Welcome to our blog

We wanted to start this blog as a way to keep track of all the new things going on in our family...read along for fun tales, lots of pictures and just try and keep up with the chaos!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Rousing Rendition of Happy Birthday

When Ellie woke up the day after the party, she told me "They sing Happy Birthday to Ellie Mama".  She was pretty excited about this, although a little hesitant to move her hand from her mouth.  She did score a big win blowing out the candle!

Monday, August 16, 2010

It was one heck of a party!

Ellie helped pre-celebrate her 2nd birthday with the help of some friends.  Jack and Michael Kilroy, Maeve O'Rourke, Trey and Harper Pendleton, and Stephen, Kate and James Schoenfeld came over to play in the bouncy house, eat cupcakes and open presents.

Here are some pictures we wanted to share

The Bouncy House was quite the attraction! Here Ellie is with Lillian Harris, Trey Pendleton and Jack Kilroy.

Everyone had a ton of fun!  Ellie and Lillian Harris got some time in there together.

Ellie and her friend Harper Pendleton.

She even took some time out to pose with mom and dad.

She was pretty excited about her birthday cupcake.

YUM!

Another family picture

She got lots of good presents.

After everyone left, Ellie got some alone time in her bouncy house.

She was generous enough to share it with Sadie, who in all truth, was looking for food the other kids left behind.  She is not the biggest fan of bouncing.

All in all, it was a great birthday party!

Pictures from the Playground

We have a lot to share today, so there are a lot of posts...

Wanted to share some pictures of Ellie on the playground in our neighborhood.  Despite the hot temperatures, she still loves to play...



Teacher's Input on Potty Training

We got this email from one of Ellie's teachers about her potty training...


Hi Amy,

Just wanted to let you know that Ellie is doing great again today!  She has only had the opportunity to sit on the potty twice today since we had water play, but she went both times and her plastic pants were dry!  I really think Ellie will be potty trained quickly! Especially since she wants to use the potty every five seconds, LOL ;)  See you this evening.

- Ashley

We were very proud of this...but were not having as much at night.  We figured out some key elements to bribe her in the bathroom...stickers, M&Ms and some books.  Still a work in progress...

Monday, August 9, 2010

Potty Training...its a whole new crazy world



Well, our first post is a doozy.  Ellie decided that she wanted to use the "big girl" potty on Saturday afternoon.  After a couple of failed attempts on Saturday, we hit gold on Sunday at Portrait Innovations in their public bathroom during her outfit change for her two year old pictures.  Oh yes, a public bathroom!  Ellie had several other successes on Sunday, plus about 25 other attempts, leading to 30 times for her pregnant mother to get up and down off the tile floor to help her.

We are pretty excited about this new development and will keep you updated.

We did get some great pictures from her Portrait session, which I will add here after we get them uploaded.  She didn't really like getting her picture taken.  We got about 8 usable shots, including one we kept with her pouting, lips pursed in the midst of saying "I don't want to".  Its pretty hilarious.

Otherwise, we are trying to stay inside out of the 100 degree heat all week.  :)