Gee Gee's visit

Thursday night my mom arrived from Atlanta! By happy accident my employer was closed Friday so we had three full days to hang out with the girls.

Friday we woke up and I took Betsy to school. I came home and mom, Ella and I cleaned the house, got dressed and headed to the Olive Garden for lunch to see my cousin Cynthia! We picked up Betsy at 2, right as nap time was over and snack time was starting. We joined her class for a watermelon snack. Then all four of us headed to Hobby Lobby and back to the house. My cousin Cynthia brought her son Isaiah (2.5) and nephew Brody (1) to hang out. We had SO MUCH FUN watching the four babies wander around. Friday night we went out to Pluckers where JD was hosting Wingo while my mom and the girls stayed home and slept!

Saturday morning Ben went to a fraternity golf tournament and mom and I took the girls to see Winnie the Pooh! Betsy loved the movie and sat perfectly still and was enthralled with the movie. We went home and mom cooked lots of great food.

Sunday morning Betsy and Gee Gee surprised Ben and I with breakfast in bed. FUNNEL CAKES! We took it easy around the house, then went out for lunch and went swimming with my in-laws! Mom and I did a little shopping. We had a great dinner at Jim and Jane's and Betsy and Will were wild swimmers. Both girls fell right to sleep after we got home.

There is NOTHING like my mom visiting. She filled our fridge with yummy food, helped me clean and organized and happily fed bottles and changed diapers. The girls both demanded that Gee Gee snuggle and play with them. Ella said "Gee Gee" over and over while mom held her. SO cute!

Thanks for coming mom! Hurry back!

Words!

Ella is getting so big, and is a crawling machine and really likes standing up (pulling up). I expect to have a walking baby soon! I've also heard a few words escape from sweet Ella's mouth in the last month. So far we've heard:

Mama (my mom also got to hear this one over the weekend!)
Hi
Hey
Dada (I heard this twice last night)

Gone fishin'

In the month of June Ben took two week long fishing trips, one to Colorado and one to New Mexico. He had a fantastic time both weeks and caught some great looking fish.

On a related note, if Betsy can't see Ben she now tells me "Daddy gone fishin'."

Sean and the amazing technicolor football quilt.

I need to do a quick blog to brag on my mom for a minute. She made this quilt for Sean (little sis Lauren's sweet boyfriend) and it. is. awesome. About half the squares are from t-shirts from various Georgia tech events. The other squares she digitized and embroidered herself, including the logos for all these different awards Sean was nominated for. The end result is a great reminder of Sean's time as a GT football player!



Close ups:

Family resemblance

I find myself more and more intrigued with seeing my girls develop. Betsy has always looked like Ben. She's little Ben. They're 'the twins'. I've always loved that about her! Once my brother-in-law JD told me Betsy gets her ears from me. And my mother-in-law tells us she gets her type A personality from me (she's a bossy pants). But in the looks department, she is ALL Ben.



Bless her heart.

Imagine my surprise when I had Ella and she didn't look just like Ben! I was so used to having a mini-Ben that having a mini-Shan is so surprising to me. When people see me hold the sweetie pie they often comment that she looks just like Mommy. Ben is in denial over this, and is of the opinion that Ella looks like him.

These are a few of my baby pictures:




Here are a few of sweetie pie Ella:





This is my immediate family. Now that I'm looking so intently at Ella who has some of my features I keep trying to see whose features she has inherited. I think I look like my Mom. But I think I have my Dad's mouth, and so does Ella. When she smiles I see my Dad's smile!





It's pretty fun to look at my girls and see features and personality traits that they seem to show from both of us.

Dance Party at the water park!

Splash Park Saturday, take 2

Last Saturday was such a success we decided to make another trip to the splash park! Ben was back in town so we invited JD and Raymond...we ended up with five adults, three toddlers and two infants. We started with a picnic and Ella and Hudson seemed to enjoy splashing at the park. Bets and Will had a great time, and our friends Raymond and Ryder came along too!