Nice...

It was so nice to sleep in today...
Happy Memorial Day!
The weather was rainy and a bit too cold for a picnic so we decided to have one indoors.


Then we left to visit the mall with the giant "breakfast food". As usual she had a blast until it was time to go. She was so very sad.




Tonight as we were surfing the channels, E.T. was on and Ella Bella was immediately drawn in.

She saw it for the first time not too long ago with my family and loved it, until the end when E.T. goes home and says goodbye to Elliott. And of course she got really quiet and the tears started right at that same part as before. She has a tender heart. E.T. phone home.
I had forgotten how much I loved this movie.

Fun in the Bluegrass

Gabriella with Mousey:
We had a fun dance session in the kitchen singing along to the soundtrack from the movie Enchanted. Ella Bella got really into it.







"Four Eyes"

Pawpa has candy for Gabriella


Doggie kisses and fun with more cousins.

Lots of hugs and kisses to my family. What a blessing you are to me.
Lauren and Erin you are so fun to be with...
Dad is wonderful and kind and nothing can compare to a mother's hugs. You instantly feel better. Maybe it's cause you feel like a kid again and you know if you ever get hurt she can make it better. I had to get an extra one in before I left to get on the plane. Thanks to Steve for being so great and supportive. It was the best trip.

Video to come...

"Law, that's the prettiest baby I ever saw"

Granny Martin's funeral was a week ago and even though death brings sadness we have the knowledge that no one is truly gone forever.

You can see the obituary on this website.
http://www.hallfuneralservice.com

Gabriella was her only great-great granddaughter.
This photo was taken back in 2006 when Ella Bella was about 4 months old.

Since I was able to be there for the funeral it was a wonderful opportunity to take a bunch of pictures and see my little cousins, who aren't so little anymore. I hadn't seen them since I got married back in 2002.
Here I am with Uncle Pete, Pete IV and Kate





Here is Gabriella on the drive down, once she woke we kept her happy with some Hannah Montana music.

Us with Pawpa and Erin with Aunt Geri


At the airport...time to go back to Denver

3 months in the making

A while back I decided that Meredith's shoe storage was lacking. We had tons of boxes, and no easy way to see all of her shoes together. So I decided to build some custom shelves to fit the space we have in our strangely shaped walk-in closet. I bought the wood in about February, and then got really sick. Getting sick had one major effect on this project: it nearly extinguished it. A lot of times when I decide to do a project, I have to go through a design phase (yes, I designed this myself), and then when I figure out my bill of materials, I go for it. Well, this time, by the time my sinuses cleared, the fire had died. I would look at my pile of wood, and my stomach would hurt. When would I do my project?

Well, Meredith is visiting her folks this week, so I decided that now was the time. I had made the baby steps (which seemed like large ones) to cut the wood and stain the appropriate pieces before this week, and Meredith, in her desperation for a normal closet/bedroom (we had taken the old shelves down, so shoes were all over the place), had primed the painted pieces for me.

So I set out to work...I painted the pieces, and then I figured out how I would attach everything together. Here's the first stage of the assembly:

So if it isn't obvious, this thing is big. This is only half of the shelving. Next, I put together the other half, and then attached the bottom and top. Here it is in stage two of assembly:

As you can see, we're starting to get there. Lastly, I moved the rack into the closet, screwed on the legs, and loaded it up. Here's the finished product, shoes and all:

Well, there you have it. Three months (or probably more...maybe five or so) of work culminated. I'd say it was fun, but it was a lot of work. The fun part was solving the problem, which explains a lot about why I'm an engineer I guess.

Best of Both Worlds

Yep, that's Gabriella under all that hair!

Presenting..."Little Hannah Montana"


We found this Hanna Montana wig at Dillard's for $3.00. It was too good to pass up! I guess we know what Ella Bella will be for Halloween, if she keeps the wig on that is.
Where did Ella Go?

Me and my Rock Star!