Thanksgiving in Tucson

We had a great time in Tucson! It was wonderful to see our friends from college, show Ellie the UofA campus and spend time with Grandma and Pop Pop! Becky, John and Olivia also came down for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so great to see them as well!

I have to start by showing a picture of Ellie from last Thanksgiving. This is one of our favorite pictures!

Our first stop was Nico's. Here is Ellie with a bunch of hot sauce!

Here's Daddy and Ellie in front of Old Main.

We hung out with friends on Monday and Tuesday night. Here is a shot of all the Dads with the kiddos. It looked like Ellie was having fun keeping up with all of the boys!

We finally got to meet Audrey! She is such a cutie!!


Grandma, Pop Pop and Ellie

Three Generation picture!

Ellie enjoyed the rocking chairs in Grandma and Pop Pop's house.


Ellie loved playing on the bed in the hotels. It was her first hotel experience and she was such a trooper. She even handled the 4 days of 8 plus hours in the car pretty well.

Ellie's First Birthday

We headed down to Austin for Ellie's birthday party bright and early on her birthday. Here are some pictures from the big day!

This was Ellie's free cake. It was pretty big!

Ellie is ready for the cake and showing everyone how she can smile for the camera!


She just played with it, she didn't want to eat it. Too sweet for her!


I forced her to have a taste. I'm such a great mom :)

She got her first basketball hoop and all of the adults probably had more fun playing with it than she did. She just wanted to look at the babies on the box.

Proof that Auntie Sally was there!!!

Halloween

Ok, I know I've been horrible about posting! I have to go back and do Halloween, Ellie's Birthday and Thanksgiving...I just can't skip ahead. So here are a couple of pictures from Halloween. Ellie and I went over to Danni's house to play with Carol, Emma and Cooper. We had them get in their costumes and Ellie was not happy. I think it's because the Chicky head is behind her ear. Oh well. Then after her nap we had a big surprise! I was packing Ellie for our trip to Austin the next day and my sister walked into Ellie's room! I was really excited and happy that Jason and Sally planned this for Ellie and me! I had not seen my big sis since last December!! Craziness! That is the one of the bad parts about living in TX, it's too expensive to fly to CA and too far to drive.

So after the shock wore off, we went trick-or-treating to the neighbors' houses. Ellie had her first Tootsie Pop and threw up a little. I guess she doesn't like sweets as much as her parents. I know the day will come though...

Ellie trying to roll away from picture time while Emma and Cooper patiently wait for her.

Our attempt at using the camera timer :)

Halloween Dress-Rehearsal

Ellie is going to be a Chick-A-Dee for Halloween. I thought she would start crying when I put her costume on, but she really liked it. Hopefully on Halloween we can trick-or-treat at our neighbors' houses before bedtime.

New Shoes

Ellie has taken about 10 steps in a row. We are the target of a lot of teasing because Ellie never has shoes on. So, I thought it was time to get her first pair of shoes. She doesn't like them at first, but after a few minutes she gets used to them.

Our Messy Little Eater

Ellie is going through a phase right now where she prefers to feed herself. Here are some of our favorite post-meal faces. When does she learn to use utensils?


She wanted to feed herself lasagna. But then her face started to itch.

It might be hard to tell, but there is a kernal of corn on her eye lid.

Cat, Duck and Dog

Ellie can say cat, duck and dog! Cat sounds like "gat" or "gac" but she's looking straight at Yodi or Stewie when she says it. Duck comes out pretty clear and so does dog. She usually can mimic us when we say it. She's taken about 5 steps in a row without falling. She is such a joy...I love seeing all these milestones every day!