B.Y.O.K.P.

Why bring your own Kiddie Pool of course!?!?!



Keeping with the theme of the party I made this Cool Pool cake for Ella. It was so much fun to make and looks 10 times harder to create then it really was!

She's a year! It is hard to believe that it has been a year since this little lady entered our life. In other ways it feels like she has always been a part of our life. This past year has been full of good lessons, many surprises, lots of laughs, few cries, and immense joy. I can't fully express how much better life is with Ella.

With Ella we are able to experience every day things with new eyes. The simple joy of tasting new fruit, sensing new textures, and splashing in a pool have new meaning. With all of this in mind we planned her first birthday celebration.

One of Ella's favorite things to do is to swim. Thus was born the idea of the Kiddie Pool Party! With 7 kiddie pools, 1 baby sprinkler pool, 17 kids, and 26 adults we celebrated the first year of Ella's life. Untold amounts of water were pumped through the hoses and many squeals of laughter were had by kids and adults. It was by far over the top and incredible. Exactly as we wanted it. I had visions of kids jumping from one pool to another and that is what happened.

One proud papa and one happy baby!

Mommy and Ella playing together.

For her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Whitney got Ella a baby sprinkler pool. It was so cool. There was only about 2 inches of water and spouts of water going every where. There was a slide, a dolphin the babies could ride, and other toys on it. We will be using it for the rest of the summer to get out of the heat.

Birthday girl just chilling in the cool pool.

More views of the baby sprinkler pool.

The backyard was full! We couldn't fit another pool in the yard. The kids had the best time. So did the adults.

Swimming can work up a big appetite. With that in mind we prepared a feast. Ella's aunts and all grandparents contributed to the feast. Apparently our guests were hungry because there was little food left. There was a lot of swimming!

The birthday girl feasting!

For her birthday, Ella's Grandpa and Grandma Moll gave her this great picnic table with this great umbrella. We will have lots of fun in the future with this.


Below are pictures of people eating.

It was time for Ella to eat her first cake! In this picture she was more interested in trying to play with her balloon. Eventually she turned around to see her cake.

She didn't know what to think of the cake at first!

She liked the crowd though! She is such a ham.

She was more tentative with cake then I thought she would have been. I don't know that she knew it was something she could eat at first.

Finally I put some in her mouth!

That got her going...

and going...

...until we had a master piece on the tray!

Clean up at a pool party is easy. Just dunk her in the pool again!

It takes no time to get her clean.

Next it was present time. She is a well loved baby. She was given many wonderful gifts. The best gift was all the friends and family that came to the party to celebrate her first year here!

A big thanks goes to auntie Heidi, auntie Sarah, Grandma Whitney, Grandpa Whitney, Grandpa Moll, and Grandma Moll. Without you all the party would not have been the success it was. Thanks for making the day even more special and fun!

It finally happened...

I was called old. Today in class I heard the cell phone ring that supposedly only teens can hear. When I asked whose ring it was my students looked me amazed. I looked back at them and said "Yes I can hear it." This astonished them. They all began making comments and then I heard, "I thought old people couldn't hear that ring!" I couldn't believe it. I have been wondering for a while when the tide would turn. I usually am told I'm a kid, I'm a baby and so on. That time has apparently passed. I am now old.

It was all really rather funny. I was able to make my student feel bad. He tried to get himself out of what he said, but rest of the class and I wouldn't let him off the hook. He had called me old. He tried to say that he thought all people with a kid were old. So apparently Ella makes me old. Thanks Ella. You're worth it though.

Ella Squared!

Ella Whitney's biggest fan outside of her family is Ella Jules. Ella and her parents, Kevin and Stephanie, started coming to our church Home Community group this last Fall. It was a fun coincident that both parents had named their daughters Ella. Ella is not a family name for any of us. It is simply a name we all loved and gave our daughters.



Sharing a name has given the two girls a bond. Ella Jules loves and adores Ella Whitney. When she gets to the house for Home Community she starts by looking for "baby" Ella as she calls her. When they first met, we told Ella Jules that this was baby Ella so she would understand that they both had the same name. Well, "baby" Ella has become Ella Whitney's name for Ella Jules. You can often hear Ella Jules saying baby Ella, baby Ella when they are in the same place.

It is so sweet to hear the two of them. If Ella Whitney is eating or making noise or any thing, Ella Jules is right there with her laughing or trying to help her. I love that Ella Whitney has such a friend and fan in Ella Jules. They have a good time together even though they are nearly two years apart.



Some times Ella Whitney will go and stay with Ella Jules and her mom while I have to be at work. Good times are had by all. Ella Jules enjoys having Ella Whitney at her house. (Though it can be hard to share momma!) Ben and I are very grateful that Stephanie can watch Ella Whitney for us some times. It is great to know that she is with her biggest fan.

They are so sweet together.

Two girls being goofy together.

Ella Jules will often want to hold Ella Whitney. It is a rather humorous picture to see Ella Jules hold her.

Ella Jules wanted to read to Ella Whitney. She was in her daddy's lap and Ella Whitney was in mine.

A New Season

A week ago our family entered a new season in life. I returned to Hockinson High School as a part-time social studies teacher. We have been preparing for this change for awhile and on February 2nd the change came. This change meant that we had to find someone to watch Ella while both Ben and I were at work. We found that person in Rose Hendrix. She is a wonderful person and we are very grateful that she is a part of Ella's life. I have watched in the lives of our friends how their parents' friends can be influeneces in their lives. God can use these adults to influence the kids. There are times when a kid can not hear things from their parents but can from another adult. I am hopeful that Rose will be one of these people for Ella. God seems to have worked all this out so that Rose can watch Ella.

Ella is doing great with Rose. She is happy and smiling when Ben drops her off and laughing and playing when I pick her up. Rose has a chocolate lab named Cooper that Ella loves and that plays with her. Cooper helps Ella feel like she is at home because he reminds her of her Hudson. Her time with Rose is great and I am grateful that she is in a good place while I am at work. I think it will be a good thing for Ella to spend this time with Rose.

This new schedule also gives Ben more time with Ella. I leave for work at 8 am and Ben has Ella until he drops her off at 9:30 am. Daddy dresses her, packs up her stuff, and plays with her. He has made a special CD of music he wants to share with Ella that they listen to on their way to Roses'. On Mondays and Fridays he picks her up at 11:30 and they hang out just the two of them until I get home at 12:45.

Last week I also got a new job. I am now working part time as an online instructor for the IQ Academy. I am still working on understanding all of the ins and outs of the job but am excited to get started. The great part of this job is that I can do the work from home and set my own schedule.

So far this new season in our family is going very well.

A Lot Has Happened in the Last Two Months

I have not been a good blogger in the past two months. In part it is because I was busy with the holidays and all the changes with Ella and then the thought of updating the blog to contain everything in Ella's World became overwhelming. So now I will attempt a quick recap of the past two months. A lot has happened so it may take awhile.

During the "Arctic Blast" of 2008 we enjoyed a lot of family time at home with Auntie Sarah and her friend. Since it was so cold and snowy we thought a snow suit for Ella was in order. Ella seemed to enjoy the snow. She was nice and cozy as she laid in the snow. We definitely enjoyed the intense family time and looking out at the beautiful snowy landscape.

Our first Christmas with Ella was great. Due to the snow storm during Christmas we barely made it across the state to see part of our family at Christmas. Our original plan was to go to Spokane to see Grandma and Grandpa Moll and Aunt Heidi through Christmas Eve. We would then travel to Tri-Cities to see Grandma and Grandpa Whitney and Aunt Brooke and Uncle Travis. The snow made it only possible to go as far as Tri-Cities. The Gorge reopen just two days before Christmas and we just made it through. Spokane was not in our reach since they got over SIX feet of snow. I could not imagine so much snow. The holiday was great despite the changes in our plans. We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends in Tri-Cities. It was a very relaxing time.

Ella spent some good hanging out time with grandpa on the couch with Maddie and Abby!

Ella opened her Christmas presents with Grandpa Whitney and Uncle Travis. Here she is working on chewing on Uncle Travis' hand. Teeth were in her near future.

Since Ella was five months old on Christmas day we thought it would be appropriate for her to have rice cereal as her Christmas feast. I was surprised how runny "solid" food is for a baby. Ella liked it though and by the end she was really getting into eating solids.

Daddy held her while I feed her the rice cereal.

After breakfast.

Ella loves her solids. She even loves carrots. I was very surprised about that. She will follow you with her eyes as you walk around the kitchen with her food and eats it in no time. She is eating squash, carrots, pears, grape juice, and rice cereal. Next we are trying zucchini. I love zucchini but would not eat her pureed zucchini. I will be surprised if she likes it.

The day after Christmas Ella was playing with Grandma Whitney. She was chewing on her hands having a good time when Grandma said "I think I feel teeth here." She was right. Ella had cut her first two teeth. You can see them in the picture above. She is working on more teeth now. I think we will see top teeth next.

She is on the move now. For awhile now Ella has been able to roll over. Now she is able to get up on her knees. She is even able get up on her hands and toes with her butt up in the air. It is very cute. She hasn't mastered going forward yet but she is really good at going backwards. Below you can see her progress into the bathroom.

Almost in the bathroom.

In the bathroom.

Here she backed herself up under the cabinet.

Since her hair is getting longer I am able to put her hair up in a ponytail. It is so cute. She looks like a cupie doll with her hair up.

With all this hair sometimes it gets a little crazy.

Ella is sitting up so well she sits in her high chair all the time.

This was a great image to come back to after I got my hair cut. I love seeing Ella and Ben spending time together.

Sitting so pretty. She often sits and plays.

January 25th was Ella's half birthday. Ben decided a few months ago that he wanted to celebrate half birthdays. Since Ella is so young there is not much to do, so we had a little celebration with Auntie Sarah. We got cupcakes from St. Cupcakes and Sarah surprised her with a birthday crown. It was a lot of fun.

Thanks Aunt Sarah.

Ella loved the crown so much she pulled over her eyes.

Some times Ben likes to be goofy with Ella. This was one such morning. He decided Ella needed to help with the laundry so she pulled her weight.

One of Ella's favorite things to do is to bounce in her bouncy seat. She really gets going in the thing. It has definitely helped to strengthen her legs.

So Cute.

Ella loves to stick out her tongue. She does it all the time. People often comment on it.