Life in 3-D

When I was at the store buying Ella's birthday supplies, they gave me these 3-D glasses for the Super Bowl commercial and Chuck the following day. Well, we don't watch Chuck, but we tried them out during the Super Bowl. Personally, we thought it was a wasted effort, but it did make for a funny picture of the fam!

Ella's First Birthday

Today was our sweet little Ella's first birthday. People say this all the time, but it really is so hard to believe that the year went so fast. She has been such a joy and a very easy baby, in my opinion. We had a fairly small party with just family attending. My parents, Grandma Kaser and cousins Todd, Dawn, Amber and Taylor came from Moberly. Brent's mom, Grandma Eileen, Uncle Brad, Aunt Brenda, Jaden, Mason, Lucas and Kalyn and Uncle Eric, Aunt Rhonda, Sydney and Madison came from Unionville. That makes 23 people if you count us.

Ella got a lot of nice gifts. This picture shows the ball activity center we gave her. She likes it very much as she is already an avid Dora fan and it has Dora on it.

Ella wore her tutu with her onesie that says, "When God Made Me He Was Showing Off." She also was having a bad hair day which included a little Alfalfa sprout. No amount of mommy-spit could tame it!

Big sis really wanted to help with opening up the gifts, but Ella really didn't appear to need much help.

Brent's mom gave Ella a new swing for us to put on the swingset. Gracie and some of the other neighbor kids had worn out the baby swing.

This picture shows Ella loving on her first Precious Moments figurine. Brent's sister has given each of the kids one on their birthdays in honor of Papa. This year they all got one that says "Forever In Our Hearts." Ella promptly kissed/licked it on its head.

Ella wanted to share the balls with everyone who couldn't fit in her new toy.

Just a shot of the whole activity center. It has holes you can push the balls through, a big ball in the center that you can punch and it makes noise and little windows you can peek out.

This little toy generates some static, so Ella had spikey hair when she went in for very long.

Ella peeked out her windows so her adoring fans could take some pictures.

Ella's cake ended up being a gigantic cupcake. My boss's wife had just purchased this adorable cupcake pan and she loaned it to me. It ended up being really cute and I was pleased that I made Ella's first cake. I usually ask Brent's sister to do it, because she has real talent. I just got lucky with a cute cake pan! This picture shows the birthday invitations I made for the party as well.

A better shot of the cupcake. I kind of ran the cupcake theme into the ground by making Ella an oversized cupcake for herself and then a cupcake tree also with different flavors of cupcakes for those that didn't like chocolate cake. Yes, there are some of those people in the world!

The big moment finally arrived. Ella didn't cry when we sang, she just sat there eying that yummy looking cake. The candle was barely blown out when she got her hands into it and started chowing down. There was no stopping her from that point.

My favorite picture of the day! It didn't take long for that sugar high to kick in. Ella got pretty funny after a little cake got in her system.

Did I mention that Ella enjoyed her cake?

The birthday girl had to leave the party and take a bath at this point. It was such a fun day and we appreciate everyone who was able to come. Oh, in case you are wondering, Ella slept all night despite a stomach full of cake. Like I said, she's a great baby.

Sharing My Morning Cup of Joe

I am not sure when or why it happened, but I am an avid coffee fan these days. Slowly over the course of the last few years I have grown more and more fond of the stuff. I only drink one cup and it's always first thing in the morning. I try to drink it before the girls wake up so they won't catch on to my bad habit. Ella must be more familiar with my coffee cup than I thought, because she found it (empty) the other day and was mimicking me. She would pretend to drink, then act like it was refreshingly delicious!

This was more than a pretend sip. She actually started talking into the cup and listening to how her voice changed and sounded funny.

The little comedian even got my spoon and pretending to spoon coffee to her mouth.

Fun at the Mall???

We had a photo session this morning at Sears in the Columbia Mall. Despite my best efforts to have Ella rested and well fed before her pictures, she was still not very cooperative. Having said that, I think some of these pictures turned out pretty cute considering the mood both girls were in.

Since she did a pretty good job smiling, Gracie got to ride the carousel at the mall. It is pretty much the highlight of her trip to Columbia.

Trying it On For Size

People are always telling me that Ella looks so big on the blog, but then when you see her in person she is petite. I took this picture because first of all, Ella knows shoes go on your feet, so she was trying to get Brent's shoe on her foot. Isn't that genius?!

Also, having Ella so close to Brent's shoe shows her size a little better. She really isn't all that big. Does anyone have a quick fix for getting her to stop putting everything into her mouth? She uses no discretion regarding what she chews on.

Just Like Gracie

Why do kids like to drink disgusting bathtub water? Gracie was probably the worst about wanting to drink bubbly bathtub water, but Ella has recently caught onto the trend. The Parents as Teachers coordinator we have said Ella needs to practice drinking from a cup without a lid, but I don't think she meant like this!

Maybe it will be a short-lived temptation for Ella since she always gets choked and ends up sputtering it all out. Oh, poor baby. I should be helping her by patting her back instead of taking her picture.

Fun with Ray & Mikie

This weekend we were on the road again. We headed over to Keokuk on Friday afternoon so that we could attend a visitation and funeral for the mother of a good friend. We had a great time visiting with friends and enjoyed staying with Bruce and Missy. Sunday afternoon on our way home, we stopped in Kahoka long enough to go see Ray & Mikie, our Kahoka neighbors.

Gracie, the cheese, was more than happy to pose for a picture or two!

What a good little girl. Gracie has on her Silpada necklace. Her Sunday school teacher said that Gracie told her, "My necklace is Silpada. My mommy sells it, so I get to go to jewelery parties." What a good advertisement.

Gracie loves to play with Mikie's yarn. She makes a huge knotty mess of it and then we get to try and untangle it before we leave. Her favorite thing to do is to tie up Ray. Someday her knots will get stronger and he will never escape!

Brent has made the blog twice in the last few weeks. Someone owes me a thank you!

Ray and Mikie didn't realize someone was trying to sneak into their picture!

It looks like I was beginning to untangle the yarn. What a job! At least Gracie caught me smiling and not snarling about the horrible mess she made of the yarn.

What??? A picture of me and my husband. That probably won't happen for another two years or so.

Ella enjoyed exploring at Ray and Mikie's house. She isn't familiar with it like Gracie was.

This is a tough lesson to learn Ray, but you have to be on guard when Gracie is taking pictures. She has a way of catching a person off guard!

Oh yes, we were still untangling the yarn 15 minutes later.

I think Ray was glad to see us go. Things get a little rowdy when the Doolin's arrive! Bruce and Missy probably took a huge nap after we left their house. It probably made them appreciate having dogs instead of human children.