Christmas...

With Christmas just one week away, winter weather is finally here! Most of the month of December felt like fall (even like summer some days). We've had some wet, cold days recently though... and we're enjoying it! Last week, before the rain started, we took the girls outside for a few Christmas pictures. We discovered the picturesque scenery on some of our "neighborhood" walks this past year.

Merry Christmas to you!

Gymnastics... and Addie!

As promised, here are a few photos from gymnastics class. Elle is quite proud this week, she started doing flips on the bar by herself and also walked across the BIG balance beam by herself (usually she has requested the help of her teacher)!

And not to be forgotten! Addie wants you to know that she has been hard at work on her own projects! Elle was kind to share her patterns and shapes... and Addie took it quite seriously. She sat at the table like a big girl and was hard at work! She would love to do gymnastics too... and lucky girl, sometimes if Elle's classmate is late, the teacher lets Addie come out with Elle for a few minutes! Sorry, no pics of that... I was out there with her too!

Growing Up...

We've undertaken two new activities this fall that signal Elle is growing up!

Cubbies and Gymnastics.

She loves going to Cubbies every week and had great practice working on PATIENCE as she had to wait 2 weeks before she could "earn" her vest and book (they have to come to club for 2 weeks and say 4 verses).

This was almost more than Elle could bear... especially because some of the older kids already had vests from last year. Needless to say, she was THRILLED to get her vest... here are a few pictures once we got home that night. Next week, we'll show some gymnastics pictures!

Princesses!

We had a birthday party for a friend today... our first princess party. Elle and Addie looked beautiful! Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture of both of them together. I tried, but hard to get the youngest to stand still! Anyhow, it was a fun day... lots of pink, glitter, ribbons, and sparkly things.

Fall Fun!

We went to the pumpkin patch the other day with some friends. It's hard to take a great picture of 5 kids 3 yrs. old and younger! The girls had fun wandering around the pumpkins, etc.

These pictures were taken at a friend's 1st birthday party. The little firetruck was pretty cute and the girls got quite a kick out of riding in it!

Happy Birthday to Addie!

Some of Addie's birthday guests... we love our family!

Our family celebrating Addie's 1st birthday!

Addie loves her new stroller (so did Elle... they've learned to share!)

Getting ready for some yummy cake!

Enjoying her birthday dinner!

Happy Birthday to Elle!

She turned 3... a fun party in park with family and a few friends!

Elle got some fun dress-up clothes and accessories... and was kind enough to share them with Addie!

Our family!

May 2008

We celebrated Mother's Day eating good food (everything has a Mediterranean flair to it), listening to great music (Brian Stodart was playing), and enjoying the pleasant courtyard at Mount Palomar Winery! It was a fun day.

It took us about 5 minutes to get a decent family photo. This was the best of the bunch... despite the fact that Adeline was slightly distracted! It is hard to get two little ones to look at the camera at the same time... let alone SMILE at the same time! We tried...

Self-Explanatory!



Addie is almost always happy! You can't really see from the picture, but she's got two bottom teeth now and is working on two top teeth. She's getting to be a busy girl!

It's fun to watch the girls enjoy being sisters!



The girls are working on less cheesy smiles...
we've got some practicing to do!

March 2008

Elle and her baby had matching dresses for Easter Sunday (GG bought these for Elle!)






























Addie is a pretty happy baby... here are just a few to showcase her blossoming personality!