Happy 4th Birthday Ella!

Ella is 4 years old!

Ella woke up to her bedroom decorated with pink and purple streamers. She loved it! ...and then she immediately started cleaning it up. Is she her mothers daughter or what?!

Then we enjoyed breakfast donuts

And Ella opened her gift from us: a dress up storage box (made by Mark and my Dad- directions on how to make one here) and a new dress and jewelry to go in it. She LOVED it and already has it full of all her dress up clothes.

Then it was off to the dance studio for Ella's birthday party... a princess themed party with her dance teacher and all her friends from school.

Ella with friends Elouise, Josephine and Annalise

Cousin Caroline all dressed up for the party.

This picture is exactly what Ella looked like during the whole party. Running around, dancing, and laughing. She had a blast.

Ella with all her friends and special guest, Snow White.

Then it was time for CAKE! Ella had princess cake made by our neighbor Cyndi. Even the crown was edible! And the cake was delicious.

Laughing and dancing during the party

An Ella sandwich!

After the party... Ella modeling her edible crown with Mom and Aunt Patti.

Birthday picture with Charlie who wasn't able to go to the party since he wasn't feeling that well. I don't think he's sad he missed all the tutus and princesses.

Family picture with our big girl! Can't believe she is FOUR!

So happy to have Aunt Patti & Caroline here with us to celebrate!

Cousins!

Caroline giving Charlie a hug!

Florida Trip Jan 14-22

Earlier this month Mark & I took the kids to Florida to visit their grandparents and their great grandpa who is 95 years old. We had a wonderful week in the sunshine and lots of relaxation thanks to the helpful grandparents. And NO SICK KIDS! Yay! Here are a few photos from our vacation...

Dinner at The Turtle Club with my parents and their good friends Bob & Kathy Egan, who were also our neighbors when we lived in St. Louis.

Lunch with Grandpa Peterson at his retirement home.

Watching a sunset from the lanai at Gigi and Granddaddy's, our almost daily evening ritual.

A sunset shot

Mark and his Grandpa, Bill Peterson

Charlie hamming it up for the camera during dinner our last night in town

Ella celebrated her birthday a little early with all her Grandparents.

Happy Birthday Dad

Ella and Charlie helped me make a cake for Dad's birthday on January 7th. It really involved more licking fingers than actual icing... messy but worth the fun!

This time last year we were getting ready to leave for Mexico to celebrate Mark's 40th... but I guess a homemade cake with the kids is as good as it gets for 41! :)

Charlie = 18 months

Had Charlie's 18 month check on Jan 12th.

Charlie's 18 month stats:

Weight: 27lbs (65%)

Height: 32 3/4in (60%)

Head: 19.5in (93%)

We've had a lot of changes in the last 6 months. Charlie now has 10 teeth (4 front teeth on both top and bottom and two molars on the top), he is running all over the place, and he his talking a ton. Seems like a new word every day. Off the top of my head, some of the words he is saying are: mama, dada, Ella, Gigi, Poppa, Nanny, yes, no, up, down, please, thank you, open, close, uh oh, doggie, baby, ball, football, boat, snack, nigh night. Plus he does tons of animal sounds- woof, meow, grr, roar, heehaw, etc.

He still has quite the temper when he doesn't get what he wants, but it seems to be getting better as he learns more words and can actually TELL us what he wants. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We took the family up to Copper Mountain for the New Years weekend to do some skiing and get away with our friends for the weekend.

The girls ready for a day of skiing with the Dads.

Ella on the magic carpet.

Happy New Year! We celebrated outside our condo with poppers and horns for the kids.

I think the baby doll must have partied a little too hard!

Charlie sledding.

Tired kiddos after two days of skiing.

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas! Ours was VERY merry! We had my Mom and Dad and brother in town for our 1st ever Christmas in our own home since Mark and I have been married!

We started off the holidays with church on Christmas Eve and then a yummy lobster dinner!

Cheers!

Christmas wasn't the same without my sister Patti and her family, so we skyped them in to say hello!

So excited to open one gift on Christmas eve.

Ella helping Charlie open his gift from his godmother, my Aunt Jenny.

Ella picked a gift from my cousins Tonya and Sean to open on Xmas eve.

Dress up clothes!

The kids peeking down the stairs on Christmas morning...

did Santa come?

Ella with her pink Barbie "slug-bug"

And a Sleeping Beauty vanity table

Charlie with one of many trucks he received for Christmas.

Finally some boy toys!

Granddaddy was in charge of opening and assembling the toys.

Gigi and Granddaddy gave Ella a whole collection of princess Barbies! Wow!

Ella with all her new barbies. She couldn't be more excited.

Charlie with another truck!

Cookie Party @ The Barretts

Mark, my Dad and my brother flew into town on Dec 22nd and we took the whole family to our neighbors that evening for the Barrett's annual cookie party.

It's basically just an excuse to eat icing...

...and make a big mess in Stephanie's kitchen.

Gingerbread House with Gigi

On December 17th, Dad headed to KC for the Chiefs v Packers football game with my Dad and brother, so my mom flew in town to keep us company until Dad, Granddaddy and Uncle Tom joined us to celebrate Christmas.

We had a lot of fun hanging out with Gigi until the men came in town. We sang a lot of Christmas carols, drove around Denver looking at lights (including a light display that was set to music!) and even got a babysitter one day so we could see a movie and have lunch.

Heres a pic of the gingerbread house that Gigi helped Ella & Charlie make.

Winter Dance recital

Ella has been taking dance class after school on Thursday's and they had a little mini-recital for the parents on Dec 15th.

Ella was very excited to show off her dancing skills

Ella with her BFF Elouise and Elouise's big sisters Annalise and Josephine.

Ella and her friend Brooke with their dance teacher Ms. Kim.