Jon Comes Home from China

Thursday morning Ellie woke up earlier than usual (before 7:00 sometime) so we started our day with breakfast and coffee (coffee for me, not Ellie). I had skipped grocery shopping since I had eaten at Mom's house Sunday night and Monday night (she made steaks, baked potatoes, and grilled vegetables for Caleb's last meal home), Grandma's house on Tuesday night, and salad Wednesday night I thought I should grab some essentials before Jon came home. Plus we were running low on milk which has suddenly become a necessity since Ellie drinks it like its going out of style.
When we were loading the groceries into the car at 9:30 Grandma called and asked if I was stopping by since Katie and Wyeth were visiting. I said we could definitely do that but would probably not stay too long since Ellie was due for a nap.
Ellie and Wyeth crawled all around, Wyeth in the lead and Ellie following frantically. They even banged on the piano for a while and stole toys from each other. There's something about little babies following each other crawling that is just so adorable!
Grandma made sure I had some breakfast cake before we left at 10:30 to put Ellie down for her nap. While she slept I did some laundry. Thursday is laundry day because if I don't do it Thursday I'm usually stuck doing it over the weekend, which is not fun. In the afternoon we were supposed to meet up with Kelly and Charlotte Grosso and their kids at Mimi's pool but it was raining on and off so Charlotte invited us to meet up at her house in Morgantown.
The Grossos moved just recently right next to Cutters and it was a lot of fun to see their new house. It is adorable and has a lot of room for growth. It was built probably close to the same time ours was with a walk-up attic which has potential to be finished as a couple rooms. When I walked in Cameron, her three year old, asked to give me the tour. He showed me his room and the other rooms and then played with Ellie and Hannah until Clark, Maya, and Kelly showed up. It's funny how kids just want to play with the toys other kids are playing with. We avoided fights with some distraction methods.
Thursday evening I had small group. I took Ellie along with me and she was an angel. Someone shared their testimony and Ellie just played on the floor with a pillow. She would sit on it with her legs in a straddle on top of the pillow then face plant and hug the pillow, giggling. Then she would crawl around the room but always return to the pillow, her little throne. We stayed late until after 9:30 and I left when she was too tired to remain any longer.
Friday Ellie and I stayed home all day. I organized the house a bit and relaxed after our long Thursday. Ellie took naps and we cleaned the tub together (one of my least favorite and most avoided chores). I had bought the cheapest frozen pizzas possible (cheaper and grosser than Elios, they were all out of those) and we ate them for lunch and dinner. I had bought two and when they turned out so disgusting I decided to eat them right away or they would probably go to waste. Now I know to avoid them.
Saturday morning Ellie and I went over to Dorothy Bradshaw's new apartment at 10:30 to help clean it before they move in early next week. Ellie once again behaved well (in my opinion) and allowed me to clean out all the cabinets and wipe down all the trim and closet in the kitchen. I cleaned alongside of Kelsey Frisco, so it was nice to catch up with her while we worked.
We ate lunch and did a bit more work until Ellie was getting cranky. I headed home and was inspired to clean my house in preparation for Jon's homecoming. I did the dishes, finished the laundry, cleaned the bedroom, vacuumed, dusted, etc. It felt great to have a clean house and nobody to host (usually the house is not this clean unless I have company coming). Being excited for Jon coming home also helped keep me motivated to keep cleaning.
At 4:00 Ellie and I went to Dad's house to practice for worship. We finished up about an hour later and Ellie and I came home and Dorothy Bradshaw came over so we could go out for dinner. Jere Scott was out of town so I thought it would be fun to go out just us girls since she probably needed a break from packing and I don't really cook just for me. We ended up going to a place called Say Cheese! in West Reading. I enjoyed chatting with Dorothy and Ellie remained engaged by the hustle and bustle of the waiters. We came home after eating and had some hot tea and talked in the living room while Ellie slept. She went home at about 10:30 and I cleaned up a bit before heading to bed.

Hanging out during worship practice

Sunday morning I was supposed to be at church at 7:45 for worship practice. We showed up about 30 minutes later but better late than never, right? Ellie went to nursery and I sat through first service and then second service worship, picking up Ellie after worship was over. Nursery was mayhem when I arrived so they were happy to see me pick her up. Although she wasn't misbehaving she was definitely tired and needy.
Ellie and I quickly stopped by Walmart to grab some milk (I suppose I had forgotten that on Thursday) and bread for the Iyas. Then we ate lunch from the Deli with Mimi, Pops, Corinne, and Daniel at Pops' house. Thanks, Pops, for the meal!
Peter picked up Jon from the airport and brought him home at around 5:00. I made dinner and picked up a movie for us to watch and we ate and put Ellie to bed. We watched "42" (thanks, Carly, for the promotion last week) and enjoyed it. It's in RedBox, if anyone cares to see it.

Reading a book waiting for Daddy to arrive

It is so nice to have Jon home! He said he was surprised that Ellie wasn't bigger. He brought her home a stuffed panda (not many gift options at the airport) and a mug for me (he knew it was lame but wanted to get me something rather than nothing). It is wonderful to have him back at home!

Ellieisms:
Ellie uses anything that will move along the carpet as a walker: chairs, boxes, her highchair, toys. I'm wondering when she'll start walking!