Archive for the 'Ella' Category



07
Jul
10

tutu cute!

My friend, Jen, wanted to get some cool photos of the girls in their dance recital costumes in downtown Austin.  Her idea is to use some shots for her Dancelife website.  (Enroll now for the fall!)   There was a professional photographer there, but I was still allowed to bring my own camera to shoot!  I had so much fun!  The photo shoot lasted 3 hours and it was hot, but the results were worth it, don’t you think?  So cute!

downtown skyline
rilyn
rilyn
jump
tired
 
ella
ella
bffs-ella and anna
rilyn
ella waiting for ice cream at Amy’s
ella
Rilyn didn’t know I was taking pictures here
This is what Ella and Anna’s tights looked like when we were done shooting-dirty!
tutu cute!
06
Jul
10

fireworks!

We had a great July 4th weekend celebrating at my parent’s new (tree)house in College Station on their 14 acres.  This house is 10 feet off the ground on stilts!  (I will post pics another day.)  The kids had their first experience with sparklers and Rilyn even lit fireworks(with daddy supervising)!  Asher was freaked out and Ella didn’t like the noise.  Rilyn proved to be the family pyro along with James!

sisters
Ella’s first sparkler
Had to include this picture since it looks like Rilyn is lighting James bottom!
Asher getting some sparkler action
watching our own private fireworks show!
love Rilyn’s face in this one
Asher and Ella losing it with Grandma and Rilyn showing her pyro spirit
James living out his boyhood!  He could of played all night with the fireworks.
Rilyn getting brave and lighting the ‘big’ fireworks!
trying to write letters
showing off
we watched George Bush library firework show afterwards
Too loud for Ella!
Here is our attempt at a ‘cute’ family shot.  You can see Asher doesn’t want to be

tickled!  Oh well, we tried! 

screaming “Happy July 4th!”
02
Jul
10

flashback friday-july 4th edition

Rilyn’s first July 4th-1 month old
July 4th Outfit #6 (she had plenty of red, white

and blue that year!)  She spit up frequently so it was a good thing!

this girl was always in holiday style thanks to grandma!
Rilyn’s second July 4th with Cole and Jeff and daddy.  2005
Ella’s first July 4th- 2006
Rilyn July 2006
01
Jul
10

sweet dreaming

The kids were very loved on while we were gone!  When we got home,(at 11 p.m. but once again we were supposed to be home at 8:30), on Monday night from California, this is what we saw at my sister’s house.

sweet sister love

Then on the drive home on Tuesday afternoon, Asher fell asleep with his beloved cars. (We always put a big plate on his lap so he can drive his cars around on road trips.)

 
dreaming of cars I’m sure
21
Jun
10

neighborhood pool

We are blessed to have a wonderful neighborhood pool that is only about 200 yards away from our house!  This pool has some really cool slides and just this past weekend, Rilyn and Ella got brave enough to try them!

shadowglen pool slides

Here is Rilyn going down! (She only went down about 15 times that day!)

wheeeee

And here is Ella. Now Ella went 3 times before the lifeguard caught on that she wasn’t exactly tall enough. Oops!

You can tell by Ella adjusting her goggles before she

goes in, that this slide is not fast as long as you are

sitting.  But if you lay down, that’s another story!

And here is Asher sporting his new floatation device that we love!

It’s really nice to have such a fun, clean pool near us to swim in everyday. Why is it so clean? Well, because we have very specific rules.   (The last rule is my favorite.) 🙂

It makes me shudder that they even have to print rules like the last one…really,

are people that gross?

20
Jun
10

happy father’s day James

When I try to stop, (that’s hard to do!) and think about how amazing a father James is, I start to get teary-eyed. (In my old age, I cry all the time!) 😉 But seriously, “spiritual leader of our home” is the first thing I think of when I think of James as my children’s father. What a blessing to know that he wants to point our children to Christ everyday in every situation! And, he is smart and creative in the ways he chooses to do it! Seriously. This man came up with, (on a rainy Saturday), for the girls to do chores to earn money so they could buy ‘supplies’ for a person who is homeless. They went to the store later and bought a thermal blanket.
I think of James as the “funny dad” who is super goofy and loves to kid around. I am very, let’s say, ‘realistic’ and ‘down to business’ type mom and I tend to forego the ‘funny business’.  James brings the laughter in our home, and even though half the time it annoys me, the kids love it and need it! Okay, maybe I need it too. 😉  Example:  James declares as we are pulling in the driveway backwards that this is our ‘backward house’ because we are driving in backwards.  So everyone has to walk in the house backwards and do things backwards.  Drives me nuts!  But the kids love it!  🙂
James is the dad who makes up stories about princesses and knights for his daughters at bedtime that will last a couple of weeks.  Every night is a new ‘chapter’.  He takes his daughters on dates and plays soccer with them to teach them the rules.  He massages their feet after soccer games.  He dances in their dance recital, not to mention all the ‘dance parties’ he has in our living room with the kids!  He spends 2 hours making a birthday card for our daughter.  He drives Rilyn to school each morning and practices memorizing scripture with her.  They get donuts together for every scripture memorized.  I could go on and on.  We love you James!  Happy Father’s Day!   

father’s day 2010
father son
father’s day 2010
18
Jun
10

flashback friday-father edition

Happy Father’s Day weekend!!!

me and my dad circa 1985 (6 years old?)
James and his dad circa 1980
Daddy with Rilyn (notice the spit up!) 2004
daddy with newborn Ella-2006
daddy with newborn Asher making the same face and both showing their Agge pride!
01
Jun
10

little miss bossy

 

As promised, here is Ella’s dance recital routine to Someday My Prince Will Come.  Hope you get a few laughs, (Ella is the center dancer)!

30
May
10

dancing and sunsets

We had a great weekend with family here to see the girls’ dance recital yesterday.
Here is James and Rilyn’s dance to Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. This was the finale and it did not disappoint! We will post later some of Ella’s dances that were really cute (mainly because she was bossing girls around the stage!).

our family

Later that evening, we went to the Oasis to celebrate James’ mom’s birthday!

James’ family
sunset capital of Texas

I had fun taking pictures of the girls that night!

ella’s freckles!
brown eyed girl

And this is what I caught Rilyn doing on one of the decks at the Oasis. A true girly girl who was probably wishing on a star and dreaming…

28
May
10

we have rehearsals for a reason

Have you ever had a moment where you wanted to cry and laugh at the same time?  Well, I could kick myself for not bringing my video camera to the girls’ dance rehearsal yesterday!  And, I’m so glad for rehearsals because Ella would have been MORTIFIED if the same thing happened at the actual recital.  You see, we discovered at the rehearsal that the stage floor is very slippery for tap shoes and my poor Ella tried her hardest, but fell while tapping to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” like 4 times!  Each time she fell, her face got more grimaced, until finally, it was too much and Ms. Jen came out to rescue her from her tears.  I felt so bad for Ella!  She was really embarrassed and told us she wasn’t going to dance on Saturday because everyone will laugh at her.  😦  After seaching with my swagbucks last night though, I discovered that duct tape on the bottom of her taps will simply solve the problem!  Here’s to hoping and praying!  (And if not, I will have my video camera rolling this time!)

Jen tries to comfort a sobbing Ella

Another “glad it’s rehearsal” moment for me:

Ella’s boa liner tore off of her tutu at rehearsal (you can see it hanging down a bit)I’ll be fixing that tonight!
Anna and Ella dancing to “someday my prince will come”
so precious!
Rilyn is on the far left.  About to dance to Defying Gravity from the Glee soundtrack
another reason rehearsals are good for Rilyn!    😉
This picture was taken before the tap shoe debacle.  Ella in the center. 
The finale is a dad/daughter dance to Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack!James and Rilyn at the far left.
James and Rilyn at the center front

If you live in the Austin area, please come to the recital! Saturday, May 29th at 4 p.m. (lasts 30 minutes) at Manor Middle School cafeteria!