Happy 3rd Birthday Ella!

Our little sweetie turned 3 on Sunday. She loves Doc McStuffins and has been talking about having a "Doc cake" since January. We planned a party with cousins and as a bonus had a neighbor dress up as Doc to make a surprise appearance. It was a lot of fun! Ella had a great time giving checkups to her stuffed animals and playing games. Of course she loved eating cake too, but she said her favorite part was opening presents.  It was a fun day for our big 3 year old. Lots of pictures here.

Big Girl Sleepover

While the 3 of us were celebrating Emma at Disneyland, Ella got to spend alone time with her Auntie and cousins! She was very excited to be a big girl and stay all by herself. We barely got a goodbye before we left, she was already busy playing. She had a blast getting to go to Tyler's baseball practice, hanging with some friends, having some girly shopping time while T was at school, and even surprising Grammy with a visit to her work. She loves her cousins and keeps talking about all the fun she had! More Pictures Here

Big Girl Bed

Miss Ella Bay learned to climb out of her crib a few nights ago.  Since it was already time to sleep, this meant a slumber party on the floor for Ella and Mommy.  Mommy tried to sneak back to her own bed a few times, but that just resulted in Ella waking up and pounding on her door.  The next morning Mommy and Daddy converted her crib to a toddler bed.  She gave her crib a big hug and kiss and waved bye bye.  Then she helped take it apart.  When it was done she jumped up and down on her bed, sang No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and said "I so love it!"  She was so excited she had to call her cousin Kaitlyn to tell her all about it. Ella has been doing very well in her bed.  She has woke up a few times at night and climbed out, but has gone back pretty quickly (without any door pounding :)).  She is really proud to be a big girl! Here are more pictures.

Mail

Ella loves to get the mail.  For a long time now whenever we stop at the mailbox she reaches out her little hand and says "thank you, thank you" until I find a piece of junk mail that she can have.  Now as she is getting older she is more specific about the type of mail I give her.  She will no longer take reminder postcards or a catalog.  Now she has to have something in an envelope that she can open!

Colors

Ella now knows all her colors!  She likes to point out that "mommy has a blue shirt," or there is a "white truck."  Yellow seems to be her favorite of all!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Ella turned 2 last week and we had a little party to celebrate this past Saturday. She loves Elmo and she loves music and dancing so we had a Elmo Dance Party! She was very into all the decorations as Mommy put them up during the week. She would come downstairs to the new things Mommy had worked on the night before and say "ohhhhhh cool," then point to them all day and say "Elmo, Cookie, Abby...." She told me for her birthday party she wanted a "chocolate Elmo cake." Of course Mommy had to make that happen for her! She saw it in the fridge that morning and kept asking us to open the fridge so she could "see Elmo cake." She was very exited the day of her party and had a huge smile on her face the whole time. She had a great time dancing and playing music with her cousins. She is adorable!  You can find pictures and videos here.

Big

She wants to be a big kid! She's so lucky big sister let's her tag along and finds ways to include her. They are playing family.