The fun, happy stuff!

This is what happens at the end of a princess-party, day-of-fun with grandma and grandpa.

Linda and Bob watched Ellie for us this past Friday night -- Nov. 26 -- so we could go out for a night and celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Brian and I went to St. Charles, Mo., which is only about 45 minutes from Linda's house... but it felt like we completely "got away," took off our parenting hats for a night and really enjoyed some "us" time. I was telling Linda before we left that even though I was anxious about leaving Ellie overnight, I felt like turning off my "mom" switch for 12-18 hours would do me good. I was right.

And from the looks of it, Ellie wasn't too stressed in our absence! I'm so glad that everyone had a good time.

Here is Ellie donning most of her princess garb... which only lasted a minute or two! But I'm guessing she'll come 'round to the princess party stuff in time. And here she is getting a laundry basket ride from grandpa. Oh, and you can see her awesome new wagon in the background! Linda and Bob got her the cadillac of radio flyers! (Or maybe the SUV?... those are some air-filled tires that Bob assures us with provide her with the smoothest of rides :)

And here she is sharing some laughs over snack or dinner. She ate and slept great all weekend.

What a great thanksgiving-anniversary gift! As promised, this post is more upbeat than my last. I'm still struggling a bit with the emotional rollercoaster of the past few days. But the great news in all this is that Ellie continues to amaze and bring smiles to family and friends, near and far. Whether it's at Thanksgiving dinner, in her grandma's living room or even at a funeral... Ellie is a joy. I've pretty much forgotten what life was like before this beautiful angel came into ours. And I'm so thankful every moment for all of the wonderful memories we're making as a family.

First off...

... the sad stuff.
So much to catch up on from our last five days of family time, Thanksgiving, an anniversary celebration and more. And I promise to get pictures and stories up here soon.
But unfortunately we have some sadness in our lives right now, too.
My good friend Sarah Lizer lost her mom on the day before Thanksgiving. Linda Lizer had battled ovarian cancer for several years and finally lost the fight, slipping away peacefully in the hospital with family around and her favorite music playing.
Brian, Ellie and I drove from St. Louis to Rockford yesterday and will attend the funeral for this amazing woman this morning. Brian and I got to spend some time with Sarah and her family last night, and I continue to be in awe of these guys. Even in the wake of this huge loss, the Lizer house was filled with laughter and warmth. I've always felt like the Lizer family was larger than life and I'm glad to see that tradition continues, even though they are hurting. Mrs. Lizer taught her kids so many important lessons and how to appreciate life, share kindness and value family. I love those guys so much and hate to see them in pain, but I'm glad they have such a close family and network of friends to lean on.
I was grateful to be in Rockford last night to also share a dinner with my mom on what would have been her 40th wedding anniversary with my dad. We still feel the loss of him every day... and I hate that I can't honestly tell the Lizer kids that they will get beyond the pain of losing a parent any time soon. Even after 10-plus years without my dad, my heart aches when I think of things I'd like to share with him. But I know he's watching us ... and now he's got some more good company up there.

Her own stroller

Ellie loves to play outside. And we got another blast of warm weather Monday, so we spent part of the afternoon pushing around her baby stroller.
She loves it and is finally (almost) tall enough to see over the top! My favorite part is when she veers toward the edge of the alley and then stands there saying "uh-oh" if one of her wheels hits the grass. She can definitely steer the thing, though... because whenever I try to turn it around and head back toward home she immediately wheels the stroller around and continues in the opposite direction.

I like to call this one: The least efficient leaf pick-up technique ever. But, hey, we'll take whatever yard cleanup assistance Ellie wants to provide :)

Playin' and eatin'

Throw some sleep in there, too, and that pretty much surmises most of Ellie's days. We had a good weekend filled with all three of those... although Ellie certainly didn't sleep enough (or late enough anyway) to suit me and Brian. She was up at 4:30 a.m. today... ugh. Hopefully tonight she'll get some extra zzz's.
Here's some of Ellie's play around the house this weekend. Stacking cups with dad.
Oh, and she "ate" her first whole apple! Basically she took a couple bites off of it from me and then carried it around the house for the next 20 minutes and got lots of stuff sticky.

Oh, and here we were playing dress up with mom's scarf... and then she got sidetracked wanting a bite of dad's english muffin. Ellie has a bad routine going recently where she doesn't want to eat when she's in her chair. But amazingly she's hungry 10 seconds after we set her down, especially if she sees either of us eating anything for ourselves. We're trying to push eating in her chair... but we also give in (probably too often) and let her snack on the go because we want her to get enough food and try new things.

Running partner

Ellie braved the cold with me yesterday. We both bundled up and went out for a run (well, her part was more of a ride...) With as cold as it's been getting, that was probably one of our last ones together this year. I love being able to take her out, get us both some fresh air and all that. But hopefully she won't be too big next spring when the weather returns to baby-friendly jogging stroller conditions.

Budding Italian

It would be an understatement to say Brian is proud of his Italian heritage. And, of course, what's not to love?!
Brian recently tried to recreate his grandma's homemade ravioli. It was a long process, as expected, but it turned out really yummy! Ellie definitely agreed... and she downed a huge bowl of the stuff. She is getting SO good at eating from her fork, too. Here's our sweet, little budding Italian girl:

More yard work fun

Ellie and I worked some more on the leaves recently. While I was raking in our neighbor's yard, a couple came walking by and offered to get some pictures of Ellie and I playing in the leaves. Very sweet. Ellie enjoyed playing with my sunglasses even more than the leaves!

And then once we went back inside it was back to the shoes. She's a big fan of spreading shoes from our rack all over the house... but sometimes she puts them back. She's actually pretty good at both taking our and putting things away, but I don't think she gets the concept that it's actually "cleaning up." I can always get her to help put away Legos... but 10 seconds after we're done she's already flipped the bag back over.