Happy Birthday Sydney and Madison

Today we headed to Unionville to celebrate Sydney and Madison's birthday. They are Brent's sister Rhonda's daughters. Sydney turned 13 and is growing into a beautiful young lady!

Aunt Rhonda got some snuggle time with Ella during the party.

The birthday girls!

Ella got involved in blowing out the candles. She was just practicing for her upcoming birthday, I guess.

Weekend Travels

We got up bright and early to head to Keokuk this morning. Our first stop was Ray and Mikie's house in Kahoka.

The girls have no trouble making themselves at home when we are at Ray & Mikie's. I always feel a little bad about the mess they make, but they do have a good time exploring.

Gracie still loves to sit on Ray's rocking horse, just like she did when we lived down the street.

Ella was especially fond of this slinky.

Ray let Gracie and Ella have the slinky to take home. They are enjoying it very much but have trouble sharing from time to time.

Just another picture of Gracie sharing a smile at Ray & Mikie's house.

Ella loved this little quilt that Mikie had on her rocking chair.

She also kind of like Junior, the little pouting boy that stands in the corner at Ray & Mikie's. Gracie always liked him too! After this we headed to the square together to eat lunch at Steve's. Then we had to get to Keokuk for Ashton's baby shower.

In the history of baby shower's, this one might have been the cutest one ever. At the very least, it was the cutest one I have ever seen. It was a western themed shower, and no detail was left undone.

Ashton's Aunt Missy is the hostess with the mostest. She did much of the work on the shower and could be a party planner extraordinaire if she wanted to.

We had to play a game where you hung clothes on a clothesline while holding a baby doll and holding a cell phone to your ear. Kathleen held the end of the rope and probably made fun of us hanging up the clothes with our hands full!

Even though she is miserable, Ashton still looked really cute!

Alisha won the contest of hanging up the clothes. Of course, she has 3 small kids and is great at multi-tasking!

You gotta love the side pose showing a little baby belly!

Vian did a great job being a cowgirl for the occasion. You would have thought she planned her outfit for weeks, but she pulled it off in about an hour!

Angie and Katie also dressed for the occasion and looked oh-so-cute!

We are all very excited to meet baby Liam. His arrival is scheduled for February 4th unless Ashton goes into labor sooner.

Faces

Ella loves to make faces. She is really pretty goofy a lot of the time. Since the girls bathe together most days, Gracie likes to encourage Ella to get silly.

I love this silly little girl!

They were trying to glare at me. One of their favorite faces to practice!

Snow Tunnels

Over the weekend Brent helped Gracie dig a couple of snow tunnels in the yard. Gracie had a lot of fun climbing through them! She claimed that she helped her daddy scoop out the tunnels, but I think he would tell you different.

Just Another Crazy Sunday Morning

It's never easy to get our clan ready for church and out the door. I don't think any family with kids has that luxury. However, Ella came up to me this morning while I was rushing around and gave me this look; a look like something was wrong.

She turned around and had her Zhu Zhu Pet caught in her hair. This has happened before, but this time I had to cut the strand to get the pet out. It was wound pretty tight. I never factor enough time in our Sunday morning routine for hamster removal from hair.

The girls both looked really pretty today, so I took some quick pics on the way out the door.

This was the first time Ella has consented to wear her boots for longer than 2 minutes. We cheered and clapped and told her how cute they were hoping it would make her wear them, and it worked. She did want them removed promptly after we got home from church though.

As you can see, Ella still doesn't like standing still to have her picture taken, so I had to resign myself to pictures on the run or on my bed. You can still tell what a cutie she was today!

Another Snowy Day

It takes 30 minutes to get everyone dressed to go outside, and then it doesn't last that long due to the cold temperatures. Gracie has had a lot of fun with all the snow. Ella thinks she wants to go out and play, but the cold weather zaps her pretty quickly. Here are just a few pics from their adventures outdoors today.

Two Dancing Princesses

Gracie started taking gymnastics at the YMCA. Yesterday was her first session, and she loved it. She went to bed asking, "How many days until gymnastics?" She hasn't been dressing up in her princess outfits much lately, but I guess gymnastics inspired her to get her gear out and get fancy again.

Since Ella has to be just like Gracie, she wanted to put on a fancy dress also. She is wearing Gracie's first dress up outfit, and she loves it just as much as Gracie did.

She's also trying out some of her own moves. Interesting, huh?!

Again with the moves! At 23 months, Ella is pretty limber!

That's all for now, folks! Shows over!