Farm Fair and Watermelon

Ella, Auntie Amy, GeeGee and I all spent the days at the Bishop Museum's annual Farm Fair. Amy and GeeGee got to see the giant insects and tour the exhibits. Ella and I got to pet some sheep, stare at some chicks, unsuccessfully (thank goodness) fished for goldfish and sat outside eating cookies and watermelon. The watermelon was a HUGE hit. She ate two pieces.

A HUGE month!

I've been a little slow with the elimination of the binky. Well, on the afternoon of July 2nd Ella put all her binkies in a "pincess bike" box and the two up us went to the "whyberry" to look for books. When we got home the Binky Fairy had paid us a visit and exchanged all the binkies for a "pincess bike" that is "SOOOOO BOOTIFULL". We had a few tears that night and fewer at nap time the next day. A couple of days later Ella woke up VERY excited because she was sure that the Binky Fairy had returned all her binkies but it seems she was mistaken. We've now had a binky free house for over a week and all is good.

We've also had a diaper free house for over a week. We use pull-ups at night and have a had a few "assidents," one of which involved Ella climbing up the stairs to the landing to have a pee because I wouldn't give her a Skittle as a reward for an earlier pee in the potty.

In addition to being diaper and binky free we are quiet free. Ella rarely stops talking. We picked "GeeGee" up from the airport last week and Ella wouldn't stop talking. We had a couple of 20 second pauses between 3:00 and 6:00 and that was it. I wonder who she takes after? In addition to the talking she's been obsessively singing Baa Baa Black Sheep for a couple of days. Much to my amusement, it's started to dive her father slightly nuts.

She frequently talks about her "best friend" who seems to change on a minute by minute basis. Sometimes it's Bailey or Jake, or "GeeGee, or Daddy (aka" Wob-but Dan-ull"), or Hailey.

Ella and a couple of her best friends...

Congratulations, Sr. Chief Daddy!

Last month Rob made Senior Chief and Ella and I got to pin him.

As you can see, it was a VERY serious event. Rob was a bit distracted by Ella getting to know "a dive-ah".



















Here she is shaking a hand...




























Then two hands...



















Then just going all out! It took all of about 30 seconds, had all the divers on our half of the room cracking up, and showed us we need to be FAR AWAY from all divers when Ella hits puberty.

Ella's "New Best Friend".

A couple of weeks ago we headed to our favorite park. When we arrived a little girl ran up, put her face in Ella's and said "HI!". Ella immediately introduced her herself and the two ran off to play. The little girl is named Hailey and is only three months older than Ella. She's the first child we've found who's as outgoing as Ella. We met at the park a couple of night later because Hailey and her mother drove by and when Hailey saw Ella she started yelling "My friend! my friend!" Her mother was forced to stop. It's a good thing because the two nights between their meetings Ella talked about Hailey and pouted every time she wasn't in the park. As we headed home the girls gave each other hugs and Ella declared that Hailey was "My new best friend."

Well, Hailey is here tonight. When Ella heard she was coming over she started jumping up and down, clapping and yelling "My friend! My friend! YEAH!!"

So far they've run around in tutus and fairy wings, fought over a broom and tickled each other. It's pretty funny to watch them together. They do pretty we most of the time.

Trouble with a capital "T"...




















On Safari...














Drama Queens...

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!!

Rob left at 0530 today for a couple of days so last night he had Ella sign a card for me. I was waiting in her room to read her books and she comes in and our conversation went something like this ...

Ella: "Mama, I bought you a present. It's Tinkerbell! Happy Birthday!!"
Me: "Tinkerbell?"
Ella: "Yeah Mama! I made it for your Birthday. Happy Birthday!"

It seems that all presents are for Birthdays. So, when I woke up today I got to open my singing Tinkerbell card from Ella and my singing monkey card from Rob. I can't seem to get "Put the Lime in the Coconut" out of my head. Thanks Rob!!

Ella and I had an almost perfect day! We woke up, went to 'nastics, came home, took an early nap together, went to the beach, couldn't seem to drag ourselves out of the water and are going to take the dogs for a walk when it cools down a bit. If Daddy had been here it would been perfect.

Ella's Supermodel pose...

Hamming it up at 'nastics...

Drama Queen..

Right now EVERYTHING is a HUGE deal!

Ella has a new best friend every 5 minutes. She hurls herself on the ground at the drop of a hat. She can even manage to force out REAL tears. It's quite impressive. My jokingly asked if she was bipolar. My response was, "No, she's just a two year-old GIRL!!"