Ella 7 months old!

We are a little late on this one, but Ella is now 7 months old. In the last month her little personality has really started to emerge and it's been so fun for us to watch. She is such a happy little baby, and has started getting excited about things and flapping her arms and legs around, she loves to give us all slobbery kisses, and just adores her Daddy, and sisters, although I think Mommy is still her ultimate favorite... (I have to live it up while I can...because as Mia reminds me daily, "Mom when Daddy is gone, I love you, but when Daddy comes home...he's just my favorite!" I tell her "that's okay...he's my favorite too!" ) ;) Ella has also decided that she loves all the people that are constantly surrounding her, and as long as she can see someone she is content to take it all in, however she let's us know how she feels about it when we all leave room and forget to take her with us. She has also become a very cuddly baby. Although she looks just like Mia the cuddliness is definately more like Maddi was as baby. She has become a much better sleeper at night which keeps Mommy very happy and at her last checkup she was still 14 lbs and doing great. We just love little Ella.

Playing with Daddy

Real Food!

Ella has been enjoying a great assortment of Baby Food the last couple of weeks and it's gone great. So far I haven't noticed any really dislikes, although I think bananas might be her favorite!

Halloween in Seattle

We had a lot of fun in Seattle for Halloween. My brother's family goes all out for Halloween and we've been wanting to be a part of the Halloween Festivities for a long time now so it was fun to finally get the chance!

As a rule for Erik and Jodi's Halloween Party everyone (including adults) MUST come in Costume.

Here is my Sister Jen "The Pirate" (this is the one who is recovering from brain surgery...and consequently has to wear an eye patch until her symptoms from the surgery fade away) using what she's got!

And if you look closely you will catch a glimpse of Erik as "Duck Tape Man" And that is all I will say about HIS costume!

Jodi the Cowgirl- checkout the awesome belt buckle!

Jodi's Famous "Dinner in a Pumpkin"

Witches Brew

Going through the Candy

Maddi should feel so honored that she was inspiration for Liam's (aka LAMB's) costume. Ever since she had known Liam and Chole she had called them "Lamb and Coley" so Jen decided to dress Liam up as a Lamb. So cute!

At our last and final Halloween function Maddi decided that she wanted to be the "Garden Fairy" instead of Froggy.

Ella trying out the excersaucer

Wax paper leaves. I've wanted to try this out for awhile and it was a lot of fun way easy and a great way to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves. The kids just picked out leaves from the backyard, then we put them in between pieces of wax paper, ironed the wax paper together, punched holes, and strung string through them, and when you hang them in the window they just look so pretty.

Jodi had fun things for the kids to do all day. Here they are at lunch eating "Mummy Dogs". Maddi calls them "Mommy Dogs" and asks about them at least once a day!

All the cousins minus Liam and Chloe (getting their beauty rest) and Ayden and Grecia (we missed you guys!) at Luke's School Carnival the night before Halloween. They went ALL out for this carnival and the kids had a blast and best of all completely crashed as soon as their heads hit the pillows that night!

After having 3 girls, working at Gymboree for 2 years, and then having my own preschool, I have quite the assortment of Dress-ups/Costumes so I never mind an excuse on Halloween to get some use out of them! Here is Ella the "Bunny" in costume #2!

Cute cousins. Luke and Isabel (aka Bat Girl, and Batman) planned their costumes out together so that they could match. It was pretty cute.

The Bee on the Flower! Remember this one from 2 years ago?! I am so original! Looking at these pictures it's hard to believe that Ella is quite a bit smaller then Maddi was at this age. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I put a blanket sleeper UNDERNEATH her turtleneck, tights, and sweatpants! :)

You gotta love Trick-or-Treating in Seattle. It wouldn't be right if you didn't have to carry your treat bag AND an umbrella. This brings back so many childhood memories for me!

Another fun Ella Mia look alike picture!

Halloween in Spokane

Maddi cracks us up because this is her face of choice almost everytime we take a picture.

Maddi the child who wants to wear a skirt or dress EVERY day opted for the Froggy Costume instead of the Fairy Princess one (up until Halloween night as you will see later).


Mia was OUR VERSION of Tinkerbell. :)

Lance had to attend a conference over Halloween Weekend so we had planned to go to Seattle to celebrate with my family but we were excited when our Ward had their Trunk-or-Treat the week BEFORE Halloween so the girls had a chance to kind of celebrate Halloween WITH Daddy.

Fall in Spokane

Reading with Daddy

Oh Maddi!

Maddi continues to be my most precocious child. This particular day after she ate the top of a marker, I thought she needed to see exactly what she had done to her face (in hopes that she would feel some sort of remorse for her actions) so I took her over to the mirror and as soon as she got a glimpse of herself, she got a huge grin on her face and just started giggling. I figured my moment was lost so I might as well take a picture. Oh and just a note: I ended up finding the missing tip of the blue marker later that day, so thankfully she didn't actually swallow the whole thing!