Cheetos

Two Saturdays ago, we went to a minor league baseball game
to support our new local team, the Potomac Nationals.
Ellie did well and had a lot of fun.

Watching the game with Daddy.

Snack in each hand... almost the whole game. Here she is
giving the eye to other people in the crowd.

She had to sit on her own bench.... of course. She
loved having her cheetos. They tend to make most
situations more pleasant when it comes to Ellie. She
even cheered with her snacks whenever the crowd
would start cheering for something.

Her smile almost makes it hard to notice how hard
she was trying to get out of my arms and back on her
own bench.

Mom and Dad. I hate taking pictures of myself, but sometimes
it must be done.

Ellie stealing away for a moment with a Diet Coke
(on her box, as usual--some books from Army
War College that Grandpa will apparently never get to).

The 3 crazies were all sitting and waiting for their turn to
do tricks and earn their treats. This was Ellie's turn... and the
boys tried to be patient... rather than steal her food like usual.

Yay dirty dog dishes!

Ellie and Tucker with "the box".

Ellie discovered that she likes eating apples with Dad.

Apple-chewing face.

YUM!

Ellie's new push-ride toy. She was confused when we
sat her down... but as we showed her it moved, her face
lit up and she was happy.

Ellie's first popsicle!
(PS- they make these mini ones that are supposed to melt
slower... they are awesome. I highly recommend them! She
was hardly messy at all after eating the whole thing.)

But she found a leaf and forgot which hand held the treat.

Occasionally she bit down on the cold too hard,
but it made for a fun picture. She's too funny.

Beaches and Boxes

Ellie turned 10 months on the 11th. Hard to believe she
is getting so close to her first birthday... although she
seems to think she's way past all that. Here are some
shots from the last couple weeks.

More tug of war. Ellie and Tucker fight over toys 80% of
their time together. But for the rest, they are very cute, always
trying to sit on each other or hug or play. She is a doggie girl
to be sure.

There are lots of baby gates in the house, yet it
still never feels like enough with how wild she is.

Trying the cute and pathetic look...

"Fine, I'll just eat my way through."

Sitting and watching Nascar... she kept playing a
game where she would lay back flat on the pillow, then
laugh and pull herself up, just back and forth all night.

I don't think Grandpa is allowed to open this box
that came for him as it is Ellie's current hot spot.
She climbs up and sits on it all the time to play.

Then she screams and looks for you to come
and watch her play on it.

Ellie loves her big girl lunches. She has those
yummy frozen pb & j's, and some veggies and juice.
She scarfed the whole sandwich down in no time.
A girl after my own heart. I think I've had peanut butter
and jelly for lunch at least half the days of my life.

Ellie got to play at the man-made beach here at lake
Montclair. She seemed to enjoy it. I just think she
looked cute in her swimsuit.

Checking out the sand and water.

Having fun with Daddy.

And of course, playing with Mom.

Who can resist a hug from this monster?

I think this face pretty much sums her up. She's crazy...

...and wild...

...but so stinkin' cute!

She ain't no sissy...

We've had a fun couple of weeks. Ellie is doing great!

We are all amazed at her strong personality. She never
hesitates... just goes for things, like jumping off couches
or beds or stairs or whatever. She wrestles dogs and people
all the time. She pushes and pulls and shoves to get what
she wants or grunts when she doesn't. When she gets hurt
or mad, she seeks comfort for a brief moment then just wants
to look at whoever (or whatever) it was so that she can
glare and give them the evil eye as she commits the moment
to memory. Then she screams or does fake laughs just
to get more attention from people. She keeps us laughing!
Here is a sample of our photo log from the last couple of weeks.

Showing off a toothy grin. She has 4 on the bottom, and her
two front-middle teeth are coming in as well.

These, plus 2 more dozen, were baked for the Marine OCS boys
that my parents do a church meeting with at Quantico...
so Dean and Mel know that he will be well cared for.

Ellie has a strange love for tackling people. She literally pushes
you down and climbs on your head or puts you in a choke
hold. She's quite the little wrestler, but then again, Adam did
start teaching her this at a VERY young age.

Yes, that is the cookie dough beater they are fighting over.

Our funny little patriot... she obviously doesn't like to keep
things on her head, but it was cute all .5 seconds that it lasted.

Adam showing off his American spirit!

Ellie must have known what was in the box
because she did not want to let it go.

She and Tucker always fight over whatever object
the other one has. This time it was an ad.

Ellie loves Grandma's little rocking chair. She sits
and rocks or plays in it all the time.

All the way up the stairs... We're proud of our brave
girl, but she requires constant supervision. That girl
will just jump or dive off of anything.

She also loves juice.... all kinds of juice.

More dog time.

Ellie's love still grows for her 130 lb Tank. She always likes to
be with him, and he is incredibly sweet and patient with her.
We love that big guy.

But she does prefer to avoid the kisses on the face (he's
knocked her over with his gigantic tongue before).

Dumping the dog food... one her favorite hobbies. Then
she hand-feeds the dogs.

I had the amazingly horrible luck of capturing this moment.
Yay for potty-training... NOT!

But yay for clapping!