Me 'n L'Ella

So, we've been a little sicky. Not for long, but long enough. Today has been our recovery day and tomorrow we plan to have some play-date fun...and the next day, too. Here are some catch up pics from New Year's Eve and in between then and now:

This one was snapped while watching Austin's First Night Parade. Ella was dancing and she even yelled "Come Back!" to a hool-a-hooper who had been hooping in front of us until the parade started moving again. The parade was so cool because it was sooooo arsty-fartsy. None of my photos are ready because they are too dark and Zach is gonna have to work his photo-shop magic on them so they are visible to the human eye.


After the parade, across the street from the Paramount Theatre:


My beverage of choice for New Year's Eve was hot coffee poured over cold homemade vanilla Blue Bell ice cream. I think Juliette Binoche drank this in Bleu, one of the French Three Colours Trilogy films. I am no critic, but 'twas good. (Note: I'm sure the one in the movie used espresso and some other creamery besides our own local Blue Bell)


Ella feeding D-Bear her apple slices. According to Zach, Ella is also trying to teach "D" to walk by standing him up and telling him "Walk!". He, unfortunately, is a bit slow to pick up these fundamentals that Ella is teaching.


Ella and her "D".

Operation Organization '09

So, this process really did begin on January 1. This is the best, scratch that, ONLY time we could do it since Zach is home and we'd be wresting a 1.5 year old while tearing apart the whole house. We are *thinking* about *planning* for another kiddo sometime in the *future*. I added the *'s to slow you down so you won't get too excited because we are still in the *planning* stages. Since we have been thinking about things, we knew that our current set up of Ella in the tiny-est.room.ever. was not going to work since she will eventually have to SHARE her space. That being said, we have transposed our office (previously the most spacious room out of the three) and Ella's room. This means we crammed ALL OF OUR JUNK from the giant room into the 10'x10' middle bedroom. We had to make some sacrifices...I mean that I had to make some sacrifices and currently my entire craft station is boxed up in the garage...boo-hoo! This meant we had to clean out the garage!!!! Now, if you know me at all you would understand the magnitude of this situation. I have junk...ALOT OF JUNK. We are clearing out and currently have stacks and stacks of things: some to post on craigslist, books to take to half-priced books, CD's to take to cheapos, clothes to take to Buffalo (most to Goodwill), items that belong to others that are in need of return and just a lot of other misc. that will go straight to goodwill. Eek! In all of the chaos..and yes, there was CHAOS, we managed to keep Ella happy and fed and not go completely insane. We did hit a bump when we realized we would have to have our internet provider come and do some "reinstallation" into the new office, but even that has been sorted out...though we are without internet until next Tuesday.

I have even taken to clearing out some of the kitchen cabinets...since we will be hauling stuff away anyway. I have not resolved to become an organized person because it is totally against my nature, but things are looking bright for 2009! Pictures to come when the internet is back up and running...

THE playhouse.

Technically, this is not a Christmas gift, but it did arrive just days later. This is Ella's playhouse hand-made with love by her Papa. She has affectionately dubbed it "Papa". Here are some pics of the barn...er, playhouse raising that took place yesterday in our back yard:





Phooey!! I didn't get one pic of the beast in all its glory. Stay tuned for a pic of the whole thing. It is AMAZING! Ella is soooo fortunate to have this bad boy in her own yard at the ripe old age of 1.5. She is going to enjoy this for many, many, many years! Aunt Charley and I are looking forward to decorating: curtains, hanging plants, lights, a little garden, a little kitchen and all the fixins. There is even a spot just under the roof for the installation of a box fan during the summer...Papa thought of everything!!

Ella hurdled out the door today to rush inside it and peek out one of the three windows. She literally says "peek-a-boo". I think it is because she has been reading "Peek-a-boo Moon" with her Nana. She also enjoys hanging over the railing on the porch of her "property". She tells the cat "no, no" if it enters her domain (though I have a good idea it will be the cat's domain at night to slumber).

Christmas...is it too late to post this?

We.had.fun. Ella LOVES her family and I mean EVERYONE. Every Aunt, Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa (including the "greats"). She has everyone's name and title down and looks forward to any opportunity to belt them out. I know she is spoiled and you know she is spoiled so I will save you the details on all the bounty she received from her very generous friends and family. We are blessed!

Here are some pics of Christmas at Nana and Grandpa's (on the 24th, before the two parties we attended of which I have NO PICS!):

Riding her new box of blocks:

Playing with Nana:

Feeding baby chicken:


Christmas at Mimi and Papa's (Christmas morning). Ella did not actually open a gift at Mimi's, here is what she did instead:
Passing out gifts:

Sorting gifts:

Riding gifts (a theme?):

Eating gifts:

Playing with gifts:

She took an apple AND a banana break during the chaos:

Later she took a spin in her wagon with her new dogs (technically frogs) on:

Here is a couple of other fun pics from our time in Houston:
Lorelei! She was a boat load of fun and the girls ran around for hours together:

Around the smoldering "yule" log (this is a stump behind my inlaws that burned for 3-4 days throughout our time there...it was fun just hanging around the burning stump):

Zonked out on the car ride home...foot resting on my chair:

Trail O' Lights

Wowsers, this was fun! All the lights and kiddos and activities...it was a winter wonderland! Without the winter...er, it was nearly 80 degrees. We are such weenies we ran to the trail on Friday night when we heard there would be a cold front blowing in on Saturday. It is SO MUCH more fun to hang out without being hampered by a coat AND gloves AND a hat AND the whining (mine, not the kiddo). Anywho, here are some pics of the fun to be had. Love that the Trail is here every year : )

She made most of the trip on her dad's shoulders...there were just so many people that a tiny could easily run into the crowd and never come back to mom and dad:

Sorry, my camera doesn't do scenery pics, but it was really, really beautiful. There were dancing trees and music, etc, etc, but my very fave were the trees covered in lights:

Ella, literally dancing and clapping while sitting on dad's shoulders:



funny dancing pic:

Mom, wearing Ella's new glow necklace:

End of the line, back at the car with new glow necklace and bag of burning hot kettle corn that we split (fought over):

There is something to be said for ROUTINE

So, I would LOVE to think of myself as a spontaneous, fun, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl...but then I would only be talking about someone else. That just isn't me! I thrive on routine and December has thrown me for a loop. Here are a few things out of the ordinary that could be the cause of my frazzled-ness:

-there is a giant, glowing tree in my living room (which I do heart)
-shopping for stuff other than food...wha? this NEVER happens.
-it is COLD (I liked that for all of 10 minutes and then I was ready for Spring..BLAH!) we are totally stuck inside. honestly, we took a field trip to visit zach's co-workers...tell me that we are not dying to get out of the house. everyone there is great, but we are such a giant distraction that i can't help feeling a little bad about it....until ella gets tons of hugs and brings joy to everyone she runs past (even though i'm chasing her...ugh.)
-daydreaming about ella enjoying christmas with our families : )--this can be very time consuming
-christmas cards....A LOT of them + our christmas CD for those who enjoy new music (so much work, but very rewarding cause I get to send my best wishes to those we love the most. i think cards are like hugs. we send out about 100, but i always think of a ton more people i'd like to "hug")
-sicky-ness from the constantly changing weather..first me, now ella

yadda, yadda, yadda...I'm hope it doesn't seem like I'm complaining because in reality I love all of these things that make December so special, but I just wish I could be a little more flexible and just go with the flow. I stink with change. My REAL problem is remembering to complete my normal daily functions amidst the new found chaos and so my house is a mess (totally out of the norm..tee-hee) and my to-do list is out of control and I ALWAYS choose the fun things over the mundane...oops. Maybe I should have saved this whole rant for a week and a half for my "New Year's Resolution" post (don't hold your breath for that one).

I'll post pics now. Sorry to force you to sit through that when you really just came here for the pics. Before I go I want to send hugs out to all those who check in here for a dose of Ella. She is pretty special to me. Here are some Christmas card rejects and other fun stuff:

Sock Monkey Manger Scene at 39th street Christmas Display:
For a better description of the scene, check out Heidi's blog

Tabith, Joshua, Ella and popcorn at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Christmas luminary display:







LOVE this mug:


So pretty:


For the record, I am totally JEALOUS of the Harrell's new toy and Katie's less new toy!

We're still here!

Well, we weren't here for about a week and a half and if you count the time it takes to prepare for that sort of event and the time it takes to recover....then you've got about 3 weeks that have just flown by and a very aching back. We had a lovely time with our Houston friends and families. Ella had a blast. I think she is going to be on overload at Christmas seeing all of her favorite people...AGAIN! We are looking forward to it.

Speaking of Christmas, I feel like I missed the jump start after Thanksgiving since we were away. Immediately upon our return home my list looked like this:

1. Unpack
2. Christmas Tree
3. Laundry or just buy new clothes
4. Christmas Lights
5. Must do laundry b/c new clothes are not in budget
6. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!!
7. Austin Trail of Lights
8. Make all the gifts I had PLANNED to make (and bought supplies for)..EEK!
9. SLEEP
10. Christmas cards

I have done well in our few days home and have only the Trail of Lights, final touches on Christmas cards and making gifts left to do. Trail of Lights starts Sunday and I just know that Ella will eat it up. I'll post pics after the event.

I wish I didn't have so many gifts to make, but they are things I WANT to make because they are better than anything I have seen to buy...if they turn out right. They aren't overly wonderful, but they are just right and personalized. Please motivation, find your way to my door!!!