A Few Updates Before the Big Event...

Just wanted to update on stuff up to this point since the next blog will (yes, WILL! I am certain she will come someday!) be about the new arrival. We have an induction scheduled for Sunday evening if she doesn't decide to come out by then.

On July 18th Ella and I attended Adrian's first birthday!! I can't believe how big he is getting! We had a great time at the party and it was nice to see some people that we don't hang out with very often. Sabrina took time to hang out with her and Ella just loved it! They drew with chalk, blew bubbles and she even kicked the soccer ball around a bit (adding to Christmas list - check!).

Adrian was so adorable in his overalls and took a liking to the "Raven" doggie that Ella had to bring a long that day. Ella did good sharing for a while, but eventually we had to sneak it away from Adrian.

It was cute to see Ian and Zack interact with ther little cuz too!

Ella even sat nice for a picture with great grandma Betty.

At this point the camera battery died and I have no pictures of the rest of the day - Boo!

Anyways, after the party we stopped to watch Jake and the Tiff's Two for Ones play a tournament game for Highland Fest. Ella loved seeing the game and trying to pick out all of "her boys" in the field (this included Daddy, Jeremy, and EZ). It was cute.

Then we headed off to the Howland's for their annual BBQ. It was fun to have all the kids together playing and just hang and eat and talk.

A couple weekends later we had another birthday party to attend for Sophia who is now 4!! It was at Lake Elmo beach and the weather was so perfect. We had good food and all the kids had a blast swimming (or trying to learn in Ella's case) and playing on the beach. The girls also dug right into their tinkerbelle cupcakes!! (Somehow I missed getting a pic of Nora! - sorry Sonja and Nate)

Otherwise it has been a fairly typical summer, except for the cooler weather. We have managed to get out and enjoy the nice days when we can!

The dogs have been enjoying the cooler temps for sure...

Glory Girl Frankenstein

Spooky Patch Diablo

Ella has been very insistent on playing with other kids lately so we have tried to hook up with the neighbors more. Here is Ella and Caleb having fun in the pool. It actually wasn't even that warm out by adult standards, but they just kept swimming and laughing with their purple lips!

I finally managed to remember to get a picture of Ella with my big belly....

..and then Ella had to play photographer as well....she didn't do too bad!

Last night we found Ella had an enormous splinter on the bottom of her foot! After a couple ours of negotiating, trying, failing to get cooperation, then negotiating again we finally just held her tight and got it out. I am sure our neighbors were wondering what the hell we were doing to our child to make her scream and cry so much (the noise began as soon as we grabbed her foot). Jake was the surgeon and I was the restrainer. She flailed the first time, but after saying her other option was daddy holding and mommy being the surgeon, she grudgingly succombed. She cried and it must have hurt a lot, but she managed to not kick and Jake finally got it out. She was really brave in the end and it was hard to see her in pain, but it had to be done. It was a quarter inch long....

Soon after she was blissful again with a baggie of gummy worms and a cup of ginger ale!

Hope everyone is well and we shall be talking to you again very soon!!

Love,

The Allens