping for more autumnal weather. Oh well. We were one of the first in line for the hay ride which Ella thoroughly enjoyed...she squeeled with delight when the tractor started pulling us along the long dirt road through the forest and out into the pumpkin patch.

We all picked out pumpkins, loaded up the car and headed back to our house for homemade chili and beer.

Too bad some of the little decorative pumpkins are already rotting. I'm thinking of cutting a hole in them and putting a votive inside...that would make one really scary and stinky jack-o-lantern!

Alex Cheerleading

We finally made it to one of cousin Alex's football games to watch her cheer. Ella and Emma did a great job cheering the cheerleaders. We all ate concession stand food and watched the poor Buford Wolves lose miserably. But the cheerleaders sure were cute!!

Regression...an ugly word

Ella had successfully been potty trained about a week and a half ago. She'd been going #1 and #2 with little assistance and very few accidents. Then...she moved up to the next classroom at school and suddenly...crappy pants again.

It's called regression. When a child is potty trained and then suddenly "forgets" how to do it. It usually happens when there's a new sibling, a move, something. But I think it's something else. Apparently several kids in her new class are not potty trained and the teacher is not very tough on them when they have...well when they poo and pee in their pants. This is far from an accident, which happen occasionally -- not every single time. I'm furious. Not only because I did the training to begin with but now I'm having to re-train. Some say it will be a phase that lasts a couple of weeks. Until then we've taken away all television and videos, and she sits in timeout after each poop in her pants.

If anyone has gone through this and has some advice I'd gladly take it. This is worse than sore boobs in early breastfeeding. I'm at my breaking point.

Cousin Zach's Baseball Game!

We arrived just in time to watch him score a triple!! Way to go Zach.

Ella wore her "Go Zach Go" t-shirt and carried bitty baby around, dropping her to the dirt so often she now looks like a bad spray on tan at the Oscars.

Aunt Durene and Alex showed up after we got their, Alex had cheerleading practice. Alex and her mini-me had fun running around. We had to leave before it was all said and done but it's my understanding it was a real nail biter, down to the wire. But in the end, the Red Sox won!!

Yay, Zach!!

Saturday, we watch Miss Alex cheer.

Krista's Babies

Alex

Ryan

My friend Krista finally had her twin baby boys, Alex and Ryan. Ella and I, as promised, went to see them once they'd been home for a week or so. They were so tiny, but actually quite big given they were full term twins. Ella loved looking at them and touching their little hands and feet. She was also quite fascinated when Krista fed Alex. Her eagerness to watch "up close and personal" pretty much prompted our goodbyes.



Sweet, healthy baby boys!

Gymnastics for my little Monkey

O.K. I was a huge Mary Lou fan back in 1984, still am actually. But that's not the entire reason I enrolled Ella in gymnastics at the Y. She's a little monkey, always has been. Before she could walk she was climbing on everything, not afraid of heights or tumbling. So it seemed natural.

Before we left for her first class, even though she's not leaping high enough to learn how to "stick her landing", I thought we'd practice. Look at that form!!

There are only three kid in her group, two year olds, and one VERY patient instructor, Miss Katelin.

I was surprised by how serious it was. The kids, on their very first day, did somersaults down the big triangle block, swang on the "little" uneven bars, walked the "very low" balance beam, and jumped off the vault...onto a big cushion.

The class is six weeks long, thirty minute classes. She seems to love it and she's doing really well. One parent asked if she'd taken gymnastics before! I had to stuff the pride back down my throat and humbly say no, but thank you for the compliment. She's just a monkey!

Buckets-o-sand

It's not enough that Ella has a sandbox in the backyard, she now thinks it's fun to bring buckets of sand to the driveway when we're playing in the front yard.

I have to give her an A for efficiency though. When it's cleanup time she's realized she can make only one trip back to the sandbox if she wears the buckets on her head!

Weekends Are Made for Muffin Making

Ella and I enjoy making muffins, especially on easy weekend mornings. Her favorite is blueberry. I have to work quite swiftly to get the batter into the muffin pan once we've stirred it up...Ella would eat the entire bowl.

Grams's Birthday

We all gathered at a nice park near Grams's house to help her celebrate her birthday, we won't say which one.

Ella and Trey performed for us, played in the sand, found bugs, and helped Grams blow out her candles.

Cupcakes made by Aunt Leshia were a big treat! Of course the only thing cooler to Ella than a face full of icing...a passing choo-choo!! Look at that ecstatic face! She's going to pass out when we take her to Disney on Ice at the end of the month--can't wait.

Okay...let's play catch-up

Life has not been terribly busy these days, quite monotonous actually, but I have not blogged and I have not excuse. Well, I have not been feeling great, but things are getting better.

Here are a few quick posts to get up up-to-date and then hopefully I'll get back to my usual once or twice a week routine.

Fall is finally in the air here in Georgia. We have no gas but at least it's cooler.

One morning while enjoying the cooler weather out on the back deck we came across this cool looking fuzzy caterpillar. We had no idea what it was or would become but we all found it fascinating. Of course I wouldn't let Ella touch it because I thought those long black hairs might be some sort of stinging feature. But naturally Matt picked him up anyway. I must say we're enjoying the cool breezes and the cool bugs that come with it.