Do you have ROYAL Fever?

Should we all get these? Will you be heading to bed extra early tonight in order to wake at 4 a.m. to watch it live? I only will if I can wear this tshirt & a tiara. :)

Easter Weekend wrap-up

We finally had some decent weather on Sunday to celebrate Easter, albeit a short stretch, since today it's raining loads and windy. We just love Minnesota weather. Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend! Part 2 will be this weekend in Worthington (hopefully!). Lots of pictures below, for the family to see!


Ella with her bunny purse, which she brought to church. She looked so stinkin' cute in her dress! And, I didn't have much luck getting her to smile at the camera, let alone take the time to actually look at the camera. Here, she's busy watching cartoons after church.


Ahh, a smile!


Opening her Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. Last week when I was shopping with Ella for stuff for her basket, we were in the aisle with all the candy, and she kept saying "Eat the bunny". And I kept responding, "Yep, we'll get to eat the [chocolate] bunny on Sunday!" And she kept saying that over and over. And I kept responding the same way, over and over. And then, it dawned on me. She was saying EASTER bunny. Not EAT THE bunny. HA!





The eye teeth are coming in...can you tell? Flushed cheeks & a finger in her mouth!


Trying to get a good shot of us together....


Well, at least she looked at the camera for this one!


So much for a family picture! Too much going on for Ella to be bothered with a picture!

Time to hunt for some eggs!






Not sure what Ella is doing here!


Ella with Grandpa Paul & Grandma Jolyn!


Ella & Annie



Ella & Tara



Here's the best shot I could get of her play Easter outfit. It's so cute! I'm going to have her wear it for Easter part 2 this weekend, hopefully I'll get a better picture.

A Shutterfly shout-out

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

So, Mother's Day is coming up on May 8th! Last year (my first official Mother's Day) I made my mom a personalized Mother's Day Card, which was a BIG hit. She still has it displayed! So, I'm planning to gift her the above card this year.

A Mom who works out...

So, I've been working out at home for a long time now. It's the norm at our house. Lately, I've mostly been working out (during the week) after Ella goes to bed, and whenever I can find time on the weekends. So, Ella gets it. She knows I need to workout. She'll do her version of squats & jumping jacks with me too. But tonight here's my story. We finished eating, the kitchen was clean & I thought we'd just play some legos, read some books, etc., but Ella noticed I was already changed into my workout clothes. Her: "Workout? Workout?" (about 3 or 4 times). Me: "No...a little later, not right now" Well, she continued to ask me and every time, I gave her the same response. Then, strangely, she started to cry! BECAUSE I WASN'T GOING TO WORKOUT RIGHT THEN AND THERE! She was physically pushing me up to get the DVD in and get the workout going. SO FUNNY! So, fine. I got my workout started and she was going to hangout with me and "dance". About 15 minutes into my workout I realize as I'm sweating like crazy, jumping around in cardio madness, that I'm holding a Barbie in one hand and a stuffed toy in the other. Made me laugh out loud. I know she'd given them to me a few minutes before but it's like I was paying attention, but not, if that makes any sense. But seriously, I guess the things Moms who workout do to get the workout done! Thanks to Ella for being my little motivator tonight. :)

Sweet Love

We snapped this picture last weekend after a night out for dinner. I love this picture and can't believe how big Ella is getting and how grown up she's become. She is so sweet and always giving us hugs and kisses (muuaawwwahhhh)!

Weird things my child does...

Like this: I have no idea...

A few things...like a bloody nose

It's been a few weeks since my last update. We've had a few things going on.

1. Ella fell down the stairs on 2/27 & got her first (I'm praying last) bloody nose. OMG! I felt so terrible. She was on her way up the stairs and we had Lilly (the dog) staying with us, and Lilly decided to head up too, so that startled Ms. Ella which caused her to fall back & down like 4 stairs. Somehow in the chaos of the fall, she hit the bridge of her nose just right on the stairs which gave her a big bruise (and bloody nose). Not my proudest parenting moment. I was standing right there, but I was bringing a bunch of stuff upstairs and it all happened too fast to grab her before the inevitable. Why did it have to be on MY watch?!?! You can see the bruise (this was day #3) in the picture below.

2. We made our first trip to the Children's Museum (St. Paul) that same weekend of the 27th. Talk about craziness! It was a bit hectic and tons of kids (most older than Ella) but we all had a good time anyway. Ella's favorite parts: the bubbles in the water area of the museum and checking out the LEGO dragon (which she calls a "saur" as in dinosaur). I'm sure we'll go back, but probably when Ella is a little older and can play & explore more areas of the museum.

Playing in the water area

Saying hi to the LEGO dragon ("saur")

I guess Ella thought she was under arrest?!?!