Ella: 9 Months Old

Cousins! Sarah, Ella and Libby

Lovin' their time together....

Libby holding Ella

Sarah and Ella (matching)

Ella in Grandma and Grandpa Liss' backyard

Ella turned 9 months old today! She is getting so big and exploring everywhere now. Today, I found she loves to crawl up into her changing table and grab anything with a tag on it. She is on the move and it's a whole new world for her.

I also found out how much interest Ella has in stop signs for some reason. I have no idea why, but when we walk past the stop signs she starts kicking her feet and reaches up to touch them. When I let her touch them, she starts banging on them and squeals. Another goofy thing she is into now is fake coughing. Sometimes she thinks it's funny if someone coughs and will mimic them. This is kind of comical when we are in church and she does this.

This past week, our nieces (Sarah and Libby) from Massachussettes were in town. They hadn't seen Ella since she was 2 months old, so to them she has really grown. They had a great time playing with their cousin this past week. We all had a nice time visiting and the week went by very quickly. Actually, to me the past nine months went by rather quickly!

July Festivities

"Princess Emily" after she helped dress "Princess Ella"

At Will's 9th Birthday Party. A proud Princess Ella.

Mike and Ella after the tour. Ella is still going strong.....

Me in front of the Dana Thomas...and in seventh heaven!

The incredible 12,000 SF Dana Thomas House.

We had another fun week. My cousin Sabrina traveled out to see us and we hung out on the beach and biked the lakefront to Michigan. Very fun. On Wednesday night, we attended a Rail Cats game compliments of US Steel (my client). Rusty the cat, their massive mascot, even came to the skybox to visit Ella. She didn't know what to think of this. I still haven't seen the pictures yet. Ella was too intrigued to even look at the camera. I will always remember that look on her face. Priceless!

Mike, Ella and I traveled to Springfield, Illinios later in the week. We toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana Thomas House. This was a very exciting trip for me as I have toured almost all of his structures in the Midwest, and out East. This was Mike's 3rd Frank Lloyd Wright structure he toured. The first two were with me, so I made him a fan :) Ella was so good on the tour even the guide commended her at the end. She went through the whole tour (1 1/2 hour) without a peep. She loved looking at all the interesting things in the house. We then spent the next day visiting the Lincoln Museum. It was very interesting, but I think I have had enough Abraham Lincoln to last me quite a few years. ;) My favorite part of the museum was Lincoln's hat...complete with marks from his finger tips from tipping his hat to people over the years. We had to hold Ella throughout the entire day as stollers weren't allowed through the exibits. Again, she was very good. She had a good time just looking at all the people. Mike read her all information about the exhibits so she got the most out of her trip in terms of historical information. (That's the history teacher in Mike).

This weekend we had our friends Chuck and Amy out for dinner on Saturday. We hadn't seen them in quite awhile so it was a good time. We also attended my cousin's son's birthday party this weekend. He (Will) turned 9 but has two younger sisters (Hannah 6 and Emily 4) who adore Ella. Emily couldn't help but dress up Ella in a princess dress (as she was wearing one too). They all had a blast and it is always so cute to see Ella interacting with them.

Fourth of July Weekend

Ella hanging out with Sabrina.

Sunset in Beverly Shores

Mike and Ella in St. Joe, MI (love this one)

Sun and more sun.

Ella on the Nina.

"Oh mom, this is so much fun".

We had many activities planned for our weekend of the Fourth of July. On Saturday we toured the "tall ships" at the Hammond Marina. The Nina and Pinta replicas were on display there. It was very warm that day but we beat the heat. Ella loved the balloons at the Yacht Club at the Marina. And Ella was a hit among the people there.

On Sunday, July 4th, we took a road trip to St. Joseph, Michigan in the morning. We love that town...so vibrant this time of year. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in that area. On the way back, we grabbed a burger at Redamaks before heading to Crown Point where we were going to watch the parade in the afternoon. It was sooo hot outside that I decided it would be best not to subject Ella to the heat. We drove to Long Beach at night to see the fireworks. Ella was wiped out from all the action!