Wrapping up April

April was a fabulous, fun and busy month!  Here are a variety of pictures throughout the month that I wanted to include.  (As a side note, I was able to meet up with my dear friend, Katie, for the afternoon on April 13th and we were so busy catching up that we didn't get a picture!!  We had such a nice visit though and I just love seeing her and picking up exactly where we left off.  It just means that we need to get together again soon to get a picture!)  

Here is the rest of April...

Always a good time in the bathtub

April 9th

Easter Egg Hunt with the mom's group from church

April 11th

Joseph and his buddy, Bryce, playing at the indoor mall play area after a rainy morning at boot camp.  

Joseph and Ella are playing more and more together every day which is so fun to watch.  Here they are one morning just wrapping themselves up in blankets which caused an endless amount of giggles!

Anybody know where Joseph is??

Our fabulous neighbors, Mr. Brad and Ms. Kristen, moved on April 15th.  Although they didn't have any kids, they had two great golden retrievers (Jake and Ollie) who the kids LOVED!!  We played with them honestly almost every day and Joseph and Jake would play fetch forever!

Brad's parents live close by and would often come by with their dog, Boomer, who the kids also loved. Kristen got a few pictures of the kids with Boomer, too

He was always trying to hug Boomer.

Boomer is just Ella's size.  She loved Jake and Ollie but more from a distance but with Boomer she would get right next to him and just laugh the entire time! Now that they are gone we may have to get a dog since the kids miss them so much!  (Don't worry, we won't really, I'm not that crazy!!)  

Ella and her buddy, Jack, after boot camp on April 16th.  She seriously lights up when I tell her we are going to see Baby Jack and Olivia (his older sister.)  

I just love this outfit of Ella's so had to get a few pictures!

April 21st

Sweet girl!

She looks like she is up to something here!

Check out the feet!  Definitely an interest in shoes already!  She was in the middle of going to get her pink croc when I snapped this...at least both shoes are pink!

We returned the favor and had Eve, Olivia and Jack over for dinner on April 21st when Erik was out of town for the week.  Olivia took a bath with Joseph and Ella and they had a blast.  Joseph asked to take a bath with Olivia every night for the rest of the week.  

Sweet Ella asleep on the car ride home from storytime on April 24th snuggling with her baby.  The Easter bunny was right on with this gift for her!  She loves her baby!

Joseph had his first sleepover at our house on April 24th!  We watched Trace, Joseph's buddy from school, for the night so picked them both up from school, took them to Safari Stop to get their energy out and then they had a blast together at home.  The plan was for htem to share Joseph's bed but Joseph wasn't crazy about the idea at bedtime and asked to sleep in the guest bed so he did.  They both slept great though and had a fun time together!  

Fun in the bath!  We figured that these two boys would be a little rambunctious in the bath (which they were) so Daddy bathed Ella upstairs for the night-smart move!

Loving the bubbles!!

I was cleaning up from breakfast on April 25th and it got really quiet so I went to investigate and found the two of them sitting on the bathroom floor looking at books and playing nicely!  

Trying on Daddy's hard hat for me!  

With baby again!

We've been playing in the pool a few times this month already...the month really has been beautiful and we are enjoying it before it gets real hot!  These two are as happy as can be in the water!

Such a big girl! 

On April 29th we walked by the pool in our development to show Joseph where he'll take swim lessons starting in June and to get excited for the pools to open in May.  Snapped a picture of Joseph walking along the lake-such a beautiful day!

We just love where we live!

And, on April 30th we were back in the pool again!

And, then Ella decided to work out for a little bit.  

And, exhale! 

And, finally, to finish off April on April 30th I headed out to dinner with my girlfriends for our monthly night out.  We had dinner at Taco Yucatan at the Waterway and then enjoyed the beautiful night sitting outside talking and laughing. The four of us in the front row are pregnant and due in July, August, September, and October.  

And this picture is from our night out in March that I forgot to post-figured I might as well include it now!  

And, here are the girls that I was running with over the summer and in the fall...looking forward to getting back out there with them next fall!  

And, now we are on to May!!  

Our First Pet

We were backing out of our driveway on our way to church on April 27th when Daddy spotted a turtle next to his truck.  Daddy jumped out and grabbed it and put it in a container in the garage until we got home.  Joseph was on his best behavior during mass that morning knowing that the turtle was waiting for him once we got home!!
Once we got home Joseph and Daddy set up a habitat for the turtle (Daddy taught Joseph that word and hearing him say "habitat" is just the cutest thing ever!)  Joseph named the turtle "Turty" and we kept him on our patio in the backyard for about 10 days.  Both he and Ella LOVED "Turty"-every morning they would go and check on him, give him new water and food and throughout the day it was an easy distraction to say, "Go check on Turty" and both kids would run to the patio to check him out!

 Joseph had no problem picking him up while Ella enjoyed him more from a distance.  

One afternoon we put Turty in the pool with some water and the kids, of course, had to get in with him.  

I love this picture of Ella as she is telling Turty to come to her-see her motioning with her hand?  

Finally in the first week of May we were able to talk Joseph into letting him go to find his family.  We talked to him a lot about him probably missing his family and being able to go wherever he wanted (the first time that I mentioned it to Joseph he had tears in his eyes!  I thought that we were going to have this pet turtle FOREVER!!!) However, one day we went to check on him and the box that Turty was in was getting really wet and not looking so great so I mentioned to Joseph that he probably would like to find his real home and be with his family and he just looked at me and said, "Ok!"  He picked him up and let him go through the fence and off he went.  Ella was sleeping at the time so when she woke up Joseph told her that he let Turty go and that was it.  It was fun while it lasted and it was really great to see both kids with Turty and get so excited about him but we're happy that he is back in his real home!

Future Ranger

On Saturday, April 26th after I taught boot camp, I took the kids to the YMCA Healthy Kids Festival right here in Creekside for a fun afternoon (Daddy was on a long bike ride but it worked out well because Eve's husband was out of town so we headed over together.)  

After over an hour of bouncing in bounce houses, playing with bubbles, getting faces painted and eating shaved ice, Joseph spotted the rock climb towards the back so we headed on back.  

Here are Elsie (the princess), Joseph (the dinosaur), and Olivia (the butterfly) 

He stepped right into the harness like he had done it a million times and climbed on it and began climbing.  At first he was a little unsure of himself but after a few steps on the "rocks" he figured it out and off he went...all the way to the top!  I was pretty impressed that he made it and then even "repelled" on the way down.  

*And, just for the record the older boy  next to him didn't make it to the top! Way to go Joseph!  I'd say he has the skills of a future Army Ranger someday!  

Thanks to Jason Enia who took the pictures for me so I could hold a sleepy Ella and focus on cheering Joseph on!

Cross Country Race

Joseph's school had a Fun Run fundraiser on April 24th which he referred to as a cross country race.  We sometimes see the highschool cross country team running after school so he was excited to be in his first cross country race.  He practiced the week before by running at the end of our walks and was really looking forward to it!  

I LOVE this picture of him at the start!  He was SO ready and SO excited!  

This is a pretty awesome picture, too!  Joseph and his good buddy, Trace, in stride together!

 Most kids ended up walking but he ran for the entire time-definitely our son!  At one point he kind of pushed his teacher out of the way, who was walking, to get past her.  

Daddy was able to come and cheer him on, too, which was great!  Joseph told us after that he won, was first and ran the fastest!  We're not sure where he gets that competitive spirit from :)  

 After the fun run they had shaved ice and had all sorts of games and activities set up for the kids to do. Such a fun day!  

A Year Later

Ella has the same outfit in 6 months and in 18 months so we had to get a picture of her to compare from a year ago!  

I was 6 days too late to get the pictures exactly a year apart but close enough! 

April 17, 2013                                                

April 23, 2014

Our sweet Ella Bean turned 16 months on the 22nd of April.  She continues to be such a joy in our lives and that big smile of hers is still contagious!  She is very affectionate and often will come looking for a hug and then just hold on.  Whenever she hears Daddy coming downstairs from his office or in the door she always runs/fasts (waddles!) to him and gives him a big hug-SO sweet!  She is also becoming a bit of a spitfire.  Well, let's be honest, she has been a bit of a spitfire since day 1 but now it has taken toddler form.  For 99% of the time (well maybe 98%) she is as sweet and happy as can be but she definitely has an emotional side to her and is known to put her head on the ground and cry if she doesn't get her way or what she wants.  She loves to be held (while standing) and often if we put her down she will not be happy but normally with a bit of re-direction/distraction she comes around.  Ahh, the joys of toddlers!  She is becoming more verbal and I'm pretty sure I heard her say "thank you" (in her own language!) a few days ago but most of her language (other than ma ma, da da, uh-oh and no) still sound pretty foreign.  She has mastered the sound of a dog though!  We continue to be impressed by how much she understands and she follows directions very well.  We think she is going to be quite the jokester when she gets older because right now if you ask her to say "ma ma" she'll give you this mischievous smile and then yell "Da da!" Little stinker!  We are still going to storytime at the library on Thursday and she loves it and is so animated during it.  She continues to follow Joseph around and is always mimicking what he does, although I do think she also enjoys the peace and quiet and one on one time with me on Tuesday/Thursdays while he is at preschool.   She loves the water and we've been playing in the pool in the backyard and she couldn't be happier!  Definitely an outside girl as she has skinned knees and rarely sheds a tear when she falls.  Tough little thing!  So cliche but so true when we say that we are just loving watching her grow-can't believe she is 16 months! 

 We love you sweet Ella-a little smile 

and a little sass!