Busy

Well- I haven't written in a few weeks because we have been crazy busy.

Joe started a new business called East Avenue Art. The girls are back in swimming lessons. I'm teaching again and now writing articles for even more online magazines. Zoe has been sick for the past week. So she has been keeping us busy. She showed us this week that she can walk when holding on to a car. That was kinda surprising :) She is now 9 and a half months old and weighs 18lbs and her height if off the charts according to the doctor. Ella weighs just under 30 lbs at 28 months old.

Here are some swimming pictures with Babcia. The girls just love the water- Aren't they so cute in there little suits at the locker room? Such big girls:)

We also went to Disney on ice this week. Ella was star struck. Zoe was dancing to all the music. They both loved it.

Took the girls to Pano's after. Ella made herself at home...didn't even keep her socks on.

We saw this enormous snowman on the way home from a winery opening we went to in Newfane.

We just had to stop :)

New Years!

Happy New Years everyone! I'm writing this a few days late- but I hope you all had as fun a new years as we did.

We are starting out this year with Ella being 2 years and 3 months old and weighing 30 lbs, and Zoe being 8 and a half months old and weighing 18lbs. These girls are getting so big!

We went to a party that was about an hours drive away. It was a kid friendly party-with a DJ and a bounce house and lots of yummy food.

Uncle Jake got Joe to dance in the YMCA and then Jake wussed out on him. Joe still did the dance with a lot of enthusiasm.

Don't tell anyone that Ella wore boots in the bounce house...

Zoe had a lot of rolls to chew on :)

Zoe and Seth had a good time hanging out together- they are buds - they sat on the dance floor for a bit and watched the lights- rode some toys, ate- ya know baby stuff :)

Christmas 2010

We did so much for Christmas this year! So many parties and seeing Santa- it was a bit overwhelming, but we survived :)

Here is a picture of Ella reading her dinosaur book- its actually an encyclopedia- but she loves it- she always has it out and pretends to read the book and talk about the green ones-

Here are most of the grandkids at Heather and Jakes house. We had a gingerbread making contest and sang carols around the piano. Santa even showed up with some pre-Christmas presents!

Santa even came to the girls swimming lessons this year. The girls must have been really good this year to have had Santa visit them two times.

Zoe started crawling and standing just recently- she was very excited about being able to get the tree! Here is Ella giving her a hug :)

The girls had very pretty Christmas dresses this year- They looked like little angles!

Ella's biggest present this year was her drums. Here she is showing Grandpa how its done!

Fire Truck Ride

Its Nathan's third birthday today! Over the weekend we celebrated it with a special trip to the Rapids Fire Hall.

The firefighters there were so nice. They gave us a tour and let us try on their fire fighting suits!

Ella was a little scared of the oxygen masks-

We got to ride in the back of one of the trucks-

Ella was tired too- so she did her best to keep it together :)

The best part was the fire truck ride- They let Nate turn on the siren and honk the horn. Ella got to go on 2 rides around town.

Zoe was sleepy so she didn't get to ride- but she had a good time hanging out with her cousin, Seth. Happy Birthday Nate!

Making a Snowman with Mom

Its been sooo cold outside- Zoe has been staying in her pj's all day to stay warm.

Zoe is getting so big. She turned 8 months yesterday! She started all out crawling on Sunday at church. I think she is driving Ella nuts as she is learning to cruse all over the living room. She is even pulling herself up on things. She is not pulling to a stand yet- but she is getting up just high enough to grab toys and books- and Ella's food :) Ella's new favorite phrase: "Stop it"

In the last few weeks- we have had about 6 consecutive lake effect snow warnings. We took advantage of all the snow and made an "ella-sized" snowman.

We even discovered snow-cream. Pretty much- you just take some snow, sugar, milk and chocolate and make icecream- it wasn't bad- Ella loved it and Zoe had some too!

She did a good job- but mostly she enjoyed putting snow on the pile we made and knocking it down :)

Poor kid even had to shovel :(

Train Show with Grandpa and Josh

The day after Thanksgiving, Grandpa took Josh and Zoe and Ella to see a train exibit at the History Muesume in Buffalo- Josh held Ella's hand almost the whole time - so cute

We got to try on fun hats and get our faces painted

Zoe even enjoyed looking at the trains

I think Ella even got on the news while she as squishing her face against the glass so she could see the toy trains go by

They sat together for story time- "The Little Engine Who Could"

Fun day...we even got some snow- Josh was really excited about it- us old folks were not as excited

Thanksgiving 2010

What a crazy week!

Joe and I hosted Thanksgiving this year and had a great time doing it!

The food was great the family was fantastic - and it turned out to just be a nice quite time to be thankful for all that we have-

I guess this year we did have a lot of "new" things- Zoe, the house, my practice (which came and went, but you get the picture :)

The kids were very well behaved- Ella fit right in with the girls watching Despicable Me after our big dinner

Zoe is always ready to party

Got the tree up- and Joe's picture of the house

Ella helped out by pretending to be a frog...she does know how to get things done :)

It really was a great day- of course my fridge has so much food in it I could feed an army with just the leftovers...