Sunday, July 6, 2008

All about Noelle

Noelle was the most wonderful surprise John and I could have ever received. She is such a joy, although she comes with a LOT of attitude. She is a riot to be around and has us in stitches most of the time.

She is almost 16 months old and is running all over (including the couch, ugh), climbing up and down the stairs and is constantly telling us thank you. She has finally figured out some words and tries to repeat others we say. She loves to dance and will always tell us to say 'duck' when singing Old McDonald. She also will do the motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider. She is our lover and is always running up to hug our legs and rarely turns down an opportunity to be held. This is the opposite of how Ella was at her age. It's nice to have a baby hug you and lay her head on your shoulder. We need to cherish these moments now because who knows how many more years we have of it.

Right now she is trying to steal Ella's milk since hers is all gone, but Ella isn't giving it up. She is such a little brute. Ella better watch out in the next 6 months. Oh boy.

Even though she gives us attitude now it's nothing compared to a defiante 2 year old. I'm already dreading those times with her. I'll sure miss this sweet baby age she's at now.













All about Ella

Ella has grown so much lately. She is talking so much better and is able to tell us her feelings. We get a lot of 'you hurt my feelings' or 'I'm happy' from her. It's nice to be able to have a conversation. We are in the midst of potty training. Oh boy, it's a chore. She hasn't quite 'gotten it' yet, but we're getting there. She'll tell us most of the time when she has to go. It'll sure be nice to have only 1 in diapers. She starts school in August and it is a requirement. So fingers crossed that it completely sinks in before then.

She is such a fun, beautiful little girl. She is in love with her sister and even though will push and kick her when she feels like it she'll also protect her. It's really amazing to watch her love for Noelle. It just melts my heart.

She JUST told me 'Mommy I like you'. She said this despite me yelling at her to stop running on the couch (this is a constant battle with her and her sister).

Having a 2 year old is extremely challenging, but the sweet moments outweigh the bad by a million.






Helping Mommy make muffins




Apparently not in a photo taking kind of mood

My Girls

The girls are getting so big. They play well together and love each other so much. Noelle loves and I mean loves to take Ella's stuff and RUN. She loves when Ella chases her. It's all a big game. Ella usually has to tackle her to get whatever it is back all the while Noelle is cracking up. It can be quite comical. I need to get video of it to share on here. It is so wonderful to watch them grow up together and see them interact. Since I'm an only child this is all new to me and I'm loving every second of it.



The Yard

Here are some pictures of our yard. We pulled out some bushes in the front and replanted some of the hostas from under the red tree in front of the house. We took out the mulch in the back and replaced it with river rock. We did this mainly because of the dogs tracking the mulch in constantly. We think it looks much better and has saved our floors from added dirt. It was hard to find rock here. You'd think in a big city it'd be easy to find but there's only 1 place that carries it. Everyone here uses black mulch to decorate their landscaping. It looks nice and is what we have in the front.

(Our yard was in desperate need of mowing and weed wacking when I took these pictures. The bushes also needed a good trimming.)

The front and sides of the house.







The backyard.












Since taking these pictures we've rearranged the stuff on the patio. It has really opened it up.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Fun in the sun

We bought a sprinkler for the girls to play in. They had fun although neither of them really got close to it, at least for very long.