Getting Ready for the Holidays

We've come to discover that Ella lives and breathes by her schedule, and when we mess with it the tiniest bit, she is not a happy camper. We've been shopping a lot this weekend, and for the past couple of evenings, Ella has been in rare form. I haven't heard her cry like this in a long time! She gets so tired, and just can't calm down to fall asleep. Hopefully she will be back on track by tomorrow ... we'll see. Naps are definitely not something you want to mess with!


We are all really looking forward to celebrating the holidays. We went and got our Christmas tree (an annual trip to Lowes to get one pre-cut :)) and we decorated it this weekend. Ella seemed fascinated by the shiny, sparkly ornaments and lights. It was so cute. We are planning to head to St. Louis to visit Eli's family on Christmas Eve. Ella is super excited to see her aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandmas ... it should be a great time.

So, here's a crazy new thing that Ella is doing. She's has woken us up in the middle of the night, and we've found her flipped over and wedged in the corner of her crib. We always wondered how she got there, and today we got to witness it first hand. We were at my parents house helping them install a new TV and I put Ella down on her stomach on the ground. Well, immediately she began pulling her legs and feet up under her and pushing against them on the ground ... she could scoot herself forward like a litte inchworm! She managed to scoot herself until she had rotated around 180 degrees. We were shocked! This child never ceases to amaze us with her strength and the things she can do!

Here is a picture of Ella with Nana on Thansgiving and another one of her on Grandpa's Harley (in her pink Harley outifit). The last picture is one of me and Eli at the KU-Mizzou game. What a fun game (well, at least until the very end). As you can see, love is stronger than rivalry :)