Daddy Dates

Ernie has women coming out of every nook and cranny in his life. There is always something girlie going on between me, Ella and our puppers Mylie. I know sometimes he wishes he had more manly things in his life. Ponytails, baby dolls, and pink are a little overwhelming sometimes. I think he would add a "hot head of emotions" to that list as well. Somebody is always crying or being moody between Ella, Mylie, and myself.

However, being stuck with all this estrogen is not always a bad thing. He can easily get away with watching any girlie show, whether that be Dora the Explorer or the Bachelor, without having his mancard taken away because he has three lovely ladies watching it with him. Also there is an endless supply of chocolate in the house and his laundry is always done. Not too shabby I might say.

I know Ernie loves his girls... he tells every day :) and we love him.

One thing Ernie is good at is loving our little Ella with all his heart. Both Ernie and Ella share a love language in common and that is quality time. AND boy do they love to spend time together. Ernie has taken Ella Jean on two Daddy/daughter dates. Now that Ella is getting older, it is so fun taking her places we know that she would really enjoy. Ella loves anything animal and so Ernie has chosen to take Ella to the Aquarium and to the Zoo on their outings.

Daddy/daughter dates implies no Mommy allowed and so I cannot tell you exactly what went on, but I can tell you both come home happy and extremely exhausted. Ella also has a Daddy fixation for the next couple of weeks too. I think if she had it her way she would do Daddy/daughter dates every day.

Enjoy the pictures. I know I do... they melt my heart knowing that I have a husband who loves my daughter with every ounce of who he is. This mommy and wife couldn't ask for ANYTHING more endearing and heartwarming.


The Aquarium:














The Zoo:
















Thanks you Daddy for loving me so much that you take me out on really fun dates. You are teaching me many great things about how men should treat women because you are setting such a good example. Thank you for loving mommy and me so well. You are the greatest Daddy in the whole wide world. Next daddy/ daughter date I would like to go to the Children's Museum. I love you with all of my heart. Love, Ella Jean

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... these are a few of my favorite things

All my blogs are about Ella... besides for God and my wonderful husband, she is the most important thing in my life. She is my pride and joy, as of right now, and no that is not a segway into my declaring a pregnancy. :) So I guess it is my blog and I will brag if I want too.

Ella makes Ernie and I smile constantly. The things she says and does leave us rolling on the floor at times. We don't know where she comes up with half of this stuff. Ernie likes to consider himself "hilarious" and maybe Ella has picked up that same "hilarious" ego.

For example, we are riding in the car. Ernie is driving, I am sitting in my rightful place next to him and our charming little Ella Jean is in the back in her carseat. We pull up to a red stoplight and are waiting patiently when we hear from the back seat, "GO!" at an extremely loud decibel. We both look at her in dismay and Ernie turns to me and says, "Look what you have taught our daughter!" Typical man reaction and maybe somewhat true woman reaction.

I like to brag that I know my daughters love language at the age of 21 months. My daughter loves to serve. Another thing I think she has picked up from Ernie (he would do anything for anyone). She loves to help with everything! She loves to throw her trash away. She loves to use the dustbuster (and who wouldn't?!... I might add). She loves to sweep and help you organize the cabinets. Not sure if it is all service or just quality time, either way it is such a blessing and I prayerfully ask God to enrich her servants heart to do wonderful things in the world one day.

I also like to say she would make a good greeter at Walmart. Doesn't matter where I go, she is eagerly saying hello or goodbye to EVERYONE. She loves to interact with people and is not shy at all.

Also, I have learned not to say, "Ella let's go" because she will kick and scream and have the biggest tantrum you will ever see, but if you say, "Ella say bye bye to the park" she will, with enthusiasm, say "Bye bye park" and be on her way. Go figure... who knew it was that easy. We don't say, "Ella time to get out of the bathtub" because a tantrum will be thrown, we say, "Ella say bye bye to the bubbles". "Bye bye bubbles". Works every time.

We have spent a lot of time with our friends lately and all of them have boys. Ella is the only girl. I used to think she wasn't so girlie girlie but after being around those rough and tumble boys, she is ALL girl. She kind of mothers them :( not sure if that is good or bad and she always makes sure they have their paci. Maybe that is because she lacks her own. She is also into everything baby. We hear a a baby cry and her ears perk up. She sees a baby and she is right over next to it trying to do something to it. She is constantly pushing her baby around in the stroller and the other day I found her feeding her baby a bottle. (see picture below) So yes, even though my daughter loves to get dirty and kick soccer balls, she definitely is all girl.

ANYWAY... I love my little girl. Her laugh, her smile, the "bless you!" after people sneeze. The way she can say her colors and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle", the "ABCs", and the "backpack, backpack" from Dora the Explorer. She fills our lives with so much and deeply enriches it in every way.

(and yes there are many naughty things too... like her horrible sharing skills, the tantrums in public places, and the hitting) but somehow we overlook these minor things and only hope and pray those will get better in time with consistency and much prayer :)

Not many people read this, but those ones who do I know love my daughter just as much as I do, so I thank you for loving every little piece of her.

Here are some photos of what she has been up to lately:

With a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there!

Last week Monday the Krauth/Findell clan headed out to the National Western Stock Show. We explored all the booths and most importantly saw all the animals. One thing that Ella loves more than anything else in this world are animals and we sure saw our fair share of farm animals. She didn't have one animal that she loved more than another, but enjoyed them all. In all these pictures I can hear her little voice saying, "what's that?!" Needless to say, we very much enjoyed our trip to see the farm animals.

Look what I can do!

Ella has become a spitfire, loving 19 month old. Can I use spitfire and loving in the same sentence to describe one person? I think she takes after Ernie in SO many ways. She is ambitious, scared of NOTHING, completely stubborn, personable, curious, a klepto, and laughs at everything. Her words have been explosive in the last month and I think she may be ready to start running because she is always in such a hurry to try the next new thing and always needs to get there as fast as she can.

Hopefully these pictures can show you some of her fun-loving, spitfire personality.

Loves to read:



Loves to play outside:



Loves her cousin Lia and screaming:



Loves to swim:



Loves to sort, collect, and organize (wonder who she gets that from??!!)




Loves all animals (horses and dogs being her favorite):



Loves to draw and color:



Loves to help (especially when it comes to throwing things away. We have lost a lot of things because of that trashcan):



Loves spoons and eating cereal. She is getting so good at using her spoon. Love this picture:



And... we are not so proud of this one, but loves to put her finger in her nose. It hasn't found its way to her mouth yet... so we will cross that bridge when we get there.



We love you Ella Jean and all the awesome things you are learning how to do!