So far in 2009..

I love how the start of a New Year makes us more reflective, but also eager to make things better in the year to come. So far, we have spent a lot of the New Year going through our house and just getting rid of "stuff". I am such a pack rat. Now I'm not extreme enough to save actually junk, but if something is in good shape and practical, I reason that we should probably keep it in case we need it...but we rarely ever do! So I have decided it's really not worth the $5 bucks I may possibly save us every few years. lol. It's all going OUT! Randy has been teasing me with jokes about "nesting" way too soon. But truthfully we do have to get rid of this stuff if we're all going to fit in here this summer. So I have been going through closets and under sinks daily to eliminate the clutter. The only room I have left is the dreaded spare bedroom. The room where anything that doesn't have a "home" somewhere else in the house goes. I think we might need a dumpster by the time I get through it all!

As for our family time, it's been wonderful. Randy's schedule allows him 3 days off in a row and we just love having so much time together. This week we spent most of it just around the house working on random projects. While Ella napped, Randy and I caught up on episodes of Lost. Ella is growing so fast, it's scary. She is talking like crazy and is actually making pretty good sense! She definitely has Randy's goofy personality. Her new favorite joke is to pretend she's 2 or 3 instead of 1. When we ask her how old she is, she will proudly say "3". then she will giggle because she knows she's NOT three! So we ask again and she says, "2". It can go on forever, before she finally laughs and says, "Ella 1". We've been trying to figure out how in one year, this baby... became such a big girl. Thankfully we are enjoying her "big girl" side so much knowing that this summer we can get our baby fix all over again!

Here are a couple of new pics for now..my camera batteries are near dead so I haven't been taking as many as usual..

Ella has been testing out her "fashionista" side so she is usually found wearing hats, necklaces, or high heels around the house...Hey, at least this hat happens to match!!

Here is Ella with one of her books, she loves hearing stories and pretending to read them to herself. I just LOVE having her come ask me to read stories..makes my day ;)