As Promised....

Here are some pictures from our trip to Sioux Falls....

Happy Saturday...

I apologize for not getting some pictures from our trip up yet, but I haven't downloaded the ones from my other camera yet. The ones I took from my new camera are a bit fuzzy because I haven't quite got the hang of the point and shoot yet. I will say I do think my older camera is by far better, which we knew, but nonetheless....

So Ella, Sam and I went to the mall today while Zan went into work. Found a couple cute things. All of the stores are having big sales so it was a little busy, but we still had fun. We picked up Zan after Sam had his dinner and went to the Pizza Ranch for dinner. I had received a coupon for a free buffet so we thought we'd try it out. So we pigged out on pizza. I really liked the dessert pizzas!! Nummy!!

Sam's new word is now dada. Or da, da, da, da...... He is quite the explorer around here. Okay, so here are the three pictures I have. The first one is Ella the night after her birthday party. She fell asleep on the floor. I think she had too much fun. The second is Sammy after eating spaghetti, which he loves. And the third one is Ella in Sioux Falls just looking cute. I think she was tired of having to smile at the camera.

I will upload all my other pictures; there are a lot of cute ones!! Soon. I promise!

First Steps

Okay, not really first steps, but exciting none the less. We bought Sam this walker toy when I saw him pushing Ella's chair around. The only thing with that is he kept falling and hurting himself. I thought he might enjoy a nice toy instead. It will be interesting to see how quickly he picks up "walking" since he's a quick study. Ella started walking around 10.5 months, which is early, so we will have to wait and see on Sam.

I have lots of pictures from our trip to Sioux Falls to get up yet. Hopefully I will be able to do that in the next couple of days. We had great weather and everyone had a great time!

Happy Birthday Ella!!

Ella has a birthday video she would like to share!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the guys! We had a very nice day here. We were able to get out on the first boat ride of the season and enjoy the nice weather. It was also Sammy's first boat ride ever!



















































Here's a picture of Zan with the children...






















We had Ella's birthday party yesterday and it went very well! I think all the kids had a very nice time.




















































These pictures were taken with my new camera. Zan was so nice and got me one that will fit in my purse so I will always have one with me. Thanks Zan!!!

Round and Round

Sam has discovered the washing machine. Ella always loved watching the clothes go round and round and now Sam really likes it too.

And of course the minute I got done saying that he wasn't standing in his crib the other day he starts standing in his crib! He also likes to do it at bedtime. Little stinker. He's starting to cruise around the furniture too. I can't keep up with him.








































In honor of Ella's birthday here is a picture of her a couple/few months old and today. (Well the other day anyways.)

Playing Piano Video

Both the kids love playing the piano. Sometimes Ella plays and Sam sings or they both play. Sammy has started pulling up to stand now, so I got a cute photo of him in his crib. He hasn't stood up in the crib yet, but he has gotten up on his knees.






















Here's the video:

Fuzzies and Caterpillars OR Fuzzy Caterpillars ???

We captured a caterpillar this morning that happened to be walking on our front patio. We frantically found our bug house (thanks Grandma & Grandpa) and put him in there. Then we promptly named him "Elmo". Ella wanted a picture with her new friend. She loves watching him crawl around and fall off the sides.

Notice the fuzzies in the background. We picked these huge dandelions a couple weeks ago and thought it would be fun to watch them turn into fuzzies. They are getting pretty big. I'm glad they are finally turning so I can get them out of my kitchen! I can only handle looking at dead dandelions for so long...

Then the bottom picture is from yesterday. I ran upstairs to get something before we left and when I came down Ella was holding Sam and wanted her picture taken. Very cute!

Now We're In Trouble

Sam has decided that crawling isn't adventurous enough and that standing might be more fun. The problem is that if he falls he is more likely to get hurt. Such joys!








































And then there's Ella, who didn't want to finish her beans and was stuck at the table until she finished them.

Ella's New Paint Job

Over the weekend we painted (I painted) Ella's room. We used the same pink that we had previously. It really needed a repaint. We kept the same pink but we also painted one wall green. This morning Nana came over and helped me paint polka dots on the walls. They turned out really cute!

Before:














After: