My dad smiling that is. He is not one who generally enjoys smiling for the camera. But he was here visiting last week and I managed to get these pictures of him and Ella...and if I'm not mistaken that is a genuine smile on his face. Was it the stern direction I gave right before taking these pictures to please smile like he meant it? Or is Ella just such a cool kid that he couldn't help but smile? I'd like to think it was the latter. Because obviously, she is the coolest. Either way, thanks for the smiles Dad.
In other news...
Dream Dinners Update
We have tried out three of our Dream Dinners and thankfully they were all quite tasty and, dare I say, dreamy! So far we have had the following:
- Lemon baked tilapia w/baby shrimp and a side of steamed broccoli
- Gorgonzola steak with a side of baked potatoes
- Chicken milano w/artichoke hearts served over spaghetti with a side Caesar salad
Yum...I am really enjoying having actual meals every night!
Weekend Project
This was our big project over the weekend:
Hanging curtains may not seem like a big deal to some, but for people who have only hung up three things in the entire 20 months they have lived in their home (and I am talking about me and Matt here, in case you were wondering), it really is quite a feat. Sadly, all of those three things we hung have been in Ella's room. What can I say? We have a fear of putting holes in our walls. And it doesn't help that we aren't the handiest folks around the house.
Anyway, this all came about because the blinds in Ella's room haven't been filtering out enough light during these long summer days, and she was having a hard time sleeping. More specifically, she had taken to waking up at about 5 AM with the sunrise. Needless to say, we wanted to put a stop to that ASAP. So we hung a big, black fleece blanket over the window. It worked great at keeping out the light, but since it was hard to keep taking it down during the day and then putting it back up in the evening, we just left it up there all the time. And it was really depressing. So we finally sucked it up and decided to spend the money on these cute curtains for Ella's room. And now she officially has the nicest room in the house. Really, she had the nicest room even before the curtains, but this was the icing on the cake.
Another Airport Adventure
Ella and I leave on Wednesday to fly up to Portland, OR, to visit family. I am not so much looking forward to braving the airport alone with Ella again, but at least this time I have my handy backpack contraption for the car seat. I hope to have a lot of fun pictures when we get back. I'm planning to take Ella to the zoo for the first time, and also head to the Oregon Coast for a day. Should be a blast! Oh, and to my fellow Gymboree addicts, Gymbucks redemption start on Thursday, and I am quite excited to be able to spend them in a state with no sales tax!