Forgive me for the absence...

I have no excuse. I wish I knew why I so often fall off the blogging bandwagon. Today I was thinking about our friends and family who are too far away to see as often as we would like and I thought you all might enjoy an update.

A quick summary since Wes' Birthday:

Hell did not freeze over, pigs did not fly, and lightening did not strike because Wes is "so old" as he thinks he is (so not true my dear).

We are all happy and healthy (sure, we had the standard H1N1 run through our house, bronchitis, food poisoning, ... but who hasn't?).

Ella had a great fourth birthday- we had a family brunch in her honor. And although she had to get four shots at her check-up (and an H1N1 mist thrown in for good measure) she survived (jury is still out on me). She is 75th percentile for weight and 90th for height.

Ella at Four:

Loves ballet, gymnastics, and swimming. She wants to go skiing and I'm working on that.

Has made it clear she does not want to be picked up from school until it is after playground time.

Eats well- her favorite meal is Cheese-it Chicken and mentions to me that Oreos are not for dinner (really?)

Does not stay in her bed all night

Has learned to read ( I so wish I could take credit for that, but thank you Joannie and Joanne at Millstone)

Likes to Skype

Loves to dress up

Has had 5+ time-outs in one day.

Her favorite song is "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas

Doesn't have a hearing problem (I know this because I was thinking she might since it takes multiple requests to get her to put her shoes on in the morning- but no, she is just already learning to tune her mother out.)

Her favorite color is green.

She believes in "Campbell Love".

Her favorite "class" at school is "Chef's Class" in which she learned to never eat cookie batter after the egg was added. I might actually lose some weight from that little lesson since she scolds me if I sneak some batter.

Has stopped napping (I, on the other hand, am holding out hope this will change).

Can reduce me to tears sometimes with her stubborness and my lack of sleep (see note above).

Can fill us with love in a way we never knew before she came into our lives.


We spent Christmas in Michigan with the Cuenys and had a great time. Ella loved sleeping with her cousins. We had told her that the state of Michigan did not allow binks and sure enough, it worked. As we pulled up to Polly's house she threw them out and that was that. We are still laughing at that one. Ella got to go to Camp Ortonville and is still talking about how great it was. I will be catching up with photos from Christmas, but for now, below are a few pictures from this week. The first is Ella standing next to her bed being so proud she "made her bed up" all by herself. The last two I realize are not the ideal snow playing attire. This was all Ella and I was so glad for a break outside I went along letting her make the rules. The rules did not include snow pants.