Ella Jo's 3rd Birthday!

Our beautiful, sassy, independent, stubborn, hard-headed little princess turned 3 on Saturday! Ho.w did she get so old so quick?? I swear she was just a brand new baby! Miss Ella is so much fun to have around, she keeps all of us entertained with the funny things she says and all of her funny little facial expressions. Even her sassy attitude and temper tantrums are pretty entertaining too, not to mention frustrating. Ella doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do, everything is in her own time and in her own way, and if you make her mad she doesn't hesitate to let you know! Ella loves her big brother and she looks up to him, and he loves her and is very protective of her. However, this doesn't mean that they don't have the occasional argument or that they don't try to annoy each other, but, what siblings don't do that from time to time? Ella is very into playing make believe lately, she loves to play with her baby dolls and pretend to feed and take care of them, and she copies everything Mommy, Daddy, and big brother does. When I am putting on my makeup or doing my hair, she loves to pretend to do the same thing, and on occasion, Mommy lets her put on some lip gloss, which she loves! When her daddy comes home from work, she loves to run up to him and give him a big, huge, wet kiss!
Our little girl is growing up so fast, and while I wish that she could just stay this little forever, it's so much fun to watch her grow and learn, and to watch her little personality develop more everyday. We couldn't be more thankful to have this sweet little girl in our lives! Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother love you SOOOO much, sweet Ella Jo! Happy Birthday, big girl!

Lake Powell

We went to Lake Powell in July...yes, I know im behind on blogging. Nick and I decided that Miss Ella Jo was old enough to come with us this year. The kids practically live in their lifejackets the whole time were there, they only take them off to sleep.  Fortunately,  the kids don't seem to mind wearing them and it makes the adults feel better knowing they have them on.  We had a blast again this year, of course, and I loved having both of my kids with me...although Ella did have a blast last year at home with her Grandma Bonnie, and of course she got spoiled by her Grandma!
We played around on the waverunner's, rode on the boats, played on the beach, Nick had a blast surfing, and of course, we ate WAY TOO MUCH food! Lake Powell is one of my favorite places ever and having a nice houseboat to stay on makes it that much nicer! Thanks for the fun trip, Mom!

Mexico

Last week we were in Cabo! My dad took all of us there for a week, and it was a blast! We stayed in a beautiful hotel, and spent the week relaxing (as much as you can with two kids) and playing at the beach and in the pool. The kids didn't swim in the ocean because the waves in front of our hotel were too big, just ask Jax and Papa Kirk, they got taken down by one the first night. Needless to say, Jax wasn't very happy about it! The kids loved to watch the big waves and let them come up and get their feet wet. Their favorite thing was swimming in the pool. The were like little fish. We went parasailing one day, Jax and Gabe even did it and loved it! Another day we rented a catamaran (probably not spelled right) and went snorkeling. The kids weren't very into the snorkeling, but they loved the boat. I was hoping to see some dolphins while we were on the boat, but, no such luck. We did get to see some Manta Ray's jumping out of the water, I didn't get a good picture of them, but it was really cool to see. On the boat ride back, we saw seals "sunning themselves" on a rock. We also got to watch Nick "eat it" as he put it, when a wave took him down where we were snorkeling...actually, i think it was more than one wave, either that, or he is a bigger clutz than we thought. But, it was pretty funny to see Nick's long legs, with flippers on, fly up in the air when the wave came, and then see Jax take off as fast as he could up the beach to get away from the wave. Nick didn't think it was very funny at the time, but, trust me, it was!
Jax and Gabe loved jumping into the pool over and over again, and miss Ella figured out how to keep herself upright in the water with her lifejacket on, which she was pretty proud of. The kids loved waking up in the hotel room and going down to the breakfast buffet where they could eat as many pancakes, waffles, and french toast as they could. Then at lunch, they loved getting ice cream cones. Nick was pretty excited about the ice cream cones too! I however, refrained from the ice cream cones....instead, I piled my plate with every other dessert they had at the lunch buffet...and at dinner too, because who wants to come home with their clothes still fitting them??? Apparently not me! We had such a great vacation, and although it's nice to be home, I wanna go back!!

Karate kid

Jax started taking Karate a couple weeks ago, and he loves it! He is actually pretty good at it, too, of course, I am a little bit biased. He loves going and learning the karate moves, and he looks pretty cute in his outfit! After karate today, I was telling him that I was proud of him, and that he did really good today, he said "Mom, I feel like im da king of da world when I am at karate!" They were learnig a new move today, and the instructor told the class to do the move just like Jax was doing it, because he was doing it so well. Talk about a proud moment for mommy!