The Hartley Family Album: May 2010

FIRST COOK-OUT OF THE SEASON

This past weekend, we had some of Greg's college friends over for a cook-out. I just took a few photos of the event.

Ellie and her friend Sam found the empty beer bottles and decided to investigate. This, again, was on Greg's watch.

I think Ellie might give us trouble in the future.

Natalie, Amelia and Luca played bean bag toss with Dad, Mike, and AJ. I think the girls won.

Our new patio set is finally getting used.

Last weekend, we went up to the Tucker land. It was very beautiful. The entire acreage (that wasn't tilled for corn planting) was covered with dandilions. We took a couple of photos of Ellie amongst the sea of yellow.

RANDOM PHOTOS

Ellie always reaches for Greg's hats, however, she has a hard time getting them on and off her own head.

Ellie will sit by the patio door and watch Greg when he is on the deck.

I got a new 20 gallon crock to store blankets in for the family room. It's a perfect container for Ellie, until she learns to climb out.

Ellie has been following Greg around more. Here, she's joined Greg in our "office" and found where we keep slips of paper - one of her favorite toys.

ELLIE LEARNS TO WAVE

ELLIE LOVES THE WATER

This winter/spring, Ellie got to take swimming lessons. She loves the water and loves to splash. She has no problem getting dunked under the water. I think we are going to have fun in lakes this summer.

Her cute swimsuit that is now too small for her. Good thing I paid less than $2 for it, and her cousins Isabel, Claudia and Clara gave Ellie all their old suits.

This was life jacket day at swim lessons. It was fun because Ellie got to float a little on her own.

Ellie even went off the diving board, twice. The second time I really dropped her and she went under a bit. She didn't like that.

EXAMPLES OF HOW ELLIE IS A STINKER

Ellie is such a little stinker - she is so nosy and tries to get into everything. The photos below will hopefully illustrate what I mean. Of course, it is so hard to tell her no when she looks at you with her cute smile.

Ellie has learned that she can pull the decorative wood pieces off our windows. I knew they were loose, but I was hoping Ellie wouldn't discover them.

The next four photos are taken within minutes of each other. I came home late one night from work (so Greg was on Ellie watch) and this is what I found...