Memorial Day Weekend and General Updates

Even though we stayed in Marietta for the long Memorial Day weekend it kinda felt like we were on vacation. We made several trips to our neighborhood pool where Ella Kate met up with some of her classmates from pre-school that live in our neighborhood. They had such fun swimming and playing together. Ella Kate shared her toys so very sweetly which made me so proud. Sharing has been a tough thing for Ella Kate but lately she is doing so much better!! Yay! We went out to dinner with Aunt Emmy and Uncle Kenneth Friday night and tried to go to the concert on the square - however the rain had other plans for us. So we decided to come back to our house and Ella Kate had just as much fun showing off for them. We made a trip to the Marietta Farmers Market Saturday morning and then headed down to the Renaissance Festival. On Sunday afternoon we decided to give White Water a try and Ella Kate loved loved loved it! The rest of the weekend we spent playing in the backyard on Ella Kate's new swing set, which is her early birthday present, and helping Daddy in the garden. One of her favorite games to play on the swing set is for Dave to go down the Big curly slide and pretend to get stuck - Ella Kate then "helps Daddy" by sliding and pushing him down. She would tell him "again - I help Daddy." I think they played that game at least a dozen times.

Below are some random updates on Ella Kate that I want to write down before I forget. She is so very funny!!! We are so excited about Baby Elliott #2 arrival but are trying to enjoy every minute of time with Ella Kate as an only child.

1.) She loves to argue with me about her last name. I will say your name is Ella Kate Elliott. She responds, "My name not Elliott. My name Ella Kate." She also loves to ask, "Daddy what is your name?" or "Mommy what is your name?" We always respond with Mommy and Daddy and she says "name Mommy" and "name Daddy."

2.) When she does not want to do something she says, "I not have to." And if she doesn't like something she says, "I not like it."

3.) She loves the TV Show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will run into the room saying "Oh Toodles." She also loves to do the Hot Dog Dance. At the moment Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, and Goofy are her favorite characters with Donald Duck coming in at a close second. However for some reason she is not that crazy about Mickey Mouse himself.

4.) She also loves to sing "All Aboard.. The Dinosaur Train."

5.) She loves to sit in her chair in her room and read her books. She will pull almost all of them off the bookshelf and take them one by one to her chair and pretend to read them. One of her favorite books to read is Bambi and the Runaway Bunny. We read her 3-4 books when we put her down for a nap and at bed time and in every book we read she wants to know where the Mommy and Daddy are.

6.) In the mornings when we get Ella Kate out of her crib she tells us "I missed you. I missed you so much." It is just the greatest thing to hear in the mornings! If Dave is not there with me to get her up in the mornings she tells me "It ok Daddy go to work."

7.) She is really getting into playing with Sally and JoJo lately. She tells them good morning everyday and she always tells Sally "Sas so cute." Today she wanted all of her stuffed animals to ride on Sallys back. She has also learned to use the stuffed animals to block Sally's wagging tail from getting her.

8.) At preschool this past year they have been working on their letters and numbers and the other day when we were playing Ella Kate counted to 10 like it was no big deal! I was so impressed. She is such a smart girl.

9.) When Ella Kate looks at her artwork that I hang up in the playroom she will stop and say, "Hey I do that. It is beatiful." I love the way she ways beautiful b/c she really drags it out and says it with a southern draw. :)

I think that Ella Kate is starting to understand a little more about having a brother or sister these days. When I tell her to give the baby a kiss she will kiss my tummy. This Friday, June 4th is when we go to the doctor to find out if she will be having a brother or sister. We are still debating if we should take her with us or not. We can't wait to find out and are so very excited!!!

Ella Kate found a perfect seat to hang out in at the Renaissance Festival.

Running down the hill with her rocks at the Festival. Because the festival was not very crowded, I guess b/c of the scare of rain, we were able to give her a little freedom. She loved the freedom and being able to run around. She thought it was fun to pick up rocks as her souvenir and would give them to Daddy to store in his pockets. I thought it was pretty funny that she wanted to collect rocks - totally something her Daddy would do. In fact when we were dating Dave used to always bring me back a cool rock as a souvenir from his camping trips. :)

She would run circles around Dave and bring him back a rock.

Running, Running, Running.

This was before we left for Whitewater. She was showing off her little Minnie Mouse to Dave.

A few months ago we finally sold the pool table and Dave had to give up his guy room which we are in the process of turning into the playroom. We still have alot of work to do but here are a few pictures to see the progress. The small black walls I painted with chalkboard paint. We are going to trim them out and then Dave is going to build a little chalk holder for them.

We put a huge mural of the world on one of the big walls. We hope it will teach Ella Kate about all of the cool places in the world and will be fun for her to mark where she has been. The mural is made of laminate so she can write on it and it will wipe right off. So far she has marks on Houston, TX, San Francisco, CA, B'ham, AL, and Panama City Beach, FL.

Another view of the playroom. We are going to put some white bookshelves that we have on the blank wall that you see and fill them with books and toys. I am going to finish decorating the walls with all of Ella Kate's artwork from pre-school.

This is a picture of Dave's vegetable and herb garden. Ella Kate loves to go outside and help Dave in his garden.

Another view of the fence and garden Dave built.

Ella Kate's new pride and joy and her early 2nd birthday present! There is a funny story behind choosing this swingset. Well, we originally planned to get one of the nice swing sets from maybe Costco but as soon as Dave found out there was a weight limit he said he could not imagine spending that much money on something that he could not even play on. So we upgraded to this swingset from Playnation. Actually we all went to playnation and ordered a swing set that we all agreed on and fit our budget. However Dave later went back with Ella Kate and they did one more upgrade which basically added the curly slide. :) If you know Dave you know that he is a very frugal guy and I still can't believe that he insisted on getting this swing set. I guess little boys never really grow up. To his credit though we have only had it for a couple of weeks and he plays on it just as much as Ella Kate.

A side view of the swing set. What you can't see from these pictures is that there is a picnic table built into the back of it. The swing set has 3 swings and Ella Kate has clearly picked out a swing for herself, Mommy, and Daddy. She wants everything to swing at the same time and all together.
Poor little JoJo. I think he is getting a little jealous of Ella Kate getting all the fun toys. I looked out the window when I was updating this blog post and saw him laying on her picnic table. I just could not help but snap a quick picture.