Christmas Tree Cutting

Our second annual tree cutting happened the day after Thanksgiving. We went to the same tree farm as last year but this year invited our friend Steve and his little guy Joey to help with the heavy lifting. Joey and Ella ran around looking for the perfect tree and loved watching the horses. I think we got another great tree I and am looking forward to decorating it with Ella's help this year.

Let It Snow!!!

We enjoyed the first snowfall today and went sledding at Vassault Park near our old house. When Ella first saw the snow she said, "I better get my snowboard!" Yes Dad was very proud! It was great to watch her play in the snow since the last time we got snow like this in Tacoma Ella was only six months old. Ashley loved watching her sister sled and Apollo chased after all of us. I am hoping for more snow fun tomorrow since the forecast doesn't show the temperatures warming up anytime soon!

Friends Thanksgiving

We just had our 4th annual Friends Thanksgiving! Here are all the girls minus a couple who were on vacation. This is a tradition that I hope never ends. Love these ladies!

Ella' First Hair Cut

It seems strange to most that Ella just had her FIRST haircut and she is almost two and a half but she didn't have much hair until after she was one and then I just couldn't bare the thought of cutting off those cute little curls of hers. I have had a harder time styling it lately so I finally caved and took her to Wild Child a very cute kids hair salon in the north end of Tacoma. Her are some pictures of her first haircut experience.

Before

I will miss these cute curls 

 After

 We celebrated with cupcakes!

She's Crafty!

My friend Jodi told me about this wreath and I loved it so much I just had to make one for myself! What do you think?

Can you tell that I made it out of coffee filters? 

Projects, Projects and more Projects!

I have been meaning to post pictures of the girls rooms for awhile and never seemed to get around to it. So here is what I have been keeping myself busy with these days.

Ashley's Nursery

We painted the room a very light pink and found little nick knacks to add to the room to give it the perfect nursery feel. Bernie's mom made the bedding, drapes and chandelier wrap. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!

Ella's Big Girl Room

I painted Ella's room for the third time and am FINALLY happy with the result. It is the perfect color lavender. Although she doesn't sleep in her big girl bed yet you can tell it is ready and waiting.I think this is a great room that she can grow into.

The Girls Upstairs Play Room

This room turned out so cute. It was previously a hideous yellow color and used for storage. Now it is a great room for the girls to play and watch movies! 

Ella really wanted me to put up her art somewhere...I thought this was a good place to display all of her work.

 The dress up corner

I got this TV stand on Craigslist for $20 it was in pretty rough condition but I sanded it, painted it, and added new knobs and it works perfect in the room!

Now I am working on our room! It is true what they say, your work is never done when owning a house :) But I have to say I am very happy with the finished product!

Santa She Wants It All...Seriously!

So when the Toy's "R" Us Christmas catalog came in the mail I remember as a kid looking through it and circling what we wanted Santa to bring us. I thought this would be a fun activity to do with Ella this year since she is not quite ready to write Santa a letter. Let's just say the girl dreams big!

Not sure if you can tell but everything on these two pages is circled! Here's to hoping "Santa" can afford this girls big dreams!

Rainy Days!

With the rainy weather we experience in the Northwest we have to find things to do to pass the time and keep the kids occupied. So we bring the outdoors inside! Ella had her friend Riley over to play so I decided to blow up the bounce house in the living room. The kids thought this was the greatest thing ever! And so did I because I managed to get some laundry done.

Seven Months Old

When did my baby turn seven months old? Oh wait she is almost eight months old now! Time needs to slow down...at least enough for me to update my blog!

Ashley is quite the mover these days. Rolling is pretty much her preferred mode of transportation. The scary thing is we can't leave her anywhere, she will literally roll from one room to another...ask me how I know this!!! She is getting so big 16lbs 10oz. The girl can eat, she loves her solid food and almost prefers it over milk! She is all smiles when Ella is near and they are even starting to play together, or at least until Ella gets bored. I love watching these little girls grow up together I just wish there were more hours in the day!

No more diapers!!! Horray!

Ella is officially potty trained. I did the stay at home for three days and said about a hundred times a day, "make sure and tell mommy when you need to go potty" routine! I will admit it was pretty much a miserable three days, we didn't leave the house, we played every game, read every book, watched every Disney movie but it was all worth it! Ella has done so well and although we have had accidents here and there it has been two weeks now and I think it is safe to say that she knows the drill. So proud of my little potty trainer! She seems all grown up now...is it bad if this makes me a little sad?

Halloween 2010

Halloween was so much more fun this year since Ella seemed to understand what it was all about. She went trick or treating with her friends Isabella and Joey. Although she couldn't always keep up she sure tried. I kept asking her if she was done and she would say, "just one more house mommy!" When the night was said and done she went to TWENTY FIVE houses! I could not believe she made it that long...what a trooper!

 Ashley and Miranda. Ashley really wanted those antennas!

 Ella and BFF Miley and little brother Kellen

 Ready to go trick or treating. Her and dad practiced for 20 minutes before we left just to make sure Ella was familiar with the drill.

 Ella, Joey and Bella!

 Ella's neighborhood friends