License to drive... already?!!

To say that it's hard keeping up with Miss A these days would the biggest understatement of the year...

• She's talking in full sentences enough to have a legitimate conversation
• Her vocabulary is likely around 200 words but probably more than that
• She has memorized and spontaneously sings entire songs
• She remembers many favorite story books and can fill-in the narration of certain pages
• She can follow two and three step directions
• Reminds us of things we promise her and makes sure we follow through with them
• Actively contributes to prayer time by verbalizing appropriate gratitude for things she's thankful for/enjoys
• She is climbing all over the place and will scale just about anything if you let her
• She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to vocalize it even if it means giving you a very specific directive (but, to her credit, she does say please and thank you)

And the list above is far from exhaustive! This is just all that D and I have been able to brainstorm because, as stated above, it is VERY hard to keep up with her learning something new and astounding us with her amazing toddler talents!

Tonight she really surprised us and put on a whole "show" of using her imagination and pretending that she was driving her baby around in her car. Wanna see?

Are you seeing this? She's underneath of her table! And she's got her little play driving console and she's shifting the gear shift!!!!! And let it be known that she was actually under the table WITHOUT her driving console pretending just fine. I was the one who actually slid the console in under the table with her because I thought it might be a little more fun for her! (I'm so unimaginative now that I'm adult the way I think you can't just pretend, eh?)

Here's a couple of better pictures of her "driving."

Just to clarify, that's her phone and it's called her "STRAWberry" phone and NOT a blackberry. (It's my old BB and she calls it every other type of berry but never a blackberry. *shrug*)

The above is actually how it all started. She was just climbing under the table and putting her keys in the various holes that were drilled in it to build it.

*sigh* She's growing up so fast!! D and I actually just went to pre-register her for preschool today. *GULP!* She's slated to start right after Christmas/Winter break ends for us at the start of the New Year. They've even said that of the two classrooms that she could be placed in, she will likely go into the more advanced class. Before we know it she WILL be asking for the keys to our cars and driving. We better watch out because would you be able to say "no" to a face like this...

... I'm thinking we won't. (We're such suckers!)

She could be on the next Dancing with the Stars

Miss A was in rare form last night. I got a number of good videos of her but this one is by far and away my most favorite so far!

She has this toy that she's discovered that's actually a baby toy - the very first one we actually ever bought for her when we found out I was pregnant. Well, it looks like a bouquet of flowers and when you press the blossoms, they play different songs music box style. Tonight she was dancing to the songs and having a grand ol' time. The best part is about halfway through when the song switches up on her and she actually changes her style of dancing to match the change in the style of music. I was just about holding my breath while I was filming it because I was going to laugh like crazy and I didn't want to make her embarrassed and stop doing it.

Feast your eyes on this... it's a good one...

The post you've all been waiting for

I know.

Why have we not posted pictures of our roof before?

I mean, it's WAY more interesting than pictures and/or videos of Miss A.

So.... without further adieu...

Our roof, ladies and gentlemen!!

Not nearly as exciting as you thought it would be? Yeah, well allow me to just state the obvious: It's really not all that great. (But perhaps that's because of the sad state of disrepair that it's in.

Allow me to make up for all of the silly roof nonsense with a picture of Miss A.

To answer your questions:

Yes. Miss A is wearing a shirt meant for a boy.

Yes. The shirt says "I do my own stunts."

Yes. Though Miss A might sometimes wear clothes meant for a boy, she will always be such a little girly-girl that picking sweet little bouquets of flowers will always rank high up there on her to-do list.

A peek behind the lens

It's a rare thing for me to be in front of the camera. But just so I can formally introduce you to the amazing piece of technological equipment that I'm now going to be using, thought I'd share the updated artist self-portrait that I'm going to be using to represent myself. The last one I took is from over five years ago and I thought I'd change things up a bit since I'm definitely not the gal I used to be. Care to see how far I've come? Here you go...

THEN: A rare moment of pause at a Jewish Orthodox Wedding I was shooting with my camera and dedicated flash on a bracket that flipped.

NOW: Less the long hair but PLUS so many more years of both life and professional photography experience and in full-frame sans a bracket!

Stay tuned for updates on all of my adventures. New camera, will travel...

All of us Ellwoods... now in FULL-FRAME

Here in the Ellwood house, we are big believers in divine intervention. We owe it all to the Lord for the things He's blessed us with us and we do it all for the Lord because it's only right to pay forward when you've received tremendous blessings.

Currently we're in a state of flux with regard to God's blessings...

• D is in his last year of graduate school and working his way towards a doctorate
• I'm in the process of applying to a grad school program that I looked two years for and was convinced didn't exist until it (essentially) found me.
• Miss A is just more of a delight and joy every day with the things she says (yesterday she wished D a "Happy Birthday" - mind you, it's months from it) and does (this morning she made us breakfast in "My kitchen" as she calls it)

And our most recent great blessing is that I was finally able to upgrade most all of my photography gear. This is something that I have been dreaming and thinking about for YEARS and praying about with all of my heart. But the fact of the matter is, these types of things take time and more specifically God's time. This was something that was all just a matter of God providing it in His good time.

So, without any further adieu, I present you All of Us Ellwoods the way God sees it... in Full-Frame (aka from my new pro-grade camera body) ...


His provisions, mercy, and grace are new everyday. And it's only because of Him that we have what we have and we're doing what we're doing. Thanks be to God.

Half bookworm, half night owl

Oh Miss A... what are we going to do with her?

Check this out:



Yes. That is Miss A. And YES, she is reading books in her bed with a FLASHLIGHT when she's supposed to be winding down and going to sleep!!!

Honestly though? It's hard for me to be mad about this because 1) she gets her hybrid ways of being a bookworm/night owl from D himself and 2) SHE'S JUST SO DARN CUTE!!!!

I mean, REALLY, people! Have you ever seen anything so sweet? She's so into books that she'll go to whatever means necessary to be able to read them in the dark!!! For parents like us (who are teachers), this is something that we couldn't be more proud of. And all I gotta say to Miss A about that is this: Go on with ya bad self, lady baby! GO ON!

---

P.S. Miss A's latest chuckle worthy moment: This morning D was changing her and getting her dressed and she said the following - "That poop was Ah-MAY-zing!!!" *We have no idea where she got this from since she certainly hadn't done any such thing in her pants. *

P.P.S. Lack of regular posting here is due largely because my camera died on me about two weeks ago and then mysteriously started working again - this also happened a couple of months ago. I completely expect it to go kaput for good any day now so I'm in the process of getting a new one/upgrading and you better believe I will announce it here when that blessed day arrives.

Throwback day: Let's go, Stillers!!!

This is a bit of a throwback that I stumbled upon just this week as I was cleaning out and reorganizing our hard drive. Miss A was about eight months old in this picture and I had gone out for the day only to come back and find them dressed out for a Steelers game on TV.


The other day when Miss A woke up she said two things:

1. "I wake up."
2. "I wanna watch football!"

What can I say? A love for football and Steelers is just in her blood.