My Posse

This is what most of our mornings look like. For reals. No posing was involved. Ellie in her highchair eating breakfast, and Cole in position waiting for food to drop.

Little buddies.

I'm busy Mom.

Stop taking my picture and let me play!

Hungry Monkey

We finally figured out how to get more food in Ellie's mouth than on her clothes since she insists on feeding herself these days. Two Spoons. And no shirt. Duh.

Three Day Weekend

We made the best of John's three day weekend despite Ellie being sick and John's ailing shoulder and hiked at Roys Redwoods Open Space Preserve. It was pretty muddy and would've been better had we not had the Bob Stroller, but it was still fun.

We also signed our loan documents (Ellie wanted to help) which will allow us to replace our 40 year old furnace and install AC (yes, AC!), as well as replace the joists and get a new deck on the front of our house. Phase Two Construction Project starts now!

One week away...

from turning eight months. It's been a big month. More baby food. Solids like Cheerios, chicken and bread. Sleeping through the night. Standing up in her crib. New toys and a new playmat. Mama. Dada. 18 lbs, 11 oz. Lots of new clothes.

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be exciting and crawling just might be in our near future...

Wednesday Play Day

We hit Free Day the Discovery Museum with Sophie, Aimee, Donalyn and Mason. Ellie rolled around the Tod Spot for the first time! And then we went over to see Alicia and Charlotte in the afternoon while we used their washing machine. It's neat to see the girls starting to interact with one another.

Mom and Dad's West Coast Holiday Tour

Whenever dad and mom come to town we find ourselves out and about more, and this trip was no different. Even though they had just spent five days with the Millay kids in San Diego, they were up for some NoCal fun! We put a lot of miles on John's new car going to Sonoma, Mt Tam and Stinson Beach in two days. We took some nice walks around the neighborhood and to the fire road, and settled some Cataan at night after Ellie went to bed. On Thursday night before they left they watched Ellie so John and I could grab some sushi and see True Grit.

And yes, I realize these aren't REALLY pictures of mom and dad, necessarily. I promise, I'll upload more when I get them off of dad's camera. :-)

Ellie's First Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas just the three of us. It was our first Christmas in our house and our first with Ellie. Despite all the rain and our leaking roof we made the best of it.

Christmas Eve Day started with a nice walk in the neighborhood where we got to meet some new neighbors that live up by the waterfall, then John made steak (Omaha steaks. Thanks mom and dad!) and lobster. We went to the family church service at five, and then dessert and games at our friend Alicia's mom's house.

Christmas morning we got up and opened presents then went to the Ritz in the city for a late brunch and then spent the night there. The spread at the Ritz was amazing. Everything from sushi, french toast stuffing, prime rib and lobster risotto. We had a nice table in the corner of the ballroom, so Ellie could make all the noise she wanted while enjoying her bottle and jar of peas.

And to steal from our pastor's sermon the Sunday after church, while we enjoyed some lovely gifts of toys, boots, a money clip, Omaha Steaks and so on, this was definitely our year to get "books for Christmas," and while we are still "reading" them, we are thankful for all that God has blessed us with and the gift of salvation we've been given through his son, Jesus Christ.

PS - Is that some good food photography, or what?!!