Merry Holiday!

What a wonderful Christmas it was!

My brother, Devin and his new wife Renata came out from DC for the holiday.

We had never met Renata and they hadn't met Ellie!

It was an amazing visit!

A day spent in the Seattle. We ordered up beautiful weather in order to convince them to move west! Beautiful sunset, beautiful sister-in-law

Ellie absolutely adored her Auntie Nata and Uncle D!

Ellie loved Christmas. She been asking "Where'd Santa go?" every day since.

She looked adorable in her fluffy dress

Ellie surrounded by one or two presents

Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

J.I.N.G.L.E Bells

No words describe how cute this kid is so just listen and enjoy

and Merry Christmas!!!

Are you?

If you're a fan of . . .

The Jerk!

you will understand this post . . .

My shoe

and My duck

and My baby

and my birthday hat

And that's ALL I need!

Family Outing 101

When I imagined being a parent the images that came to mind were beautiful moments with a perfect newborn and sharing family outings with a bubbling toddler.

I mourned the passing of the newborn phase but I'm so glad to have entered the stage of toddler fun.

Ellie is really starting to absorb her environment and remember events. She is still talking about the 'tree farm' outing when we ate candy canes and drank cider.

Yesterday, we decided we should experience some Christmas cheer and headed out to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens light display.

Millions of LED lights are molded into shapes just like the flowers in the garden. Ellie especially liked the frog and butterflies, though.

This season we have learned that there are a few key points to making a family outing successful.

They are as follows:

1) Leave the stroller in the car. The minute she is securely tucked into her cocoon of warmth she will insist on walking 'like a big girl'.

2) Expect your arms to get tired. As mentioned above, the stroller is a bulky inconvenience but the 'big girl' mentality only lasts about 10 minutes before a chirpy chorus of "Daddy hold" ensues.

3) BRING SNACKS!! Snacks are the savior to any toddler tantrum, especially when surrounded by crowds of people eager to get to their destination. Throw a granola bar in her general direction and she's happy as a clam!

4) Never compare a family outing to a date. They are not anywhere near the same experience. There will be no time to talk or casually admire your surroundings. Keeping track of the kiddo is the number one goal. 5) Enjoy it! It will probably only last about 30 minutes . . . until the snacks run out, your arms are burning, you can't find where you left the stroller and can't remember if you actually saw any Christmas lights. 6) Cherish it! Seeing Ellie look awed (however, briefly) at the lights and ask "Where'd Santa go?" for the hundredth time and then remember the experience enough to talk about it tomorrow, is

. . . pretty darn great!

Okay

It is amazing to me to think how much Ellie has learned in the last two years.

The biggest amazement is how she is mastering language. She is picking up the nuances of speech and repeating everything we say.

I guess I better watch my potty mouth!

Her favorite word today is "Okay"

She's said it about 100 times in the last hour.

Future chef or recording artist?

It's so interesting to me to see pieces of Ellie's personality start to emerge.

Will a new preference be just a passing phase or will it be a permanent part of her personality?

Ellie has always loved food. She was a great nurser from the start, eats every type of table food we put in front of her, loves veggies and even spicy food, especially Auntie Theresa's spicy dilly beans.

Lately, her absolute favorite activity is baking. She asks every day "Bake, Mommy?"

When we're unable to do the real thing she plays at her 'party kitchen' and makes delicious meals like eggs with butter, toast with butter or anything else . . . with butter.

Butter seems to be her favorite ingredient!

She even made up a song called "Butter on my Finger!" Sure to be a number 1 hit!

I realized I don't have any photos of her baking or a video of her singing 'Butter on my Finger'

So I will post this cutie of Ellie and her cousin Quade who we visited last week.

Finger Families

I can't imagine what life would be like with Ellie's preschool every week.

She absolutely loves going and talks about it all week.

And I learn all kinds of cute songs and games to play with her.

Ellie loves her teacher, Eecher Betseee

Gumboots and candy canes

With the feasting complete we have moved on to tree trimming and carolling.

Yesterday, we headed out the country (aka: a farm 1/2 hour north of Bothell) and picked out the perfect tree.

3 generations!

Ellie's favorite part was the candy cane treat.

Christmas Preview

Only 31 days 'till Christmas! Yes, the countdown has begun.

And I can't believe it's Ellie's 3rd Christmas!

This year will certainly be the best one yet though.

Here is a little preview of the excitment that will ensue over opening presents.

Thank you Aunty Michelle, Uncle Paul and cousin Jules for Ellie's birthday baby and a wonderful preview of Christmas!

Fantastic Number Four

Ellie is certainly starting to make her preferences and tastes known.

And her favorite number is definitely

F O U R ! !

Sit and . . .

look like a toddler!

Actually, I feel like Ellie is on her way to first grade in this photo! She looks like such a big kid!

The training wheels Drew put on the bike didn't fit so the back wheel doesn't touch the ground. It actually works out perfectly because Ellie sits on her bike and peddles like crazy but doesn't move. Great for an indoor bike ride on a rainy winter day!

2

Ellie is officially a 2 year old!!

When you asked her how old she is today she says "2 old". Too cute is more like it

First order of business for the birthday girl was preschool. She was very excited when the entire class sung her Happy Birthday! Teach Betsy is one of Ellie's very favorite people!

The day continued with lots of treats and party hats at Ma-Mop's house.

Happy Birthday baby girl . . . I mean BIG girl!

Tall!

It's amazing to me that just 4 months ago we had Ellie evaluated by an early intervention specialist because we were concerned she wasn't talking yet.

The specialist was very unconcerned because she comprehended so much. She said if Ellie didn't have more than 20 words by age 2 to have her re-evaluated.

Well, tomorrow is her second birthday and I'm pretty sure she has 1000 words!!!

Her favorite game is listing the names of everyone we know.

Treat, please!

Happy Halloween!

Ellie had a fabulous time trick-or-treating in Ma-mop's and Ba-pop's neighborhood.

Instead, of saying trick-or-treat Ellie choose to get right to the point by saying

"Treat, please"

As you can see the idea of filling her basket with candy made Ellie VERY happy!

p.s. In case you didn't recognize her, Ellie was dressed up as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street.

Pumpkin, my pumpkin

Ellie has truly been enjoying the fall season this year. She went to the fffaarrrrmm (Ellie speak, in case you didn't guess) with Drew and friends from preschool a couple weeks ago and got to pet a goat.

Yesterday, Grammie and Grampie took her to a farm by their house and Ellie saw a pony!

Today, my girlfriends and I packed up the kids and headed to a pumpkin patch near our house.

Ellie loved being outside and jumping in the mud puddles. I really had to bite my tongue to keep from yelling "Don't get dirty!"

Kids get dirty, right? Right!

Karen's daughter, Alister, is 3 and she and Ellie really play great together.

After everyone went home today Ellie asked about 50 times . . .

"Where'd Ali go?"

"Where'd Ali go?"

"Where'd Ali go?"

Baking with Nana!

My Auntie M is in town so Ellie had a day in the kitchen at Ma-mop's house.

Ellie and Auntie M rolling out dough for apple pie! Ellie's favorite part was drawing pictures in the flour.

Showing off her flour fingers Smitty was happy Ellie dropped some dough!

Wedding Bliss

We're all back home after our vacation to Florida and Shaneen's wedding.

We had a wonderful time at the beach and the wedding was beautiful!

Here are some photos . . .

The wedding was right at sunset on beautiful Cape San Blas. Sugar white sand and warm water!

Ellie and Anthony's neice Bella were flower girls! So cute!

Aunty Neen!

p.s. Ellie did amazingly well on the plane! It took a lot of work to keep her entertained but she was a real trooper!

T minus 3 days

The Nobles are embarking on a 10 day family vacation on Thursday!!

Drew's sister, Shaneen, is getting married in Florida this weekend.

We are very excited about the wedding . . . not so excited about the plane ride with a toddler!

After much research, thought and nightmares I will share with you our game plan:

1. Talk up the plane ride like it's Disneyland! (note the excitement in the video below)

2. Bring a boat load of new toys, snacks and a DVD player with Elmo movies.

3. Bribe her with the promise of eatting cake at the wedding!

And our last resort/back-up plan . . . drugs. Valium for the parents or benadryl for the baby. Not sure which yet.

Sweetness

This kid is too much!

Everyday, I keep thinking . . . she can't get any cuter!!

But then she opens her mouth and her sweet little voice just cracks me up!

Her favorite game lately is to walk around the house with her toy cellphone at her ear saying "mmhmm . . . mmhmmm, ok, bye bye!"

A B C Delicious

Ellie has started singing her alphabet.

My favorite letters are

L

Q (which she pronounces "cute")

and Rrrrrrr

Twilight Tour 2009

Let's see what Webster's has to say . . .

• Obsessed: a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling
• Fan: an enthusiastic devotee

Yep, I would say that about covers it!

Yesterday, I advanced to a new level of devotion to Twilight!

Along with my mum and 2 of her neighbors, I traveled 250 miles to visit the town where the books are set.

To make the adventure even more fun I made goody bags, including blood red drinks . . .

'Wolf munch' trail mix snacks and a bumper sticker that only Twi-hards understand! Enjoying sunset at First Beach in La Push with mum and Tess Forks and Port Angeles are making the most of their new found tourism industry. And we made of the most of this trip. Lots of laughter, silliness and good times had by all!

Rainy days and new do's

It has been a very rainy labor day weekend. But Drew and Ellie made the most of it by donning their rain suits and playing in the puddles.

She's such a Northwest girl! She stood directly under the down stout and jumped and splashed. -- MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ALERT -- Ellie just returned from her first hair cut!

It felt bittersweet to say goodbye to her long, whispy baby locks but she looks so darn cute in her big girl bob!

Afterward, we went out to dinner to celebrate.

And, for the first time, ordered her dinner off the kids menu!

She is so completely a toddler now!

Grampa's Boat!

Grampa Jon bought a new toy last week and we have all been VERY excited to see it.

It's a 27 foot Catalina sailboat! Ellie's lifejacket is the cutest thing ever! We told her she couldn't be on the boat without it and luckily she made no fuss about wearing it! Ellie got her sea legs quickly and liked climbing up and down the stairs to the cabin. Hopefully, she will take after her dad and never get sea sick!

There wasn't much wind so we mostly motored around.

That was probably a good thing because when Drew and Jon went out this morning, when the wind was rippin', they said it was an adrenaline rush!