Can you tell they're related?

Paige & Ella playing at Uncle Charlie's house for the Indy 500 party. They're 4 years apart in age. Grandma Ellen grinning in the background!

Charles on the Waverunner

Here's Charles on the waverunner over the weekend. The water was a little cold, hence the wetsuit.

Crazy Kid

Here's the crazy kid about half way on the picnic table. She thought it would be fun, so we battled with her trying to keep her off the top of the tables all weekend!

Laura & Ella at the Lake

Here are Laura & Ella at the lake. I think they were having a snack at this time.

At the lake

Here is Ella at Five Island Lake in Emmetsburg over the Memorial Day weekend. We stayed at the lake with Don & Brenda & Kory and Carmen & Jamie & Laura & Colten. Ella had a lot of fun playing as did Charles & I.

Last summer, we had a heck of a time trying to keep a hat on Ella to keep the sun out of her eyes. I pulled this one out of the basket for the weekend and Ella tapped the top of her head to put the hat on her. She did very good and left it on most of the time that we wanted it on her.

We'll be curious to see how she does when the water gets warmer and she can actually go swimming. She loves taking baths and playing with the hose outside and was pretty interested in the Waverunner when Charles went out with it. I think she'll be waiting at least another year till she gets a ride on that!

Did I mention Ella likes to dance?

Here is Ella dancing again at Laura & Craig's wedding.

Dancing

We've been to a couple of weddings in the past few months and Ella is really starting to enjoy dancing. Here she is with her cousin Laura at her other cousin Laura Anliker's wedding.

Congrats Laura & Craig!

Yum, twinkies!

Yup, Ella likes twinkies. This was just after she ate her first twinkie all by herself. She got so mad when we tried to help her, so we put her in the chair instead and let her go to town. She didn't even make a mess, except on her face and hands!

Yum, twinkies!

Yup, Ella likes twinkies. This was just after she ate her first twinkie all by herself. She got so mad when we tried to help her, so we put her in the chair instead and let her go to town. She didn't even make a mess, except on her face and hands!

Friendly child

Ella has really gotten friendly lately saying Hi and Bye to everything. Duste in the morning, daycare at night. Even the birds in the yard. You can see the bird toward the back of the picture by the tree. She doesn't understand that the bird will fly away if she gets too close.

Ella really enjoys being outside either chasing Dad around the yard, eating dirt, planting flowers, playing in her playhouse or on her slide or even throwing her various balls around the yard.

Observing

Ella is becoming very observant these days. Here she is watching Charles shampoo our carpets. She is such a happy little kid, except when she's teething.

Ella loves her tricycle

Ella loves playing on her tricycle, even if it's just pushing it around, or falling off it.

Planting Hostas

Charles & I were planting hosta's from my grandparents' home last night and Ella was our little helper. We couldn't believe she was picking them up. She even put this one in the hole that Charles dug.

The Orange Gang

Here is Ella, Laura (our niece and Ella's cousin) and I at the anniversary of Charles' Aunt & Uncle, Sis & Jim Bargman over the weekend. Since we were all wearing orange, we thought it'd be a good time to take a picture!