leaping lizards (and dragons)

rough week thus far.  max and i have been sick.  :-(

on monday, i was pureeing some baby food for max and i heard ella ask "what is that, mommy?"  this is what it was:

ohmigod.  OHMIGOD!!  a lizard!  in the house!  so i called my friend lynne to see if her husband, who just switched to night shifts, was awake.  no such luck.  i contemplated calling another neighbor whose husband also works nights, but i was a little reluctant; knowing him, he might try to shoot it.  

lynne stayed on the phone with me as i found a trash can and worked up the nerve to get close enough to do this: 

screaming the whole time.  the books were for good measure.  

and ella stood on the stairs, whispering "ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod..."  :-O

the lizard stayed here until roger could come home.  and free it.  not shoot it.

speaking of ella, she has a new obsession: skirts. 

if i dress her in pants or shorts, she sneaks upstairs and changes.  the other day, she couldn't find any skirts, so she spent the day in her swimsuit bottoms.

some other ella-isms from this week:

• she bit into the middle of her ham sandwich, decided it looked a bit nautical, so sang 'row, row, row your boat" to it
• she has been running around the house with a wooden spoon as a makeshift microphone and shouting at the top of her lungs: "ladies and gentlemen!  are you ready for my show?"
• i ordered a pair of cinderella slippers for christmas for her.  thinking i could hide them before she woke up this morning, i left them on the kitchen counter overnight.  she slept on the couch again and when she woke up, took the slippers and put them on.  i said "ella!  those were for christmas!"  she looked down and sullenly said "oh, ok," and placed them carefully back on the counter.

 after the lizard incident, my pause was understandable when i opened the door today to see a box that was labeled "handle with care" and "from the zoological society," complete with airholes...

uncle steve and auntie BB named maxwell an adopter of the kimodo dragon species.  soo thoughtful and cool - he loves it!

we haven't seen a ton of smiles out of him the past few days so this was a very, very welcome sight.

i'm dreaming of a white tank-sgiving

we spent thanksgiving at auntie elaine and uncle norm's house in phoenix - even after almost a year, it's still so odd to have 85 degrees on a sunny day for thanksgiving.  

what i'm thankful for this year:

• my amazing, amazing husband and our two wonderful babies
• seeing friends and family a week ago
• for everyone's health
• living close to family in arizona
• meegan showing me the difference between 'boo' and 'honey-boo-boo.'  i now know they are not the same thing...
• no. 1 ranked irish beating USC to go to the national championship (this is probably more accurately stolen from roger's list, but i'm thankful for a happy hubby)

happy first thanksgiving, max!!!  and happy 9 months!  

we had an absolutely delicious thanksgiving dinner courtesy of uncle norm and auntie elaine - thank you!!!  roger LOVED the stuffing - always his favorite and ella had about 12 helpings of cranberry sauce.  :-)

so glad that meegan was able to join us for thanksgiving - it was soo awesome to see you!

hugs for auntie elaine.

on friday morning, we headed out to white tank national park for a short hike.   sooo much better than fighting the black friday crowds!

els and uncle-norm-the-great stopping for a little water break.

els and al stopping to take in the gorgeous views.  

after our hike and lunch, meegan treated my aunt and me to mani/pedi's.  i had completely forgotten that she owed me a spa day from a bet i won: 6 years ago, i successfully navigated my wedding day without going bridezilla on anyone.  in meegan's eyes, anyway.  thanks meegan!  :-)  

ella playing with auntie elaine's old camera - she loves saying "smile!" and then once she takes the picture she says "oh, that was a good smile!"

after a failed game night attempt, meegan, al and i watched the rest of 'brave' - the latest pixar movie that al rented for ella, then called it a night.  oh. so. old...

very excited about auntie elaine's mustang.

thank you thank you thank you uncle norm and auntie elaine for a fabulous thanksgiving.  we all had a great time and will see you in a few weeks.

sweet november - cincinnati edition

we made the drive to cinci and went to see mimi first thing wednesday morning.

max meeting mimi for the first time!

ella playing mimi's piano.

next up was a playdate with ella's boy, nate!  :-D

then we headed over to her friend bianca's house to see aidan and eat pizza on white upholstered chairs.  what a disaster.  i requested the dry cleaning bill.  :-(

nana baby-sat for els and max so we could go out to dinner with our friends.  oh how i miss cinci.

on thursday morning, it was time to say good-bye to the mullet.  

such a BIG boy!!!  :-)

yay!  family is starting to arrive!

ella absolutely LOVED playing with isabelle!  she had the best time with her cousin.

showing off her slippers from thailand from aunt jeanne

getting into trouble together...

going for a ride in the green wagon with nana!

helping nana to make the stuffing

one of the sweetest moments was mimi reading a book to ella.

ha!  love the max looks like such a ginormous baby in danielle's arms.

uncle steve and auntie BB are here too!!

max was baptized at st. margaret of york after the saturday mass.

soo hilarious and adorable when deacon ray was christening max - as he was pouring the water over his head and saying 'in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the spirit," little isabelle said "too much!!"  :-)

aunt amy and uncle steve: thank you for being godparents to max!!!  

marc reading a bedtime story to ella.  anything to repress the sugar-induced craziness that was ella.  then we had a fun night playing taboo and telestrations.  LOVED seeing everyone!!!

as we were getting ready to leave on sunday morning, ella kept asking if isabelle was going to come to our house.  :-)

since our flight was out of columbus, we wanted to meet up for lunch with roger's family there.  ella had a great time with her cousins, lily, olivia and ben. 

next time the kids will fly on a separate flight.  max slept for about the first 20 minutes and cried for the remainder of the 4 and a half hour flight.  then we had another 2 hour drive from phoenix to tucson.  still haven't recovered fully...