Let the Spoiling Begin...

SOOO excited to be Michigan-bound. She's said several times since G & G last visited that she wants to go to G & G's house in MI. The morning finally arrived, and she was pumped up to go on our "e-venture". In usual Ellison fashion, she was a great traveler.

As we were landing, she was literally squealing so loud with a perma-grin on her face that I had to tell her to tone it down (her voice) down a little. She kept chanting, "We're at Michigan, we're at Michigan! Are Grandma & Grandpapa in there?!" She literally ran into Gram's arms. She is SUCH a Grandma's girl now. Aunt Carrie & Papa were there, too. Arriving in airports to see family is always so fun.

Grabbing a quick lunch on the way back to the house. Ellison was cracking Gram up repeating lines from "Princess and the Pegasus": "You call yourself a giant?! You're puny. You're just a weakling!". The first time she did it, I had no idea why she was calling me puny, then I vaguely recalled that part of the movie.

Then the spoiling began...

Ellison had been dying to see the wedding dress Gram had made for her - complete with veil, bouquet of flowers, a train, and a front bustle so the dress will "drag" for her as long as possible. Can you imagine what Ellison wore for a great deal of our trip? Interestingly, she never wanted the train on.

The veil didn't fit her little noggie, so she couldn't wear it until the last day when Gram revamped it.

She also got a Barbie wedding party to play with!

Aunt Carrie showing Mookie how fun the roller coaster really is. She didn't want to ride it at first. Oh, and notice the new Princess Tiana dress she has on? Yeah... Gram. Oh, and that doesn't include the blue one with the hoop skirt Gram got her as well.

And the new set of 4 high heels...

There was so much to see and do! Oh, how good it feels to be back in the country with slightly cooler weather, and the beautiful surroundings I grew up with. Jonathan and Ellison love it out there, too.

Seeing her Great Uncle Bob next door, and his granddaughter, Lauren. Uncle Bob is a total kid-lover, and is so good to them. She loves Uncle Bob (and Aunt Marlene, too).

Grandpapa with Uncle Bob's grandson, Jacob.

Finally ready to give the coaster a try, now that she saw the other little people doing it.

And seeing Grandma Yvonne (my Aunt Yvonne) on the other side next door. All the kids always flock to the playset there that Papa Carl made a few years before he died.

Swinging with Aunt Carrie

And yet another dress-up outfit that Grandma Yvonne got her! Everyone knows exactly what this girl loves.

As Ellison was passing by Gram's beauty shop, she pointed to it, and told Grandma, "I would like you to do my hair in the salon, and wash it in that sink."

Then she requested "curly-curlies" be put in her hair.

Playing with all of Mommy's and Aunt Carrie's old Barbies. She absolutely loved being out on their screened-in porch, playing to her heart's content.

Sitting with Papa while chowing on Mama's birthday cake. My Aunt Betty made Papa and me each a cake.

She was all excited to "camp out" on G & G's bedroom floor.

Storytime with Aunt Carrie & Gram.

Man, talk about an exciting day full of goodies!

[August 19, 2010]

Writing

Ellison started writing her own name since this past year, and we recently started working on writing a few more letters and on recognizing lower case letters. She thinks it's fun to do "school work" and looks so forward to it, so it's been a fun activity for us. A few weeks ago, when I was writing out a thank you note, she grabbed a blank one and told me she wanted to write a note to Santa. I did NOT show her how to write the letters, I simply told her how to spell "Santa", and she wrote it out as I said it aloud, and she made her little picture for him. She then put her name on it so he would know who it was from. :-)

Elli-isms

Overheard this past spring and summer:

"Dad, I think you made us in the wrong direction." (while driving somewhere)

"Mom, mud is not woman food." (Not sure where this came from since I wasn't trying to eat any)

Ever since she saw "The Little Mermaid" (I'd have to look back last year to see when she fell in love with it) and learned the words to the songs, she's always sang a particular verse this way: "Sick of women, sick of swimmin', ready to staaaaaand...". The first phrase is supposed to be, "bright young women, sick of swimmin'..."

"Mo-om, why did you tell Dad that?!" (after relaying to Jonathan something naughty she had done)

"Oh, Dad, you're such a pineapple!"

"Whoa! Dad, you almost hit me with your vagina!" (In the shower with Daddy)

She and I had an understanding about something she was doing safely. After just finishing our conversation about it, Daddy quickly came walking through and told her to stop doing what she was about to do (we had already covered that she wasn't going to do it). After her breezed on through with his commandment, she looked at me, sighed the loudest sigh while shaking her head, rolled her eyes, and muttered under her breath, "(Sigh) That Daddy..."

"Mommy, you're my favorite." (She says this often with various things, and with each of us).

"Let's snuggle-buggle." Her term for cuddling up to each other.

After asking Ellison what she'd like for lunch: "Well... what's available?"

"Hey, you know what?" (This is a staple Ellison question. Heard about 57 times a day before sharing information.)

"Wait! I need to ask you something." (Heard about 56 times a day when trying to interrupt a command we're about to give her. Mind you, she doesn't ask anything, but rather presents her side of the case first).

I love the way she sometimes jacks up the use of the verb "to be". For example, "How about she be's the doctor?" or "He be's the prince".

"Mo-om, I have asponsabilities, too!"

After holding her, looking in the big mirror, and saying how long she has gotten: "Mom, are you gonna cry?"

The country of "Self America" (South America)

I wish I could remember all of the great conversations we've had about heaven. We talk about it all the time, and she loves talking about it and dreaming about what it will be like. She has said on more than one occasion, "Yes, Jesus, I accept you into my heart." So many of our heaven and Jesus conversations are while I'm driving, and how badly I wish I could remember them enough to write down. They are simply precious.

On a phone conversation while I was at work, Ellison told me she was cooking. When I asked her if she was helping Daddy, she said, "No, I was cooking all by myself!!! With spices! It's called 'Spice-A Creation'." After asking her if I could have some, "NO, Mom, it's poisonous! And you can't touch your eyes and nose after cooking with it."

I love how Ellison pronounces her O's, in words like "Mom". So different than my midwest accent, she pronounces words like, "Mawm".

She still mentions after so many people comment on her beautiful, darker skin, "But I want my skin to be light."

She never uses the term "too". It's always "also". People comment on it frequently because it sounds so proper coming from her 3 year old mouth.

Like Father Like Daughter

It's a little joke between us, that Daddy has, throughout his adult life, been known to take a few self-portraits. I see Ellison has developed an affinity for this past-time as well.

[August 18, 2010]

Ice Skating

This would be Ellison as Princess Annika, from "Princess and the Pegasus", and those socks would happen to be her ice skates. I was switching out her wardrobe, getting rid of old and putting out the next phase, when she apparently re-discovered socks. Originally, she had them pulled up almost to her knees, which was quite the look. She then started floating around the house pretending she was ice skating like Princess Annika. I think I even saw a few attempts at a triple salchow.

Me and Annika showing off our belly bumps at 17 weeks.

[August 16, 2010]

More Cell Phone Pics

Cell phone pics that I wasn't good about downloading at the time...

Above and below from a day with Daddy at Krispy Kreme and the Natural Science Center

[April 23, 2010]

These next couple of pics are our little reminder of an Elli-ism: she loves the way Daddy blows dry her hair after bathtime, causing it to turn up at the ends. She loves to gaze at herself in the mirror with the final outcome of her locks.

[April 28, 2010]

Our dessert night at Maxie B's when Grandma & Grandpapa were visiting. Ellison didn't want to sit with us, she wanted to sit in a big chair and look at books (after her cupcake, of course).

[May 22, 2010]

Feeling pretty in the mirror as a bride. I have to mention that this nighty she has on was actually her Grandma's. My dad bought it for my mom after they were married (which creeps Jonathan out a little), and I wore it when I was younger because it's a perfect summer nighty. I guess I wore it for MANY years, because I still had it in my dresser! Mookie fell in love with it after spotting it one day, so we tied up the spaghetti straps so she wouldn't trip on it. There were many nights this summer she wouldn't go without it.

[June 26, 2010]

There's just something about this pic that I adore...

[June 27, 2010]

Her playdough food creation for Daddy

[June 27, 2010]

She loves the giant paper mache giraffe and zebra at our church...

[July 25, 2010]

Family Day

We feel like we're finally starting to have some family time on weekends, even though it's usually just for one day with the work schedule I've had this summer. Though I don't mind working, it feels like the 3 of us are rarely together, but now we're getting a little reprieve. We went Saturday afternoon to the Natural Science Center to tool around for a bit. One place that's difficult to get Ellison out of is the maze area. This girl runs through the maze, and knows exactly which ways to go only after going through it a couple of times. We finally just let her do it by herself as we watched her little legs running at lightning speed through the bottom. I felt like I needed a stopwatch around my neck. She has a thing for mazes, I guess - she also loves and flies through those drawing mazes, too, without making any mistakes.

That evening, we tried to take our first official belly shots of the pregnancy (gasp - we're already starting with the slacking on the 2nd child!). Ellison kept popping up in the pics at the very last second. ;-)

One day shy of 17 weeks!

Ellison invited us to a "pajama party", and informed us which shoes we had to wear.

Nice look, Daddy.

Yeah, and Mommy, too.

[August 14, 2010]