Blog Post.

Life is good here--as usual.

Ella is getting so big! She's already sleeping through the night (from abt. 10 to 7ish), which I can't believe. Evan didn't sleep through the night until he was about six months, so I am considering myself very, very lucky. Thank you Ella.

We went to the California Poppy Reserve last weekend, which was amazing. It is just miles and miles of orange poppies, as far as you can see--the air smelled so good! The Antelope Valley (where we live) is pretty brown and boring (to me) so it was quite a treat to get to experience all the flowers. Evan had a great time exploring, especially once he discovered how many lizards and beetles there were to find. He's become quite the little insect finder! Luckily, he's terrified of touching most of them, so that's helpful for me. Ella wasn't too excited about having her picture taken (especially with Evan holding her).

Evan has become very imaginative, and he's getting really good at thinking up games and activities for himself. The other day, he decided that he wanted to make "ench-ladas" (he loves enchiladas!) and made this concoction:

It consisted of a tortilla, mayo, kraft singles, applesauce, cinnamon, raisins, chocolate chips, Kix, and sprinkles. Lots of sprinkles. He got everything out of the fridge, asked for the things he couldn't reach, and told me what he was making. In the end, he only ate the raisins, choc chips and a few Kix. And lots of sprinkles. He had a really good time.

When I showed Mike the pictures, the first thing he said was "what is he wearing !?". I will have you all know that he is wearing my apron, not a skirt. Must be properly dressed for cooking!

Although I guess it wasn't really necessary to continue wearing it for bubble-blowing later...

Yesterday, he took all (all) of the dishes out of the cupboard and placed them all neatly on the counter with cups and silverware. He told me he was setting out dishes for Mama, Daddy and Grandpa. Thank you. Like I said, he's getting really good at entertaining himself!

Tomorrow, Ella and I are going to the outlet mall with some girlfriends, and Evan gets daddy to himself all day! So far I've heard that the day will involve bug-finding expeditions and learning about dinosaurs. Excitement for all!

I hope our camera survives...

Evan has been really excited about taking pictures lately, and he's finally figuring out how to point the camera and take pictures of actual things.

He took this picture the other day while we were talking to Gamma and Poppa on Skype, and I think it's really neat. I love how you can see him at the bottom of the screen taking the picture. What a little photographer!

Yes, I leaked a few tears.

I have been watching videos of Evan for the better part of the last hour. (wait, how did I end up with an hour to myself? Amazing, I know.) I had forgotten how little and chubby he was! Now he's such a big boy and I'm so glad that we took so many little thirty second videos.

I could watch them all day, so I thought I'd put one on here just to remind everyone how quickly they grow up.

And here he is today! Well, yesterday.

We had to have an indoor easter egg hunt due to the constant wind. ugh. It would probably be 75 degrees here if it weren't for the wind chill provided by our 30 mph winds...Evan was more interested in finding the eggs with candy in them than actually collecting them--he would pick one up, break it open, and move on if it wasn't candy. He only had eggs in his basket because I stuck them in there! He ate a lot of candy and it was a good easter.

Back to the videos, I vow to continue to take loads of videos of our kiddos as they grow up, because I don't want to forget one minute of their amazing childhood.

Just a few pictures...

Which is which?

Ella had her first tub bath yesterday, and amazingly we remembered to take pictures!

Looking at her pictures made me need to look at the pictures of Evan's first bath, since they were exactly the same age, and it confirmed for me that they look just alike. So much so, that I'm getting confused while i'm trying to add pictures to this post.

So, which is which? Do you know? Not fair if you can tell by which kitchen they're being bathed in!

Hello Ella!

I am loving having this little girl around!

Look at those tiny little feet. Who could resist?

World's best big brother!

We couldn't be prouder of Evan. He has done such a wonderful job of welcoming Ella into our family, and he is such a good big brother. He is always careful and loving towards her, and likes to look for ways that he can help with her.



Last night we gave her a bath, and Evan helped wash her hair! I didn't take any pictures, because the moment would have been lost, but he took his little wash cloth and helped to rinse the soap out of her hair. He was so gentle, touching her head ever so softly, and very careful to make sure that he didn't get any water on her face. He is turning into such a big boy, and we are so lucky to be his parents!