Shopping and Family Visit

After doing some more shopping (I had no idea how much I missed having no one to go shopping with!), the evening brought us some more visitors. We were thrilled to have some of Jonathan's family stop in to visit for the evening. Ellison's Tio Joe and Titi Margarita (Tato's parents), and one of their other granddaughters, Genesis, were visiting Tato and Nilda in Concord (from Buffalo). Margarita's sister and brother-in-law (ya following me yet?), Iti and Tito were also visiting them from Florida. They were all SO very kind enough to drive the couple hours up this way so they could see us before they all headed back to their homes. It was GREAT seeing them, and we all had a great evening.

Tito and Iti - they hadn't seen Jonny (yes, that's what his family calls him) for MANY years, and me and Ellison had never met them. Very sweet people!

Nilda

Tato, Margarita, and Joe

Being the kind mother that I am, I had to snap this pic of Ellison having "Pout-Fest 2009". I can't even remember what idea of hers I shot down, but the child hung her shoulders and head so low as she draged her feet into the kitchen, where she and her princess tutu (courtesy of Grandma, of course) plopped down onto the floor to lay on some THICK pouting. One of those moments where it's hard not to bust out laughing in the midst of trying to be firm...

Jonny coming home from work and greeting everyone. (Check out that skinny buff bod of his!)

All the little girls, who were great playmates for the evening: Natalia, Emma, Genesis, Ellison, and Bianca.

Grandma and Nilda

Margaret and Joe delivered a package to Ellison from Abuela and Abuelo, Titi Ana, and Titi Marie from Buffalo. This is a beautiful blanket made by Abuela - Ellison immediately took it out and snuggled it to her face, grinning ear to ear.

And her new silver shoes, which I'll save describing in another post. One word: obsession.

Laying on her blanket

Tio Joe, Daddy, and Tato

Bianca

Nati and Genesis

The older girls completely hit it off. You would've thought Emma and Genesis were long-lost twins.

Singing "Las Manitas" with Titi Margarita and Daddy. Ellison has loved that song for as long as we can remember. We've always sung it to her from the time she was a baby, but unfortunately we don't know all of the words like Titi Margarita does!

Another prelude to the big "shoe" post. She had to wear them in the bed. She seriously was not willing to part with them...

Elli and Emma watching some TV before bed.

[August 13, 2009]

Shopping and Natural Science Center

The next day was off to a great start according to Mookie and Emma. They both were having a field day experimenting with Grandma's make-up.

After doing some quick shopping (and Grandma did some grandkid spoiling), we were then off to one of the token Greensboro family hotspots - the Natural Science Center.

The first place Ellison begged to go to before anything else was the water fountain area. She was dying to show Emma how the big one "startles you" when it goes off to the music.

The girls squealing while they were getting a little bit of the spray off the fountains.

Both making wishes while throwing pennies into the little wishing well.

Seeing Emma pet the goats and sheep made Ellison finally give it a shot this go-round. She usually wants nothing to do with them. She did sink her fingers into the sheep's wool, but wasn't terribly fond of it.

Since she saw Emma brushing the goat, she had to try that, too. :-)

Emma said this pic was for her mom (it's a rat)...

And we especially took this one for her dad! Ellison's Uncle Josh HATES spiders! He's been known to hurl a magazine across a room after stumbling upon a pic of a spider. Kinda funny for a 6'3", 200+ pound guy.

[August 13,2009]

Our Visitors Arrive!

So Grandma and Ellison's cousin, Emma, came out to visit us for a week! Grandma started a tradition with her grandkids, starting with Emma's older sister, Olivia. When the grandchild is 6, Grandma takes them on a trip to come visit Aunt Sissy (that's me). Olivia got to visit us in Colorado when I was pregnant for Ellison. Emma got North Carolina. It makes me wonder where Lucas (their younger brother) will visit us. (JK). Grandma keeps telling me that little E will get on an airplane when she's 6 to go visit Grandma. I tease (though I'm dead serious) that she isn't going anywhere without Mama. :-)

Ellison could not contain her excitement and anticipation as we waited the whole 5 minutes for Grandma and Emma to come down the escalator. She kept running up to it, and giving me reports every 30 seconds - "Nope, they're not there yet, Mom...". When she saw them, she ran toward them. After hugs all around, Ellison grabbed both of their hands and wanted to walk with them. So sweet.

On the way home from the airport, we all were in need of some lunch, so we went to Chik-Fil-A. My parents fell in love with it when they were here in May, and we've made yet another fan out of Emma. The girls played in the little playscape for a while. Ellison was happy to have someone help her up the giant steps.

(We actually happen to know the little friend on the left - Isabella Tooley. We ran into some friends there.)

After settling in at home, Ellison and Emma both had to put on their matching dresses. Then they played for some time before Ellison's (and Grandma's and Mommy's) nap time.

E loves "making a garage" with Legos now...

We all went for an evening walk, and took the giant wagon as a standby.

Little Miss Independence had to pull Emma all by herself. Wasn't easy!

Had to post this because it's so Ellison right now. Every time we go for a walk, she has to have a long period of time where she jogs, after we have to call out, "On your mark, get set, go!". Seriously. She's in love with her tennis shoes for this very reason. She huffs and puffs after a while like she's doing the Chicago marathon. I get whipped out just staying along side of her (I know, I'm a loser). Maybe she's going to follow in Grandpapa's and Daddy's footsteps and be a great runner someday. I just keep smiling all the while knowing any amount of burned-off energy is golden.

Love the way she's looking at Emma here...

Ellison loves when Grandma's around for bathtime, because Grandma whips out the fun stuff - shaving cream.

Ellison was reading all the bedtime nursery rhymes to Emma. Don't let the pic fool you - we do stories in her big girl bed every night, and then she shoots out of that bed like there's a rocket strapped to her back. Still sleeping in her crib.

[August 12, 2009]

Baity's Birthday Party

Ellison and Daddy went to Baity's 2nd Birthday Party (while I worked), complete with a fun bounce house. According to Daddy, Ellison had a great time. The next day she was telling me all about how she ate cake, the frosting was good, how she got frosting on her mouth, and how Daddy wiped it off. The girl's got a sweet tooth like her Ma. Word on the street is that the evening was a scorcher and all of the parents were drenched, but everyone had a great time.

You can tell I wasn't there, because Dad only took about 2 pics the whole evening...

Ella James on left, Ellison checking out who is making all the raucous (sp?) outside her house

Beautiful birthday girl, Miss Baity

[August 9, 2009]

Family Evening Fun

Bur-Mil Park was having a Customer Appreciation Evening (bounce houses, free pool use, cheap hotdogs, free ice cream, music, etc.), so the 3 of us ventured out. We knew Ellison would like the bouncies, but I thought she'd be a little timid at first with the kids. She jumped right in (the bouncies, that is) and took off, having the best time. Jonathan and I scarfed down hotdogs while watching little miss, then we all had ice cream, played on the park playsets, then spent a short while at the pool.

Ellison had a healthy dinner of "chippies". I'm going for Mother of the Year.

No fear. I think she's gonna take after Daddy when it comes to amusement parks - unlike her scaredy-cat Mom.

[August 7, 2009]

Cannonballs

I had to snicker today. I took Ellison to Bur-Mil to the pool. She was intently watching the big kids and adults jumping off the diving board while we were swimming around. After several minutes, she said she wanted to jump in, which she does frequently anyway. The difference? She now does cannonballs! She stands at the edge of the pool already holding onto her knees, then jumps in and keeps perfect cannonball form even after I catch her. She thought it was the coolest thing. So did I. :-)

Birthday Crepes

Nancy was kind to invite me and Ellison for a birthday breakfast or lunch anywhere we wanted to go, whenever it would work for us. As always, my indecisiveness (not of if to go, but where to go) rules, so she offered the option of us going to the Farmers Market for some more fresh peaches, then back to her place so she could make me some peach crepes. I jumped at that option! So on Friday, we did just that. I had never made crepes before, so I got a lesson on it. Mine certainly weren't pretty, that's for sure! Ellison loved that I accidentally made one into the shape of a very tropical fish. She didn't eat any of the crepes, but was in pure heaven spooning the whipped cream into her mouth. For a short bit, Nancy's son, DJ, joined us in chowing down and singing to me. Ellison looked like a pyromaniac at times, as her eyes got big and dazed with a little smile on her face as she watched the little flames.

{July 31, 2009]