cody

well, cody seems to be smiling and cooing a little more. here is the evidence as some of you (jared jensen) have called us liars.

dress up

poor cody got trapped in the corner today. ellen got a little purse from grandma when they came down to visit and ellen wanted to see what cody would look like with her "pretties" on. we are thinking of sending cody to some karate lessons in town to better defend himself in the future.

saucer

we brought the saucer of many toys out of the garage yesterday. we didn't know if cody would fit in it yet. he did pretty well, but could use a couple more weeks of growing. ellen decided to take a stroll down memory lane before we put it in the closet for future use.

easter

easter weekend brought out the eggs and easter baskets. ellen got to hunt for her little candies and loved finding them. she is actually still hunting around for eggs. i don't think she realizes that this was a one time shot at candy dispersed around the house. we had tessa's parents over as well for easter dinner and then some planet earth in the evening.

nap time

this was a funny picture. ellen went down for her nap and we heard her jump out of bed and start playing on the floor. (that behavior is acceptable and even expected) then things got quite. this was the first time that i have entered her domain before the knock on the door, signaling the nap is over. i have always been curious as to whether she fell asleep on the floor or climbed back in bed. this picture is evidence of what must be happening. 

balloon on a string

grandma came bearing gifts, as usual. this time she brought some of those balloons on strings. there is a real name for them, i just can't think of it now. anyway, ellen has been tramping around smacking those babies back and fort. unfortunately, i must report that one of them has passed away. there was an unfortunate encounter with the popcorn ceiling. authorities are confirming that apparently one piece of popcorn was laced with glass. no suspects have been taking into custody at this time.

spring clean

when my mom and dad rolled into they brought their elbow grease. we spent a couple different days cleaning the house. one project we wanted to complete was some painting. we pulled all the interior doors off the hinges and dad painted them for us. i was inside painting the trim, and grandma was giving the kitchen an overhaul. ellen just ran back and forth between all the different projects like a miniature foreman, barking orders.

ha ha tonka

there is a state park in town called ha ha tonka. it is pretty cool. there is an old castle, a natural bridge, and lots of cool trails. we met tessa's parents at the park and spent most of the afternoon there. we all agreed that it was really pretty, but it will be fun to go back in a month or two when the flowers are out, the grass is green, and the leaves are on the trees. more pictures of ha ha tonka to come.

grandma and grandpa

ellen has loved having grandma and grandpa around. she gets more hugs and kisses and sometimes even candy. this morning grandpa was helping her put lipstick on and there is also a picture of grandma and ellen slamming some yogurt for breakfast. 

new desk

my mom and dad brought down a corner desk for us from wisconsin. we will now be blogging in style thanks to mom and dad angelo. it's a nice on huh?

national title

the last couple of weeks have ben full of basketball. when mike came down to visit we went on to dallas for the regional tournament. this last week we have been making trips to springfield for the national tournament. it has been a blast to watch my former teammates and coach battle it out in the big dance. it was also a new twist to spend the last 6 games on the bench  helping out with some small coaching tasks. this last week the royals won on tuesday, thursday, friday, and then last night for the title. they came in ranked #6 and took the cake very decisively. it was fun to be there and to watch the guys soak in a moment and level of victory that most players never experience. 

bonding time

the other morning i was going to jump in the shower and most of the time ellen likes to shower with me. she threw her toys in the bottom of the tub and i finished brushing my teeth. then all of a sudden ellen was gone. i called for her a couple of times and she didn't come. i was going to hunt her down and spank her for not coming when i called. then i saw some rustling in the bed. i found the two of them side by side and it was so cute ellen got off with a verbal warning.

open foot surgery

for the last couple weeks ellen has suddenly and repeatedly stopped walking and sat on the ground to examine her foot and say that it hurts. we didn't really take her seriously and we even had her walk in the driveway barefoot to "toughen up her feet." come to find a couple nights ago that she had a nasty splinter in her foot. well, by this time the skin had grown over and we had to dig it out. it was not a pleasant couple minutes, but the splinter has successfully been removed. i think we will pay more attention the next time that ellen tells us her foot hurts.

the new chair

my mom got me this chair for my birthday. funny thing is, ellen seems to like it as much as i do.

c-man

thought this was a cute pic of cody. it seems that he is getting bigger every day. i don't like it. he is already holding his head up and is trying to stand on his own. if you keep him balanced he will stand for a minute or two. crazy kid.

the great weather

the weather has been awesome recently. we have been in the 70's more than a couple time in the last two weeks. today and yesterday it has been in the 60's and it should be really nice again tomorrow. ellen has been out in the yard as much as possible and cody has been hanging out on the front porch.

sitting in the sun right now on the front porch typing, i am nice and toasty. there is a cool breeze but if you stay in the sun it is almost perfect. ellen is sitting on the steps right in front of me stacking rocks in nice little piles.

last weekend

last weekend one of my college buddies came through to visit. he came down on thursday and we took off friday morning for dallas, tx. the grace royals played in the regional tournament and we went to be assistant coaches. they won both games and are playing in the national tournament this week. on tuesday after tessa gets off work we are going to springfield (1 hr) to watch them in the 6 o'clock game.
ellen liked her uncle mike and he liked reading her books.

potty

ellen got a little potty the other day and has really been enjoying it. she actually loves to sit on that thing. she'll take her book and sit on the john for 20 minutes or so. we have even had 2 successful deposits in the bank. 

the walk

the other day was a great day for a walk. we had some snow and cold for about a week and then the 75's came along. we went out for a walk among the melting snow. it was awesome. today we had 80's and it felt like we were in texas. 

cody got to ride in the stroller and ellen and i used the kelty backpack on the bike. she learned the word "bike" and asks to go for rides about 5 times every day.