Ice Bucket Challenge

The following is an ice bucket challenge acceptance after quite a bit of enthusiasm when the kids learned Daddy had been challenged.

We did it safely which included no water on any faces (heightens your shock experience if it touches your face) and the kids were instructed not to hold their breath.  

We will donate to this organization to advance research for multiple diseases including ALS.

We are supposed to challenge someone else to do this but instead we'll just say if you feel so moved, donate to help others whether it's for researching diseases, food for the hungry or any other cause to spread charity to the world.

Ellie says, "That wasn't that bad, I could do some more too!"

 "Well, it was pretty cold actually."

 "Can we go in now?"

Cars

The gang all dressed in blue this week for a mass to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Then Ellie created a new little game she's been doing that makes us all stop what we're doing and just watch her and laugh!

She chooses some matchbox cars from a giant bin we have and then she starts one by one, putting them in her shirt.

 

 She looks at me as if to say, "What's the big deal, it's the perfect way to take my toys on the go!"

The hole in her shirt from her feeding tube, getting bigger by the second.

"Let me see if I can fit a few more in here."

 

Checking them to make sure they are secure.

"Yes, I should be able to carry this weight." 

"In fact, I think I can carry a few more."

By the time she made it into the kitchen... 

She had a full on "car-baby."

"I'm so happy I thouhgt of this!"

She gets around quite nicely with the cars making a hilarious scraping sound across the floor as she crawls. 

She's all set to go to the grocery store.

"How you doin' down there guys?"

Amazingly, I managed to remove all but one and we went on our shopping trip.  She had fun fishing the one out of her shirt, putting it back in and throwing it on the ground.  Repeat.  Repeat. 

Birthday and School

Hello there!

Ellie would like to share a few things she's been up to lately, but hold on - she has to take a call.

Ok, she's back.  She wanted to say Happy Birthday to her big brother Jacob - a decade of so much love and gentleness thanks to that boy in our family.

Opening some presents - Ellie says "when do we eat cake people"?

Now for Ellie's big news...much to our disappointment, hesitation, regret, defeat, EXCITEMENT - Ellie can now get herself on a chair at the school table. We tried to stop it. We tried to push in the chairs and move the chairs away from the table when we weren't there...but of course that's not practical in a house full of budding artists and mathematicians.

So, here she is - saying "I'm ready for some vocabulary".

"What did the nice people leave within my arm's reach?"

Ellie once again proving she really is just like the rest of the bunch here. 

And so we push the crayons to her, try to keep all the expensive books on a different shelf and watch her get herself down safely by turning herself backwards and putting her feet on the floor.

We'll make room for you girl, you teach us more than we could ever teach you anyway.

Summer is ending

What a fun summer we had!  So much freedom!  So, we took advantage of it and here are some of our adventures:

Ellie had some eating adventures with some new crackers made just her size and....

some ice cream!!!!

She really went for it and swallowed quite a bit!

Then off to a playground just her size where she went up and down this ramp, then up and down some more!!!

Then off to an amusement park we went and this was Ellie's year to ride on the rides!  With the help of her big sister, a very tight seatbelt, two adults watching and a nice ride operator willing to stop the ride at any moment...it was a huge hit!!!

She loved it right away and smiled the whole time!

 

Ellie's little head in a couple other rides - we kept her safe, she wasn't going anywhere!!!

 

 

 
Then we went to a museum with lots of instruments and puppets and a play area - she had a ball!

 

 Four Ellies?!!!

Ellie and the other kids enjoyed a dip in the Tennessee River!!!

Back home Ellie says: "Take me somewhere again please!!"