Funny Girl

These days Ella is busy drooling. She is finally cutting her top two teeth. Baby Oral Gel is what we have found to work the fastest for pain relief. In fact, Ella likes it so much that she keeps it close by her side at all time of the day. She is so funny, she actually carries around the tube of gel, the other day she actually took a bath with it, and today she brought it with her to Costco. I did draw the line and took it away at nap time.
Ella said "cat" which came out "at" and "up" for the first time last week. Her most favorite food are blueberries. She get very excited when she sees them on the box of Chex. I gave her a baby fork this week and she caught on right away. Its so cute to watch her try and poke a piece of food on it. Hopefully, we can post a video soon.

Ella and her new puppy! It's a great dog- I don't have to feed it, walk it or clean up after it!!

Here she is starting to empty her toy box- I need to teach her how to put everything away after she is done.

Great Grandma Janosky

Ella spent some quality time with Great Grandma Janosky on Saturday while attending a wedding up in Snoqualmie Pass. There were two other little girls Ella's age we met at the wedding it was cute to watch them play together in one of the gals pack n' plays.

There were a couple new blogs posted before this so make sure you view the video!!

Home Face Lift

Before: Notice the black grids on the window and slider.

After: Front of the house

We removed our rose bushes and put in some fresh landscaping.

After: New vinyl window and slider

Ella's Grocery Cart

Warning: Content not suitable for all. Viewer discretion is advised. (No babies were harmed during the filming of this clip).

Watch Ella cruise around with her new grocery cart. She loves it. As you can see she got a little too carried away and took a little spill. She was OK and picked herself up and kept going, and going, and going.....

Just a matter of time before she takes her first step. Stay tuned.

Laundry Basket

Ella found the laundry basket pretty entertaining yesterday. It had clothes folded in the basket at one time time during the day but Ella thought it was better to have them out. Note that when she get older this will not be funny and she will be putting the clothes back in the basket but for now its cute.

Had to throw a picture of Ella with her classic spoon in one hand. She always has to have a spoon even when we eat our meals. I use one to feed her and she needs one for herself. Lately she has been interested in feeding herself. She will dip HER spoon into the baby food jar and then bring it to her mouth. Most finds its way on the tray but at least she has the right idea. Meals are getting pretty messy these days.

Ella and Itty Bitty baby going for a ride!

Grocery Shopping

Ella got her very own grocery shopping cart walker this weekend. She loves to walk up and down the halls with it dancing along to the songs it plays. We have some pretty funny video footage which we will post a little later.
On another note, Ella turned 11mos old this past week. She is developing quite the personality. Just tonight she was proud of herself for feeding me some of her corn. She is also into sharing her toys and pointing to objects she wants to see. In books she squeals when we turn to her favorite pages and will shake her head "no" when she doesn't want you to read a particular book. What a funny girl!

Surprise!! Happy 4th

The Fourth of July was supposed to be quiet for us Menard's. However, things changed quickly when just out of no where we decided to hop in the car and drive to Spokane to see Nana and Papa and the rest of our extended family. If you know me I am a planner and like to know what is going to happen next at all time. So this was a huge decision for me to fly by the seat of my pants. The only major thing we forgot was Ella's diaper bag. Luckily she didn't have any accidents on the way over and we managed to do without until we got to Spokane. Everyone was thrilled when we walked into the backyard at my parents house. My parents are still shocked that we came over. Jake got to play golf on Sat. morning, while my dad and I played tennis. Then we took Ella to a little water park where she splashed in the water. I think Ella was more interested in watching all the kids rather than actually playing in the water. Then that evening we had a delicious BBQ at my grandparents house. All the food was terrific, we are still full from dinner!
There are lots of pictures to see so make sure you scroll down to the bottom.

This little swim cap was given to Ella by my bosses wife- what a hoot!

My mom and I were rolling on the floor laughing at Ella's expressions