Firsts

Ellie has had a month for firsts. Her first big girl shoes, first poopy in the potty, first baby molars and canines (she has 8 teeth and is cutting 4 more right now), first trip to Disneyland and first trip to Germany before the month is over. That's right!! Andrew is officially DONE with dental school!! So PROUD of you Andrew, we are so blessed!! And so we are off to Schwienfurt, Germany for 3 years. Sept 30th is Andrew's report date and we have soooo much left to do for our travels. It also turns out that it's snowing over there right now- another FIRST for Ellie. So, because we are leaving in such a hurry the family came over yesterday and we all went to Disneyland. Ellie loved it! I was really impressed at how much we were able to do with her regardless of her age and lack of walking ability. She rode the Jungle boat, Pirates of the Carribean, Mr. Toad's Wild Adventure, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh and went to the Tiki room all before she crashed. We had a great time!

First Shoes

First poopy

Naturally she reads the magazine while doing her business

First trip to Disneyland. Grandpa Bill, John, Sara, Michelle, Tim, Grandma Lynette, Grammy Liz, Ellie and Mom. (Daddy took the pic)

She LOVED the animals on the Jungle Cruise

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Not so good at this.

Ellie's 1st Birthday

More details to come....

Ellie was spoiled this year as we had two birthday parties--one for some of the grandparents in Bakersfield and one at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood with family and friends. Papa made a really fun clown birthday cake and Grammy Liz provided the fancy party hat. Ellie was overloaded with toys and clothes and soooo excited about everything that she hasn't been wanting to sleep. When she wakes up in the morning its like Christmas!

The El Capitan theater was awesome. It's an old theater on Hollywood Boulevard now owned by Disney, and of course they only show Disney movies and always put on a little pre-show in good Disney fashion. We saw Sleeping Beauty and had cupcakes and ice cream after.

We just can't believe that she's one. The following are some "tricks" and things she enjoys to do now that she is ONE. 

She LOVES dogs. Max is the Elms family dog and Ellie is in love; she follows him around the house making doggy noises and tries to eat his food. She tells us the sound a doggy makes on cue.

She also squints her eyes when we say "ojitos" (literally "little eyes" in Spanish) and calls us "Mommy" and "Daddy" respectively.

She also has a "hiding spot" under one of the corners of our sofa where she likes to stash things. There have been many a time where we can't find the remote or something similar and, sure enough, we can always find it in Ellie's spot.

We've also tried to teach her to hold up one finger when asked her age. But instead, she sticks her one finger up her nose. Great stuff.

There are so many things, but we won't go on and on. If any family members or friends read this and want to relate a fun Ellie story or moment, we'd love for you to share.

I'm One!

The Crew

When the movie got boring we broke into the candy shop.