Cincinatti Zoo!

We took Ella to the zoo a few weeks ago, and other than it being a little too hot and crowded, we had a great time. The picture above is Ella feeding a giraffe, which she was very excited about.

Ella watching the gorillas groom each other and play around.

I just had to put this picture up. This is Ella's picture smile that I'm sure you will be seeing a lot more of. It is so funny when you tell her to smile and she gives you this--makes us laugh every time we see it.

We took a train ride around the zoo and got to see some other animals that we didn't get a chance to see while we were walking around. Ella loves trains and was having a great time on the ride.
Another classic Ella smile!

Ella and her cousins

Kris & Erinn were on vacation for a week without the boys, leaving Erinn's parents with the task of watching them while they were gone. Needless to say, David, Ella and I were over there a lot during that time to try to help out. Don't they all look so cute sitting there eating there snacks?

Another picture of snack time. They all looked content sitting in a half-circle sharing snacks.

Ella and Cooper chillin on the couch.

David, Ella and I had to go home, and when we turned around to say our last good-byes to the boys, this is what we saw. It was so cute that they were all there waving good-bye to us.

How many babies can you fit in a Barbie Jeep? Noah and Cooper were having fun trying to figure out how the jeep worked. Ella, on the other hand, was just along for the ride.

"Are you serious?"

That's what we asked the doctor when she said WE'RE HAVING TWINS!!! We've always wanted twins, so our excitement is barely contained. More to follow (fraternal or identical, risk factors, health of both babies, etc) after a followup sonogram in two weeks. Can you believe it?

Mountain Vacation

We took our first family vacation with Ella this summer to the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Above is a pictures of the beautiful rental home we rented for a week. We were blessed to be joined by two wonderful couples that shared our vacation with us. Jon & Bekah stayed with us for the first 4 nights and then the Parken Family came to join us for the last 3 nights. It was a great time to get to know our friends better and enjoy a relaxing vacation in the mountains. Below are some more pictures of the house.

The living area.

The amazing view from the back deck!

The back deck. We ate almost every meal we were home for outside on the deck. It was always beautiful and cool in the morning and evening!

Family picture at one of the waterfalls we hiked to.

Jon & Bekah at a different waterfall!

Another family picture at yet another waterfall. I believe we saw 4 waterfalls in all during our trip!

Family picture after a day filled with hiking and white-water tubing down the river. Ella had lots of fun sitting in the water throwing rocks.

David and Ella playing in the water. This was Ella's favorite thing to do on vacation. She loved sitting in the water throwing rocks. We probably have 20 pictures that look exactly like this one of different days and times she was doing this.

Ella and David in the hot tub. Ella was so used to going swimming everyday that when we got back to the house after a morning of not doing any swimming, she insisted she go in the hot tub. So of course we tried it out and she loved it.

One of the afternoons, David, Jon & Bekah all went on this Canopy/Zipline Tour. They had a lot of fun going down 13 zip-lines and learning about the area trees and wildlife. I unfortunately was not able to join then since I was and am pregnant. However, Ella and I had our own adventure swimming in the river and then going home for our afternoon nap.

The Merritts and Parkens after eating dinner at a great BBQ joint. We had so much fun seeing our good friends again and meeting there little boy. It was a very fun time and we hope we get to do it again soon.

Ella and Everett being super cute outside the BBQ place. They both just kept laughing at us while we were trying to take their picture.

Ella and Everett playing with the water at the community pool/waterpark we went to.

Ella's First Carnival

The base had a little carnival a few weeks ago, so we decided to see how Ella would like it. She had a lot of fun riding some rides and of course eating some carnival food. We took her on the carousel first and she seemed to like it. It was hard to get a good picture because she was to busy looking around at all the rides and people walking by.

Here's another picture of Ella on the carousel. It was a pretty long ride for her, I think she was losing interest by the end.

Next we took her on this truck ride. I was a little hesitant at first because she was going to have to seat by herself, but it turned out that she loved it. We actually let her ride 3 times because she didn't want to get off.

Another shot of Ella in the truck. She liked the green one the best!

Uncle "Geek"

Ella has peered into my brother's soul and loudly proclaimed his true name. She's still working on her pronunciation of several words, but I think we'll leave this one alone.

Easter Fun

Our friend Kristen came to visit for the weekend from PA and it was great to have her. Ella loved getting to spend some time with her, since we had not seen her in awhile. This picture was taken at John and Bekah's house where we celebrated with a traditional Passover dinner. It was such a great experience and the food was delicious!

This year we decided to do Ella's first Easter egg hunt in the backyard. This is Ella after she finished gathering up all the eggs. She did a great job finding them around the yard. I'm sure this will be a tradition we continue for awhile.


Ella got some pink bunny ears in her Easter basket. She really didn't like to keep them on, so these are the best pictures I could get of her wearing them. Doesn't she look so cute?

Here we are all dressed up for Easter. We had such a great weekend just appreciating being outside and hanging out with friends and family. It was so nice just relaxing and enjoying some quality family time.

Ring around the rosie

As you can see, Ella has the "Ring around the rosie" song/game down pat. She usually grabs both David and my hands to make us do it with her, but this time she did it all on her own while I sang and took the video. She is getting so big and I'm sure it will not be long until she is singing it all my herself as well. Why do kids have to grow up so fast?

Future WNBA player!

I got this toy basketball hoop at a Moms sale a few weeks ago, and it didn't take Ella long to figure it out. She is a natural at dunking as you can plainly see from the video. David is very proud, as I'm sure you can all imagine. I'm sure she will continue to practice, so I'll keep you all updated on her progress.

Our Little Engineer

Ella loves playing with her MegaBlocks. She plays with them almost every day when they are out. It amazes me how well she can build things at only 18 months old. We usually help her build the base and then she will build the tower herself. When the tower gets to the point were it is to tall for her to put more blocks on, she will take a large chunk of it off, add a block to the top and then put the whole piece back on the tower. We did not teach her to do this, she just started doing it herself. She is our little engineer in the making!

Here are a few more pictures of the process.

Ella's Bath Time

Ella loves her bath time. As you can see in the pictures she has plenty of toys to keep her occupied. She especially likes her foam bath letters. She sticks them all over the walls of the bathtub and on her belly and arms. It is really funny when they are sticking to her all over the place. I tried to get a picture of that, but wasn't able to.

Here is Ella showing off her "smile".

Ella after the bath, all wrapped up in her monkey towel. I love watching Ella after a bath, she will just run around naked for awhile before we have to chase after her to get her diaper and clothes on. It is a crazy time of the day, but ironically I love it.

Weekend Away!

Last weekend David and I got the opportunity to get away for the weekend, which is the first time we have done so since Ella was born 18 months ago. To make this possible, my parents drove down from Erie to watch Ella while we were gone. This was a tremendous blessing for us and it was a great time for both Ella and my parents to bond. It was also great not to have to worry about her the whole weekend, which surprisingly was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. It is amazing how fast you can revert back to the "before kids" way of life. Needless to say we had a great weekend and knew that Ella was in loving hands and that we were free to enjoy ourselves and have a good time.

So, I'm sure you are all asking....where did you go? Well, we drove down to Cincinnati to attend a marriage conference. I know I know, you're wondering why we would spend our first weekend away with hundreds of other couples, at a marriage conference. However, it actually turned out to be the best way to spend our weekend. With kids, jobs, housework and everything else that takes up time and effort in our lives, sometimes it is hard to remember that you still need to work on your marriage. I'll admit that David and I were in this place in our marriage. We started to forget to really love, respect and care for each other. Throughout the weekend it was great to just have the time to remember each other and talk to each other like we had not done in awhile. I honestly believe that because of that conference David and I will have a much better marriage. We learned new ways to communicate more effectively with each other and most of all we just got a reminder of how important it is to put our marriage first, above all else (including our child).

So, I just want to take this opportunity to tell everyone about Family Life and their Weekend to remember conferences. These conferences are held on different weekends, in different cities all across the country. No matter where you live, I'm sure you can find one near you. Even if you think you have a perfect marriage and do not need any help or if you think there is no hope left in your marriage, I believe this conference is for everyone.

If you want more information or to find a conference near you, go to www.familylife.com/weekend

Playing in the snow, or at least trying to!

We have taken Ella out to play in the snow a couple of times this winter, but have yet to get her to enjoy herself. These first 2 pictures were from our first attempt over Christmas at my parent's house. She did have fun going down the hill a few times on the sled, but didn't really like the whole experience that much.


I love this picture. She looks so cute all bundled up and ready to go down the hill with the help of her cousin, Leah.

Our second attempt was at home and didn't really go over any better than the first. She just seems really indifferent about the whole experience. What you see in the above picture is about all she did. She just stood there and watched David, Mocha and I play and try to play with her. Hopefully next year she will appreciate the snow a little more.

David took this picture after his mom had walked Ella over to Kris's house to play with her cousins. I though it was so cute that I had to post it. Those cute little footsteps in the snow are so adorable!

Swimming in February?

We took Ella swimming last weekend for the first time since we moved to Dayton. When we lived in San Antonio she was in the pool almost everyday, so, needless to say, it had been awhile since she had gone swimming. David and I did not want her to go too long without being in a "big pool" because we don't want her to be afraid of the water. Therefore, we decided to take advantage of the base indoor pool, and the fact that they have open swim every Sat. morning.

I didnt' think I would have to buy a new bathing suit for Ella until this summer, but since her old one from last summer was to small, I guess I was wrong. However, since I love to go shopping for new clothes for Ella, I was not that upset. Doesn't she look absolutely adorable in her new suit!!!


Here is a video of Ella and me in the pool. She is such a good swimmer already and most of the time wants to try to swim on her own. As soon as she is old enough, we are definitely putting her in swimming lessons.