Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches...

Don't you all decorate your tree in a two piece Ariel swimsuit? Ella wore this suit around the house for two days. 

When you are 5 feet tall and your tree is 8 feet tall you have to figure out a way to get ALL the way around it to decorate. Sometimes a ladder just won't cut it.

I have chosen an ornament for Ella for each year of her life. I let her chose her ornament this year. Shockingly she chose a Princess ornament. If you can't tell it is very sparkly.

Her first year ornament was a Jayhawk. She likes her Happy Feet ornament from last year so much that she keeps taking it off of the tree. Sadly I could not find it to take a picture.

Gingerbread

Mary and I love to make Gingerbread houses. We both love creating things AND consuming large amounts of sugar. For the second year in a row we got together to make houses. Krista joined in on the fun and Kevin was kind enough to take pictures of the process.

The next couple of days Ella, Jimmie and I worked on Ella's house. She ate more candy than went on her house. I don't have a picture of the finished product of her house because she ate almost all of the candy off of it and Max ate one side of the roof. It's all about the process, right?

Fun times in Louisiana

Ella and I had the privilege of traveling with Nonna and Dad Dad to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful trip in so many ways. It was bittersweet because Lane is headed back to Iraq with the Air Force.

We made a quick stop in OKC to have Thanksgiving Dinner with our McArthur side. It was very nice to see both sisters at the same time!! It was good to be together. This is the first year without Grandpa.

Dee is a pastor and lives next to her beautiful church.

When we arrived in Louisiana the first thing that Ella did was plop herself down on the floor and play with a couple of Aunt Dee's many nativity sets.

Ella learned how to make meat pies with Uncle Rick and Lane. Sadly I missed this activity, but my mom said that she watching intently trying to figure out was going on. Rick made meat pies and gumbo for dinner for us. YUMMY!

Ella had a great time with Rose as well!

Rose was very patient as both grandpas looked over her shoulder giving her advice on fixing the car. (She is about to graduate from auto mechanic school) Ella was very curious about the whole process. she came out saying "what you doing, Rosie?"

Everyone should have had the chance to see Grandpa "Shake your body like a crab"!

It was a wonderful trip. We got to see all of the special places for Rose and Lane. It was so neat to be part of their world for a little while. I am sad that we don't get to see each other very often. I think we decided it had been 7 years since we had been to Louisiana! That's too long. Thank you Boyt family for your hospitality!

Vocabulary

I named this blog Simpoots and Mermaid Tales because for a very long time Ella could not say "swimsuit", she always said "simpoot". I have come to the realization lately that her vocabulary has just exploded and may surpass mine soon! Today I gave her two options for dinner, both of which she likes to eat. She looked at me and said "I don't like either of those choices Mom." As frustrated as I was that she didn't like the choices, I had to commend her on speaking clearly and telling us exactly what she was thinking instead of just saying "NO, NO, NO!!!" as she would have done in the not so distant past.

In the past week she has said "Thank you so very much, Mommy", "are you upset?" and "would you please turn the piano on, so that I can play?" She has also started calling me out when I am only half paying attention to her. She will say "NO MOM, not HMMMM, say YES."

Don't be fooled though, there are still some things that she still has a hard time with, like "lello" (yellow) and "noooofls" (noodles). Just when I think that she is getting to be such a big girl, I look over and she is stuffing a fistful of "nooofls" in her mouth. It makes my heart happy to see her learn and develop, but it also makes me happy to see that she is still a little girl too!

Just a little trim...

if you consider about eight inches a trim!

My wonderful friend Laura snipped a little of the ends of my hair for me on Sunday. My awesome friend Molly documented the progress. It looks even better after I had a chance to fix it, but I haven't had a chance to take a picture of the finished product yet. Thanks ladies!

Relax

We are very lucky. Ella is a very good eater. She is usually not picky, but she is two after all. We don't make her eat everything on her plate, but we do expect her to try one bite of each kind of food that we are having. Last night I made up a new recipe for a chicken and spinach enchilada bake. I knew it was something that she would like, but she would  not try it to save her life! She kept running away from the table. After attempts to get her to sit down and eat she looked at me and said "Relax Mom", and sat down and ate one bite. Then she said "I like that!" and ran away to play again.
If that wasn't funny enough, she could tell that we thought it was funny. Throughout today she kept saying, "Remember when I said 'Relax Mom?' " and laughed hysterically at herself. What a silly girl!

Snapshots of a former life...

Perhaps I should mention that I am using my computer purchased in my sophomore year of college. I have been trying to clean it up in order for things to run faster. As I was cleaning I came across these pictures and thought, "Sister, your life is VERY different now!"

I MISS HER

I miss Grandpa too...

Not the best picture of either of us, but it shows my budding love for the city of Boston. First Red Sox game.

First Boston Pops Experience!

I LOVE MY SISTERS!!!

Sorry girls, couldn't resist! :)

India. My camera died shortly after arriving, so I had to rely on my teammates' pictures.

Clinicals Junior Year

 

Action shot. Wouldn't want to mess with Jimmie on the field. I hear he plays all sports full contact, even to this day.

I don't think Aaron was as pleased as we were with the redecoration of his room. 

Mindy and I thought we would test out the urinals...

 Heartpal

College Days 2003? The things we did to get kids to come to college!

Garey Hall RA's

Puppy Party

Ok, I know I am very behind, but I am going to have to spend the next little while catching up on life lately. Ella LOVES animals, especially dogs, so we found it fitting to throw a Puppy Party for the celebration of her 2nd year of life. I think it might be an understatement to say that I love planning a good party. I tend to go a little overboard, but I tried to keep this one low key. I saw these fabulous Pup Cakes in a book and thought they would be pretty simple to make. As usual the small simple project turned into a much larger and more detailed affair. My very talented and patient mother (who by the way knew that it would be complicated, but humored me) stayed up all night with me making these little creations.



We rented a pavilion out by the lake and the girls had a blast! We had dog bowls and dog ears and do you know what Ella liked the best? The balloons. She took them on the slide and all around the park. It was a very fun day and we were so glad that so many friends and family came up to Lawrence to celebrate. Thanks guys!