Oklahomala. . .

. . . as Ella refers to it.

My grandma and Kate, aren't they beautiful?

Want to win Ella over? Read her a book. She can rarely resist.

Ella was putting "gaso-lation" in the tank.

 (She knew 'gas' had a long name, but forgot what it was.)

Isn't she too young to give me looks like this?
Someday she'll be looking out a real car window with this face.

I feel like I have to say 'no' to so many things Kate wants to do; I didn't want to tell her she couldn't play in the dirt. She made such a mess of herself, but had the time of her life. (I did eventually have to find something else for her to do when she started to eat it. . .)

Evolution of a (Pretend) Phone Converstaion

As long as Ella has been able to talk, she would pretend to talk on one of Jon or my old cell phones. The first conversation is from roughly fifteen months ago. The last one is parts from two different phone calls this last week. She likes to talk while I jog with the girls in the stroller, but I haven't remembered at the right time to throw in a camera or paper and pencil to record what she says. (Since these conversations, I've tried twice - unsuccessfully - to get Ella to have a conversation. Me: Ella, your phone is ringing! Ella: No, it's not.)

Me: Who are you talking to?

Ella: Oma.

Me: How is she?

Ella: Good.

Me: What is she doing?

Ella: Dough.

(The above conversation happened daily and over time, it turned into "make dough" and then "making dough".)

***

While punching on keys,
Ella: I'm texting Grandma.

***
Ella: Are you on your way home? (I must frequently ask Jon this when I talk to him after school/practice.)
***

Ella: Ring, ring. Hello, Oma! ....How is your week?... Do you feel good or bad? ...Bad (spoken to me). ...Are you going to the doctor?... She's going to the doctor (again, spoken to me).... Where is Opa?... Good...Is Myla there?... We are coming to see you... no, we are not coming to see you... we are going home right now... have a good trip... sweet dreams. (Her inflection is really appropriate and sweet through all of this. I love it.)

(Mostly because a post about Ella should include a picture of her) I can't believe how grown up she looks in this picture. . . if only it weren't for the bit of lunch still hanging on to her face. 

A New Toy

 A few days ago I finally made the plunge and bought myself (or us, I'm sure Jon would like to think it is his too) a digital SLR camera. It is not something I really thought I would feel comfortable spending money on since we already have a camera and I bring in $0 a year. But. . . my dad encouraged me to think about it. And think about it I did! I would classify my dad as someone who is sensible about spending, and if he thought it was worth it, who am I to argue? It only took me about thirty days to decide between yes and no, and then what camera, and then what lens to buy. While I don't enjoy spending money, I am very excited to have one my my hobbies back. I didn't realize how much I missed it, and I can just cry thinking about being able to take quality photos of my girls.  I took some photography classes in high school and college back when we used film in cameras. What I remember most about playing around with different settings, is that I had to write down each f-stop and shutter speed and wait till I developed the film to compare. (Provided I kept track correctly, and didn't mess up the shot in some other way.) I feel like most of my photography education (or at least what I remember) was how to frame a good shot, and not how to technically use your settings to take a good shot. In the few days I've had it, I've played around only a little and can already see how awesome this is going to be compared to my film camera. There is so much to learn! (And boy, are Ella and Kate going to get sick of being photographed. . . )