Our Little Lamb

We've been able to do a handful of fun things this month, including the zoo, playing with friends, having Grandma Nancy come to visit, and a dance recitial. We have been busy little bees that's for sure! But one of Ella's favorite things to do when we do have some down time is to play hairstylist on daddy. About once a week, daddy will end up wearing pretty hair clips, colorfull headbands and even a shiney princess crown! Ella just loves it, but daddy...well, not so much, but he sure is a good sport! At the zoo, we saw a baby giraffe that was taller than daddy, bears, rhinos, and Ella's favorite, the elephants! We also were able to have our new friend Eric over and Ella was such a great helper! She became a little concerned when Eric wouldn't use his fork to eat and so she decided to help him so he wouldn't make a mess! She is going to be such a good big sister! Then of course, as most of you know, we had Ella's first ballet recitial last weekend. Grandma Nancy was down to visit and so she was lucky enough to be able to go with us. She and the rest of her class were Bo Peep's little lambs, ears included! It was so cute and everyone loved it! One of the teachers told us later that just before she walked onto the stage, she proclaimed proudly, "Here I go!" And she was great! She watched "Bo Peep" very carefully and did her dance very precisely, just like she was supposed to! In my completely unbiased opinion, she was the best one! We did purchase a video, so when we come visiting over the next few months, we'll be sure to bring it along so that some of you will get the chance to see her dance.

In the group picture, she is the lamb that is centered, with her arms out, doing the dance! We were so proud of her, and when we told her how great she was, she sighed and said, "Yes, I really was." No self-esteem issues here! By the way, "baby Jordan" is doing well and is growing at a good rate. Mom just kind of feels more fat than pregnant right now, but that's okay! We should find out on Friday if it's a boy or a girl. Check out our week by week development chart on the top right of the page (as of May 19 we are 18 weeks along). Take care everyone and to those of you in California, we look forward to seeing you in just a few weeks!

March Madness!!!!!!

Well, no, it has nothing to do with basketball, but we certainly have had our own version of March Madness! What a crazy (but fun) month! We started off with our big announcement that we're having a baby! We got to hear it's heartbeat and we couldn't be happier! We are all so excited and Ella continues to pray for our baby to come as soon as possible. We also had a fun weekened with Alexis and Spencer coming for a slumber party. The girls of course enjoyed all of the Barbies, but poor Spencer wandered around feeling a little lost and asking several times, "Do you have any boy toys?" Not in this house, that's for sure! He was also very concerned that he was going to get sick from me until I assured him that morning sickness was not contagious! But anyway, the kids sure had fun with their movie party and plenty of treats! Easter weekend was also quite a bit of fun with decorating their own little bags, coloring eggs, and then of course the Easter Egg hunt! We stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Ella was more than excited to see all of the treats that the Easter bunny brought for her! And finally our other big news is our new car! We have been shopping around most of the month and finally last night made the purchase! Since it was the last day of the month, they were pretty desperate to get rid of the car and we are pretty happy with it! Of course, it doesn't spin and make us dizzy like Ella requested, but we're excited! It's a 2005 Toyota Highlander, with leather interrior and seat warmers on the driver and passanger's seats. It sure was cozy last night on the drive home! We took Ella with us to the dealership and even though we were there for 2 1/2 hours, she was soooo good! Tonight when we go to the store we are going to get her a special treat!

Sick, sick, and sick!

Well, we've had a rough two weeks! Just after Valentine's day, Chad came down with a nasty cough and cold, and then just a few days later, Ella caught it from him! They were both pretty miserable

although Ella did enjoy her fair share of popsicles, ice cream, and shakes!

I was pretty busy too, and when I wasn't tending to the sick ones, I could never decide if I should attack the mountains of laundry, dishes, or homework!

But we got through it! Chad and Ella are both coughing just a bit still, but hopefully they are on the mend! Ella has pretty much turned back into her normal adorable (and of course crazy!) self! She still loves to dress up and one of her latest hobbies is talking on one of her many phones to her "boyfriend" Samuel! (Oh dear!) She's also as

silly as ever and came to me the other day with a stretchy headband over her eyes, holding her stick-dinosaur like a baseball bat and says to me, "I'm ready to play pinata!" I just had this vision of our house in shambles and trying to explain to Chad when he got home from work what exactly happened....."well, you see, Ella wanted to play pinata and....." anyway! Luckily I stopped her in enough time! She's a cutie, always bringing a smile to our day!

Our Trip to Washington

Okay, so I know it was over a month ago, but I figure since I never shared the pictures in the first place it was a good place to start. We had a great time! We went to church with Grandma Nancy, shopping, sledding (which I had never done before!), and spent time with family and friends, but I think Ella's favorite part was Christmas! Shocking, I know, but she was so excited! She got to open presents Christmas eve, Christmas day, the day after Christmas, and when we got home, there were even more presents to be opened! Some of her favorites include a new dress-up dress from the "other" Jordans, her 2 new "Murphy doggies" and of course, her monkey and monkey blanket from Grandma and Grandpa Stites. We also enjoyed having our Wyckhuyse family over after we got back and spending New Year's Day with them. We had a great holiday season and we hope everyone else did too!