Cool as a Cucumber!

Ella has started liking cucumbers! Which is saying a lot for such a picky eater! Today she ate in high fashion, with her stunner shades on. Ella has always been an accessories girl! All blinged out, all the time! (which she was trained young, by yours truly!) She has been a big fan of her sunglasses and loves to wear her shades in or out of the house. She's a stlyin' little lady!! she's now at the age where she grabs Dan or my hand, and walks us to the door, saying "go, bye-bye!" We couldn't resit this sweet plea, with her being dolled up wearing her sunglasses. So, Dan took her on a nice long walk to tucker her out before her nap. When he came in, he informed me that she wore her sunglasses the entire walk and was grinning from ear to ear the whole time!! Ella you are so cool. We just love ya!

Beach with Bri

Just the girls, headed down to the beach, right by Brianne's house. It was a gorgeous day and it was so nice to soak up some sun and catch up on some much needed girl talk. We walked down the boardwalk and had lunch and smoothies. All in all, it was a pretty great day!! Love you oddles, Bri!! Smooches! :)

I've had my eye on you

I have been looking for a comfy, big girl chair, for Ella to lounge in for sooo very long! She just loves chairs, especially if they're her size!! I have been eyeing this bad boy for some time now. I was going back and forth between this one (from pottery barn kids) and the one from Target. My girlfriend, Amberlynn raves about how much her little Vali loves her anywhere chair. So with that in mind, I had a gift certificate to pottery barn, from when Ella was born. It was time to bust it out! I thought it had, maybe 20 bucks on it (a gift from one of my clients, thanks Erin!) But to my surprise it had over $50 dollars on it. Wooho! I'm finally breaking down and getting this chair for my little sweetie! I know I should wait for a holiday or something to give it to her, but who can wait! I'll call it her late Easter, early Memorial Day present! She was thrilled with her very own big girl chair!! Too cute!

Phil's BBQ and Rock Band

Goldfish Tea Party

These little ones know how to have a good time! Well, at least for 10 min, until they steal each other's goldfish! They were playing so nice together. I had to get the camera to capture how sweet they were, with there own individual tea place setting!

Zoo Babes!!

This is my zoo posse. All of us have zoo passes and got the little ones together for a zoo day! Fun stuff!

Ella's New Love

For the last couple of days Ella has been pushing her umbrella stroller all around the house. It is so funny because she can barely see over the thing! She absolutely loves the stroller!! During Ella's nap, I started to clean up a little. I folded up her stroller and didn't give it any thought. When Ella woke up, she immediately walked over to her stroller and tried to get it to "work." Like she had been dreaming of it while she was sleeping. She is so funny and very determined. That's when I decided to find a stroller she can push around that is a little more her size.

Best 8 Bucks I Ever Spent!!

To add to the above post.....I decided to get Ella a doll stroller. So she could push it around to her little hearts content. She can maneuver the doll stroller a heck of a lot better then her umbrella stroller that she was playing with before. It was so hilarious watching her cruise around with this little thing! She probably played with it for a hour straight, not kidding! She was so tired of having so much fun with her new love, she fell asleep in like, 2 seconds flat! This was hands down the best 8 bucks I ever spent!!

Happy 4th Birthday Sage

Ella and I were invited to go to Sage's 4th birthday party up in Carlsbad, by Rochelle (Sage's mommy) who is dating Dan's brother Mathew. It was such a great birthday party! They had sooo many fun things set up. There was a big bounce house, which the kids all LOVED. Ella kept laughing hysterically at the kids bouncing inside. They had pony rides! I have never been to a birthday party with pony rides before. I was way excited to see if Ella would ride the cute fuzzy pony. Not a chance! She was terrified by the cute little thing! You would swear it was the scariest thing she had ever seen! All the older kids loved it though. They had pizza, cake n' ice cream, and a LOT of candy, that Ella did love. At the end of the party, they had a big pinata that each of the kids took a swing at. Even my little Ella. She got really into it. She recognized Sponge Bob, and calls him "Bob, Bob." While Sage was opening presents, Ella must have thought that the presents were for her. Because, after Sage would open one, Ella would take the present and bring it to me, to open for her! Luckily, all presents were given back to Sage before the party was over. Thanks for the invite, we had a ball!

bounce house, pony rides and birthday cake!

Ella's 1st pinata!

Tagged Again!

This is a "name" tag. I was tagged a little while ago, and thought I'd give this one a try. It is a pretty funny idea. So here goes...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet's name & current car) Sammy Element
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Carmel Swirl Oreo
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K-Jon
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Pink Kitty
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Camille Calgary
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Jonkr
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Pale Green Water
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Edward Grant
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Escada Jr. Mint
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Evalynn Royce
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Thomson Toronto
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Silk Topy
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Orange Cherry Blossom
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) "The Shopping Sunshine Tour"

Alrighty, I'm gonna tag....Jenna Davis, Kandise Forsberg, Julie Darger, Amberlynn Whiting, Kim Nasfell, and Angela Jensen.....TAG YOUR IT!!

My 15 Seconds of Fame

My girlfriend Julie and I, along with our kiddo's headed to the beach the other day. Little did we know we would be on the news that night! If I would have known, I might have gotten ready for my close up a little better. Oh-well. Notice Ella, just squinting and smiling in the background. Julie, is the one in yellow and her son Peterson is holding the Nemo bucket. We are only in the first 30 seconds of this little clip, and that is just fine with me :)
Click Here to view this video

You will have to pause the background music to hear the video clips

I have been on the news two other times in the past, for the salon I worked at in Utah. One for the eyelash extensions that I do. And the second (the only clip I could find) Is of~ summer up-do's. I am in the backgrounds doing hair and my model is the blond girl (shout out to Jenny) with a fancy pony tail.

video:http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=69202&articleID=69202

Walking with the Big Kids

In my playgroup, we go to story time on Tuesdays. Wednesdays, we walk to the park on Mission bay, and occasionally have field trip Fridays, and we all go to the beach. Ella has always watched in awe at the other kids walking/running around. Today we meet some of my group at the library for story time, and Ella finally was able to join in their fun! It was really cute to see how happy she was with her new found freedom!

On the flip side, now that she has discovered her new talent, that is all she wants to do! At Target last night we had quite the meltdown, when I made the mistake of letting her down to walk for a minute. When it was time to leave that area of the store, I scooped her up and that's when it went all down hill.....The tantrum started with the stiffing up and arching the back, crying out, noooo! Oh boy-this is gonna be fun. I now felt that I have entered the toddler phase. Even though I love that she is walking, every stage kids go through, has a new set of challenges. The joys of motherhood :)

Pool Day with Daddy!

Today was so hot! It got up to 86 degrees! In April, crazy! Dan didn't have to work and no school which equaled a good day to hit the pool!! We would have gone to the beach, but, with a day like today, I'm sure the beaches would have been packed! Why not stay home, with less crowds. And soak up the sun in the beautiful pool at our apartment. Ella loved spending time with her daddy. No doubt daddy needed some Ella time too!

Sad To Say Goodbye!

The bad thing about living expenses when your husband is in law school, is that you have no extra moo-law!! The time has come for us to give up our rock star lifestyle. Buckle down and do the responsible thing, by selling our cars. We are now (sad to say) a one car family! We sold my beloved BMW and Dan's Tacoma truck, and got ourselves, What we call a "beach car" It's a Honda Element and our car payment is MUCH lower, which is good. I kind of always thought these cars were a little funny looking but hey- It's our little "beach car"(when in Rome) It was the best of both worlds, because Dan needs something he can load tools in etc. And I liked having a smaller, four door, sportier car, that I can easily hand Ella her toys, sippys, etc. to. So It's all good. It was sad to see our car and truck go, but you do what you gotta do! :)

Our New Addition

Such a Big Girl

Dan was in charge of dinner tonight, and thought Mickey D's was the way to go. Ella has always been a big fan of french fries. So, there would be no complaints from her. It was the cutest thing when Dan gave Ella, her happy meal box and her toy (princess crown) she got really excited and started diving into it all! She looked so grown up to me! Dan put her crown on, and she literally left it on the entire time she ate. And a whole hour after that!! It was super cute. She did good with her juice box and didn't spill once! I just can't believe how big she looked sitting there, eating her big girl happy meal.

A Good Place to Visit!

Dan and I have had a lot of visitors lately, and hopefully, many more!!! I'm not sure if it's us they want to see, or beautiful San Diego? Whatever the reason, we'll take it!! My fabulous friend, (since the 7th grade!) Kandise, came to visit, along with her hubby Brian, and their two adorable kids, Asher and Evie. They were here for the weekend and even Dan was able to break away to see them too. I wished we could have had a few more days to play! On the agenda was: Disneyland, Sea World, and the beach. (Is this a pattern??) It was way nice to see them and have the kiddos play together! we had loads of fun!! Hurry back, and play again soon! We love you guys!

Ella's Finally Walking!!

*Sorry, I get a little excited in this video.

Ella has been walking around holding my pinkie for a couple of months now. Today, I was doing laundry, getting ready for our next group of visitors, and I turned around and she started walking on her own!! I was sooo excited because she has been so scared to go it alone. Ella does things when SHE is ready! So, looks like she started walking at 16 months. I have secretly loved the freedom of her not walking. That, now will be over, as she gets better and better at walking. Then, I'm sure I'll be chasing her all around! Good job, Ella-Bean we are so proud of you!

Fun with Auntie Amy!!

Dan's little sister, and brother, Amy and Ethan, came to visit over spring break. Ethan stayed with Dan's two brother's, Mathew and Aaron, up in Oceanside. Amy stayed with us in San Diego. We did get together as a group throughout the stay, but that's who stayed with whom. Us girls had a blast! We had lots of: beach days, shopping, movies, yummy food, mani's and pedi's, tea shoppes, Seaport village, Disneyland, Old Town, sittin' pool side, and more good food. Ella and I loved having Amy stay with us! We were always giggling, and I felt like I was 17 again! Here's a little picture re-cap of our past week!

Hanging in Old town, for yummy food and shopping.

Seaport Village, shopping, and beach days.

In the middle of Amy's stay, my very good friend, Keisha was in town with all her roommates and we got together for a half day! Love you girl!!

Amy had never been to Disneyland!! ever! So that, we had to fix! And we had a ball! She fell in love with it, just as much as I love it! Thanks, Auntie Amy for an awesome time!