Before We Are Four

Our family is growing and I wanted to get a few photos of our current condition before the arrival of our newest addition makes her debue. Landon and I are very excited and of course the big sister to be is also showing her own kind of enthusiasm.

The Visitor

Landon and I really got a kick out of this.

Last night at dinner, we were all sitting enjoying one of my fabulous culinary masterpieces (hahaha - chicken and StoveTop casserole), when out of no where, Ella chimes into the conversation to say, "My sister made a mess in my room," in a matter-of-fact tone. Landon and I looked at each other and laughed. I made the comment, "Not already." Landon turns to Ella and asks her who it was that made the mess and she answered, without hesitation, that was her sister. He then asked her, "Where is your sister?" To which she responded, "In Mommy's tummy." That lead to further inquiries on our part. Landon finally asked, "Well, how did your sister make the mess then?" Ella, in her infinite wisdom, replied, "She jumped out."

If only it were that easy.

The Power of Three

Thursday, January 26, 2006, was a very eventful day for our family; our Ella was born! She came into this world with vigor. We are so grateful for the joy that she has brought to us.

Three years later, she continues to bring joy to all of us. Ella was thrilled to have a birthday party with lots of friends. The festivities began with lunch at Izzy's. What could be better than party bags, goodies, pizza and ice cream!?

Ella made a haul! The smiles that she was giving us all day were so bright I couldn't help but be excited and smile with her.

The fun continued at home. Ella and I baked a cake together. It was made according to her specifications. She wanted a pink heart cake. After she ate her "piece of cake" (the frosting), she promptly asked for more frosting!

The gifts kept coming too. She was so excited over everything, it seemed like she was going in circles for a bit while she was deciding what she wanted to play with first.


I'm so grateful for my little girl, and I hope she will always know how important and special she is.

Potty Time

I am so proud of my little toots. It has been a week, and Ella has had no accidents. A few months ago, I attempted to begin potty training, and I failed miserably. I made some mistakes, and maybe (if you haven't already been through this process) if I share them, you won't make those same mistakes.
First: I started when I thought Ella should be ready.
Second: I had Ella go sit on the potty according to the schedule I thought was appropriate.
And Finally: I started this process when I was in the middle of my first trimester of my pregnancy.
With the wisdom that Landon gained from his father, he told me that "when you train a horse, sometimes things just don't work out. You then have to take some time off, and when you resume your training (when she's ready), the horse will remember what you taught them the first time, and progress without any trouble." Now, I'm not saying that my daughter is a horse, but the training theory seemed to be correct. For the months following the miserable failure, I would periodically ask Ella if she would like to go potty on her potty. For months the answer was no, but one day (a week ago), she agreed and was excited to put her big girl panties on. Since then, she has had no accidents. She even wakes up dry in the morning half the time, and wakes up from her naps dry every day. It's been fun to be excited with her. Now at the end of the day, she gets two coins for every "wet" she does in the potty and five coins for every "poopy." She then sits down and counts her coins as she puts them in her piggy bank (actually its a snail). She loves it when she gets "Lots and Lots of moneys."
Ella's getting to be such a big girl, and I am loving the thrill of being a part of her growth!

Christmas Flurries

Christmas was a joyous day. I had to work the evening of Christmas Eve, but Landon and Ella joined me for dinner so that we could have some family time. Landon then donned the roll of Santa preparation. He and Ella played games, wrote a letter to Santa, put out the cookies on the Santa plate, and even opened a present. (Ella is wearing the pajamas she opened in the following pictures.) When Ella woke up Christmas morning, she was so happy to see both of us home. She hopped up into our bed to snuggle for a few minutes (which was nice, it gave me time to wake up). Landon then went out to turn on the lights and camera. He then returned to the room to inform Ella that a visitor had come to our house during the night. It wasn't until then that Ella remembered . . . Santa! The rest of the morning was a flurry. Ella opened every present, except for maybe two, which happened only out of default. Those two presents were opened by either Landon or I simply because she had handed it to one of us and then proceeded to open a different gift. Her excitement was hard to contain, and Landon and I loved every minute of it!

A tradition that began with my family several years ago is to paint a new ornament for the Christmas tree every year. I have carried that tradition on to my own family. Here are the ornaments that we (Landon and Ella) painted this year. I will get my reindeer done soon; I wasn't able to do it when Landon and Ella were painting simply because I spent the time rinsing Ella's paintbrush frequently so that she could use new colors. I'm sure you can pick out her works of art - they are extremely colorful!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Winter Greetings

It's CHRISTMAS EVE!

And we have been busy keeping up with all the holiday activities. Here is a fun peak at what we have been up to.

Yummy!

Ella was so excited to see Santa. She sat in the front row while all the children waited and sang Christmas carols. When Santa arrived, she was first in line. The magic gleamed from her eyes.

Storybook Land was a fun family outing.

And, of course, making Christmas goodies was a success. My little chef was a great help.

Snow has blessed us this wonderful season too! Ella wakes up every morning, runs to the window, and updates us on the weather. The best mornings are greeted with "It's snowing!"

We are grateful for this wonderful season of love. Our little girl has been the biggest blessing in our lives and we look forward to all the magical times ahead.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Festivities

On Monday, November 24, Ella and I embarked on a road trip. It was a trip that we as a whole family have made several times, but this time it was just me and my little tootsie (Ella). We packed the car to make the 500 mile (approx.) trip to Boise. Ella was a fantastic traveler. The typical 8 hour trip took us a whole 10 hours (we took a few lengthy wiggle stops). Ella and I then were able to spend a few days with my sister and her beautiful new baby, Ryker (and Tory and my favorite Michelle). Landon then flew in on Wednesday morning. We hung out all together through the morning and early afternoon before we all jumped into the car to continue the road trip to Idaho Falls.

We then spent a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with our families. Ella was in absolute heaven with all of her cousins. The picture below is of Ella with a few of them having a dance-off.

Black Friday shopping was also a success. We Winter girls hit the shops early and made it home by 8:30! There were a few items on my list that were "must haves," and I got them all! One of the items, I got one of the last two. Another, I took the last two off the shelf (I think that that upset the shopper that was standing behind me who was 2 seconds to slow). In all, I probably did 90% of my Christmas shopping while we were there. I decided that the money I spent in Idaho sales tax was less than what I would have had to pay for a babysitter if I had waited and done it back home in Oregon. So, like I said, shopping success!

Landon enjoyed some satisfying male bonding time too. He spent a few days out with the men from the Winter family and one with the McCracken men testing their personal firearms. Like I said, satisfying male bonding time.

We now miss our family during this Christmas season, but are very happy that we were able to spend an enjoyable week during Thanksgiving with them.