Happy Halloween!

Ellie had a fun-filled Halloween.  We started our day at my school.  The parade started at 9:00.  Ellie was such a cute little chick.  The parents and students all ooh-ed and aah-ed over her.  My teaching partner even said I should put her in modeling.  She was trying to take everything in so she didn't smile much.  She had a blank stare.  I don't really blame her.  There are close to 1,100 students that go to my school.  Some were off track, but that is still a lot of kids.  

Then we went to see Weston at his work.  Again, more admiration.  She smiled a lot at the people he works with.  She really enjoyed Roger.  As soon as he brought out the candy her eyes lit up and she grinned from ear to ear.  She then dug her hand in the Smarties and pulled out a few.  She sucked on the wrappers and thought she had a pretty neat toy for awhile.   

We ended our day at my parents' neighborhood "Trunk or Treat".  Ellie was pretty much done by then.  She didn't keep her hat on for long.  All-in-all I thought she did well for such a crazy day.  We hope everyone had a great Halloween and that you loaded up on candy.  As Garfield says it's all about the "Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy."  

5 Months Old

Ellie is still growing like a weed.  We can't seem to find a good weed spray to slow her down.  Actually, she's getting more fun the older she gets.  Sometimes I miss having a little bundle to cuddle with, but it's so fun to watch her do new things.  

This month we've had a lot of fun with cereal.  She has had rice cereal for the last few weeks and yesterday she tried oatmeal.  I think she liked the oatmeal better, but she could've just been ravenous that day.  

Ellie can get around by rolling now.  She looks for something across the room and twists and rolls until she gets it.  She especially loves to go after newspapers.

She is learning that she has body parts.  This month she found her knees, toes, and last week she found her ear.

Since Ellie can almost sit unassisted, we decided to try out her door-frame jumper.  She doesn't really jump in it yet.  She mostly attacks the toys and throws them.  She also spins around on her toes.  

She's been paying a lot of attention to the dog and reaches out to grab him.  She pets him and has even pulled on his ears. 

If you put your hands out for Ellie to come to you, she will lean toward you and reach out her hands.  I was really excited when she started doing this because it makes me feel like she might actually want to be held by me.      

Here is evidence of how adorable she really is:

Weston's business trip and the stowaways

Ellie and I couldn't stand the thought of having the house all to ourselves last weekend so we hopped the plane with Daddy and headed off to Portland, Oregon. Beehive sent Weston to Corvallis, Oregon (we had to drive two hours from Portland) from the 12th-15th to work with Summit on computer backups. Ellie and I pretty much hung out in the hotel, but it was a nice break from reality. We didn't get any pictures (kicking myself), but Sunday Ellie took her first swimming lessons. She seemed pretty solemn the whole time and the pool was rather chilly for it being heated. We swam another time too and she looked like she had a little more fun.

Monday I strapped Ellie in the Baby Bjorn and we walked the Oregon State University Campus for an hour and a half. My knees were really sore the next day. Weston got done a little early that day so we took a drive to Newport on the coast. We found the Historic Yaquina Bayfront and took a bunch of pictures. We also HAD to get salt water taffy while we were there. Right before we left we fed Ellie while sitting on a bench along the boardwalk watching the boats at the docks. It was pretty neat even if we were only there about two hours.

Ellie was super on both flights and I was definitely amazed. One of the flight attendants on the way to Portland gave Ellie a certificate for her first flight. She also gave her a little treat bag with some luggage tags, a deck of cards, and snacks for Ellie to share.
My favorite part of the trip was that I finally got to read for pleasure! When I'm at home there is always something that needs to be cleaned, papers to be corrected, or something else I have to do. In a hotel, there's only so much you can do so I finally got to finish reading Harry Potter #6. I know, I know. I'm really behind, but now I'm closer. I'll probably have to read #7 during Christmas Break. Who knows.

Ellie finally found out how to get her foot in her mouth

On the beach in Newport

On the bayfront

Seriously?

St. George Marathon Weekend

We had a great time in St. George the weekend before last. It's a yearly tradition for my family to head south General Conference weekend for the St. George Marathon. My crazy mom has run it for 13 years now. My semi-crazy sister has run 5 times now. I have run 6, but I didn't get to run this year. The last time I ran was the first year I was married (2005) when I ruined both of my knees because I didn't train very well. We still go down there every year to cheer on my family and enjoy a vacation. My mom and sister both did great!

    Ellie with Grandpa

Ellie with Grandma

Kristan at mile 24

Mom and her friend Monica at mile 24

Shopping the outlet malls

At the 10 year banquet

One of Ellie's new favorite toys

Ellie's First Rice Bath

So we went to the grocery store and almost forgot to get rice cereal. We were checking out when Weston remembered. Whew! We had a ton of fun watching Ellie bathe herself with her food today. It didn't start out so well. She turned her lips up quite a few times and couldn't figure out how to eat it. She got the hang of it though and one soaking bib, drenched shirt, and messy face later she finished her first "solids". It looked like milk with a few floaties to me. She liked it so much that Weston couldn't shovel it in her face fast enough!




There was two ounces in the little cup (about to the line) and this is how much was left!