13 months old!!!

Happy 13 month birthday, Ellie!

Our little princess is growing up SO fast! She just turned 13 months old on Friday August 14th! I feel like I can't even blink or I'll miss something... We have been having so much fun together this summer and Ellie really is my little buddy... Right now, she is VERY into Mommy's cell phone. She puts it up to her ear and says "hi".

It's the cutest thing EVER.So if you ever get a call from me and there is no one on the other line, it probably means that Ellie called you. :)

Ellie also loves to try to bounce balls, can wave and say "hi", looks and points at a light and says "light", but her favorite word is still "Da Da"... No "Ma Ma" yet! But I'm so glad that Daddy and Ellie are such good buddies, for sure...

Ellie missing Daddy...

Ellie and I are in Iowa for a few days while Daddy is in Florida for the last few days of Kaleo... It's amazing how much changes with a one year old in a few short days! El has started walking much more proficiently AND she is chattering up a storm! Today as I was feeding her she was telling me just how much she misses Daddy...

Future Classy Cat...

Ellie is ONE!!!

It's so hard to believe, but our little sweetie turned ONE on Tuesday! And what a fun day it was... We got to have a really fun party out at City Park and lots of friends got to come and help us celebrate. Ellie had a great time, despite the 98 degree temps and 105 degree heat index. :) Thanks so everyone who came and celebrated with us. Here are just a few pics... Joel's Dad took most of the good ones, so I need to get those from him. But here are a few from our camera!

Ellie enjoying her cake!

Daddy was right there to make sure she had something to wash it down with. :)One of Ellie's birthday cakes...
Here are a few of the friends and family who came to celebrate with us!

Because it was so hot, we ended the day at the splash park! I didn't get any picks of that but I know Barry did, so maybe I'll add more soon!

There is so much to be THANKFUL for over the last year. Now on to year TWO!

Ellie Walking!

So much happens in a month!

I'm finally back with an update! My good intentions of being a faithful blogger this summer fell by the wayside. So sorry! It's been a busy month... We've been in Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa and back to Kansas in the last 4 weeks! Whew! Ellie is one well traveled child... Here are some highlights from her last month!

• Two new teeth! You got it! Her top two teeth have broken through!!! And with the new teeth has come a new bad habit of grinding her teeth! Ouch!
• WALKING! Ellie started walking TODAY! I will try to post a short video of this soon...
• Exploring EVERYTHING - that's right...from toilets, to outlets, to taking everything off of bookshelves and cabinets... if it's even remotely within her reach, it's hers for the taking. If it's out of her reach, she'll figure out a way to get to it. Time to lock everything down for a season!
  

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came to visit in Florida and we had so much fun together!

Ellie is also Mom's "helper" unloading the dishwasher!
I just have to make sure and unload the knives right away! Yikes!!!

Playing is hard work... I love this cute pic of Ellie crashing while eating her bottle before bed!

I turned the big "33" while we were in Florida and Joel threw a surprise party for me! Ellie even waited up to help celebrate!

Ellie got to hang out with her friend Griff while we were in Kentucky on our way home from Florida! They had fun playing together and we parents just might do a little matchmaking in the years ahead!

Ellie and Daddy having fun in Seaside a few days before we left Florida...

Ellie hanging out with some Kaleo guys during one of the program socials.

While we were in Iowa, we got to celebrate Ellie's ONE year birthday

a few days early!!! Here she is enjoying her first cake!

We can't believe our little girl is almost ONE!

What a wonderful first year it's been with our little Ellie.

summer please slow down!

As you can see, Ellie continues to have a fun time in Florida! She's the lucky one who doesn't have to do any work. It's fun all the time for her. :) When Dad and Mom get a minute away from working with the students, we love to take Ellie to experience fun things during her first summer at Kaleo! Last weekend, all of the students left the project to have a team weekend to bond with their team. While they were away, the staff got to spend some time together. We went boating on Saturday afternoon and Ellie got to go on a boat and swim in the bay for the first time! She had a blast!

Last weekend, we got to meet all of our KSU crew in Seaside and we squeezed in a fun family pic!

One thing that we are learning about Ellie is that she is very impatient when it comes to eating! She's so well behaved at almost every other time, but when she is hungry, you know it! Here is a little photo of her impatience in action... I had just fed her part of her lunch and was getting her some fruit. She just couldn't wait for me to get back, so she started crawling to me with her booster seat still attached to her bottom! It was a hoot!

Finally, here is a pic of Ellie enjoying her first Kaleo RAVE! Everyone dressed up in neon colors or white and we danced in black light. It kind of wigged her out at first. She wasn't sure what was going on! But after the initial shock, she had a fun time dancing the night away! One student even gave her a glow stick necklace to wear so she could fit in!

The summer is going so well. We just wish our time down here would SLOW down! But we are trying to soak up every day... More soon!