Merry Christmas from us!

Here's our photo card for 2011...sorry for the poor quality--I had to take a picture of it and it doesn't look the same as in person.  We've now received 38 Christmas cards or letters & we are so grateful for the warm holiday wishes!  We sent close to 90 cards this year & hope if you received one, that you enjoy seeing our family.  We do wish everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.  2011 has been an incredibly blessed year for us & we are excited to see what 2012 has in store.  Grateful for the grace shown to us by God & for His son's atoning sacrifice for our sins!

Baby's 1st Christmas

So I guess I'm going a little crazy with Christmas pics this year...but I can't help myself & who could with these 2 beautiful baby girls!  Last year at Christmas time we were just finding out that Ella was a girl & beginning to plan for a 2nd little one (yeah, I was in shock at this point contemplating 2 kids only 14 months apart).  I can't say it was an easy pregnancy and the 1st 3 months of life with 2 under 2 was very, very difficult, but we are very thankful to have sweet baby Ella part of Christmas this year.  I've got my new lens the 50mm f1.8 & I have found using it the last few days that it is great, but very technique sensitive.  You really have to be in focus & check & double check to be sure it's really sharp before taking pics.  I liked the ones of Jessica so well in front of the tree with the white vest, that I had to do some that were similar of Ella.  One day when the girls look back on all the thousands of pics that I have taken--I think I'm up to 5000 or so already, I hope they will see how much they are loved & how beautiful they are to us.  Enjoy some pics of our beautiful little surprise!

Unfortunately, the only pic with the jingle bells on the hat...Jessica soon took these

This could have been awesome...it's not centered & look at all the drool on her chest

Sweet little face

Love this one & especially all her baby rolls!

Wide-eyed wonder

Love this one

Multiple chins...the only time in life this is so adorable!

I grant you not the happiest expression, but sharp

A little blurred, but I had to show it, it's too cute not to

Looks like a Gerber baby to me

Look who's reaching for the tree

21 months

I know I'm way behind on Jessie's monthly update, but she did turn 21 months on Dec. 4th.  21 months has been an interesting month for Jessie.  She is completely obsessed with the moon & with any weather.  She likes snow or as she calls it "no" (she can't say an "s" yet).  She has become more complex in her thinking & has began to comprehend almost everything you say.  This has also lead to her trying to bargain more to get her way.  She's got a temper on her & sometimes she does throw tantrums to try to get things her way.  She also has gotten more adventurous in her exploration of the house, resulting in numerous falls & lots of bumps and bruises.  On a not so happy note, 21 months is the first time that Jessica has had to make a trip to the ER due to a fall.  Thankfully, she is doing well & there is no permanent damage, but the left side of her face is bruised & cut where she fell in the playroom.  She has gotten much sweeter & will give us kisses (Michael, myself, & baby Ella) before she goes to bed.  She is a "big" helper girl now & likes to close all the doors in the house & make sure the baby is with us in the car.  She is so much like me in this way, we call her safety patrol for all the times she points out things that could be dangerous or are out of place.  She also has gotten much better with Ella & actually loves her now.  She is proud to tell strangers about the bebe & if asked will say the baby is a good girl.  Speaking of good girls, Jessie knows that only good girls get gifts from Santa & although she doesn't like real Santa, the Santa figure in our house hears daily that she is a good girl.  We have been reading Christmas books to her this year & she knows who baby Jesus is & that He is good.  She continues to love to be read to & her bath time.  MoMo is still her #1 best friend, although BoBo (another monkey), & her little fur realz kitty--Kitty Jill are also favorites.   She is enjoying scribbling with crayons more & more.  If you ask her "what is your name?" she says Jessie in her cute little toddler voice.  If you ask her "where is Jessie?" she will point to herself.  She knows all her colors & hardly misses them ever, except for orange, she can't quite say that one.  She also is learning lots of animals sounds these days.  I am sure that I've left something out, but I think those are pretty much the highlights of this month.  Thankful daily for the privilege & joy of motherhood!  Enjoy some pics of our almost 2 year old--yikes, can't believe it ;)

She loves the snow or "no" as she calls it

Love that she's touching the window here

New lens 50mm f1.8

Wish it wasn't so blurred, but gotta learn the new lens

You can see her "boo-boo" here under the left eye...not permanent damage, but looks bad

Thru the magic of iPhoto there is no boo boo

 

 

 

 

Look at that bokeh at f1.8

My bigger elf

She looks like a snow princess--totally in wonder of the ornaments

Gotta have a fur vest this season...

Love this one, especially after the iPhoto magic

7 months old

It is hard to believe that our little Ella girl is 7 months old (well, she was 7 months old on the 16th).  She is so strong & continues to be a happy baby.  She is very content unless she is hungry.  Speaking of hungry, girlfriend can put away the food.  She eats usually b/w 5-7 containers of baby food or yogurt per day and drinks around 30 oz of formula that has cereal or oatmeal mixed with it.  She still has reflux sometimes, although, mixing the cereal with the formula has mostly improved this issue.  She really started teething a lot recently & no matter what I do--drool is everywhere.  She is bigger than Jessica was at 9 months old.  She now weighs around 20lbs & wears mostly 12 month clothes.  For whatever reason, she is now wearing size 4 diapers, the same as Jessica.  Don't know if I just decided that they should wear the same size to save mom from buying 2 different sizes at Sams or if she truly needs a 4??  She is very friendly & likes other people, but does have a healthy dose of fear of strangers.  Last week we attempted a Santa visit, but both girls just cried...bummer!  I believe Ella will be our little comedian.  She loves to make Jessica laugh & often laughs at her sister or smiles to get her sister to smile.  Ella loves to be tickled & especially loves dada.  She is very vocal & has many little sounds that she makes.  Most notably, her dada sound--truly it seems like she is saying dada.  Her favorite thing is chewing on toys or trying to pet Kitty Jenkins...she loves him.  Her other favorites are Dada & Jessie.  She still enjoys the bouncer toy, but the swing--sometimes she likes this & other times not.  She can get around, in her own way.  No true forward crawling yet, although, she can crawl backwards & slide around on the wood floors pretty well ;) Little Ella looked so cute on Sunday for church....she wore a dress that Jessica had worn last year for the Christmas season & I must admit it's just as cute as I remember!  Anyway, enjoy some pics of our little one.  So blessed to have her part of Christmas this year & very thankful for a healthy 7 months! 

No, no baby Ella let's keep the dress down

Such a sweet girl

Love this one

Wish the expression were better, but still cute

She loves the fabric ;)

Add caption

She's like...mom enough already!

Christmas Cookies

So I've now used 8 lbs of butter, 25 lbs of flour, 3 dozen eggs, 3 lbs of white chocolate & 10 lbs of sugar to create lots & lots of goodies for this Christmas season.  I've only baked a white chocolate cake & 6 dozen cookies so far, but there is much dough to be rolled & baked (I estimate about 10 more dozen cookies)!  In fact, my entire bottom shelf of my refrigerator has cookie dough labeled in gallon Ziploc bags.  For 2011---I'm making some of our favorites 1) Raspberry/ Walnut Rugelach 2) German Chocolate Sandwich cookies 3) Sugar cookies 4) Almond Snowball cookies 5) Gingerbread cookies.  This year for a fundraising event for the Allegheny Heart Institute (an institute that helps support Michael's research) I "volunteered" to make 5 dozen cookies, a batch of homemade toffee, & a white-chocolate layer cake for an auction item.  I'm happy to say all turned out well & I even got to spend part of the day with the lucky auction winner & her adorable son.  We baked & decorated Gingerbread cookies!  My idea of a great day for sure :)  Enjoy some pics of the baked goodies that I'm making this year...there is lots of love & LOTS of butter in these. 

White Chocolate layer cake, covered in white chocolate butter cream & grated white chocolate

3 lbs of white chocolate used for this baby & 7 sticks of butter

You need a little fruit to balance out the richness....hehe :)

Getting the auction item ready

Raspberry/walnut rugelach--this one has delicious cream cheese pastry dough...yummy!

Almond shortbread dipped in dark chocolate & sprinkled with white chocolate

German Chocolate sandwich cookies...all the goodness of the cake, but in 1 scrumptious bite

Sugar cookie decorating station

Look at the stocking, one of my favs this year

The angel is a new cookie cutter for me this year

Love the little pearl sugar candies

Jessie's pink bear

Ella's little yellow angel

Another shot of the stocking

Jessie & all her little friends are loving the bear cookies this year

O Christmas Tree....

I just realized yesterday that I haven't shared any pics of this year's Christmas tree.  Well, we did put one up & I did allow yet another needle-dropping live tree into my home.  Now some of you are probably like--Shannon is so nice & is from the country, she probably loves real trees.  I can't say I don't like the look & smell of a real tree, but when it comes down to it...I truly hate the pine needle clean up that occurs everyday at my house.  If I don't keep every single needle off the floor then someone will be eating them (2 someones actually).  And then there's the watering issue.  Because even though our cat has a cat fountain of filtered water in "his room" downstairs, water from the tree stand is the best!  So every day on top of the needle clean up there is watering to be done.  Call me a Scrouge, but I'd prefer a pre-lit artificial tree. However, I do not see this happening anytime soon, since the hubs will not hear it.  Anyway, it did turn out pretty, despite all the extra clean up, it does look nice.  Enjoy some pics of the tree & of my smallest elf.

I always have to talk Michael out of anything larger than 8ft--that is plenty big in my opinion

The "tweet-tweet" on the tree

Jessie likes the owl this year, b/c she has a book about baby owls

This was the ornament we got the 1st year we lived in Pittsburgh

Guess I'm going for a bird-themed tree, didn't really plan that

Jessie's 1st ornament from last year

I found these at a little shop around town & really like the color & nativity scene on them

One of my after Christmas sale items

Another one of Jessie's favorites this year

B/c we have such a deer problem in our yard, this is perfect ;)

Couldn't resist this little tutu onesie on sale at Target

Look at that pretty baby...she's so happy

Laughing at my "assistant"--Jessie

Look at those chubby little thighs...that's a happy girl

Yeah, that's why we keep her away from the tree, she wants to pull everything off of it

Not so sure about this Christmas tree thing