Mom's Together & Some Videos

Monday morning Kelly and I decided to go work out at TVFF. She had signed up a couple weeks back and we are finally starting to work out together and try to get in shape. We met up around 9:00 and did a twenty minute stint on the ellipticals before showering and calling it a day. Next time maybe we'll add weights.
Kelly drove around a bit and let Maya sleep while I went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She joined us after Maya slept for twenty minutes and Mom came over at 11:30. Clark and Ellie ate before the adults and then played together. Maya was rolling around on her blanket and Ellie would walk by and hand her a toy or just look at her closely. She has finally stopped trying to poke her eyes out. Clark is very patient with how Ellie follows him closely. They were both standing at the window waiting for Mimi to come and Clark was hollering "Mimi!" and Ellie was waiting excitedly for...well, she didn't know what. Soon she'll be excited about waiting for Mimi - once she learns her name.

The girls

Mimi has arrived!

We left at 12:30 because Ellie had woken up early and was ready for a nap. She fell asleep and woke up during my first set of piano lessons. Fortunately Ellie was in good spirits and behaved during the forty-five minutes that she was awake during the lessons. During the rest of the afternoon I made dinner, worked on my Precepts homework, and baked pumpkin muffins.
Jon came home at 5:30 and we ate dinner. He read to Ellie before I put her in bed and headed to Elverson for the craft night at church. I had five people attend, all different from the last time. Sadly I had scheduled the event on the same evening as Mom's Women's Committee meeting so Kelly and Mom were not in attendance. We still enjoyed ourselves.
Ellie did not go to sleep when I left so Jon played with her until she was exhausted and choosing to hang out in her dark bedroom. He put her to sleep and was painting the trim in the basement when I came home.

Ellie fell and hit her cheek on a corner.

On the way to Moms Together Ellie enjoyed our classical music station

Tuesday morning we had the Moms Together event at church. Mom hosts three Moms Together events a year and I always look forward to them! Corinne was the guest speaker and shared about the importance of remembering the spiritual realm in our daily living (well, that was the main idea). I thought she did a wonderful job (although I am a bit biased) and other seemed to agree. Following her talk was a thirty minute question and answer time. Another very successful Moms Together event!
Generally I try to help Mom out with cleanup but Ellie was not holding herself together after an early wake-up so I took her home to bed. Plus I had piano lessons later on and Ellie needs to be happy for Grandpa and Grandma. She slept for a little over two hours while I worked on my Bible Study. Having missed last week's classes due to our last minute Skyview trip I was a bit behind. When Ellie woke up we left for Elverson.
I dropped her off at Grandpa and Grandma's and found out that they were hosting some friends for dinner as a last minute arrangement. I felt terrible that Ellie was going to be there! But Grandma insisted. Jon said the guests were already present when he picked her up before 5:30. Apparently some missionary friends were in town and had just called earlier that afternoon.
My lessons end at 6:15 Tuesdays and this week I thought it would be fun to have a family date night since Jon is leaving for China on Saturday. We went to Five Guys for dinner then stopped by Target for some bins for my linen closet. Ellie enjoyed the bustle of Five Guys and kept Jon busy at Target. We were home by 9:00 and Ellie went straight to bed. So did Jon, if I remember correctly.

Waiting for our dinner

People watching 

Hogging the cart

Ellieisms:
Ellie has three words that I definitely see her using in context. "Uh-oh" (an oldie), "more", and "ball" (which sounds more like "baah"). She loves balls.
She has phased crawling out of her daily life.

Below: I think Ellie says "ball" here. Jon disagrees.

below: she's almost running!

A Funeral & a Wedding

Friday morning Ellie and I had a lot to do. We unpacked and ate breakfast. After showering and dressing for the day we ran out to Pottstown to T.J.Maxx since we needed to get a gift card and a small gift to wrap it up with for our wedding on Saturday. We also picked up a few other things including a new shirt and stockings and pillows (I really do not like my current pillow for my bed). We were back in Elverson by 11:30 since Grandma wanted us to come for lunch while her friend Jane was in town.

Ready to shop

Kelly, Clark and Maya joined us for lunch and Grandma pulled out all the stops with sandwiches made to order and a delicious beef and vegetable soup. We hung around and chatted with Jane until Ellie was grumpy then we went home for her nap.

Ellie really seems to admire Clark

While Ellie slept I cleaned up the kitchen and the living room. She woke up very cranky and Jon was going to come home early (since he had worked late the night before). Once he came home I ran off to Walmart for a few groceries then came back and made apple cake for small group. Then we dropped Ellie off at Nana's and Pop-pop's house before going to small group. We were back to pick her up by 9:30.

Saturday was a busy day. Before going to Walmart on Friday I realized that I had left my wallet at T.J. Maxx in Pottstown. Boo. We woke up and I cut Jon's hair then rushed off to grab my wallet. Once I returned I showered and prepared for our first event: Mrs. Frey's funeral. I lined up Calla Gibson to watch Ellie since she was babysitting her younger siblings at home and was up for the challenge of one more. Ellie seems to enjoy Calla and Calla sends me pictures, which is always fun!

Picture from Calla. Ellie looks like Jon here

The funeral was a beautiful service. It was held at the Conestoga Community Church in Morgantown since our church was being used already. It was very well attended and definitely worth the time. Since we had a busy schedule we were unable to go through the line to greet the family or go to the reception afterwards.
On our way home I checked in with Calla and Ellie was behaving. We changed for our next event: Hannah Kurtz's wedding. We picked Ellie up from Gibson's and took her over to Nana and Pop-pop's house for the rest of the day. She knows her way around Nana's house now and goes straight for the toys then the TV on/off button. She prefers when it is on.
Jon and I arrived in plenty of time for the wedding. Jere Scott did a wonderful job on the ceremony and Hannah and John had a wedding party of twenty plus two junior bridesmaids, two flower girls, and a ring bearer. It was the largest wedding party I had ever experienced at our church. They had definitely but a lot of time and thought into the event because it was very pretty. But my favorite part was the reception.

Three years and four months ago was our wedding!

The reception was held in a large barn out near Terre Hill (probably five minutes from the Iya's house). It was awesome and the decorations were spectacular. We sat at a table with people in our age range from church but it was a very casual feel and people were up and about mingling a lot. The ceremony started at 2:00 and the reception started at 4:30. By 8:30 we were feeling like old people and ready to head home and relieve Nana of her duties (Ellie had decided she didn't want to sleep except for a one hour nap). She was tired and went right to sleep.

Happily married

Sunday morning I was supposed to be at church at 7:45. I pulled in at 7:58 - close enough. Dad was leading worship and we hadn't had the opportunity to practice on Saturday. Although we did not start at 7:45 the worship service went really well. We sat in the sermon during first service then Jon went to the Sunday School class that Daniel was teaching and I helped in Ellie's nursery. She was doing just fine until I arrived then she fussed unless she was sitting on my lap. This wouldn't have been a problem if another kid, Ellie's age, didn't also want to be on my lap but didn't want to share. They would sit and just push each other away, crying. Oh dear.
We invited the Iyas and Mom over for lunch (Dad was working). I made burritos. The company patiently waited as I prepared them and fried them up. Ellie slept during lunch and Mom and Corinne helped with the dishes afterwards. Jon invited Omar over and the three men played FIFA in the basement for the afternoon. Mom headed home for a nap and Corinne and I painted our fingernails.
The Iyas needed to be at church early for a rehearsal for Daniel. We followed behind afterwards a bit early since Jon was a leader for prayer meeting. We walked around Elverson (we had a Summerfield route) praying for the community. It was an interesting concept.
Following church we came home for leftovers, watched a show on TV in front of the fire, then went to bed.

Ellieisms:
Ellie walks a lot more than she crawls.

If you are interested in an easy, tasty burrito recipe here's the one I loosely followed: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/crispy-southwest-chicken-wraps.html

Skyview

I was looking forward to taking Ellie to Skyview along with Mimi, Pops, Daniel, and Corinne. I knew it would be chilly so I packed clothes to keep us warm and we left Elverson Tuesday evening at 9:30. Ellie slept for the first hour and a half and was awake for the second hour and a half, when everybody else (except for Pops) were trying to sleep. She was wide awake when I was unpacking and setting up her pack'n'play. I tried to put her to sleep and got into bed myself but she was crying and carrying on. Since others were trying to sleep I brought her into my bed (the first time since the women's retreat in April) and she continued to cry until she finally settled down and slept. She was not easy to sleep with! At 7:15 she was moving all about and I miscalculated the size of the bed and she rolled over me and fell out of bed. Oops.
So we were officially awake. I took her downstairs and we played until Mimi and Pops woke up and joined us. Corinne and Daniel slept in then Dad made us all pancakes. Ellie helped Pops fix the coffee table then took a nap until noon.

All six of us decided to go on a hike and we ended up hiking for an hour long hike up and around the mountain behind the house. We were able to see a nice view of the pipelines from the fracking. Ellie rode in the backpack and Corinne graciously shared the load halfway through. We saw a ruffed grouse and some deer and bear boo but no exciting wildlife. The trip was fairly steep - Mom was wishing KC could have been there to help pull us up.

Ellie's perch

Mountain Man Merle

Mom made hotdogs for lunch then we decided to relax. Although Ellie had only slept six hours during the night and had taken only an hour long nap, she refused to nap in the afternoon. I tried. We stayed at the house all afternoon and then enjoyed a delicious dinner of baked masticholli (I know I butchered that but she kept correcting me when I called it ziti) along with italian bread. Corinne decided we didn't need salad (I agree since we had plenty of leftovers).
We played a couple rousing games of Sequence (Corinne and Daniel ultimately beat Mom and me) then I headed to bed since I had hardly slept the night before.


Thursday morning we had a similar routine, without Ellie falling out of the bed. Dad and Ellie watched some movies from his trip to Uganda on his iPad which kept her in a trance for a while. Then he made pancakes and eggs for breakfast then we went for a hike down below the house for an hour. Once again we didn't see any wildlife but we saw signs - a tree all scratched up and shredded from claws. We ate lunch and Ellie napped while we cleaned the house and packed up. We all loaded in the car and Corinne commented how she keeps looking for bears and then the rest of us all pretended to see a bear in the woods and Corinne was completely fooled. Dad even drove the van forward and backwards to "see the bear better." Mom was laughing so hard she cried. We stopped by the spot where Hunter had his accident about ten years ago so Daniel could see it.

She loved the singing and dancing

Dad checking out the bear's handywork

Our drive home went well for the first hour and a half. Then the transmission was obviously failing (it had given us a little bit of reason to worry on the way up) and we googled a shop and pulled in. Denny, the shop owner, confirmed Dad's fears and said he could fix it in the next week. We decided to rent a van (instead of having Jon come and pick us up in his Mom's van) and we drove the rest of the way in a fifteen passenger Ford. The delay only made us one and a half hours later than we intended and Dad still made it to his meeting on time.

Ellie freestylin' in the car.

I took Ellie home and Jon had dinner on the table (he had ordered from Nuse's Deli) and I put Ellie to bed. Jon went back to work until 10:00 and then we hung out and watched a TV show before heading to bed.

Ellieisms: 

Ellie feels a strong bond with Daniel now that they had their first visit to Skyview together. 

The two Skyview Newbs bonding

Her favorite location for the weekend

Ellie Walks

Since Thursday evening when Ellie decided to walk she really hasn't used the skill as much as I thought she would, at least when we are home. But things changed on Sunday.
 Sunday morning Jon had to be at church a little early since he was leading cooperate prayer. We dropped Ellie off at her classroom and when I was giving my instructions to the nursery coordinator Ellie was trying to get out of her arms to go play with the toys. I hope she always reacts this way to nursery. We went to first service then Sunday School. Following church we picked up Ellie and the workers said she was very good and walked around all morning.
Donna hosted a lunch for Jess's birthday (and we threw in Doug's while we were at it) and our little family was graciously included. Jon and Doug grilled steaks and Donna provided the sides. It was delicious. Ellie was barely holding on and we finally had to leave as soon as we scarfed down the pudding cake for dessert.

Ellie playing with the chair's controls

We arrived home close to 3:00 and Ellie took an hour nap. After she woke up I hung out with her until Jon got up then we went to evening prayer. After prayer was over I picked Ellie up from the nursery and returned to the sanctuary. She saw the opportunity to show off to a crowd and was walking all around the chairs. At one point of time she started walking towards Dan Darling and then starting crying (I was several feet away). I wondered what happened and as I went to comfort her someone told me "Dan said 'BOO!'". HA. Oh so sensitive. She soon recovered and was walking all around like she owned the place.
We tried inviting a couple people over after church but struck out. Omar finished up his schoolwork earlier than he thought so he came over after dinner and he and Jon battled it out with a few games of FIFA.
Monday morning Hunter came to play. Ellie woke up before 8:00 and was gnawing at the bit to do something new by the time Hunter arrived at 9:00. She settled down and played nicely near him and we went outside to play once it warmed up a bit more around 10:30. I put her down for a nap early at 11:30 then Hunter and I ate a snack before heading back outside to play. His mom picked him up at noon.
Ellie slept for two hours then we worked on a grocery list and hit up BBs for some good deals (orange juice = $1.99 for a gallon of Tropicana, expiration date 12/13) before heading towards Elverson for my piano lessons. Grandpa and Grandma watched her during the first lesson then I took her to Mimi's for the second two since Jon would be late. He picked her up at 6:30 and we met at the Verizon store.
I have been eligible for a free upgrade for a couple months now but I wanted to wait for the new iPhone to come out before getting my upgrade. It came out about a month ago but we were just finally doing the upgrade. Plus, Jon wanted to give my iPhone 4 to Doug since Doug hates his current phone (a Samsung something). We made the transfer to my phone and Ellie was spent by the time we pulled out of there around 7:30. Jon remained behind since Doug was meeting up with him to transfer over to my old iPhone. I went home and ate, packed, and cleaned up the house.

Sometimes we play duets

I say packed because on Monday morning Dad had asked if Ellie and I (and Jon but he couldn't because of work) wanted to go up to Skyview for a few days. Jon spent almost two hours at the Verizon store trying to figure out Doug's phone situation and had to meet up with me at Mom's house since I arrived there at 9:15 to pack up the car in order to leave by 9:30. Jon walked into Mom's house and asked what was going on. Apparently I wasn't clear on when I was leaving for Skyview and he was confused as to why he was meeting me at Mom's. Oops. We're saying goodbye until Thursday night. We straightened him out, packed the van, and pulled out of Elverson shortly at 9:45.

We had a great time at Skyview and I'll have to tell you all about it tomorrow!

Ellieisms:
Ellie picks up my phone and puts it to her ear (backwards) and talks into it.

Christmas in October

Monday Jon came up with the idea of celebrating a little bit of Christmas in October on Saturday morning. Basically he had bought my "big gift" in September and thought I would want to put it to work before December 25th finally rolled around. He woke up early to wrap the gift, make breakfast, and start the fire. He woke me up at 7:45 so we could eat and open the gift before Ellie woke up. He made me waffles which he knows I really like but he is not very fond of, so we do not eat them often.
When we were in the basement I opened my big gift for the year - a brand new Bernina sewing machine. I am so excited to put it to use! I opened it up and counted all the pieces and browsed the owners manuel while Jon watched on, feeling like the younger brother who can look but can't touch. He went upstairs and found Ellie awake (and fussing) in her crib. I quickly put the machine up out of her reach and thanked Jon for Christmas in October.
Jon went over to Peter's house to help trim a tree along with Doug and Omar. I fed Ellie breakfast then we got ready for the day and headed off to the Conestoga Christian School benefit auction. Aunt Brittany is an alum and was present along with her family. Although Ellie and I didn't bid on any items we did purchase some food for lunch for Jon and a quart of soup for dinner. It was well worth the trip.
Jon met me at home at 12:15 since he needed to keep Ellie while I went to a bridal shower for Olivia. I fed Ellie then put her down for a nap. Olivia's shower was five minutes away at her future home with Nate at the edge of French Creek State Park. It was a tea-party and the food was delicious. I sat with Corinne, Katie, and Brittney (Estes) and also caught up with some other cousins and a girl I hadn't seen since high school. It was a nice shower but didn't end until 3:00 and I had to take Grandma home.
While Jon was in charge of Ellie he took her to Elverson Supply after her nap. He said she was very stoic, looking at all the construction workers and employees without batting an eyelash. She took it all very seriously.
Dad was hosting an open house concert at Bulltown which I really wanted to attend but it ended at 4:00. I asked Grandma if I could stop by home and pick up Ellie, which she was flexible about. I touched base with Jon before the three of us went to Elverson. I sadly didn't know the open house was more formal and a special event where kids weren't allowed (oops!) so I held Ellie the entire time we were at Bulltown. It was showing off a barn they built for a man to house his cars and work on them. It was really impressive.

Waiting to head home

Chatting with the homeowner

We headed home and basically said "hello" and "goodbye" to Jon who was heading to Philadelphia to pick up some missionaries from the airport. He was gone for over three hours. Ellie was bored and out of sorts, fussing and carrying. I put her to bed relatively early and hung out until Jon came home. He had to work on his prayer for the church service in the morning so I supported him by watching a movie in the basement.

While we were waiting for Jon to come home Ellie got into a bag of animal crackers. 

Shots & Steps

Thursday Ellie and I had a doctors appointment for her second flu shot. We had a nice mid-morning slot of 9:45 (that way I would definitely not be late). Ellie took the shot like a pro - she didn't cry at all. She did give the nurse a fierce glare. I had some blood work that we needed to get done for Ellie before her next checkup in December and I had forgotten about it until I pulled into the parking lot and I knew that would happen before the next appointment so we had them reprint the requests and went immediately to St. Joe's in Elverson.
While Ellie had been brave with the shot, the poor little girl cried when they took her blood. I really had no idea that they would have to take blood for tests -- about lead and something else. Is that normal? She was very quiet up until they put the needle into her vein then she cried until they took it out and she could turn around and give me a hug. She recovered quickly.

You can see where her blood was taken.

Since we were in Elverson anyway I decided to stop at Grandma's house. Grandpa golfs when it is nice weather so it was just the three of us. We chatted until lunch time when we headed home for Ellie's nap. Jon came home and we ate lunch together while Ellie napped.

It can be lonely in Geigertown. 

Thursday afternoon I had a piano lesson and Ellie woke up fifteen minutes before it began. She played with Aunt Carol Hoke during the lesson and when the Hokes left Ellie and I went to Birdsboro. Brittany had off from work since the teachers were at a conference. We had been texting back and forth and decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go around her block for a walk, which is about a mile route. It was nice to do something new and catch up, since Brittany and I haven't really spent time together except in big groups. I had Ellie in the backpack because the sidewalks aren't great in town and she seemed to enjoy getting outside.
We arrived home and made dinner. After eating Ellie and I were hanging out in the living room and I took off her socks and shoes and she started walking. Jon and I spent a while having her walk from person to person, but she only wanted to walk when she wanted to walk. She really liked when Jon would "chase" her on his hands and knees. She would walk until she fell forward then she would crawl as quickly as she could onto her Leaf seat. I suppose she thought that was base.

Friday morning I decided it was time to go to the gym again. If I'm not careful it'll be two months in between each gym trip. I went to my normal Body Pump class while Ellie showed off her walking in childcare. I added Jon to our family membership (hmmm...I wonder where I put his card for it...) then we came home and I tried to put Ellie down for a quick nap. I showered while she hung out in her crib but she didn't accept the idea of napping so she soon joined me as I finished getting ready.
At 12:00 we left to pick up chicken barbeque meals at Conestoga Christian School. Every year they do a big fundraiser and Jon will never turn down a barbeque! I dropped one of the meals off at his office and Jon came out and talked with us for a bit until he needed to go and actually eat his lunch. Ellie and I went and played at a park and I fed her some of the other chicken barbeque and applesauce. Then we went to Sarah Rus' house for lunch (for me). We arrived a bit early so I let Ellie take her walker down the sidewalk to the next street. I tried to convince her to turn around and head back but she wanted to keep going so I had to pick her up and carry her to the house. While I unloaded her bag she took off down the sidewalk again. Perhaps it's good that she's not walking consistently.

Sarah Rus had a baby, Teo, September 12. I asked her over for breakfast but she wasn't able to come because of a doctor appointment for Teo. Instead, she invited me to come over for lunch at her place. I was flattered and very impressed. She made pesto, basil, mozzarella, and tomato paninis served with grapes, apples, and hummus. It was delicious! I ate and ate. Little Teo was a doll and fell asleep in my arms. Ellie didn't seem too disturbed by me holding him unless she wanted something that required her to be in my lap to get (food, cups, etc). After lunch he was laying on a blanket in the living room and Ellie went up and laid next to him and started poking at him.

I pushed Ellie to her limit before we left at 2:45. She went right to sleep but only took a brief nap before waking up. Jon came home early from work and we packed up Doug's birthday gift in the truck and headed to Elverson. Donna and the brothers and families went in together and bought Doug a new Weber grill for his birthday this year. We dropped it off and said hi to Nana, Poppop, Grandma, and Omar. Omar actually took Ellie and hung out with her outside while I popped inside to see pictures of a potential beach house option for this upcoming summer with Nana.

Ellie & Tio Omar

We went right over to Mimi and Pop's house for dinner. Dad generously invited all the local kids and families over for Chickfila and games. We enjoyed our meal and then the Iyas had to head off to a small group meeting.

The men & the babies

Pops, Josh, and Jon played a wild came of Acquire. Jon came out the victor. Pops was holding Maya while Mimi and Kelly practiced for an event on Saturday. Clark was very excited about the music and even had Ellie singing and dancing along. The Fentons left at 8:30 and Jon, Ellie, and I hung around until 9:15. We enjoyed spending time with everyone. Thanks, Mom and Dad for dinner!

Ellieisms:
Where Clark was, Ellie was always close behind. She did not give him room to breathe! But whenever she would stray away, he would look at me and say "uh-oh! uh-oh!" Thanks for the warning, Clark.
Today Ellie threw a toy down our steps. Later she threw a piece of trash down and it landed on the first step. So she reached down, picked it up, and threw it again. It landed on the second step (fortunately out of sight). I have never thrown anything down the steps before, so I don't know why she thought to do that.

An Auction & the Parade

Ellie woke up before Jon returned home from running this morning, which hardly ever happens. We ate breakfast together and after Jon left for work I started getting ready for the day. Ellie likes to play in the water as I shower and I keep it running a drizzle afterwards so she can play while I finish getting ready.
An Amish furniture store closed down in Morgantown and was auctioning off their merchandise so Ellie and I wanted to see what was being sold. I wish I had done some more research and of what they were selling because things were going for great deals. I felt so bad for Sam (Sam Stoltzfus was the Amish guy) because he had to be losing so much money.

Using her diaper bag as a pillow (this was five hours into the day)

Hanging out with Clark

Clark found a friend. 

We saw a few friends from church and texted others and Jon decided to join me for lunch since there were Amish folks with a food stand and chicken barbeque, which Jon can never deny. I showed him my purchases and then the Fentons showed up. After Jon left Kelly, Clark, Maya, Ellie and I spent an hour or so longer at the event before I had to rush off to teach a couple piano lessons.
Ellie slept for an hour over the piano lessons then when she woke up we went back to the auction. Sadly I had missed a large portion of the furniture that I was interested in but I suppose it wasn't meant to be. I dropped Ellie off at the Fenton's since Kelly offered to watch her while her kids slept. Ellie enjoyed playing with their play kitchen and stayed busy and obedient (or so was Kelly's report).
Jon and Omar met up with me at the store with Pop-pop's truck and they loaded up my goods. I bought some sausage sandwiches from the Amish stand and went home where we ate. Jon and Omar ran to Home Depot then came back for a few rounds of FIFA.

Tuesday morning Hunter came at 9:00. Ellie had woken up at 7:00 and was cranky so I laid her down after he arrived and after a few minutes alone Ellie came out happy and ready to play. Apparently the threat of a nap was all she needed to cheer up.

This baby loves to be outside!

Tuesday was pleasant weather so after we exhausted our toys inside we went outside for about an hour. We came in close to noon and had a snack before Elisha came and picked him up. Ellie was already napping when he left so I made lunch for myself (I had fed her lunch during our pre-lunch snack) then cleaned up and made dinner. She woke up and we got ready to go to Gibson's since Calla was watching Ellie since Grandpa and Grandma were in Wheaton.

Ellie helping me make dinner

Jon picked Ellie up after work and I picked Corinne up in Morgantown after my piano lessons. Jon had heated up the dinner and was soon off to his meeting at church. Corinne hung out with Ellie and I while Daniel was at Newcomers Class. Corinne had brought along some chocolate pudding for old times sake so we made that and slowly ate it (Corinne resisted the temptation to use a baby spoon). Ellie went down without protest around 8:00 and Daniel picked Corinne up shortly before 10:00. Jon's meeting ran late so he was home after 11:00.

Wednesday morning Ellie and I had Precepts at church. Well Ellie got to hang out with Corinne in childcare and Corinne said that Ellie was showing off and walking around here and there. She still doesn't walk although I know she can! After study I took her home and she napped. She woke up shortly before my piano lesson and boy was she in rare form! My students Mom always comes and her sister comes about three times a year and Ellie was showing off. First, she walked for them. Then she was talking almost the entire lesson (fortunately she's a quiet talker). Lastly she was trying to get the sister to put her up on the couch with her. What a stinker.
Following the lesson we drove out to Downingtown to pick up some music from a lady from church. When we came home I dressed Ellie up in her costume for the parade. The theme for the Halloween parade was cowboys so Ellie was a cowgirl. We ate a quick dinner of leftovers when Jon came home and headed towards Elverson.
We were the first to arrive at Nana and Pop-pop's house but soon Peter, Brittany, Amanda, her kids, and her sister and her kids showed up. The Bradshaws also joined our gang. Ellie's outfit was a bit confusing to Grandma Mountz since she looked like a boy, so Grandma asked a time or two if she was a boy or a girl. Ellie sat with Nana or Aunt Brittany the entire parade and her eyes never left the road. The parade lasted a little under an hour and after the last "float" Jon and I took Ellie up to the Office to see the Fentons, Iyas, Mimi & Pops, and other friends. Ellie hung out with Uncle Daniel and offered him her lollipop every few minutes. Very generous, Ellie. When we walked back to Nana's house Pop-pop had just arrived home from work (he teaches an evening class on Wednesdays) and they were about to eat some frozen pizza for dinner. They asked us to join them so we hung around until Ellie became cranky.

Sitting with Nana

Sitting with Aunt Brittany (Wyeth is the tiger)

Ellieisms: 

Ellie loves her shoes. When she comes across them she tries to put them on and becomes frustrated. 

On Wednesday I was taking pictures of Ellie and Jon and Ellie looked right at the camera and smiled. I think she's caught on to what's happening. 

Matching

Apples and Autumn

Saturday morning Ellie and I slept in - it was glorious. I woke up and read the blogs until she woke up at 8:45. Jon was already working in the basement. We ate a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. Ellie and I then went to a yardsale, auction, then Lowes. She is a trooper and sat and watched kids play at the yardsale, rode in the backpack at the auction, and hung out in the cart in Lowes. A fun time was had until she kept trying to bite the cart then would hurt herself. Oh Ellie.
We went home and she perked right up. So I lugged her to Weaver's for some apples and lunch. Weaver's was a mad house! I had forgotten about their fall festivals. We bought apples, apple cider, and a wrap for our lunch. We ate and Ellie took a nap while Jon worked on his Sunday School lesson. I made apple crisp for dinner and when Ellie woke up I got ready for our dinner at Ryan and Tara's house.
Tara made a delicious fall spread of pumpkin soup (it was surprisingly delicious!), baked chicken salad, and a green salad. I brought the dessert, the apple crisp I made. Ellie showed off for Ryan and Tara by behaving really well. We brought a booster for on top of a chair and even pushed her to the living room to watch the football game. That didn't last long. Ryan and Tara have a dog, Zoey, who is very nice but very intimidating for little Ellie. She clung to us whenever she was nearby. By the end of the night Ellie was looking at Zoey and interacting with her cautiously. We really enjoyed our dinner at the Frey's house and we made our exit around 8:00. Nothing like having a baby cut a night short.

Sunday morning Jon woke up early and started reviewing his Sunday School lesson while I prepared for church. Ellie woke up right before I had to leave for worship practice so I put out a dress, stockings, and shoes for Jon and packed her bag. He remembered the baby for church but forgot her diaper bag, oh well.
His Sunday School lesson went well but Ellie had a hard time without her milk. I ended up taking a cup of water from the car that I found to Donna's and filling it up with milk and that helped calm her down (she never cries at church for no reason!). We went home and quickly changed into regular clothes and headed out to enjoy the beautiful fall day.

They were having fun, really.

Due to the ugly, rainy weather church cancelled our annual fall festival. Brittany and Peter asked if we wanted to go to the Apple Festival at Joanna Furnace. Ellie was behaving (sometimes she cries the entire drive home from church since she's tired) so we agreed to meet them right away. We arrived first and walked around seeing the historical sites and scouting out lunch options. When they showed up we bought lunch, ate, toured the area a bit more, then said goodbye before Ellie reported us for abuse. She was in bed by 3:30.

Our very own iron pig

Walking with Daddy

Omar came over at 4:30 and hung out with Jon while I napped until Ellie woke up. The boys hung out in the basement so after Ellie was bored upstairs we went downstairs and she hung out in Jon's lap. She figured out that the XBox controllers were fun so Jon gave her a controller void of the battery and she moved the little thumb joysticks around. I heated up leftover chili for dinner and we ate then they headed downstairs again. After Ellie went to bed the three of us watched an episode of Foyle's War since Omar has started watching the show with Doug and Donna.

Ellieisms:
Ellie refuses to walk when prompted. Today at Joanna Furnace she walked all around holding on to one of my fingers but as soon as I let go she would squat down. She does, however, take steps when nobody is obviously watching. She walks unaided on a as-needed basis.

Daniel & Corinne Babysit

For the first time in our marriage Jon overslept. Apparently neither of his alarms woke him up and at 8:30 he sits up in bed and exclaims his dismay. I laid in bed while he showered then put together a lunch and breakfast for him so he could walk right out the door. The cold, rainy weather was just perfect for sleeping!
Ellie woke up at 8:45 and I packed us some pumpkin bread for breakfast and then we headed to Elverson. After spending the evening with Nana, Pop-pop, and Great Grandma Mountz the girls decided to spend time together this morning. Grandma had just woken up and she was very excited to see Ellie. I think she thought we were just popping by because she was hesitant to leave the room to get ready for the day until I assured her we were staying until lunch. Pop-pop was off at work but the four of us played, chatted, and ate lunch together. It was so nice to be able to get out since we would have felt really cramped inside! Ellie doesn't last long at home.

Grandma shared her breakfast with Ellie

At one point Donna and I were talking in the kitchen sitting at the table and Ellie tried to climb up one of the empty chairs. I caught her before she fell off (her feet were on the horizontal spindle) and put her on the seat. She sat alone in the chair eating some pumpkin bread for three or four minutes before losing interest.

Determined

She thinks she's a big kid

We came home at 1:00 and Ellie went right down for a nap. I started the laundry and cleaned up the house for our evening babysitters: the Iyas. I vacuumed, cleaned the upstairs bathroom (just remembered that I forgot the basement bathroom...oops), washed the kitchen floor, and emptied the dishwasher. I also did two loads of laundry. Ellie only took an hour nap so we spent some time playing and she was getting really cranky. She knows when I have somewhere to go because she gets clingy. When Jon arrived home from work I was glad to see him because it meant I could shower and get ready in peace.
Corinne and Daniel came at 6:10 and we gave them some directions (vague, confusing directions really) and pointed them towards their dinner (leftovers, really glamorous) and said adois. It was very nice to have people who love Ellie take care of her! They gave her a good report.
Allegedly Ellie wanted us gone because she was cranky when we were home and as soon as we left she stopped, looked at Corinne and Daniel and smiled doing her scrunchy nose/weird breathing thing. That baby. She ate a bit before Corinne changed her into her PJs and they played. While Corinne and Daniel ate their chili Ellie gestured towards her highchair so they put her in it and she refused any food except for the chili. Only negative: she spit out all the beans (and it was a vegetarian chili=tons of beans). She spent some time showing off her mad skills in the Johnny Jump-up while Daniel laid on the floor right by her. She would dance around and stop it, spinning and directing her body like a pro. I would have liked to see it! She went down at 7:45 so Corinne and Daniel hung out in the basement and got some work done while watching a movie. Thank you, Corinne and Daniel, for watching Ellie!
Meanwhile Jon and I had a fun time at his office dinner. Kenney Chang, the head guy from Taiwan, was in town and we all went to the Reading Country Club for the event. I sat next to Olivia and Nate while next to Jon was JP and his wife, who we had over the other week. It was nice to get out and meet more of Jon's coworkers.

Obviously we didn't coordinate

Ellieisms:
Ellie apparently loves babysitters and doesn't care when her parents are out of the house.
Maybe it's because she fell down a few steps while Jon was watching her. He said it was only four or five and she didn't even cry, really.