1 year pics

I decided to try my luck with Target again for Ella's 1 year pics. They turned out as well as could be expected I guess! Ella wasn't in a great mood the day we went. She was teething, I'm not even sure how many teeth she has coming through right now but I'd say maybe 3. She would just drool and chew on her hands (or anything she could find). I felt so bad for her! I gave her motrin, teething tablets and orajel but nothing really seemed to give her much relief. So for how miserable she was, I guess I should be happy with how the pics turned out! I'm still not thrilled with Target in general though. The day I went they were running about 30 minutes behind. There was a family of 6 ahead of me and then 4 people behind me waiting. It was just a little hectic. Then when I went to actually pick out the pics I wanted to order, all thos people will still there so I had hard time focusing. Oh well, I guess that's what you get for no sitting fee and coupons :)

Today is Ella's first party! She has a family party today and a friends party tomorrow. Yesterday was spent cleaning and decorating. I was doing ok until I hung the first birthday banner last night. It just sorta hit me...my baby is turning 1!! I just kept thinking back to when she was born and those first few months with her. Her first birthday seemed so far away then, it didn't seem like it would ever get here. And now all of a sudden its here!

Here's a few of the pics that I liked:

I think I ordered a few 3 1/2 x 5 of these, she just looks like a cute little bear cub!


The pearls weren't intended to be in the pictures. The photographer gave them to her just as a distraction because she kept trying to crawl away. Of course once she got them, she would NOT let them go! I kind of like them in the picture!

Doesn't she look like such a big girl in this one?

The only picture of her smiling :)

Happy Fall

My favorite season is here, woohooo!! I'm trying to get a pretty new fall template for my blog so it may look a little funny until I get it fixed :)

Here are some reasons Fall is the best!
*pumpkin spice latte
*wearing sweatshirts and jeans
*pretty fall leaves
*apple cider
*carving pumpkins
*covered bridge festival (a family tradition!)
*biscuits and apple butter
*fall decorations

Here are some movies I always watch in the Fall
*Father of the Bride
*You've Got Mail
*Sleepy Hollow
*Stepmom

Hooray for Fall! I missed you.

Philly

Well, this feels like old news now, but we made it back from our fun trip to Philly! We went over Labor Day weekend to see some good friends who moved there a few years ago. The drive down took about 12 hours. Without Ella, we could've made it in 10 but we definitely needed the number of stops we took. Here's Ella on our first stop. As you can see, she's pretty excited to be out of the car :)

We got to Philly at about 6pm on Thursday night. The town our friends live in (West Chester) has a festival the first thursday of every month so we were in luck! It was so cool...lots of booths, food and tons of Irish music! We loaded the kiddos up and headed out. Sadly, this is the ONLY picture I got of Ella and Sasha. Don't they look like they're having fun?

Let me tell you...Ella LOVED Sasha and Misha. By the time we left, she'd learned to say Sasha's name (Sash). She didn't learn Misha but she just called him "baby". Even after we got home, she would crawl around the house saying "baby...?...Sash...?". So cute!!

We went to downtown Philly to see the sights on Saturday. Ella was super cranky for a lot of the day. We waited for quite awhile to tour Independence Hall. Here we are right before going on our tour.

I didn't realized the tour was guided and that the first 15 minutes was a lecture! Ella was the only baby in there and she was not at all interested in the history of Independence Hall :) It was so uncomfortable! I felt like everyone was just starting at us the whole time thinking "what idiots brought a baby to this?" So, Ella and I ducked out pretty quick and Rusty finished the tour alone. While waiting, Ella made a few friends! These girls were very sweet and just sat there while Ella talked their ear off and pointed at the girl's bow.

Ella just loves other kids. While we were waiting for our tour to start, there was a little boy sitting in the grass by us. He was probably 4 or 5 but Ella pretty much calls everyone "baby". So she goes over to him and starts saying "baby! baby!" and pointing at him. He ran over to his mom and (very offendedly) said "that baby just called ME a baby!!"

Our biggest "adventure" happened on our way back to our friends' house from Philly. We thought we were in the right lane but before we could do anything about it, we realized we were in the lane that took us over the bridge to New Jersey! It was so crowded, there was no way we could get over. So...off we went to NJ. We figured we'd just turn around and head back as soon as we could. So we get over the bridge and turn around only to find out that the only way back into PA is over the toll bridge. $4. We had NO cash! We asked if they would make an exception and take a credit card but no. So we had to get off on this side exit to find an atm. Wow were we in the ghett-o. We drive for awhile and finally see this tiny little corner shop boasting an atm inside. Lots of tatoo'd men with major bling standing all around the outside. We pretty much had no other option but to stop there. So Rusty parks, locks the doors behind him and instructs me not to make eye contact with anyone. It was very dramatic. Well, needless to say, nothing happened. Rusty got his money, we got back into PA and all ended well :) But, I guess we got a funny vacation story out of it!!

Here's a few more pictures from this past week

Oops...caught in the act!

Getting one more use out of her baby pool

The next pics I post will most likely be from her 1st bday party!