Catch-up

Yes, I do realize it's been almost two months since I last posted--hard to believe how time flies by so fast. We've definitely had a lot going on so I'll try to give a summary catch-up, and then post some pictures to go along with it. Here goes.....

Birthday's, etc.

Gabriella had her 3rd birthday on September 29th! We celebrated with a party for her at Cedar Park. She had several little friends, big friends AND Uncle Jeff & Aunt Marion attend the party! Ella wanted an "Ella the elephant" party. I said great--no problem, I can make an elephant cake--and of course it will look exactly like Ella the Elephant. In case you aren't familiar, here you can read about Ella the Elephant --the star of some books-three in the series thus far. So the Ella elephant cake turned out better than I expected. The kids just played at the playground, David read Ella takes the Cake to them for a "story-time" and we ate pizza and cake. It was alot of fun. Ella woke up that morning to find a very pink bicycle waiting for her in the kitchen, along with a Dora helmet. At first she just wanted to ride the bike--literally, sit on it while we pushed her--no pedaling. But it didn't take long for her to start pedaling, and now she rides on her own pretty well--steering and pedaling. She loves her bike! In fact, she still frequently says, "I love my bike, I love my bike! Thank you for my bike!" We're hoping it lasts a few years since she is in the low seat position, to where she can get rid of the training wheels. Oh, and David had his birthday on September 27th, and we celebrated our 6th anniversary on September 28th--our usual celebration week. Ella's birthday the highlight.

Tummy swingin' with my undies showin'

Family photo

Singing happy birthday

Storytime with Papa

Waiting patiently to get some cake

First time on the bike

Pizza and juiceboxes with friends--could life get any better?

With Aunt Marion

With Uncle Jeff

Soccer/Ballet
Ella just finished her 6-week outdoor soccer for 3-year olds. It was alot of fun. She absolutely loved it for one reason--Papa came to soccer with her. I think she could have done anything, just as long as David came with her. He was able to leave work a little early for those six sessions and be her soccer partner! You'll see alot of pictures of her in the blue soccer shirt. They actually attempted to play a game the last session. It was hysterical! About a dozen three year olds running around. Some of them actually chased the ball and tried to kick it. Ella was more interested in collecting rocks and chasing the pigeon on the playing field. Too much fun. She's been going to ballet for a few weeks now and really enjoys it. It's for 3 - 5 year olds, so she's definitely the youngest in the class. She just loves getting to run around for an hour in her leotard, tights and ballet slippers with other little girls. But I will admit, she's actually starting to pick-up some of the ballet moves: she can do her points, 1st position, releve, sideskips, plie, and loves to leap through the hoops. She really likes her teacher, "Miss Raquel" and is doing wonderful with me not in the class with her. I was allowed to sit in for the first two classes, and then again for the last class in December.

Running drills

Dribbling with Papa

The big game

Stretching

Copying Miss Raquel

Releve

Leaping through the hoops

Stretching

Baby
I'm now 16 weeks pregnant! Unfortunately, just like the first time I really am not much better in the sickness department. But I am getting more used to it now, and am also still able to nap in the afternoon when Ella does which helps alot! We had another ultrasound at 13 weeks due to some spotting, but everything looked great with the baby. I'm just on pelvic rest, no working out, or heavy lifting. It was actually a good size to have an ultrasound, because the baby is fully developed but not so big that it's more difficult to see things. The baby was very active to the point the technician had a hard time getting a good picture for us to bring home. If I remember--I'll have David take it to work to scan. We saw the baby moving hands, legs, etc. and we're pretty certain they were sucking their thumb! So cute. Last weekend I had some other problems--contractions, and also found out I had a UTI. They think the infection along with dehydration led to the contractions. I was out of town when this happened--but in good care with my Aunt Faith, the nurse to care for me. Everything continues to seem fine, just finished the antibiotics for infection, continuing with my "rest" requirements and have my next appointment in about a week and a half--maybe they will lift the pelvic rest (David's really hoping!).......and yes Mom, I'm drinking alot!

Family
This ridiculous war in Iraq is hitting closer to home these days. My cousin, who is only 20 years old, is a Marine in Fallujah right now. This picture was just posted on a marine website they update all the time. It was taken of him driving a hummer in Iraq. On the other hand, my uncle Jesse who is not 20 years old :-), has followed the Mayo Clinic "service, helping, etc." motto and is now in his second war (Vietnam vet) serving as an Army Doctor at the combat hospital in Tikrit. Wish them both safety and speedy returns. My cousin Raney's cancer did not react well to her latest round of clinical trial chemo drugs, so a week ago they performed surgery on her that's a new clinical trial her Dr. is doing. They removed a lymph node from her groin and are testing, etc. to see how it reacts to different drugs. Please pray for wonderful results from this so Raney can get going on an effective drug course again. My cousin Riley (Raney's sister) got married last weekend--and we got to attend the wedding in Arizona!

Kyle driving the Hummer

Travel
We just returned from a 10 day trip to Arizona and California. Three days in Arizona with David too, then Ella and I flew on to California to spend a week with my parents. The wedding was beautiful--at sunset on a golf course, the weather was warm, and it was so good to see all of our family (they're all right there in the Phoenix area except my parents and sister). California was fun, except for the fires. We were actually in flight on the second day of the fires--not a very smooth landing let's say. Then we thought we would make it through on the roads, and they re-closed them again almost right in front of us after about 3 hours in traffic! We ended up staying the night in a hotel by the Ontario airport, and were able to get to my parents house the next day. When we were driving on the freeway, the posts holding up the guard rail in the median were all burning right next to us--and there was fire on both sides of the road. It was crazy. So many people lost their homes. Hopefully they'll get a lot of rain out there soon. We were able to do some shopping with Nana, and play outside alot. She got to plant some flowers with Pa, and enjoyed petting and brushing July the cat on the trip too. On Saturday we went up to Oak Glen to a farm that has an apple orchard, and a pumpkin patch. My good friend Amy, her daughter Kaitlynn, and her parents joined us there. Ella had looked forward to this for a couple of months now--but climbing through the hilly pumpkin patch said, "oooooh, it's all dirty" (meaning the ground was dirt), and then didn't want to hold a pumpkin either. What a city girl! We did eventually get her to hold a pumpkin briefly, and she did have fun but liked the grassy areas and the picnic afterward better.

Guitar with Mikayla and Hannah

David and Dennis relaxing in the Scottsdale sun

swimming with Papa in Aunt Faith's very cold pool

Caelin, Hannah & Ella before the wedding

During the ceremony

Faith and Conor

Nana & Ella hangin' at the bar.
I guess they're waiting on the free beer......:-)

Sidewalk artist

Nana, Pa, Mikayla, Hannah, Ella in Oak Glen

Standing by her pumpkin

Pumpkin head

Walking through the patch with Hannah

"Mama, come get me...it's dirty"

The 10 seconds she held the pumpkin--inspecting how dirty it is

Ella and Kaitlynn

Messing around with Pa

Playing the guitar (with Mikayla's help)

Picnic with Kaitlynn

"I love fall"

Home again
So we're enjoying our first day back, starting the reverse time adjustment again. Ella has dragged out just about every one of her toys and art projects, keeps riding her horse and will go for a bike ride later. We also must head to the grocery store since David, the 7-day bachelor, has no food in the house! I will try to be more consistent with the blogging again.