The County Fair

What would August be without The Albemarle County Fair! Ella and I met Dory and Sami at the fair and had a lot of fun. Our day did not start out with so much promise (I quote myself here, "You can either leave that sass at home or stay home with it- you choose.") but it really ended up great. There was a lot to do at this fair- animals to pet, tractors to climb on, games to play, painting, rides, and my absolute fair favorite- funnel cakes! I love that picture of Ella where she can't even take her eyes off the funnel cake for the picture. Seriously, Dory was doing all kinds of things to get her attention with no such luck.

That evening we were completely unmotivated but did end up putting three golf clubs in the stroller with Ella and headed out for a walk over to Old Trail (the gold course near us). Ella plays golf a lot like croquet. So the two golfers in the family putted around and I had a drink. Hmmmm... this golf thing might not be so bad after all!

Guest Teacher

Wes and I were guest teachers at Ella's school today. Wes played his guitar and the teachers and I sang. We had such a great time! The kids ranged in ages from 2-4 (three different classes) and all sang and danced with lots of enthusiasm.

Thank You Lefty

After Ella played with Caroline's scooter, she asked Lefty (see the puppies below) for one. And sure enough- that Lefty is one clever puppy and got one for Ella! Here is a video of Ella explaining how to ride her scooter:

Poncho and Lefty

This week, Ella and I went up to DC to visit Bill and Rhonda and to see their new puppies. Adorable doesn't begin to describe them. I'll let the pictures tell the story of our visit.

Ella has been telling everyone about the puppies- that they are babies, tiny, and to be careful.

"Cutters"

Today Ella wanted to use "cutters". Those would be scissors to you and me. She came home from pre-school with cut-outs that she had done and so we continued the theme this evening. Here she is with her "cutters":

Not Such a Great Mom Award

I have to admit I could easily win the not-such-a-great-mom award today. No big deal though- I already have a stack of these certificates (one for too much TV, another for hot dog breakfast/lunch/dinners, letting her sleep in our bed, not letting her sleep in our bed... oh the list is long).

Today's award is for not challenging our child. Let me explain. Ella and I were walking by some stores, in a bit of a rush, and she was (or I thought she was) falling behind playing around singing the alphabet song at this one store. I kept calling back to her to no avail and when I went back to get her, it turns out she was calling off the letters E, L, A, and S. Since the store was on our right, she saw the sign "SALE" in reverse and called out the letters as she saw them. She quickly mixed it up pointing to and calling out the different letters. Now, why did I not know she knew her letters you ask? Good question. We play a lot. She is two so it hasn't really occurred to me to start drilling her on things like letters. She is happy, sings the alphabet, can dress herself,... we figure she has 16+ years of school ahead of her so why not play while you can. Right or wrong, it's where we are (you can tell I have some guilt hence the feeling of not being a great mom today). Anyway... she asks to do letters now and we write them out or use a book and she knows a lot of them as I'm sure the majority of kids her age do. Many of them can probably write them also. I write this post for your baby book Ella. I often wonder when I mastered these activities myself.

Scooters

The newest toys on our street are scooters. Caroline has one and Ella LOVES it. Sharing is a tough game to learn at this age but Caroline was so great to share her scooter with Ella while she rode her bicycle.