Fathers day

Fathers day was fun and exciting. I let Ella wake Joe up really early- so he knew that she was wishing him a happy day! She got him a Mario cart game for his nintendo 64- she even wrapped it in a diaper herself.
We started the day with a tour of Forest Lawn- its a historic cemetery downtown.

We saw a lot of cool things -some of the weird stuff people do when they die.

That marker was the best one- it says "I told you I was sick"

Ella had fun too- she was "mostly" good. She rode in her buggy up and down all the hills in the humid heat.

Some of the sculptures were really beautiful - Joe got in all of his artsy shots-
A lot of the more elaborate tombs had good stories behind them- We saw the woman who made the pledge of allegiance a common practice in schools, the guy that started Pierce Automotive, the people that invented right and left shoes and the shoe tongue and Pres. Milliard Fillmore- who founded the SPCA-so that was cool - and they were all right here in Buffalo- We also went to see the blue sky memorial- it was made by Frank Lloyd Wright- it costs a ridiculous amount of money to be buried there- so I guess only one plot has ever been sold - and that guy isn't dead yet- so no one is there.

At the end there was a raffle and mom won! She got a book of pictures and crazy stories over the past few hundred years that the cemetery has been there.

Afterwards we went to Pano's on Elmwood- Joe and I ordered crab- When we got it, we were surprised to find we actually ordered two little crabs- they were super cute and we had no idea how to eat them-But don't worry - Joe found a way!

Fun with Babcia and the kids

Last week Tuesday- mom and I took Ella out to Harry's for lunch and then we were headed to the zoo. But when we were driving up the river- mom was saying how she always wanted to walk the break wall- and since we had nothing better to do-and there is no time like the present- we went! It was really nice- you could check out the water, Canada, fish and all the weirdos of Buffalo who also had nothing to do on a Tuesday afternoon- we fit in great!

On Saturday- it was raining like crazy and mom had Kelly's kids because Kelly was out "golfing". So we all had the rainy day blues and nothing to do- or any money for that matter.

I had heard about the civil war reenactment in Amherst- so we took the kids out to see a real battle. They were all super excited when we got in the car.



And they were all asleep 15 mins later when we got there...

But it was great, we were all pretty much soaked from the rain but we had lots of fun. In fact, Uncle Don and Marcus were there too. I think Josh's favorite part was the blacksmith. He was making a spoon and Josh thought it was the coolest thing ever. Actually the blacksmith may have been second only to the big cannons. They were crazy loud. The ground shook when they were fired- and Ella didn't even cry- she's super tough.



I asked the kids to pick a side before the battle started- they both picked blue because there looked like there were more blue then gray. It was unclear who won in the end cause a lot of the blue guys died- so we went over the the union camp and Josh asked if they won- but the guy we asked remained in character and said he was shot in the beginning and then was captured and released- so he wasn't sure...annoying. So I told Josh to go home and look it up.

I think everyone had a great time- even Ella- she got to really be out in the rain for the first time.

Well- I hope the blue team won!

Funny Faces

Parade

We did a lot this week. I hung out with my mom a bit because it was her last week of disability before going back to work. She had a doctor's appointment out by our old house in Cheektowaga- so we stopped by.

The house is very much the same, but pretty different too. We also drove by the local pool- where all us Arnold kids learned to swim. It was a nice walk down memory lane.

Josh graduated from Kindergarten this week. He was super cute in his cap and gown. We didn't get to go to the ceremony- but we did go for ice cream after! I think having her own cone is Ella's latest favorite thing.

The next day we went to Ella's first parade over at the Shawnee fire hall. It has all sorts of stuff in it- including a bunch of German people in funny outfits...it was pretty loud and Ella hated it - right up until she got a bunch of candy from a clown. She ate 3 suckers and was a sticky mess by the end.

Look at the drool I put up with on her shirt- it was all over.

and here is a quick pic of what I caught Joe and Ella doing on Sunday morning while I got to sleep in- I hope that's decaf.

Bubbles!

Well, this morning Ella woke up at about 4:30 am and I usually put her back to sleep down stairs because Joe always wakes her up later when he gets ready for work. This morning, Ella was extra crabby and would not go back to sleep- so I rocked her and gave her a pacifier but nothing seemed to work. Then she found this teddy bear in her crib and hugged it super tight and finally fell asleep- it was super cute so I risked waking her up by taking a picture of it.

We have been really bored since I have very little to do each day- so we clean and go for walks or play outside.

Today we went to get ice cream and Ella got her own cone- she had a fit every time I tried to help her with it- I totally got the "look" a few times. Luckily Babcia came and had a frozen banana that we were able to distract her with just long enough to get the melted slimy gummed to nothing cone out of her little sticky hands. Of course now I have banana smush all over the inside of my new car....but what are you gonna do? ...don't tell Joe.

After ice cream we found a bubble machine that I bought a little bit ago but never opened. Well- Ella cried at first- I think that she was not cool with something she liked popping and then she could no longer touch it. But after Babcia told her it was ok- Ella discovered that bubbles are the greatest thing ever!

The video of her laughing turned out so funny that I posted it on youtube.

The new swing and josh's 6th birthday

Yesterday we put up Ella's new baby swing- We got it from Aunt Kelly. Ella is just ecstatic about it. When she sees the swing she jumps up and down and giggles.

After playing on the swing for a bit- we went to Josh's party at Fairmount park. It was cold- so Ella was a bit crabby, but we had fun going down the slide and playing on the swings.

The best present Josh got was a voice changer from Uncle Jake. Here is some video of Aunt Nancy playing with it :)

Who ever said Arnold's don't run?

Well This Thursday- Kelly and I ran our first 5k!! We did corporate Challenge in Delaware Park- and I have to say it was a ton of fun. Joe ran too- but he is a veteran runner. There was a big upset at the finish line though- Kelly beat Joe by 2 mins. Kelly was the man at this race- she even found me at the end and re-ran the last bit with me.

It was a really cool thing that we all did together- I think we will do it every year now.

Oh- and there were Buffalo there- why not.

The next day we all stopped by Josh's field day events. He was tearing up the field and winning a ton of awards. He kept telling me he wanted to get third place because that was the only ribbon he didn't get.

He was so funny- you can see just how competitive he is- must be an Arnold thing :)

Out and About

Yesterday Ella and I did work around the house and then went to visit uncle Jake and Aunt Heather. But first we played outside. I was doing some gardening- which meant that Ella got to sneak eating a bunch of grass behind my back. She is really good at it- I bet she can put away more grass then babies double her size.

We also played on Ella's new baby slide- it was really fun- except Ella seems to just like hanging out it in- I think we need to get more comfortable with it before we venture all the way through he tunnel.

After playing outside we went over to the Arnold's. We had a fun bike ride around town. Sydney and Nathan got all dressed up in their safety gear- and not to be left out- Ella got to try on a helmet.

To be honest- she ended up holding the helmet and not wearing it-but I'm sure just having it on her lap somehow contributed to her well being.

When we got back to their house- we decided to have dinner with everyone. Aunt Heather's food is always very yummy!

After dinner - all the kids took a bath in the big tub. We found out that Ella's hair is the perfect length to make her look like an onion, what a great ending to a busy day.