We love our new swingset!

Arrrrgh, matey!

Climbing high...to no where! i'm not sure why the rope ladder doesn't lead to the fort.

Weston loves the slide too! it's super fast!

Weston's an expert at the climbing wall, and today ella learned how to scale it in no time!

Ella loves swinging on her belly!

WEEEEEEEE!!!!

Getting ready to slide for the first time on the new slide. notice her boots on the wrong feet:o)

Do you like the Fancy Nancy posh earrings that Bubby got her?? she wore them all morning and didn't take them off until after lunch!

Ella's checking out the view from the top of the slide.

Christmas Morning 2008

Christmas morning chad and i woke up before the kids despite only getting around 5 hours of sleep. we were anxiously awaiting their reactions to the swingset, so around 7:30 we couldn't take it anymore. chad woke them up!
Weston likes his smartcycle...

Ella loves her new scooter...

Weston loves his leapster..."anymore presents under the tree??" they still didn't notice the swingset! "look again..."

"A swingset!!"

"can we go play on it?"

The Christmas Surprise!

For 4 days, chad and his dad secretly put together most of the swingset in the garage. we told the kids that daddy had a huge surveying project that he was working on that had lots of pieces to it, so they weren't allowed to go in the garage. this was a little tricky when it came to parking the car, but i did my best lying this week to keep it all a surprise. christmas eve, santa's helpers (mark, chad's dad-bill, jason, brooke, and daniel) all came over to help move it outside.

Then they hooked up the swingbar. most everyone had to leave after that, so bill and daniel stayed to help chad a little longer...

It's looking good...

Chad's hooking up the pirate telescope.

All done!! chad and bill finished up around midnight and i stayed up to help chad put away all of the tools. what a big surprise!

Elmo's Green Thumb-December 21st

Chad and i took ella to see Elmo's Green Thumb live at the Richmond Coliseum for her "big" christmas present. our seats were insanely close and she loved getting to meet a lot of the sesame street characters. we were so close that they would come down to us and shake our hands. the only one that never left the stage was elmo:o( (much to ella's dismay). Overall, ella LOVED it!

We had an aisle seat, so ella loved dancing to some of the songs.

Hi Grover!

This was a ladybug from the show that came to meet us too!

Here is some of the cast dancing to a song about planting.

Ella's New Haircut...

BEFORE

The other night while i was making the frosting for our christmas cookies for heidi, weston decided it would be a good time to give ella a little trim. it's hard to tell from the picture, but he cut a rather large chunk (to the base of her head) out of the back of her hair. the next day, i took her to my hairdresser and now she has a cute little bob. weston likes to take credit for her new look by telling people, "i made the first cut!"

AFTER

Lunch with Santa at the Bull & Bear Club (December 13, 2008)

All of the cousins on Chad's side: Ethan, McKenzie, Ella, Weston, and Jack. 2 more are on the way! Kristin (Chad's sister) is having a girl in May and Beth (Chad's sister-in-law) is having a ? in July.

All of the grandchildren with Nanny (Chad's mom).

Kristin, Ethan, and Mark with Santa.

Jack, McKenzie, and Daniel with Santa. Beth was too sick to come (morning sickness:o).

Kenzie was not too excited to sit on Santa's lap and really wasn't happy when he kissed her on the cheek!

All of us with Santa...Ella was a little scared.

Weston made the cutest picture for Santa and even wrote his name below it. I think Santa really loved it!

Ella and George (Curious George Monkey)--her new best friend.

Before we headed out to the Bull & Bear Club.

The 2008 Holly Ball

Brooke and me at the Holly Ball...

Jason and Brooke...

Chad, me, and Jason...

Chad acting like a goofball!

FOR HEIDI IN IRAQ

Oops, these pics are out of whack! Sorry, i'm trying to post this with Ella on my lap and Weston begging for a snack. Hide, when Mom dropped Landon off he was in his pj's but hadn't had a bath. He got kinda nasty eating his dinner, so I had to give him a bath. The only clean clothes I had for him were Ella's. Then we put him in Ella's doll cradle just for laughs:o)

Tubby time!

FOR HEIDI IN IRAQ

Hi, Mom! I miss you!!

Landon had fun dumping water...on the floor.

All smiles with little Ella.

Don't worry, he really seemed to like it!

Cheeeese!

The Turkey Trot on Turkey Day!

Today was Weston's first big race! He ran the Turkey Trot 1 miler in freezing cold weather!

He was so embarassed b/c i took like a million pictures of him at the starting line.

Totally focused on this race...he was never even nervous! He totally gets that from his father!

On your marks, get set, GO!