Miss Ella is 11 months old today!

I had to write a post today, because I can't believe that our baby girl is so close to her 1st birthday! She turned 11 months old today and boy does it show. She is quickly approaching toddler hood. She is all over the place! She crawls up, down and even inside things. She is cruising the furniture and even getting brave and will let go for a few seconds. She recently got a new baby doll stroller push toy and is having a lot of fun pushing it around the house. She is not to interested in the baby doll though, as we find it thrown in the corner or she is chewing on it!

Some new accomplishments this past month were learning to say: Mom (very clear), go, baba (we think that is bye-bye), and "yeah" when she claps her hands. She has also mastered doing "so-big", shaking her head no, and waving! It is so fun to have her do her tricks. Although when all the boys start asking her she gets confused and will mix them up! She also loves any type of ball, and giggles when she sees Dora the Explorer. Very cute....

I can't help but think back to this time last year when I had a high risk pregnancy and was in and out of the doctors office for tests and having to count fetal kicks....how stressful! I am so thankful that she arrived safely and our family has been so blessed by her addition.

Coming up soon for Ella....HER 1st birthday!

I tried to get a picture of Ella to post today, but she would not sit still! So I thought it made sense to capture that!

Miss Ella 11 months

Great Wolf Lodge

We got home from the 4th of July just long enough to do laundry and re-pack for another trip up north. Although we love Holland, there is nothing like northern Michigan in the summer!
We went to Traverse City to take in some of the Cherry Festival and also stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was an awesome little family get away. The older boys pretty much did there own thing between the water park and the arcade, with periodic check-in's. It really gave us a taste of how grown up they are becoming.
Now we are home and grounded for a few weeks!

Traveling...

We had a great 4th of July. We traveled up to the cottage and stayed for a few days. We went into Manistee and the kids enjoyed the parade and festivities. Sarah drove over from Traverse City with Chandler and Olivia and spent the day with us as well. The kids learned that small town parades are where it is at! They were shocked to see how much candy they ended up with!
We spent the remainder of the weekend at the lake surrounded by family with perfect weather. We were also able to celebrate Logan's 9th birthday with all the Sandstedt cousins!

4th of July