Sunday, September 30, 2007

A year in the life of Ella Grace

Here is a slideshow we made of pictures from Ella's first year. We tried to post this a long time ago but we were having some technical difficulties! I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Ella's Cowgirl Party


Sorry I'm so late posting this! We have had a busy week with Paul's family visiting so I haven't had any time until now.
Ella's birthday party was a big hit! We had the party at my sister's house since she lives on a farm. She has chickens and pigs and a calf, so we thought it would be a perfect place for a cowgirl party.
Ella had fun riding on the pony, and so did all the other kids. It was such a small pony that it actually came in the back of a van!
We had a pony pinata that the kids enjoyed cracking open. After the pinata we watched as Ella (actually mommy) opened her presents. She got so many toys! I still don't know where I'm going to put everything =)
It was a perfect day! I'm so glad everything went good. We were so excited that Paul's family got to share in her special day too!






















































































Monday, September 10, 2007

Ella Grace turns 1!


Today is our baby's first birthday! I can't believe a year has already gone by.
Paul and I started the day off by going into her room and singing Happy Birthday to her when she woke up. Later, we took her to the Columbus Zoo since Ella loves animals and she had a fun time sitting up on daddy's shoulders seeing them all. We went out to dinner after to Applebee's and they came out and sang Happy Birthday for her, she was a little confused why everyone was standing around her singing. She really enjoyed her ice cream sunday and had it all over her by the time she was done. By the end of our day Ella was pretty exhausted. We are having her birthday party on Sunday when Paul's family gets here. I'm really excited to watch her smash cake all over herself =)
I never imagined how much you could possibly love your child. There is a small part of me that wishes Ella could stay a baby forever. While she's a baby I can protect her, and she still depends on her mommy for everything. I know that every year she gets older I'm just going to worry about her more =) I am however, looking forward to being able to have conversations with her someday and being able to sing and dance in the car with her ( I feel pretty silly doing it alone)
Since she is 12 months old, I decided to list our top 12 favorite things and memories we have of Ella from her first year.


1. When she was first born and we got to hold her for the first time.
2. When we used to get her out of her bassinet she would push her butt out and stretch her little arms up over her head.
3. When she was 2 months old after a bath one night she layed there and talked to mommy for a long time. I could have sat there forever listening to her sweet voice.
4. How happy she gets when she feeds mommy and daddy her cheerios
5. How she used to fall asleep next to me in the morning after I fed her.
6. How she grabs snugglepup and gives him a big hug.
7. How she wraps her arms around our neck and gives us a big hug.
8. After her bath we always say "It's a girl!" when we wrap her in her towel and she gets the biggest smile on her face.
9. When we play "I'm gonna get you" which consists of Paul holding Ella while I chase them around saying "I'm gonna get you" Ella laughs so hard and screams.
10. Her little sweet voice talking in the back of the car while we are driving.
11. When she does "So Big!"
12. The way she smiles and it crinkles her nose and she shows all her teeth, it's the cutest thing in the world!
We could obviously write many more things but didn't want to write a novel. Happy Birthday Ella Bella!








Tuesday, September 4, 2007

3 Years Together!


Paul and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary today! We had a wonderful date night at a great restaurant called Tucci's in Dublin. It was a beautiful night so we sat on the patio and enjoyed the really great guitarists that were playing. They even dedicated a song to us at the end! It was the song "Better Together" by Jack Johnson, one of our favorites! Then the table next to us shared their bottle of wine with us since it was our anniversary so we were feeling pretty special!
Paul and I were talking about how much we have experienced together already. We have lived in a small one bedroom apartment and then experienced the joy and stress of buying our first home. We have experienced the heartbreak of losing a baby and learned more than ever to trust in God and His perfect timing. We later experienced the joy of being parents when we got to hold our beautiful baby girl in our arms. We have moved across the country and have experienced what it's like to start a new life in a place far from home. Paul has worked for three different companies since we have been married! I also have gone from working full time to be staying at home mom.
God has taught us so much these past three years and I know both Paul and I have grown so much in our love for Christ and our love for each other. I have been so blessed to have Paul as my husband, his love for the Lord and his desire to be the spiritual leader in our family has been such an encouragement. I know we are looking forward to celebrating many many more anniversaries! I love you Paul!




Saturday, September 1, 2007

Go Bucks!


It's officially started- Ohio State football season!
We went to the stadium this morning to watch the skull session. For those of you have no idea what that is (I had no clue) it's sort of like a pep rally before the game where the band comes out and plays and Coach Tressel and the team make an appearance. There were 10,000 people there and the whole room was filled with scarlet and grey (OSU's colors). They also had the OSU alumni band come so there was almost 800 band members playing! It was pretty amazing to hear. I was worried Ella would get scared of the loud noises but she really loved it. She was swinging her arms up and down and clapping; I think she is going to definitely grow up to be a buckeye fan. As we were leaving, the parking lots were all filled with people having tailgate parties. People were grilling out (that's what Ohio people call bbq'ing) some even had flat screen tv's set up! It looked like so much fun! We didn't have tickets to the game so we just went home after, but Paul is going to go to the game next weekend with our brother in law Kurt. We had a really fun day, and we are very excited for the upcoming football season! Go Bucks!