Gymboree class

Ella j is really enjoying our Saturday morning class. She calls gymbo a snowman and goes nuts about the stamps kids get at the end of class (which the teacher happily places all over kids bodies!).

Happy Birthday Poppa!

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The last days of summer????

I envisioned a lot more blog entries than ONE during the summer but it's been a fabulous, very fun few months and I feel we've definitely spent the time that wasn't used for blogging in a very productive way. As per usual with the blog, I'm out of order and I'm going to upload pics and stories about our family honeymoon or "familymoon" first and then get around to the wedding post shortly thereafter.

The Familymoon was soooo much fun. We went to Hyatt Lost Pines Resort about thirty minutes down the road. We swam, ate, roasted marshmallows, walked by the river, pet horses, floated in the lazy river, watched HBO, and relaxed for a few days. We had a fabulous time. Ella J absolutely loved swimming in the water. She could have stayed at the pool all day. In fact, anytime we were in the hotel room, she'd grab her float and drag it to the door and start banging on it, letting us know she was in on the fact that the hotel room was actually just a giant play pen.

The resort was great. It was all families-Texas Chic for sure. You could rent bicycles, ride horses, they had movies in the lawn and you got to make smores every night (even though kids running around with huge metal forks with flaming marshmallows attached to them is a little bit unnerving). We had an awesome time and really grew excited about the prospect of sharing a family vacation like this with our friends someday. It was the perfect familymoon for us!

The first days of summer

It's already so hot here that I really think this blog title should be the "middle of summer", but it's really just begun. Last week was my last week at work so besides summer school and running around for wedding stuff, I'm home full time. The Little Big Feats school moved to our house last month, but this week was the first week Clay had all three students: Ella J, Hutch and the newest addition, baby Lila. This is my second day as an impromptu 'assistant teacher' and already I have so much respect for the job Clay does with all the kids! Currently, he's cutting up an organic spinach pizza and feeding it to one of the kiddo's as a snack, cleaning a sinkfull of bottles and kids forks and plates, pushing another kid in the swing, singing songs and wearing a baby in the Bjorn. All with a smile and no stress (this is after a full morning of swimming down at Aunt Bev's with 5 more kids). I'm on my 4th break today ;).

We've been having a fun time enjoying the outdoors and friends. Our weekends seem to fill up quickly with fun friends and family stuff this time of year. The spring and summer birthday parties have started (it seems almost all the little ones were born between April and August), Nanny's annual pool party in Temple was fun, and we've been enjoying the awesome neighborhood pools and friend BBQ's.

This summer Clay is going to continue working on the awesome backyard he's building for us. We're excited about having all our friends together for our (hopefully not too hot) Texas wedding in July. I'll be working at summer school again this year in late June and hopefully be learning a little spanish with rosetta stone so I can hang with the little kids and Clay at school. And we hope to spend a weekend in August at a nice hotel in the hill country for a much needed family getaway.

Ella J at her friend Jayden's first birthday

Ella J and Hutch building couch forts at school

Morning visit at Twin Falls on the green belt in Austin

Ella J Turn(ed) 1!

Ella J is so much fun! She's a great baby and fast approaching kid-dom. We're having a great time being busy with all the new fun outdoor activities we get to do now that the warm weather and summer vacation is here. Ella J seems to be growing and learning exponentially. She's saying 'mama', 'dada', 'outside', 'more/mas', 'kitty cat', and laughing all the time. I was putting the final touches on this video and realized it's out of date! This is video of her in April and some of May.

She walks!!!

Just a few days shy of 1 year old and she's walking! Ella J took her first step towards our 4 year old neighbor Annabelle on Saturday. Clay texted me all day Wednesday from school that Ella J was practicing walking. This video was taken in the evening when they came home from school. How exciting!!

*for those of you receiving this via email, you will need to click on link to view video.

Easter!

The bluebonnets are awesome this year! We couldn't resist throwing Ella J in the middle of some in her pretty dress Grandma Liz got her.
Enjoy!