11 Months

Happy 11 months Ella Grace!  How is it that our sweet baby is in the last month of her first year of life!?  The thought of Ella being a "one-year-old" always seemed like a such a big milestone and so far away and now it's right around the corner.  We continue to love each stage of Ella's life more than the last and fall more and more in love with her everyday!

A few things I wanted to remember about this stage in her life:

• She still has NO teeth!!  What!?  I swear she's the only baby I know that doesn't have any teeth (or signs of any impending teeth) at her age and we're starting to wonder if she'll ever get them ;).  Luckily, she's pretty good about "gumming" her food.  
• Loves fruit - she'll often eat a whole banana for breakfast (plus oatmeal cereal and often yogurt too!).  She could eat grapes all day and also loves blueberries, watermelon, nectarines, and cherries.  Her favorite thing is to squish the fruit (especially bananas) in her fingers and then shove it in her mouth/on her face.
• Will often give slobbery, open mouth kisses upon request - the best kind!
• Is a speedy crawler, loves climbing up stairs (hasn't mastered getting down stairs yet), and loves hanging onto our hands to walk.  We've done lots and lots of walks up and down our street and my back is starting to pay for it ;).
• Is comprehending more and more.  It's amazing how much she learns every day and that you can see how she's understanding what we say.  I love watching her just play by herself, see her problem solve, show preferences, mimic what we do, and reach and climb for things she wants. 

  Is very into anything soft - she loves cuddling with, hugging, and laying down on soft blankets and stuffed animals.

 Loves reading her books independently (makes her teacher mama proud!).  She can often be found in her room pulling books off her shelf and turning the pages as she looks through the pictures.

Goes to sleep with one binky in her mouth plus at least one more in each hand.  We often watch her on the video monitor playing the "binky game" in her crib:  she'll sit up and rotate through binkies popping them in and out until she finds one she likes and then lay back down.

Loves, loves, loves Lily.  As soon as she gets up from a nap, Lily is the first thing we look for :).  She thinks Lily is pretty hilarious when she chases her tail and she loves sharing her cheerios with Lily.  I think the dog makes her laugh more than anything else.

 Will play peek-a-boo with any object she can hold up to her face.  She'll hold up a book/stuffed animal/toy to her face until we ask, "Where's Ella?" and then put the object down so we can see her with a big smile on her face.

I love this picture because it's very "Ella" :).  Love her sweet smile, expressive eyes, and cute curls.  So in love with this little girl!

Ella's First Mariner's Game

Ella got to go to her first Mariner's game!  She went with her Grandma and Grandpa Howell and her mom and dad.  She must have been a good luck charm because we got to see the Mariner's actually win a game, beating the Red Sox 5-3.  It was fun seeing Ella take in all the sounds and sights in the stadium, although she's at a tough age to sit still right now as all she wanted to do was hold onto our hands and walk around ;). 

 Ella's commemorative certificate she was given at the game

Ki-athalon

We headed north to Lake Ki this past weekend for the annual Ki-athalon - a low key triathlon at the Magnusson's cabin. Cody did a modified version of the race while Ella and I walked a portion of it.  While the race is fun, we always love hanging out with good friends, eating a good lunch after the race, and just relaxing by the lake. 

The participants...

 ...and the spectators

 Cody and Matt's version of the "swim"

 Ella and Sophie ready for their stroller rides

 Jamie, Cody, and Rob during the run...I have no words

 The mamas and babes finishing our "walking" portion of the race

 The girls chatting it up

 Our family at the finish line

 Dads and babies

 Ella hanging out with her daddy on the hammock

3rd Anniversary

Three years ago (as of August 2), I married the love of my life and best friend!  We were in Lake Chelan on our actual anniversary and Cody went out that morning.  When he came back, he surprised me with a "3" pinata!  He had gone to look for flowers in the tiny town of Manson, but it turns out there are no fresh flowers available on a Tuesday morning in Manson. Not everyone can say they've received an anniversary pinata from their spouse! ;)  We also got to celebrate in Chelan with a lovely dinner at Campbell's. 

When we got back from vacation, we did an anniversary date downtown and left Ella with her Grandma and Grandpa Howell for her first overnight slumber party.  She did great and loved being with her grandparents (they loved having her too!).  Cody and I got to see a movie (I think we've seen one movie in the theaters since Ella was born so I was very excited to see a movie), went to Daniel's on Lake Union for an amazing dinner, stayed in a hotel for the night, and had an incredible breakfast at Portage Bay the next morning.  It was the perfect getaway for just the two of us!  Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband - it's been a joy and a wonderful adventure to share these last three years together!

View from our hotel room...Safeco field

 Beautiful dinner at Daniel's

 Breakfast at Portage Bay...yum!

Lake Chelan

One of my favorite places to vacation is Lake Chelan.  I have such great memories of spending family vacations at Lake Chelan when I was little.  My family has been going there since I was about Ella's age and it was so much fun to introduce my daughter to such a great place and hope that she loves it as much as I do.  It was wonderful to be together with my parents, both my brothers (and David's lovely girlfriend Emily), as well as my grandparents, who were able to come over for part of the time.  My mom spoiled us with her great cooking, we enjoyed the sunshine, and made lots of great memories!

 My favorite thing to do...floating on an air mattress :).

 

 Swinging with grandpa

Best part about vacationing with grandparents: built in baby-sitters! ;) Cody and I got to go kayaking by ourselves one afternoon.

 Swimming in the pool with grandma

 A morning walk with Uncle Tom

 Cody and Great-Grandpa playing ladder golf

 An afternoon boat ride with the family

 Ella did NOT like wearing her life jacket

 Cody's back-flip off the boat

 Playing with Uncle David

 The whole family!

 Bubble blowing with grandma

Being on the beach seems to bring out Ella's yoga moves ;)

 Emily, David, Cody and I enjoyed a visit to Nefarious Cellars for some wine tasting