Life with the Hartsock's

Dallas Zoo

We decided that we would finish celebrating Ella by going to the zoo on Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful, especially considering the last time we were there it was about 103! Lolli, Champ, Josh and Jenny came with us too! We made it just in time to see the Lion feedings!

Everyone got to feed the giraffe's

Brian tried to feed our kids to the alligators...

My 3 little monkies with the monkies...check out Haynes riding on his back!

Ella and Uncle Josh...I love this picture!

Ou/Texas

We had a birthday breakfast with Grandad, JuJu, Blake, Marci, Anna, Jade, Elizabeth, Lolli, Champ, Josh and Jenny!

Ella gets roses from Lolli and Champ each year on her birthday...yes we were a little cranky from our lack of sleep:-)

We took Ella to the American Girl store to pick out a doll for her birthday. She LOVED it! She walked right in and enjoyed playing with every doll and accessory in the place. Elizabeth loved it too!

We bought the first doll Ella picked out, but in the time it took for us to pay for it she fell madly in love with another doll. When we handed her cute blond doll she said, "I don't like her. I love this baby!" We tried to convince her that we were going to put the other baby back, but she was quite insistent that she only loved the baby. Brian, the best dad ever, quickly returned our first purchase and bought the correct baby. We haven't put her down since:-)

Next we headed to the Texas State Fair. Yes this is the only picture we have from the fair because it was CrAzY!!! The best thing I can say about going to the fair was that we made a memory!!!

Ella's Birthday Morning!

I just have to tell the story of Friday night because it's one we don't want to forget:-)

We put the boys on a fold out bed together and we thought we would let Ella try to sleep in our bed with us since she didn't seem too fond of the crib. After Brian and I sat in the hall for about 20 minutes I went in to find the boys in bed trying to sleep and Ella just sitting up talking to the boys! We put her in the crib for the next 30-45 minutes of screaming...I decided that most parents would go lay down with their kids to get them to sleep, so I tried it. Ella thought this was a great idea and couldn't stop talking. "Where's Haynes? Where's Jade? Where's Port?" My next move was to get help from Brian, so he came to bed and tried to lay down with her. In the process he knocked the phone off the table. Ella says, "What's that Daddy? What's that? Daddy, where's Haynes? etc" I cannot stop laughing because we can't get her to stop talking! After about 30 seconds of silence I look up and find Ella face to face with me and she says, "Love you mommy!" After saying, "I love you Ella!" she was moved back to the crib for about an hour of screaming!

When she finally fell asleep around 11:45ish we thought we had won....about 4:30 she got up again ready to chat! After finally going to sleep about 6ish, the boys were ready for action about 6:30...

What a night!!!

She LOVED her new shoes Daddy got her!

Opening gifts with the boys!

NorthPark

Our first stop in NorthPark we found Grandad and JuJu. It was the perfect spot for the kids! They loved reading books with Grandad.

Next JuJu and I took Ella into CrewCuts. She was perfectly entertained by the girl section of shoes. She quickly tried all of them on and proclaimed they are so "cute!"

Anna, Jade, and Elizabeth showed up and we had a blast!

Ice Cream with Port and Jade

Ice Cream with Haynes and Anna

Dallas Arboretum

We headed down to Dallas on Friday morning for OU/Texas weekend. We decided we would take the kids to the Dallas Arboretum to run around for a little bit before heading to NorthPark with the rest of Norman. Haynes loved the pumpkins and climbing on the hay!

They had these amazing pumpkin houses that the kids loved playing in! Port tried to hide when I was taking his picture:-)

Brian got this sweet picture of Ella Rose.

Ella wasn't really loving the hay...

They had some other fun houses that looked like the playhouse that my Uncle Tom built for my cousin when we were little. The kids loved playing in the little town of houses!

Brian insisted on taking a picture of me...

here we are at about 18-19 weeks pregnant!

Opening gifts...

Ella got a few gifts at her party, but we just brought them home for her to open. The boys REALLY wanted to help, but Ella actually really enjoyed opening her gifts. It was so fun watching her...these were some of her favorites.

The boys were so excited about how beautiful Ella looked, they took her to my bedroom mirror to show her! I was literally jumping over them trying to get a picture!

MiMi, Brian's aunt Nancy, got Ella another of her favorites. She LOVED the jewelry! We had a very difficult time explaining that she couldn't sleep in the necklace and earrings.

Jake and Kristin got her a purse, she SQUEALED when she opened it. I only wish I had it on video!

The boys stayed very close to make sure she didn't need any help:-)

This is the sweet baby the Billingsley's got her, and she LOVES it! We carried it all over Dallas this weekend. Every time Brian turns off the volume she makes him turn it on again:-)