Happy Birthday Ellsie

I can't believe I have a 3 year old. Last night I was laying in bed talking with Chris about our 5lb early surprise! We remember holding her tiny little body feeding her from a cup because she was to weak to nurse. 3 years later Ellsie still continues to surprise us daily and bring us so much JOY!

We were so luck to have Chris' family here right around Ellsie's birthday and enjoyed having them be apart of the festivities! We had a fun little birthday party at our community park with a few of Ellsie's buddies and her cousin's from Tucson. The highlight for me was THE CAKE! Yes, I made that cake! I envisioned this beautiful pink rose frosted cake and the end result made me VERY HAPPY! Ellsie loved it and as you can see had no trouble digging in right away. 

On Ellsie's actual birthday I took her to the America Girl Doll store in LA. We went with her cousin Josie and The Patopoff clan and of course their dolls. I thought Ellsie would have a hard time picking out her doll and would want to to take home more than one. NOT THE CASE. Ellsie knew what doll she wanted right away. I encouraged her to look at all of them and with each room we went in all I heard was "No thanks, I want da boo one." The blue one meaning Mckenna (in her blue dress). So we took Mckenna out to lunch and continued to celebrate
Ellsie turning 3! 

Mckenna also joined us for Ellsie's birthday dessert at Ferrals after dinner. We got birthday Sundae's and danced to a happy birthday tune with drums. The kids also got some fun balloon characters. Ellsie got a mermaid and Nixon got a dinosaur. 

As you can see we CELEBRATED and then some this 3rd birthday. And I would have it no other way. I love this little BLESSING in my life and love celebrating her LIFE. Ellsie, sweetheart your dad and I LOVE your spirt and your LOVE of an adventure! 

Belated Holiday Updates!

Life in our home has just started to settle down for us since the HOLIDAY'S I can't even begin to tell you how busy November, December, and part of January were for us. But we are now into February and life is slowing down. Ellsie has just this week stopped asking if we are going to a CHRISTMAS PARTY! But here are a few pics and story to let you in on how our HOLIDAY"S were spent:)

THANKSGIVING IN TUCSON

I wish I had more pictures from this week to share but our camera was being repaired so I don't have much. We loaded the kids up the Tuesday before THANKSGIVING and drove to Tucson for a fabulous week. My kids are finally getting to an age where they go off and play for a bit with their cousins without my constant supervision. It was so fun to see them interact with Abbie, Brandon, and Ryan. Abbie is our little caretaker and she is so good with Ellsie. We had a great weather while we were there so we spent lots of time outside. 

CHRISTMAS!

OK, let me share a little something with you all... I AM OBSESSED WITH CHRISTMAS JAMMIES! Leading up to Christmas I search for cute Christmas jammies because I have this vision of wonderful pictures flashing through my brain. All I want is to have amazing pictures of this special day in their matching pj's! Of course things never go as planned. Christmas morning came and Nixon had completely leaked out of his diaper and soaked his adorable jammies. I quickly stop Chris from changing his clothes and demand that we get at least ONE picture of them in their matching jammies. As a result I have a very wet and frustrated son sitting in front of the tree... YEAH for the perfect photo op! 

Ahhh, much better... Shortly after the forced jammy picture we got Nixon cleaned up and put some FOOD in his mouth. He is now a very happy boy:) 

Ellsie was just elated with excitement jumping from gift to gift. This was her first year of really comprehending the entire scene and she had so much fun tearing open all her gifts! 

Nerf football. It doesn't take much to get this kid excited! 

Cousin's: Nixon, Penelope, and Ellsie

So many great memories were made this past year. I can't wait to find out what 2012 brings!