Ella and her cousins Dylan, Tommy, and Cora
First Big Snow

Ella and Marah having a drink at the Vic.

The Block's

First chair lift ride

Reading with GG and Pops

Playing in the dirt

West Wall Chair (Christmas 2009)

Ella's baby and new table from Santa.

Yikes! Too much time has passed since my last blog, sorry! A lot has happened and we have been very busy!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Block's, where her great Grandparents (GG and Pops) came for a visit. She adored them both, she even sat in their laps for books! We also went to Linda and Mikes for a second turkey dinner. Kasey, Viv, Dylan, Cora and Tommy joined us. We missed Ryan! Ella loved playing with her cousins. Jessie and Marah joined us for the Salida Christmas Parade. Marah asked Santa for a bike as he drove bike, it was to cute!

We even took Ella skiing for the first time, she LOVED it! We knew we wanted to get her out on skis, so Bobby got her all geared up and we truly figured it would last only a few minutes. After a few short hikes up for dad, Ella was asking for more! So, we loaded her up on the chair lift and headed up. Bobby skied with her in between his legs and she was asking for more again, even before they stopped. So we took her up the big chair lift. I think she would have lasted even longer if we didn't have to hit the road. She has gone two more times since then and continues to ask for more, even when it is 10 below! Andy joined up on Christmas day for a few runs, which was so fun.

As for our second Christmas with Ella, it was great. We stayed home and Andy came over. Ella got a baby doll (which is one of her clearest words these days), a table and chairs, a purse, and some books to name a few things. She wasn't much into the ripping and tearing as we thought she would be, but I am sure next year we will experience that!

In the last few weeks Ella has really started saying just about anything and everything. She even pointed to a zebra yesterday and said as best as she could "Zebra." A few of my favorite words are "Thank you" (from time to time), "I love you", and "outside." Each day seems to bring something new these days. We are loving every second of it.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and we hope the New Year brings you tons of happiness!

Love you all!

This little lady bug has a few things to say..........

like: bug, diaper, cracker, fish, Andy, bear, and a few others. This little lady bug also knows how to throw a fit! We just laugh at her. We are having a pretty good time with this little toddler that showed up recently. Here are a few pics to show our most recent adventures; a trip to Denver where we spent some great time with Jessie and Marah. We also finally got to meet Tanner, he is a real ladies man! We even got to spend some time with Gramma Linda! We went to the zoo and saw all of the animals that are in the books we read over and over. And we checked out the Children's Museum which seemed to be a great big breeding ground for H1N1, not too sure about that. But good Mexican food with friends and family was my favorite part!

Ella is waiting for the Dr. behind her to come check her out and sit with her.

Tiny friends, Ella and Marah

Ella and her new squeeze, Tanner!

Wow! Do you see that! It is a real Polar Bear!


Block girls and Ambrozevich girls.


Gramma Linda and dad playing with Ella at the Children's Museum.

Carving our first pumpkins, they even got their hands dirty!

October Break!

Family Photo
Ella Shrunk

Totally amazed, our necks were sore when it was all said and done. Not sure who the little guy behind us is.

5:00a.m. and looking good!

Dr. Blair and me

Blair showing Ella the Sting Rays.

This is only a small glimps of what was happening.

I told you we were gonna run out of gas, now get out and push!

Ella's Homey, Tyus.

As a teacher in CB I am pretty spoiled with my schedule, we had this past week off. It was very needed! We started off the week with a trip to Aluquerque to see Dr. Blair! We had some great adventures, starting with the balloon festival on Saturday morning. In about an hour and a half we got to watch nearly 500 balloons take off, we were right under the cow. Ella loved it, but I think we liked it more! We also took a trip to the aquarium and the Botanical Gardens. We had a great time, we even got a movie in while one of Blair's friends watched Ella! We are all doing great, just wanted to post pics mainly. Enjoy the rest of Fall!

Fall

A weekend filled with shopping, construction, and hangin' with the grands. S0, for those of you that don't know, Bobby's parents are building a house (their last one??) in Salida right on the Arkansas River. It is an amazing location! For those of you that did know, here are some pics to show the progress. They are hoping to be done by Turkey Day! Anyway, we spent this past weekend at the Block's house and Bobby helped Bill with the house and Diane, Ella, and I went SHOPPING!!! Buy one pair of boots get 2 free! It was way too fun. The country mice don't get out too often you know. All is well on the homefront, hope all is well at yours.

Back to school for Mom, Ella starts Teeny Red, and Lake City

It hasn't been easy going back to school for me, but I am slowly getting used to it. If it weren't for the fact that I have an absolutely amazing class this year, I might have had a melt down by now.

Ella started daycare at Teeny Red three weeks ago and loves it! She hasn't even really cried when I leave her yet. She has lot's of new buddies at school, Kaitlyn, Frasier and Pierson to name a few. She loves playing with baby dolls (I never would have known) and has no bodily awareness and falls off the tumble tower often. Her walking has really improved (thank God)! We were sure we were going to have to buy her a helmet if it didn't get better soon. She doesn't have many words right now, but has plenty of jibarish to tell me when I pick her up from school. In the past month and a half, she has gotten three of her molars (so not fun, for any of us).

As for Bobby, he continues to wrok for the Town of Mt. CB. He works with a guy named Kirk who helps him keep his sanity. He will be home with Ella on Thursdays and Fridays starting in November. He is crazy excited to get her on skis. He did get to give Ella her first dirt bike ride last weekend. She LOVED it!

Andy has been helping us out with Ella a lot lately and I love that she is getting to know him so well. He is one of very few people that doesn't get cried at when he talks to her.

So, we spent Labor Day Weekend with the Hagen's in Lake City, it was great! They are such a great family. All the boys, Jessie, Marah and Arly were there. Ella and Marah are turning out to be great friends (definitely a life long wish for me)! Marah does a great job of taking care of Ella when she is around and showing her the ropes.

And Avery, well, Avery is still not too sure about Ella. She puts up with Ella crawling all over her but has an awefully sad look on her face when we leave with Ella and not her. She can't wait till Ella can throw the ball for her, then they will be best friends!

Well it is late, so enjoy the pics and check back later!

Happy Birthday Ella Rae!

Show me your tongue!
Cake! Num Num, have some mom!

So cool.

Hello? Beckett? Marah? is that you?

Our surprise guest!

I can always count on Granny Dianny to not let me starve.

Well a year has gone by and I would have to say it was the best year of my life and I think Bobby would say the same. We had no idea that this business of being parents would actaully be so fun. So Ella is officially walking ( I will try and upload a video). I could do without the crashes that lead to the hold your breath screams. Other than that is is pretty cool. She has lots of sign language-thank you, more, food, water, milk, bath, help, and all done. She doesnt quite get when to do the signs but we are getting there.

So, the birthday-it was a blast! We had a little BBQ with a few friends and family. The weather was great and Ella seemed to get a kick out of the presents and cake. We were even so lucky to have a suprise visit from Aunt Bonny! The cake was the first sweet treat she has ever had, so that was humorous-She loved it!

So back to teaching in a few weeks for me. It will be nice to have one job instead of figuring out how to make it work with several small jobs. Ella will go to a daycare called The Teeny Red School House 3 days a week, Bobby will be home with her the other 2 days. (http://www.crestedbuttelittlered.com/) if you want to see pictures.

Well, here are some pictures (note that the cute green and yellow sweater was made by Aunt Linda).

Bye for now

Summer in the Butte!

Top of Mt. CB


Bobby teaching Ella how to air into Big Chute

Ella calling her dada

Loves Peaches!!!!!

WHo did all the hard work here?

Picnic at Green Lake

Schofield (Devil's Punch Bowl)

Mara and Ella-July 4th

Marah teaching Ella a thing or two

Ella, Marah and Avery's tongue

Cousin Ryan

Linda and Ryan at Long Lake

We have had an AMAZING summer! It started late due to lots of rain, but now it beautiful and warm! So, I have many adventures to share with you. So a few weeks back, aunt Linda and cousin Ryan came for a quick visit, and we got two hikes in-Long Lake and Judd Falls. This was my first time carrying Ella in the backpack and it was great, until she fell asleep and I couldn't move my neck. It was great to see Ryan, he is such a nice kid! And Linda knitted Ella the cutest sweater and hat, I can't wait till she can wear it! Another hike we did was with a friend named Sonya and we went to see some Beaver Ponds. We (Bobby, Ella and I) also hiked the peak of Mt. Crested Butte. And yesterday, Uncle Andy, Ella, Avery and I hiked to a spot called Green Lake near Lake Irwin. So we have had an awesome summer of hiking as you can see. Oh, and Bobby and Andy hiked into Monarch to get my ski back, they found my ski (YEAH) and Avery found a porcupine-silly dog.

We spent the fourth of July between Lake City and Crested Butte, so here are some pics of that as well.

As for other things we have been doing besides hiking, we go to a class called Munchkin Music every week. Ella LOVES it! She is pretty fond of all kinds of music and she has been known to boogie even when there is no music, but her favorite tunes at this point seem to be Blue Grass. We have been doing a bit of swimming, and lots of eating (Ella' favorite thing to do is eat, hmmm weird, she must not be my kid ;)

And lastly, OMG, Ella will be one year old in less than two weeks! I would have to say she is officially walking (takes five steps, crashes, two steps, crashes) but she doesn't seem to mind the crashes to much. It has been so fun to watch her learn.