That cold Oregon Coast that I will always love

I went a whole week without writing a single post-- I can't even remember the last time I did that!

Just a few days after getting home from Wisconsin, Ella and I packed up our things again and headed to Oregon where Ella got to meet another uncle she's never met before because he too was on an LDS mission in Brazil up until last week.

We've been having fun and relaxing with my family, but we're sure missing that cute-faced boy who had to stay home and work.

I was so excited to show Ella the beach for the first time in her life!

She thought it was pretty wonderful.

She liked the wind...

..and the sand...

...she liked the sand a little too much...

...and the water that surprised us and soaked us up to our knees...

...and all the cool new textures.

She would have stayed all day if we'd let her.

She loved it but I think she was especially excited because she saw how happy I was to be there and how excited I was to show her all the wonderful things about the beach. 

She kept looking up at me and grinning at my excited face.

Also, Ella turns 1 a month from tomorrow, which is totally not okay.

I need to have a little discussion with that girl about growing up and how she shouldn't be doing it anymore.

The last of a wonderful trip

It was so sad to say goodbye and leave Wisconsin.

We had to stash all our sweaters and stockings away again.

The day after we got back, Ella slept the entire day.

 She was only awake for about 5 hours total that day.

But hopefully we'll be back soon, so Cooper better not get too used to no one grabbing for his nose while he tries to sleep. 

I know, every single one of these pictures has Ella in it.

I really just have no idea what to focus on if Ella is not in the picture.

Do I focus the camera on this person? Or that person? Or that object? 

And then I spend so much time trying to figure it out, I just miss the moment entirely or I try to not focus on anything, I just try to capture it all and the picture turns out horrible.

So it's easier to have a little person that you follow around and make the focus of every single little picture you ever take.

It's a good thing I had a baby or I probably wouldn't take pictures of anything.

While we were in the cheese state

Ella was in love with Cooper the Dog.

She chased him around the house and he tried to run away from her and her claws.

He would lick her face and ears and she would giggle her little head off like crazy.

Then he would stop licking her and she would slowly inch toward his face, squealing with anticipation of him licking her again, and then he would and she would giggle and giggle.

It was overcast half the time we were there and I was in heaven!

When it's overcast and dark and drizzly, oh I just love it!

A Happy Day

Last Wednesday we pulled out all our sweaters and stockings that have been stashed away for the past 6 months and packed them up to head to Wisconsin.

I was kind of way excited to figure what outfits to bring for Ella, now that I can dress her in pants and sweaters (see picture 1).

You guys, I have been worried about this plane ride for a long time now.

Do you remember last time we flew and she screamed the whole way home and everyone getting off the plane said things like, “Well, at least you were trying to keep her quiet. Some people don’t even try.”

Only this time it would be worse because she’s older and more mobile and louder.

Ella is a seriously good girl, she is happy as can be and pretty much just loves life, but along with Adam’s cute-shaped mouth, Ella inherited her daddy’s insane amounts of energy.

This girl cannot sit still to save her life.

And she finds an unusual amount of joy in making as much noise as possible.

And she gets really grumpy when she hasn’t napped but she can’t fall asleep anywhere except for in her bed, which obviously, is not an option when we’re on a plane.

So, as you can see, this was not promising for a several hour plane ride.

I had seriously been praying like crazy several days before we even got on that plane, begging for either Ella to be in a miraculously good mood (even though she would be missing a nap and be up way past her bedtime) or the passengers to be very forgiving.

I was assuming that option two would have to be the answer to my prayer, because option one seemed completely laughable.

I was seriously considering standing up in front of everyone on that plane at the beginning of the ride and apologize in advance for the several hour torture we were about to put them through.

I mean, really, I was so worried.

Luckily, Adam’s brother, Seth, joined us on the plane and helped with Little Girl.

Well, the prayers paid off because Ella was like miracle angel baby. 

As we were walking off the plane I overheard one woman whisper to her husband, "I didn't even know that there was a baby on board."

I almost danced and sang and leapt around for joy.

And then, that very next day, life got even more exciting when Adam's brother, Ethan, who has been gone for 2 years on an LDS mission in Costa Rica, came flying home to Wisconsin.

We were all waiting for him with neon posters and balloons and screaming our heads off as he came off the plane.

And Adam's mom hugged him for so long and cried with so much happiness to see her youngest son home (I was crying just watching that and so were the people behind me, who were waiting for someone else and didn't even know us or Ethan).

We just all stood in a circle around Ethan, with the biggest grins on our faces, so happy to see him after so long, not even knowing what to say, but just happy to hear his laugh again.

Adam's parents rented a 12-seater van so that we could all fit in the same vehicle on the way home and talk to Ethan, because no one wanted to be in a separate car from Ethan.

Although, Adam's older sister couldn't be there because she was in the hospital having a cute baby boy on the same day Ethan came home, which is funny because she was doing the exact same thing on the day that Adam's brother, Seth, came home from his mission, just over two years ago.

So pretty much, it was a really exciting day for the Jones fam.

She Liked the Ferris Wheel

 

We went to this amusement park in Green Bay where tickets cost 25 cents and each ride only takes 1-2 tickets to ride.
It's very cute and old-fashioned-like.
Ella wasn't too impressed by the rides, except for the ferris wheel.
She liked how we would hold our hands above our head and scream as we went down the wheel.
She really liked crawling in the grass at the park.
It's too hot where we live to sit out on the lawn and so she doesn't get to crawl in the grass very often at home, so she's been loving it here.

Ella Meets her Uncle Ethan

We are in Wisconsin, seeing this newly-returned missionary and loving the sweater-worthy weather.

Happy Weekend!

Ball Pit

I saw this idea online of getting colorful balls and throwing them in a pack-n-play for your kid to have his/her own ball pit; I loved the idea but I couldn't find a bunch of colorful balls at a price I liked, until we were at Walmart and I found a bag of 100 balls for $10-- yes!

Now we stick them in the tub with Ella and in her pack-n-play and in cardboard boxes.

She loves them.

A Saturday

Bleubeird Vintage sometimes does posts where she takes a picture during each hour of the day.

So I tried it out.

My pictures are not nearly as beautiful as hers, but it was fun to do and record even the littlest moments of the day.

Here's how it went:

We woke up, ate some breakfast, got all dressed and make-upped for the day

and hit the garage sales.

We didn't find anything worth getting, but they're still fun to look at.

There was some guacamole and cookies for lunch. 

I am IN LOVE with these mint oreo fudge cremes.

We stash the whole package in the fridge to make the cookie perfectly crisp-- heavenly!

I wish they put more cookies in the package and didn't space them out so much.

And we talked to Nigel, who often feels neglected now that we have Ella, poor fish.

Adam had to go to work in the afternoon.

I made Ella model so that I could get pictures of her pocket that I sewed on her shirt.

Then we headed to Barnes and Noble to find a copy of Threads Magazine and see an illustration that I did for a pattern of Laura's that was featured in the magazine.

That's my illustration!

We meandered through the mall and Ella played with cars and trains.

 

We headed home and while Ella napped I attempted a sewing project that failed.

Then it was time for dinner: cheese bread, tomatoes, turkey, squash and pears for the eating champ.

And then our favorite bath time

 

She got in pjs and we checked the mail (a very exciting daily event)

 She drank a bottle and headed to bed at 7.

Which left me with free hands to do laundry and clean until Adam came home from work at 9:45pm.

The end.