January Catch-Up

It's been pretty quiet around here lately. I'm guessing it has a little to do with the post-holiday lull which has left our calendar mostly empty, save for Tuesday story hour at the library and Ellie's Friday morning Movers and Shakers class. Truthfully, it's been nice to have a little break. We had a massive cold snap come through the area two weeks ago which lasted for five days and let me just say on behalf of us desert dwellers, it was COLD. I'm talking temperatures in the low 20s that feel like they're in the TEENS!! I may have grown up in northeastern Ohio, but I have all too easily adapted to the hot, dry weather we enjoy here for the majority of the year. We stayed inside all weekend even though Ellie begged to go to the park. I tried to explain to her the concept of "it's too cold to play outside" to no avail, but we did build this fun fort that you can kinda see behind someone's cheesy profile.

I found these on the camera after leaving to run a few errands during the cold weekend. Seems Ellie was campaigning hard to get to the park.

 "I'm all bundled... can we go outside now???"

I couldn't tell you what my favorite thing is about this picture: the tiny buns in her hair, the sweet smile on her face or those piggy slippers on her feet! I do, however, want to gobble her up!

Now that our two weeks of winter are over (ha ha), I have very few excuses when Ellie eagerly asks, "Park? Park?!?"

From a recent outing to Reid Park to watch the ducks and have a snack. Yes, we are wearing shorts and skirts in January and it is awesome. Any takers to move down here?

Ellie has been sleeping in consistently for the last couple of weeks and she is, with few exceptions, extremely cheery upon waking. I've been trying to get up before Ellie to give myself a chance to eat breakfast and get ready for the day which leaves me far less frazzled than when she acts as my alarm clock. When she does wake up, after letting her stir for a few minutes, I go in and open her blinds and then we sit and play for a while before and while she gets dressed. I've also been taking advantage of her cheery disposition to take some sweet "good morning" pictures.

Ohmygoodness that bed head!

She loves pointing out all the letters that spell her name over her crib and then, delighted with herself, yells, "ELLIE!"

Modeling her "Chicken Boom Boom" jammies. I swear I can hear her reciting the letters on the fabric when she wakes up in the morning.

So much love for duck.

In other news, Brian took down the baby gate at the foot of the stairs last weekend. Ellie has become very adept at getting herself up and down the stairs without assistance, so we figured it was time. We left the gate at the top of the stairs as well as the one separating our main living area from the front room both up but it's nice to be able to take one down -- such a big girl in the house!