Ella's 3rd Birthday!

Ella had two birthdays this year (like she did last year :), one on her real birthday and one when my family came into town for Thanksgiving.

This is Ella on her real birthday. She wanted a Belle cake, so I got her a small one from the store. Here she's posing with the cake and her balloons and gifts . . .

Grace was stealing the show with her newest word, "Cheeeeeese!" She tried to get into all the pictures saying, "cheeeese" with that ridiculously cute face. Ella, of course, looks thrilled.

The cake was better than she makes it look.

Cheeeeese!!

This is the Belle cake that I made Ella for her birthday with the whole family the night before Thanksgiving. The doll is a bath toy. Unfortunately, she fell apart a little on the ride to Pebble Beach to the house where my family was staying for the holiday. Fortunately, it was in the back, so we just patched her up :)

Grace and Heath looking at Ella's gifts.

Aunt Sandra reads one of Ella's new books to her after the excitement of cake and ice cream wore off.

Halloween Fun

Ella's dress-up fun began at Salinas HS's homecoming. Ella was asked to be a princess for their homecoming parade and football game with a group of other little girls. Ella got to be Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Here she is with Belle and Sleeping Beauty out in the parking lot waiting for the parade to start.

Something was funny!

I had a Snow White costume for Grace, but she refused to wear it for the parade (much to Daddy's pleasure). However, she insisted on being in the princess picture.

Here's a shot of the horse drawn carriage we got to ride in--yes, I got to ride too! It was fun. The streets were lined with people, and we had quite the parade route through the downtown streets. Ella had a blast waving at all the people.

I got this shot at home before we left when Grace was willing to wear the Snow White costume for a few minutes.

The girls got to pick out pumpkins at Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley.

They had a "corn kernel pit" for the kids to play in . . . Grace loved it!

Here are the girls in their costumes before we went to the Shoreline Halloween party.

Ella is Dorothy the Dinosaur Ballerina . . . it's a character from the Wiggles.

This is in a bounce house at the Shoreline party . . . I had to drag Grace out of here!

Here you can see Ella's buddy Simon as Spiderman, and then Grace and Ella to the right of him.

Ella's first "trunk or treat."

Ella had her face painted by Snow White!

Here's Ella trying to get her arm around Simon for the picture.

On Sunday, we took the kids to another church Halloween carnival. Here's Grace and Daddy going into the party.

The kids won cupcakes in the cake walk--yummy!

On Halloween, we went trick or treating at the Del Monte shopping center in the afternoon. The girls were allowed one lollipop.

Catch-Up Time!!

I'm way behind . . . so here's a "brief" catch-up :)

At the puffin exhibit at the aquarium . . .

Thank you Aunt Debbie!!!! Grace loves her new blanket :)

JoAnn and Sandra visited in September . . . here's a picnic we had one day.

Aunt Tracey, Nonna, and Heath came to visit and we went to the beach. Ella got to fly a kite for the first time!

Ella and Grace during story time at preschool . . .

Snack time at the aquarium . . .

Fairy Tale Town with Nonna and Aunt Tracey!

I sort of got all three of them . . .

Ella's first Drumstick at Nonna's house . . .

Our preschool class took a trip to a pumpkin patch.