Holiday Pictures

It's been a GREAT and busy holiday season so far. We knew the time was coming for some pictures... so we called in a pro... Devon's friend Karen. She does a tremendous job. It was a nice afternoon, getting some photos done and letting the girls (Ella and Maya as well as Devon and Karen) spend some time together. Here are some of our favorite shots. We're calling her again for pictures in Ella's Christmas dress! We'll post some when they are done. We wish everyone out there a wonderful holiday season!

Catching up!

Hello everyone! First off... YES, we still have a blog. YES, we have been very busy. Sorry to keep you all waiting. Lots of things have been going on in the Aday household. Ella, of course, has been keeping us extremely busy. We made a list of blogs to "catch up" on, but it seemed like we could never get to our list... SO, we'll just start here and go from there.

Halloween was a great time. (We'll try to add a Halloween-only blog later.) This was the first year Ella actually (kinda) figured out what it was all about. We dressed her up as a Bee and she looked adorable! We took her around the neighborhood and collected a lot of candy... which Daddy of course had to inspect. (What ever happened to all that candy? Nevermind.) We stopped in a checked on Hudson. Had to include a picture of that.

Fall has been very busy, full of chasing after Ella and trying to get other things done. We, like most "new" parents are enjoying every single new day with Ella. She's talking more and more, running non-stop, and making sure Mom and Dad are keeping on their toes. She's actually starting to speak in sentences! Even make choices on what she wants to eat and can mostly feed herself. She's the best little girl ever and we are truly blessed.

We'll work on getting better with the blogs, but at least wanted to post something to let everyone out there know we're good and keeping extremely busy. We're looking forward to the holiday season with Ella! She's excited that Santa is coming soon! :)

The golfer and the bee... perfect match!

Carrying her glow in the dark pumpkin!

Sitting on pumpkins at the arboretum...

Posing with Mommy... sneaking in a kiss!

Family Visit!

Yes, it's us again. It seems like every blog we do now has an entire season in between, but we'll try to get better. Our family has been extremely busy these past few months. I'm sure we'll be playing "catch-up" for a while on the blogs, but it's better late than never. Recently, we had a nice visit from some of Devon's relatives from Michigan. Her Grandma, Aunt, and couisin were in town and drove all the way from Tulsa to pay us a visit. It was great watching Devon's cousin Anna and Ella meet. As you can see from the pics below, things were well! It didn't take Ella long at all to learn to say "ANNA, ANNA". She did a wonderful job helping us with reading Ella's favorite books, feeding Ella some dinner, and even helped at bath time! She did wonderful. (Anna, can you come stay every weekend?!?!?) Although the visit was short, we'd much rather have those than none. Hopefully we'll be able to head up to Michigan for a visit next year. Ella's been asking for "ANNA, ANNA" ever since!

Pool Time!!!

First off... yes, we're alive and well. Things around our household have been very busy. Devon and I will be going back and updating/adding some old blogs to catch-up. It's amazing how quickly you can fall behind when you're down a computer. Summer time is finally here! Ella is nearly 15 months old already! I know we say this pretty much every single blog, but she's getting more and more fun on a daily basis. In the last month, there have been a TON of changes with our little girl. She's basically completely off any baby food, walking all over the house, and talking up a storm. It's amazing to me how quickly her vocabulary is growing... Mommy, Daddy, eat, water, juice, nite nite, walk, shoes, bow, cookie, banana, milk, etc. You mention it, she picks it up. She's finally gotten the confidence to walk on her on and even RUN through the house! I don't know how it happened, but our baby turned into a toddler overnight! This holiday weekend was a perfect time to whip out the little pool for Ella. We got our swimsuits on, grabbed from toys, and headed out. The water was a little chilly, but Ella loved it! She was all smiles, until we had to get out of course. I'm sure this won't be the last time she'll get in the pool this summer. More blogs to come!

Swimsuit? Check. Smile? Check. Let's do this!

This is awesome... Sitting in the pool, in the shade....

Where are my toys?

Dried off and ready to go again! :)

We're here!!!!

Okay...  first off, we're alive.  I promise.  Devon and I have been living in a dark hole the past few weeks.  (Tom Hanks in Castaway would have been more accessible.)  BUT, we're here.  First off, our laptop sucks.  Second, we have a TON of pictures and even some movies clips to post... so it's going to take us a while to get caught up.  Just wanted to let everyone there know we're fine, just keeping extremely busy.  We'll probably be doing about 20 blogs this weekend.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Talk to you all soon!

A Week of Chaos!

Well, we had a very busy, chaotic week and a half! First, we had my grandparents (Steinagel's)come visit for a few days. They have never met Ella until now so it was good to catch up and hang out for awhile. We had a great time and Ella did too! She got a whole new summer wardrobe from them and will be the cutest baby this summer! :) Near the end of the visit, Ella started to feel a little under the weather with a runny nose and just not herself. By the time she got better we were ripping the house apart to get ready for the new floors to be installed. We were replacing the carpet in the living room, master bedroom and both hallways with woods floors. This meant that we had to remove EVERYTHING from those areas. We didn't realize that we have accumulated so much stuff since we moved here until we had to move it all! All of the living room furniture was moved to the garage and I tried to get all of our bedroom stuff into the master bath, then all of the baby stuff was crammed into the office along with the dogs and whoever was there with the installers. We even had the TV in the kitchen in front of the stove! So no dinner at home for a couple of days! Anyway, they delivered the floors on Tuesday so we got to work getting the house ready. On Thursday they were here ripping our nasty carpet out! They had the bedroom carpet out in less than 10 minutes! It took a lot longer since our house was not level (go figure), they had to use leveler to make sure the furniture wouldn't slide. Anyway, they were back on Friday to finish the job. I want to thank my Grandpa for staying with the workers while Ella and I went to spend some time at my parent's house away from the noise and dust. Ella was great through the whole thing. She slept well at night and still is even though the dogs are a little noisier. So far we love it!

BEFORE

Brian sitting where the couch used to be...can you tell where we walked???

The hallway...notice the nasty dark spots??

DURING

All of the dark grey is were they had to put leveler down. All of the faint white spots are dust in the air. Our allergies are now getting a little better.

AFTER

Look how pretty!!! Yes, there is still dust in the air!!

The dogs checking everything out. They thought it was fun sliding around the corners. :)

Valentine's Day Fun!

Valentine's Day with our little girl was really fun. We wanted to make it special since it was her first. Unfortunately, Brian had to work all day. We did get the chance to meet him for lunch and have some time together during the day. We ran over and had a quick lunch at Mi Cocina. She was quick to flirt, smile, and wave at the table of 6 guys next to us! After Brian got off, he came home and was able to feed Ella dinner and get her ready for bed. She really enjoyed opening up her presents. Our little angel LOVES books with a passion. She was SO excited about getting some new ones for Valentine's Day. She was smiling, giggling, and waving her arms. Too cute. Today, she got to spend some time at Grandpa Rod and G-ma Dawn's house while Brian took me to dinner for an early birthday present. (Benihana's... yummy!) Anyway, Ella got to sit in a "big girl chair" and learn how to rock. It was so cute to watch her play. She impresses us more and more everyday!

Checking out her new Princess books...

Posing with Mommy... right before bed time.

Getting one more story in...

Big girl sitting in a rocking chair!

Rolling around... just having fun.

11-month fun!!!

It's time for Dad to write again.... I can't believe it, but our little girl is 11-months old today! Just seems like yesterday that I was holding that little newborn in my arms. She's growing SO fast. Sometimes I wish I could slow it down, but it's also exciting to see all the new things she's doing. We finally got her to wear (and tolerate) bows in her hair. She looks so cute... and she's getting more hair.. finally! Well, bath time has gone from a nice relaxing time playing with toys to a trip to the water park... for me anyways. She loves to fling her arms through the water and splash her Dad as much as possible. It's very cute... I'll try to get a picture of it. She's also turning all the lights on and off by herself. Definiately a good helper when our hands are full. Ella also is standing much better on her own. She's walking extremely well while holding our onto our fingers. I really expect her to let go and start running! She'll even lead us around the house, depending on what time it is. Time to eat? She'll hold onto our fingers and head to her highchair. Time to sleep? She'll lead you right to her bedroom. She's SO smart. Also, she's been impressing us a lot lately with her newest tricks. You ask her... "Who's Ella?" She automatically points to herself!!! You ask her... "Ella, where's your head?" She puts her hands on top of her little head!!! Too cute. You have to see it. Anyway.. as you can see below, she's getting so big. Loves to watch fun TV shows (Wheel of Fortune is a favorite) and loves her new big girl bike. Devon's uncle and grandparents found the bike Devon rode as a little girl and made it up for Ella! New paint, new tires... even with a Texas license plate with her name on it! Too cute. She loved trying it out today! More pictures of that to come. Well, I'm sure there are many things I'm missing, but I have to stop somewhere. We're very proud of our little princess... and we love her more and more everyday!

She just loves watching "The Price is Right"

Figuring out the big girl bike....

We're working on turning... :)

Our little princess is already 11-months old!

"There's teeth in there!" (7 so far!)

Best Friends...

I have finally got some picture of Ella with Dusty and Daisy. When she was first home with us, we kept them away since they do not know how not to lick everything! Well, a couple of weeks turned into a few months before they would go near her. When Ella started to figure out her surroundings better she did NOT like the dogs at all! She would scream and try to get away from them sometimes with tears. Now that she is more comfortable sitting and walking she thinks they are hilarious! She giggles every time Daisy jumps when we are walking around. She will even go to their beds to see how they are doing. Daisy has particularly started to really like Ella. She will always be where she can see her and wants to lick and be right next to Ella. I guess they are now best buds. I was a little worried there for awhile but now I have no worries about any of them getting along. They are so cute together!

Keeping a watchful eye on Ella!

Have to get a Daisy kiss every now and then...

Can't leave Dusty out. He loves to make her laugh!

Ella making sure Daisy doesn't steal her toys...this is the usual scene with Daisy and Ella. So cute!

Daddy's Girl!!

Recently, Ella has been a daddy's girl! He gets up with her in the morning and feeds her breakfast while letting me sleep in a bit. Most of the time I lie awake but don't want to bother them since this is their time together before he heads off to work. When Brian gets home he spends the whole time on the floor playing and playing until it is either time for a bath or bed. Another job daddy has is bath time! She loves playing in the water, splashing and squirting her toys all over the place. I can tell that Brian absolutely loves every single second of his time with Ella. I am so proud of what a great father he is to her and can't wait to watch there love grow even more! Here are some of the pictures of fun times!

Playing kick ball...she kicked it all over the house! Maybe we have a future soccer player??

Loves books...she tries to read and turn the pages. Daddy time before bed.

One of Ella's favorite things is to play with daddy's iPhone! She sees a picture of herself and squeals then moves the picture around.

Cute pose...loves to give kisses! Too bad my camera was to slow to catch that!

Sharing her snacks with daddy while having dinner. She will share her food with us every time, even though it is sometimes very slimey. :) She's so sweet!

A cute smiling picture of Ella...sorry to cut daddy's head off. :)

Ten Months...

Well, another month has flown by and it was even better than the last! Ella has done so much more than ever before. She still loves to walk everywhere but now she has figured out how to get out of your arms, to the ground and ready to go! You have to watch her or she will be gone before you know it! Ella also has been scooting using just her arms! She pushes with her toes and then reaches with her arms and scoots across the room. No more keeping her on the blanket! Either way she is getting very mobile! Ella also points to everything that she finds funny or wants to know more about. It is so cute when she points then mumbles something. I have so many pictures and stories that I can't post everything she has been going and doing! I have a few below that are some of my favorite ones (all of them are cute but it would take up too much room)! She'll be one before I know it. We'll post more soon!

Daisy wanting in on the playing but knows she can't be on the blanket. Dad's leg is the next best thing!

Still loves those remotes! Ten month picture...she was waving "Hi"!

There is no keeping her still now to get pictures!

Laughing at daddy after a long bath!

Starting to cruise around!

Bubble bath time!

She was bundles up so much that she really didn't move her arms much! Kind of like the little brother in "The Christmas Story"!

One of my favorite pictures of her with her teeth showing. She is such a happy girl!