"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows follow behind you"

Theres a field near our house with hundreds of sunflowers. They bloom and die pretty quickly so you have to catch it at the right time of year. My mom, Ella, and Emma, and I headed to take some pics last Friday. Bear with me through yet another huge blog post. But all of you came here for the pics anyways, right?

2 year check up

(waiting on the doctor. excuse the side smile. this is her saying cheese which I was not the one that taught her that)

Ella had her two year visit yesterday. As always, the car ride there consisted of her telling me the doctor was going to listen to her chest, check her mouth, ears, and eyes.
Her stats were:
wt 24lbs 11oz (25th%)
ht 34" (50th%)

That's 3 inches of growth since her 18month visit! And a little less than a pound in weight. We were glad for the growth as at the last visit the doc was a bit concerned that she hadnt grown since before 12 months.
As always the doctor feels she is advanced in all areas and especially with language development.

So far we have been very lucky with literally no tantrums. We may get to that point and we may not. Only time will tell.
She does have her moments of stubborness and currently when upset uses the phrase "I cant do it!" or her new one (and our favorite) is "I cant like that!".
For example yesterday she was upset with the pinprick in the toe to test iron levels and as the nurse went to put on a bandaid Ella yelled out "I cant like that!"
Or tonight she was trying to cut her wooden carrot play food and was having a difficult time. She starts yelling "I cant do it". It was hilarious once she was able to cut it and with each cut, she whispered to herself "I feel better, I feel better".
We definitely get some laughs out of this little girl!

Family, Food, Fun

Saturday evening after Ella's birthday party we went over to Tom's cousins who live in Loveland. We were able to spend time with family, bbq, and hang out. Ella was a bit out of sorts that night. Think it was all the change in structure with her sitter out of town, guests in town, and her bday party that day.

Tom's grandmother wanted to get some pictures of four generations together.

We spent awhile out in the backyard which Jackie is currently trying to get wildlife certified. It's such a nice, quiet piece of land tucked in such a busy city.

Hops the Klofta's are growing for brewing their own beer..

Hanging out in the Rathskeller

Of course there's always some Packer gear to be found at Klofta's. Go Pack Go!

We are never let down by the food at Kloftas. You cant go wrong with steak, chicken, potatoes, cucumber salad, raemen salad, and corn on the cob. Thanks guys for another amazing meal.

Teamwork cleaning up...