Easter!

We spent Easter in Worthington this year.  It was a short trip!  But we got to spend some time with the family!

 Lexi and I took some selfies...

She is obsessed with the cell phones!

So cute!

 The Easter Bunny found us at Grandma Deb's house!

Ella got some fun stuff: a new book, some bracelets, Mr. Sketch ("smelly") markers with paper, a charm for her charm necklace, a cookie baking kit, a recorder and some chocolate candy!

 We went to sunrise service at 6:30 a.m. for Easter!  Ella was a trooper and did great

She looks so grown up!!

When Chase and Lexi arrived, it was time to hunt for some eggs!

 Lexi was VERY excited!!

We had to hunt inside because it was very wet and cold out.  

Good thing the Easter Bunny left good instructions for Grandma Deb!

A few more (cell phone) Easter pictures....

And we did get ONE family picture - not our best looks, but it will have to do!

Loosing Teeth!

So, as you have likely noticed, Ella has started to lose some teeth.  I thought I should start to track this on the blog so that I have a record of dates when I get to the baby book!

First tooth lost:  July 18, 2015.  Lower left front tooth

Second tooth lost:  October 13, 2015.  Lower right front tooth

Third tooth lost:  January 9, 2016.  Upper left front tooth

Fourth tooth lost:   March 2, 2016.  Upper right front tooth
 

So Ms. Ella is missing BOTH front teeth at the moment.  :)  

And I just noticed that every single one of these pictures was taken when she was in PJs!  HA!

March Madness!

Well, I sure have been having an issue trying to keep this little blog updated!  Where does the time go?!

Some updates on what we've been up to:

Tons of celebrations!

President's Day was celebrated in Ella' first grade class with some Abe Lincoln tall hats....

AND some George Washington beards (boo - no picture!)


They also celebrated 100 days of First Grade!

And also for the month of February, Ms. Ella was celebrated as Student of the Month for Meadowview Elementary.  The theme this month was respect.  Nice job!  So proud!

MARCH Happenings!

Meadowview added a new fundraiser this spring - Apex Fun Run.  All the kiddos were asked to obtain pledges for them to participate in a Fun Run at school to raise money for the school's playground/outdoor environments.  Ella seemed to have a good time with all of the pre-run festivities and challenges.  She earned enough pledges to get the coveted prize of a FLYING CHICKEN!  Hilarious what kids find amusing.  She ran 24 laps on the big day - WOW!  We were so excited for her! 

A few weekends ago, we took a fun excursion.  First, we went to Minneapolis to A Baker's Wife bakery for donuts and cookies as big as Ella's head!  

They only offer 5 kinds of cake donuts (plain, cinnamon/sugar, powered, chocolate glaze or sprinkles), but you wouldn't believe how delicious they taste!  And they were so busy!!  It was a fun way to start the day!  I didn't take any pictures while we were there (shoot!) but we took our donuts to Starbucks and these goofballs posed for a quick picture. 

Then, we headed to Jay's office because he was moving desks and wanted to get that all situated before the work week started.  Ella was excited to be his little cleaning helper.

Then she was pretending to work there too, taking over Jay's co-worker desk.

I was just a visitor...

Future Geek Squad-er?

On St. Patrick's Day we enjoyed cupcakes from Woullets Bakery 

(hmm...seems we frequent the bakeries a lot!)

The leprechaun visited Ella at school and was up to all sorts of shenanigans again this year!  

She loved it!  

Palm Sunday!

Ella's dance class has been moving right along on their tap and ballet routines for this year's recital!  This past week they finished both routines and shared them with us!  They are doing a great job!  Ella LOVES dance - she is constantly dancing around the house doing her dance routines, singing along to music and making up routines of her own!  Makes me smile!

Nice first position Ms. Ella!

Last week Jay was traveling for work (to California!).  Instead of enjoying warm spring temperatures, Ella and I got to endure almost 10 inches of snow on Wednesday!  It was crazy!!  Thankfully, it all mostly melted the next day, but Wednesday and Thursday morning commutes were insane!

We are SO ready for warmer weather!

February Happenings

Oh February!!  A few things have been going on around here.

Early February we had a no school day (well, actually, Ella had homework to do because in our district, they have flex learning days).  But, anyway, she and Jay stayed home and good thing because we got 12 inches of snow in Farmington!  WOWSERS!  The wind picked up as well, so our snowman started to look a little disheveled.   I left work early but still had a scary drive home that afternoon! 

Superbowl weekend, Jay was on an ice fishing trip, so Ella and I hung out some and then she spent time at a birthday party.  We made our annual oreo football dip and for dinner we made....TOTCHOS!!  They were a HUGE hit.  Delicious.  Took longer to make than traditional nachos because you have to bake the tots first, however, it was worth it.

We had a good time enjoying the game and a few of the commercials (many of them were kind of duds).  The halftime show - Chris Martin was bouncing too much and I wish he would just stand up straight!! Ella loved the halftime show and spent time dancing with Beyonce!!

 

For Valentine's this year, Ella brought fruit snacks with a little tag I found via Pinterest.  Here is the link. I'm "berry" glad we're friends.  They had a little Valentine's exchange and party in her classroom and she ate way too much candy that day!  

Valentine's weekend, Ella had a sleepover at Grandma Jolyn and Papa Paul's house.  She kept referring to this as her "trip" and she had a good time.  I was really sick with a sinus infection so Jay and I didn't really do much.  I think I spent about 80% of the weekend sitting on the couch reading or watching TV.  It was kind of nice, but too bad that we had to waste away the weekend!!  Our Valentine's Dinner:  Chipotle.  HA!

Before Ella left for the weekend, she opened her valentine from Jay and I.  She got her first Kids Bop CD (she knows just about all of the songs!), a new charm for her charm bracelet and a Shopkins.  :)

And now it's already the middle of February!  Ella came home yesterday with Pink Eye.  Neat.  We spent a  good portion of the night waiting at urgent care and then driving to get the eye drops.  She is home from school today but hopefully she will be back at school tomorrow to celebrate the 100th day of school!!

Ending January with a heat wave!

Happy February 1st!  January just flew on by don't you think?  I'm still feeling happy with myself for getting the blog updated during that long MIA stretch around the holiday season.  Let's keep the posting party going right?  It was a NICE weekend here in MN.  After a few weeks of long frigid tundra days, it was so nice to have some 30+ degree days!  We were able to wash our cars and get out and enjoy the little bit of snow that remains (although, we're going to get some fresh snow tomorrow)

Saturday we trekked down the street to the park for some good old fashioned sledding.  It was a blast!

 

Saturday night we headed to Dan's Bar in New Trier, the tiniest little town just south and east of OUR tiny little town.  It was SO BUSY!  And SO loud.  We left and I told Jay we must be getting old to complain about how loud it is during dinner.  :)  Especially when we were dining at 5 p.m. HA!

Sunday, Ella woke up with some sneezy, runny nose crap.  Yuck.  But, we made it to Sunday School and we spent time outside building a SnowGIRL.  We all took part!  Jay and Ella did most of the building and I helped with the head and getting her all decorated.  Ella gave her a name but now I can't remember what it is!!  

I baked two delicious things this weekend.  The first was a last minute find on Pinterest.  Ella wanted chocolate cake on Friday night for dessert.  We compromised and I made a hot fudge cake.  You guys, it was so easy and super delicious - however, you must serve it with vanilla ice cream!  Otherwise I think the chocolately-ness could be too much.  Try it!! I didn't take any pictures, but it looked pretty much like the picture in the link of the recipe pinner.   http://www.afamilyfeast.com/hot-fudge-pudding-cake/ 

Yesterday afternoon, I decided we should make some banana bread.  But, we had some blueberries too, so we made another delicious find from Pinterest!  It got rave reviews from Jay and Ella.  YUM! Again, no pictures of my own bread (boo!) http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2015/04/cinnamon-sugar-blueberry-banana-bread/

Let's see what the groundhog does tomorrow!