I think we may have a musical prodigy on our hands, and I'm not just saying that because she's my beautiful, genius daughter.....Well, maybe I am, but I do believe she's a genius. Ellie has grown quite fond of playing the piano, sitting on Mom's lap. And she likes to help Dad strum on the guitar. The best part, though, is watching her little dances whenever music plays. This girl's got rhythm.
Now that Ellie is close to 11 months old, I'm finally getting around to posting some of her 9 month old shots. These were taken at the Jewel Box in Forest Park.
Ellie's hair is growing in quite nicely, so she's been wearing a lot of bows and barrettes lately. This was the first day she actually got to wear two barrettes at once, and she looked so cute that we just had to share the pics.
After our vacation at the Lake, Ellie became quite the fan of swimming, or should I say splashing. So shortly after we returned home, she was at it again, but this time in the kiddie pool that Granny bought for her. 
Jason prepared for what he hoped would be a three-peat of our winning performance by exhibiting his favorite golf poses. And his actual golf swing was going well, but alas, it was not to be. Sadly, after holding the Freed Cup for the past 2 years, we had to relinquish the title to Mike & Sue. However, let me caveat that by saying the rules were drastically changed this year in order to give everyone else an advantage, in the hopes that they would be able to compete more equally with the J. Freed team.
Each year during the Lake vacation, we have a couples golf tournament. All the couples MUST play (to the protest of some of the non-golf-playing wives). And for the past two years, we've implemented a matching outfits requirement, which Kate enjoys because it means more shopping. This year, even Ellie matched the green/white/black Jason Freed team ensemble.
We recently spent a week at the Lake of the Ozarks for our annual family vacation. We go with all of the Freed family and stay in adjoining condos. A good time is always had by all. This year, in honor of Papa Mike's upcoming birthday, we threw a surprise party, complete with "Mike masks" that portrayed Mike through the years, and more pink flamingo decorations than should reasonably be found together in one room (Mike has a problem with the plastic yard ornament variety).
Ellie has discovered the wonderful world of ice cream. Granny and Papi Marler hosted a get together for Aunt Laura and Uncle Nathan's medical school graduation. Everyone had a great time visiting and eating, and Ellie enjoyed watching all the bigger kids. But her favorite part was probably the ice cream cones. You should have seen how quick she spit her binky out when she saw that ice cream coming towards her.
Now that Ellie is mobile, she's enjoying all the freedom that comes with it... The freedom to crawl around to play with different toys. The freedom to sit as close to the tv as possible. The freedom to enjoy Tigger to the fullest extent.
Ellie must have known I was having trouble finding the time to clean out the pantry, because one day she took it upon herself to help me out. Although, apparently she hasn't liked the way I've reorganized it since she seems to rearrange it for me on a daily basis now. Or maybe she's just trying to tell me she's hungry.
Ellie's cousin, Kameron, recently turned 3, and we all enjoyed a BBQ birthday party over Memorial Day weekend. Ellie had lots of fun swinging (she could stay there all day if we'd let her) and playing with her cousins and her Papa Mike. It was a great day all around.
Ellie has begun to crawl!! She did the army crawl for awhile, pulling herself along with her arms. Then she started pushing herself back up to hands and knees, and before we knew it she was a pro. The first time she actually did a full fledged crawl, Mommy started yelling and clapping for her. Ellie gave me a little side-ways glance, as if to say, "What's your problem?" Then she went right along with her business as if crawling was no big deal.
Jason graduated with his MBA in May, and we couldn't be more proud. It was a long couple of years...just ask him. But he finally finished. Now that's just one more thing he can mark off his to do list. Next up--world domination.
The Freed family enjoyed an outing to the zoo recently. Ellie mostly enjoyed watching all the people since she couldn't see many animals from the stroller. But once we took her out of the stroller and her eyes landed on an elephant splashing itself with water, she got the biggest smile on her face, and did her little kicking wiggle dance. She really liked the elephants, bears, and giraffes. However, it was a very warm day and was cutting into her nap time, so the outing ended up being rather short. I'm sure there will be lots of other trips to the zoo in the future.
Ellie had a wonderful time on her first Easter holiday. She got to dress up in a pretty dress and let everyone tell her how adorable she was. We're looking forward to all the Easter egg hunts in store next year.
Just days before the big day, there was an Easter bunny sighting in O'Fallon. We can't be sure it was the real thing, but it was awfully cute!
Ellie loves the bath! Now that she is able to confidently sit up, she can play and kick and splash with the best of them. She likes to share the water with Mommy & Daddy too--so much so that we usually have to change our clothes afterwards. But all the fun ends when we pull her out of the tub into the cold air....brrrrrr!
