Keeping Busy

Hard to believe it, but our crazy little girl is 18 months old!
Actually, she has been for more than 2 weeks; I'm just slow
with posting. But anyway, at her check-up, I was simply told
that she is tall and heavy... so there's your growth update.
She's actually right around 30 lbs, but I don't know her height.
Tall enough to seem bigger than most the kids her age or
older in nursery... average to tall I guess at this point.
But yes, she has been going to nursery, the full two hours
even. I'm working in primary, so I don't get to see or hear
much of how she does, but Adam says he can hear her yelling
every now and then (just regular yelling, not crying). And
we have great nursery leaders, so it appears she does great
and has fun playing with different toys and doing activities.
Such a big girl.

We didn't really do anything for her 18 month birthday,
so I gave her some balloons to play with. Ellie LOVES balloons.

Ellie also seems to love all batters and doughs. On this night,
she was my bowl clean-up crew for banana bread. But she loves
cookie dough too, and even plain old bread dough for rolls. It's
all good to Ellie.

Aside from occasional rain days, the weather has
been pretty nice and warm most of the last couple
weeks. But sometimes when we try to drive to a cool
park that is farther away, this is all we get... but naps
are good too. I won't complain.

But most the time, we do get to play lots. Ellie and I get
plenty of exercise on all our walks and runs and climbing.

She usually likes to just walk around at the parks and
check things out, climb, or throw rocks and things, but she's
becoming more willing to actually play on the equipment
lately, which has been fun. She LOVES slides now.

We even got to do a picnic with Daddy at the park one evening.
Ellie loved the idea of having a blanket out in the park. She
enjoyed relaxing in her favorite place (OUTSIDE!)...
for a little while at least.

Ellie enjoyed our treats when she wasn't
busy running around.......

.......Or playing rough with Daddy. She has
always loved to wrestle and get tossed around.
I guess it's because Adam taught her from a very
young age... they have a lot of fun together.

Hiking the field.

Hugging the picnic blanket.

Along with the sunshine and park trips, of course
there is a lot of backyard time on the trampoline. Ellie
loves it out there. She jumps around and watches the
dogs wrestle on the yard below.

Ellie thought it was hilarious that Tex was sleeping in a
laundry basket one morning... so I told her he was going
night-night, and she gave him a kiss. She can be so sweet
when she wants to be.

So Ellie doesn't sleep in her crib.... she prefers the big bed all
to herself. But she does like to play in her crib with her babies.
They always have to be lined up just right, next to her in the
crib, then every blanket in sight has to be placed perfectly
over them all, while they watch movies and she reads them a
Twilight book... that's my girl.

The verdict is in...

The quick, but big news...

We're having a boy!

Adam, Ellie, and I are pleased to announce today's latest
news, that we are expecting this cute baby boy to
join our family this summer. The due date is July 30th, so I
am 21 weeks along. Everything at the ultrasound went well
and he seemed perfectly healthy, maybe overly healthy since
he wouldn't stop flipping and kicking and shaking his head and
limbs all over the place (Yay... we get ANOTHER crazy one)!
Anyway, we are extremely excited, and interested to see if
he looks as much like a Roggia as he did in the ultrasound.
We totally thought he looked just like Adam and Grandpa
Roggia, but since he's only half done, I guess we shouldn't
get too far ahead of ourselves. :)

Our Historic Spring Break

Ellie and I were lucky enough to have Daddy home

with us EVERY DAY last week for his Spring Break.

It was so much fun to have him around. Ellie got EXTRA

attached to him as has been giving him LOADS of extra

hugs and kisses ever since. I love it. SO anyway, we chilled

together most of the week, but decided to take a day trip on

Friday and drive up to Gettysburg. It was a lot of fun. Ellie

liked walking around the museum (and sitting on all of the

different benches along the way... "sit down... sit down"...

I can still hear it). Anyway, then we took a driving tour of

the battlefields. It was beautiful and very awe-inspiring.

My handsome husband posing on a battlefield.

Then a quick peek at the belly that's been growing.

We didn't get a ton of pictures or wander much since
Ellie spent the whole driving tour like this.

The old buildings and houses were beautiful. There were
monuments everywhere, and I was lucky to have Adam teach
me about the battles and sequences of events along the way as
I drove. This cemetery in the picture is actually where Lincoln
stood to give the Gettysburg Address... very cool.

Then we stopped to eat our lunch in an empty
parking lot. Adam sat on the ground behind the car,

While Ellie and I sat in the back to stay a little sheltered from the wind.

Until Ellie decided to climb out and put on a total
show for us. She was just dancing and jabbering and
being a complete goofball. She loves to show off and make
people laugh and clap for her.

See what I mean?

That's our Ellie.

She ate most of her lunch on the way home. She
loved having her own little tray of food to hold.
It was a great trip.

Some Randomness

Just some random shots from a week or 2 ago, to help catch up.

I promise she started with a spoon, but it would seem

that yogurt tastes better off of dirty fingers... yummm.

Sometimes Ellie just refuses to lay down for her nap, so I
occasionally resort to putting her with her babies in the recliner
with a movie turned down low... she usually falls asleep pretty
quickly if she's tired. Always has to have her babies though.

Ellie's traditional outside position. She's got to
have strong legs with as much as she squats like this.
Her favorite activity with the snow piles is poking it
and moving it around with sticks.

Giving me a goofy smile because of the sunlight.

Ellie's first Peep. If this is what Spring is about, count her in!

February update

Crazy storms and crazy children... that's been our month so
far. Ellie is doing great... maturing and growing more and more
everyday. She's even started getting close to forming real
sentences... mostly just tonight... saying "want-a sit down",
to ask for help to sit on the couch or chair by people. But like
I said, she's still crazy as ever... I feel like that is the primary
word that describes her... the pictures will support this.

Ellie was looking cute while she warmed up in the tub after a
romp through the snow.

One of our new favorite cakes that I made...
Paula Deen's Hummingbird Cake.... DELICIOUS!

Ellie and her lemur baby... she would hug him, then beat him up
or pretend he was attacking her face, then give him a kiss, and
then she put him in the high chair and made me put his bib on.
She has a good little imagination.

Stomping in puddles and digging through snow... Ellie never
cares how cold it is... she just loves to be outside.

Just some crazy snow shots... we got a total of
like 26 inches last week... it was RIDICULOUS.

On this night, Ellie found her coat and wouldn't rest until we put
it on her and took her outside. Then she proceeded to point and
yell at the huge snowflakes falling in her face... what a weirdo.

This was our street after the first big chunk of storm... yikes!

One of Ellie's newest obsessions is sitting with a pillow behind
her and a blanket on her lap... she does it anywhere she sees
a pillow or blanket... and it has to be placed and fluffed just right.
She is an opinionated little girl.

One of Ellie's games. She absolutely soaked herself
with the little bit of water that was in that cup.. our
crazy little goof... she'll do anything for a laugh.

Another fun new recipe... Giada's Eggplant Timbale.
It was yummy, and very impressive to see.

Pulling a face for the cold temperature, but enduring the
challenge for the chocolate reward.

Ellie had a happy Valentine's Day... she got a Spongebob purse,
2 of her favorite things combined. She always puts it on her
shoulder, then points to it and says "ba-Bob"... so cute... and the
candy treats inside weren't too bad either. She liked wearing her
candy bracelet, until she discovered it was edible... at which point
it had to be taken away so she wouldn't gag herself trying to eat
the entire thing at once. She got better at it later though.
I should also mention that my wonderful husband surprised me
for Valentine's Day with tickets to Nascar in May, in Richmond!
I AM SO EXCITED! Yes, Jimmie and Jeff, here I come!
My husband is the best!

And of course, a little extra time with Grandpa Garner must
eventually lead to a love of butter. She got a hold of the tub after
dinner and repeated this process a few times while we laughed....
Dip.... Taste..... Smile Excitedly.
Then we put some on a cracker for her while we hid the tub.

Ellie, my Ellie

It has been so refreshing to have our Ellie back to her spunky,
happy self. Whatever yucky virus she caught a couple of weeks
ago seemed to really take it out of her... and make her somewhat
unpleasant to be around. But we have our Ellie whole again...
so we are thrilled.

She's been cheesing it up for some photos lately... which I love.
Here she is showing how gentle and loving she is with her Tank.

Prayer skills.... she does so well during prayer time...
usually. She folds her arms, and will often even bow her
head for the whole thing. Such a good little girl.

Despite her toughness and love for cars and balls, she
is definitely still a girl. She loves to carry purses... they have
to be on her shoulder like Mama and Grandma.

Sadly, I cutoff her baby's head in the picture, but I still
thought it was cute that she was walking around, adjusting
her purse and holding her baby. She loves loves loves babies,
especially real ones when she gets the chance to be around them

Ellie also loves to cuddle with her Dad. She gives him
the longest hugs sometimes when he gets home from school.
We love our Dada.

So I wasn't kidding about the highchair thing in the last post.
Ever since she spent 2 weeks with cousins who don't use them,
she has refused to even be put in it. So we got this cheap booster
seat for Ellie to sit at the big table, in the big chairs... and she loves
it. She actually asks to be in it.... hopefully it will last a while.

Ellie also loves to hang out by the water cooler. She
finds a cup and puts it on the tray then asks me to fill
it up for her. I'm just happy it gets her to drink water.

Yesterday, I was doing dishes and listening to music while Ellie
played around, of course pulling out all the pizza pans and things
that she always plays with.... then I looked down after a while to
find her laying down calmly next to Tucker on the floor... of course
she got out of the cute position when she saw the camera, but I liked
it anyway.

Another adorable cheesy grin as she enjoyed one of
her favorite snacks... rice krispy treats.... yum!
Hurray for a fun and happy girl.