january 2012

I'm a little late (as usual) with our monthly post. January has always been a long, boring month for me. But this year with a combination of a mild winter and an active toddler, it actually flew by. What a relief. That means we're that much closer to Spring!

At the beginning of the month we decided to take advantage of our one and only snow storm. It was perfect. We woke up on Saturday morning to sunny skies and beautiful fresh snow so we decided to take Ella sledding on our new sleds. She had so much fun playing in the snow! And I couldn't get enough of seeing her in her puffy little snow suit.

Us walking through the neighborhood to the park. We passed one of Danny's scouts and had him snap a quick family photo.

Ella LOVED sledding. She had the cutest little giggle the whole way down. I wish it would snow again. Every time we go in the garage she points to the sleds and says "wee" - she still remembers how much fun they are and wants to do it again!

She also loved scooping up the snow in her hands and then patting it until it disappeared.

We also spent time playing with friends at our house and the Tree House Museum. Ella has the cutest little friend, Reese, who is just a couple months younger than her. They are so funny to watch together. They talk to each other, give hugs and play. It's so cute how much they love each other. Ella even asks for Reese sometimes.

She has also gotten really into pretend playing. She loves to play with her "babies." It's so cute to watch her play. She hauls them around, feeds them and puts them down for "night, night."

Another thing she loves to do is cook. She gets so excited when I get out the ingredients and loves to sit up on the counter and help me pour everything in. We've been doing a lot of baking lately since it's a fun little thing to do on otherwise boring days.

One day while I was cooking dinner, Ella was playing with the pots and pans and I looked down and she was cooking her own dinner. She had poured her goldfish crackers in the pot, was stirring them and kept telling me they were "hot."

Other times I'll give her a couple of bowls of water and measuring cups and spoons and let her do her own baking. It keeps her entertained and serves a double purpose of washing the floor. =] I started by giving her soapy water so she could play with the bubbles but had to put an end to that when she insisted on eating all the bubbles.

Me and Ella in our aprons baking sugar cookies. Ella's adorable apron was made by sister! One day I'll learn how to be crafty too.

We've also discovered the joys of arts and crafts. Ella loves to "coo" (aka color) and has invented her own baby sign to explain what she wants to do.

Playing with play dough with Daddy.

Cutting the dough was serious business.

One day I was feeling ambitious and decided to have Ella paint with pudding. I just made instant vanilla pudding and added food coloring. Ella had lots of fun painting and tasting - and again took the whole thing very seriously.

She is so funny to watch. She's such a little person now! I can't even keep up with all the new things she says and does. It blows my mind how quickly she learns and what she picks up. I'm having so much fun with her at this age!