Photo Shoot!

The process of getting one sort-of good photo of my two monkeys!






I just thought it was funny to show what really goes into taking a picture with a slow point and shoot camera and two wiggly kids. I'm sure all of you can relate!



I finally just gave up on trying to get them both in a photo with me! Ella's going through a stage of not wanting me to take pictures of her anymore, so it's definitely a major effort to get her to stay still long enough to take a picture of her!



Sibling love.



New found love of his tongue.



Being silly.



He just discovered he has a tongue and can't help sticking it out all the time!



Just the usual going out outfit!



My adorable little bug!



Not so sure about big sister's show of affection.



Eating one of her favorites...berries! Thanks again Grandma Gigi!



Aww how can you say no to that face.



My sweet snuggle buddies catching some ZZZZs.

From the mouth of babes....

So I decided it was time to start writing down some of the hilarious things that Ella has been saying. And now thanks to my friend Lyndsey Richardson for giving me the idea I'm going to start blogging about them.

One weekend morning Chad had taken Ella downstairs to go get her some breakfast and let me sleep a little longer with Jackson (what a good hubby). Anywho he had been feeding her some oatmeal and then he had cooked some eggs and offered her some as well and I guess she was quite full because she started chanting " NO MORE FOOD, NO MORE FOOD," (while pumping her fist in the air!) I have no idea where she learned that move but i was cracking up when Chad told me about it.

The other day I was giving Ella a bath and I was getting ready for the day as well. I noticed she was jabbering something to her two rubber duckies she had in her bath and when I started paying attention I realized she was waving her pointer finger at them saying, "Time-out, Time out!" So i asked her, "Are you putting your duckies in Time Out?" She said, "Yeah, He crying, He sad." It was pretty funny, she's becoming more like Mommy every day with all her mimicking.

Whenever Ella gets hurt she says, "Ouchey-Doodle", I have said that a couple of times when I got hurt and I guess it rubbed off. It's quite humorous to hear her exclaiming that while she's crying though.

One day when my sister Mallorie was over she was sitting cross-legged on the floor playing with Ella. She had a couple of small holes in her jeans near her crotch area and Ella saw them and started pointing at them and exclaimed, " Oh no, poop, POOP." She was very worried that Mallorie had pooped her pants.

The other day I was at Walmart at around 9:30a.m. thinking that i had a good amount of time before Ella needed to go down for her nap...Boy was I wrong. After only a few minutes of being there she was becoming very ornery and demanding to have everything on the shelves, "I hab it momma, I hab it momma, Pleeeese," was her cry. After awhile though it was getting ridiculous because I couldn't get any shopping done I was constantly trying to keep her appeased. So i finally just said no you can't hold whatever it was we were passing by...and then all hell broke loose and she started throwing a tantrum and exclaiming, "I tired momma, I tired momma!" So I look like some horrible mother who keeps her child up instead of putting her down for a nap. But it didn't end there! She kept screaming at the top of her lungs and I was at my wits end trying to think of how to get her to stop while in a store! So i picked her up and she was resisting my hold and saying, "Hurting me Momma. Hurting, hurting," All i was doing was holding on to her but she didn't want to be in my arms. She sure knows how to put on a show! So not only do I look like I don't care about my child's nap (which by the way she normally takes at 12p.m. and it was only 10:30) now I look like I am abusive! It was quite the time! If anyone has a great method on how to discipline your tantrumy toddler at the store please send it my way!

I have another question for ya'll. So we've been trying to work on Potty Training ( a little bit) but it hasn't been going that well. She seems to be apprehensive about the toilet. She will tell me sometimes, "poo, poo," before she has even gone but as soon as I say, "ok lets go try to go on the potty" she says, "No I happy." As in whenever we take her out of time out we ask her if she's going to be happy now and so I think she thinks that being happy means I'm being good so don't make me do anything. Other times I will set her on the potty and she will fake grunt but she hasn't quite gotten the whole concept of actually going. Any ideas?

Updates

Ella times...



Adventures in dirt! We were outside playing the other day and Ella decided dirt was the best toy ever and that it would make a nice facial powder as well...and she just couldn't stop there...she had to sample the flavor of the dirt as well. Just getting her daily minerals!



She got embarrassed when i wanted to take pictures of her messy face...you wouldn't think that would be possible for the most un-inhibited kid in the world!



More messy faces. Ella was an amazing helper while i made brownies a few days ago.



Gotta get every last morsel of brownie batter off that spatula.



Proud to be a mess-maker!



Not sure what this face was about...I told her i wanted to take a picture of her and this was the face she pulled. Gotta love our animated Ella.

Jack times... quite content to be held as much as possible.



Most kissable chubby cheeks ever!





Smiling at Daddy.



Look at those back rolls!



My sweet little buddy.

Ode to My Kids

Ella Marie Henkel
2 years old
3 ft. 1 in. tall (99th percentile)
26.6 lbs (50th percentile)


This picture to me characterizes how Ella experiences most of life! About 95% of the time she is the most positive, happy, colorful, outgoing little girl you'll ever meet. I am always reminded of how great the little things are when I watch Ella experience them. For example the simplest thing such as a rock can be so entertaining and fun to her. The other day I bought some Teddy Grahams which I thought would be a fun snack for Ella to try...but on the other hand she was so excited that they were little bears that she would not eat them...instead she made them into her little buddies and carried them around with her everywhere she went occasionally giving them kisses. When I watch her enjoy the little things it helps me to remember to be thankful for them as well.



Jackson Louis Henkel
At 3 mo. & 13 days old
24.5in long (89th percentile)
16 lbs 13oz (97th percentile)

Our little Jackson is such a funny little guy. He smiles incessantly and you just can't help smiling back at him when he does. He's quite a little chunk as well. I love it, though my back and arms don't...i gotta be building some muscle from this little bruiser. He's so cute how he constantly watches Ella and what she is doing. I think they will end up being great friends some day. She is already trying to give him her toys to play with...that might be just due to the fact that she knows he won't actually take them so he's easy to share with ;).He's also quite strong. He loves to sit up or try to pull himself to standing in your lap when your holding his hands. Chad got him to laugh out loud the other day while he was tickling him and it was so darn cute (i'm attaching the video of him doing it). He is such a sweet little boy. I love the way he looks at me with such love and trust it just warms my heart. My kids have been such an amazing blessing to me and teach me so much daily. Though sometimes i would like to ship them off to Timbuktu in all reality i wouldn't have them any other way!





Gotta love my sweet hearts!



As I said always smiling at his big sis!

"Tenacious" Twos

On April 10th was Ella's 2 year old Birthday! We had so much fun throwing her a little party and watching her play with her little friends! It was so crazy to be celebrating two whole years of having her in our family...it goes so fast! Ella is such a sweet little girl with such a loving and friendly free-spirit. Everyday she cracks me up with the new things she learns and says. For example if i say "oh I'm so tired." She will say "I tired too Mama." To give an example of her "friendliness" no matter where we go she has absolutely no inhibitions or shyness. She will walk right up to a stranger and have them hold her...especially if they have candy. Chad said it best when he said that she would be the happiest kidnapped child in the world! The night of her birthday it was a bit too cold to go to the park so we took her to the Play Zone at Arctic Circle where a little boy was there playing too and Ella walked right up to him and tried to give him a hug but he in turn tried to run away but our "tenacious" little girl just kept on trying while running after him! She is already a big flirt! She also is a great big sister, whenever Jack is crying she will go up to him and say, " Shhh Jacky it's ok, be happy." She loves going up to him and giving him hugs and saying, "Jacky's my buddy." Our little girl is just amazing and we're so thankful to have her in our family.



The first thing we did for her little party was go outside and play with bubbles, cause who doesn't love bubbles!







Chilling just watching bubbles fly by.







Our happy little girl getting ready for her , "Happy day, Party!" as she called it.



Ella's little friend Ryan Elmer came over for the party and Ella loved having her there.



The next thing we did for the party was an Easter egg hunt!



Ella's other little friend Ashley Anderson came over too and got to participate in the egg hunt. It was so cute to see them scurrying around to get all the eggs. Ella became a little horder as you can see her pile of eggs on the couch! She was all about dumping all of her candy in a big pile on the couch and shoving as many gummy bears as she could into her mouth.



Ryan devouring her spoils with her dad Will.



My dad was down to pick my sister Mallorie up so that she could go home from college for the summer and he was able to stay for the party. Thanks again Dad!



After wards, we had some cake and ice cream and watched the girls get nice and messy!



Ashley looked so dainty eating her cupcake.



And Ella just liked picking off all the frosting!



Jack was having a great old time being held by Nicole Elmer who's soon to be having her own little boy at the end of May.



Here's our little girls colluding together .



Then Ella got to open some presents which by the way she could have been completely happy with just one. After she opened the first one she was done, she ran off to go play with it and could have cared less about the other presents she had. So we ended up opening them over a period of a few days which kept her birthday going for awhile!



After all the birthday hoopla Jackson was out cold!