Foreign

My Ella.  Wow.  It's so strange looking back.  Andrew and I were looking at old blog posts the other night to see just how far behind Olivia is compared to her sister (only about a month on most things so not too shabby.)  Looking and reading back I was remembering how EASY Ella used to be.  Kind of miss that.  Though, I wouldn't change her for the world.  I love how sassy and headstrong Ella can be.  Yes, it can be very frustrating but since she's generally a good girl it doesn't cause too much grief.

Ella, as usual, has been making us laugh a ton and keeping life interesting.  She's always been extremely animated when cooing and now talking.  (Olivia too) But lately when mommy is teasing she'll smack her forehead and roll her eyes and say, "Mommy, you're a stinker."  Of course I laugh and she does it again so I'll laugh some more.
Ella is quite tech savvy.  She knows just how to get onto netflix and pick something to watch.  But, netflix doesn't have Donald Duck.  So Ella has also learned youtube.  The funny part is she likes to pick which cartoon she watches next.  And sometimes she accidentally picks one in Russian, or Spanish, or French.  So now, she "speaks" all of these languages.  

She loves laughing and has such an infectious laugh.  Her new favorite silly game she likes to play doesn't really have a name.  We'll call it "Dr. Doofenshmirts"  And that's pretty much all there is to it.  I just ask Ella to say Dr. Doofenshmirts (from Phineas and Ferb for those who don't know) and when we first started playing she'd say it as best she could.  She was pretty spot on but hearing her say it just got me giggling everytime so now when I ask her to say it she will say Dr. and then some gibberish.  It's still funny.  And she thinks she's hilarious!  Which makes it all the more funny.

Now that the weather is getting a little warmer we've been venturing out for walks a little more.  On these walks if Ella sees something interesting she has to stop, pick it up, and put it in the trunk of her trike.  I think I've mentioned this before but in case I didn't, when she gets tired of riding she'll stop and say "Mommy, my bike is out of gas."  She loves being outside and is so ready for some warm weather.

Now, as most of you know, Andrew and I are looking at buying or building a house.  Ella is loving this whole planning thing.  We've looked at a few houses and the first thing Ella would say when we would walk in is, "Where's my pink room?"  We've explained that she'll have to choose her room and we'll paint it pink.  Lately she's been telling me that she wants to paint one wall pink and one green.  Which is funny.  The trendy thing I've noticed looking at houses is a red kitchen and hot pink and lime green girls rooms.  We'll let her pick her room colors within reason so she's super excited.  

Lately, both girls have been a little clingy.  I'm not complaining.  I love getting to snuggle with Ella and Liv all the time.  But, because Liv's mad purple head scares us we do have a tendency to make sure she gets the snuggles she needs before Ella gets hers.  To make up for this Andrew and I have been dating Ella.  We've done ice skating (she says she loved it but was a total chicken) USU gymnastics meets complete with face painting, movie nights, panda express, and other random fun things.  It's been a ton of fun.  Ella loves talking to us.  She tells us about her cousins and how she doesn't want to quite sucking her thumb and other random bits.  

Ella has been very helpful lately too.  In the past it's been like pulling teeth to get her to clean up her stuff.  It's still not easy but she's been much better and will even help me unload the dishwasher now.  Can I just say I am SO excited for chore assignments and not having to do it all by myself anymore!

Ella is so smart.  She's taken to calling us smarty pants since she gets called that all the time.  And now, to show you my smarty pants is so smart, she wants to type a little something for you.

ella jjaneeeeeeee