we can’t stay away from our new favorite bakery. 🙂 we find reasons to celebrate and get ourselves treats. 🙂

chris and i rented the 17-55 2.8 lens over the weekend, our second time renting it… but i am totally officially in love with it now. you would think i would have taken better pics than ones of my daughter eating a waffle off the kitchen floor.. but i did not. 🙂 it was for a wedding, so i didn’t get much family time with it. 

and that super easy and cute story board is from 2peas…erica made it!  i love it.
and i would also be loving grey’s right now if it weren’t for the dang scrubs musical that overruled my melodrama. whatever! 😉

before elsie came along, the bigger kids were pretty used to us going out almost every other weekend. but when they were little, it took awhile for us to get out because they were all soooo clingy. elsie is no different. the few times we’ve left her she is a mess. but last sunday… the day i took those pictures above, little miss elsie was glorious for my mom!  i can’t tell you how wonderful that feels… to be able to leave the bambino and have her happy.. and her caretaker happy…not ready to pull her hair out. 🙂 and of course to be able to have some time away from the kiddos. whom we love of course, but chris and i are big date people. we love our dates. 🙂 thanks els and thanks mom. xoxoxoox

this is where elsie retreats when she wants to hide.. ahem..do business… or just have some alone time from her crazy family who squishes/tickles/kisses/snuggles her. 🙂

we are back in sports schedule.. soccer for kira and basketball for cam..busy, busy!
oh and last night, elsie stood for 3 seconds. we cheered so loudly for her (i am not sure why.. i am not too excited that she will be walking soon). 
is that mean? 🙂

she’s 10 months and i am lagging. i didn’t get my ‘money shot’ of her when she turned 10 months this jan 1st and i am okay with it. this year is off to a very ‘laggish’ start. we took her to the doc today for her 9 month check up- serious lagging! she didn’t get any vaccines but got a flu shot! let’s hope it works! since the stomach flu from hell got hold of her at christmas, she didn’t gain very  much weight.. doc wants to check if she gains within the month. i think she will. because she is in FULL FORCE SNACKING MODE!!!!

totally makes a MAD DASH for anyone who has food. is all about her "hi’s!" when she sees someone with food. especially dad. always a ‘hiiii daaaaa!!!’ for him. love that she says that so much. so friendly. likes to look at people, and maybe reach out for their faces.. but she is still very much attached to my hip. totally in love with our entertainment center. dad got a new tv and already finds evidence of little fingers all over the bottom of the screen. 🙂 hides out behind the living room curtains. completely demolishes any board games we are in the middle of. starting to only nap twice a day.. sometimes only once…eeeeeeeeeeeeek! standing up assisted lots. still very much a fan of bananas, pears, apples and maaaaaaaybe sweet potatoes. will eat peas if they are not in baby food form. starting to get tired of rice— WHAT?!!!! 🙂 finds her way into our bed by 3 AM. up anywhere from 6-730. knows how to "dance" to music. will do this really funny fake cry when she wants my cell phone. broke my last cell phone and has lost all phone privileges. she’s 16 lbs 9 oz, 27 inches long. has taken her first metro ride to chinatown.

love that caleb is wearing his australia shirt on the chinese bench. 🙂 widdle bit of symbolism. 🙂

and found this GEM of a place near our home! a cupcake bakery! lllove it! soooo glad they opened!!! how do i know we will be there so many more times?!?  🙂 🙂

is the last day of vacation. sigh. back to the carpool life i live M-F. usually by this time, i am anxious for school to start up again.. you know, pulling my hair out and all that.. but this time.. i am in no rush. i think it was all the "nothing" we did. very nice. happy friday!

i finally took my kids outside. 🙂

let me start off by saying that i am a total HOMEBODY!!! i love being home and hanging out. pair that with sick kids, holidays, a husband on vacation– then there you go…a week and a half flown by in a blink of an eye! i made a quick dash to panda express, a few trips to the grocery store, church, the inlaws for christmas.. other than that.. we stayed home. and it was soooooo nice! lots of nintendo Wii playing, lots of firelogs burned, lots of NOTHING. my kinda days. 🙂 🙂 🙂 oh yeah, chris took the boys to play catch and fly a kite– he’s much more productive than I am.

so kira had an extra credit assignment to go to the Getty Museum and yesterday was the only day we could do it.. you know, because i had a lot of nothing planned for the rest of the week. 🙂 so out we went into the world.

it was a lot of work but fun too.. elsie did not practice her museum etiquette and was yelling for dada while in the exhibits– she likes to vocalize in places where she can echo. 🙂 i’m sure everyone was hoping my gang and i would move on. ha! anyways, the getty … a gorgeous place to visit.. and take pictures.. but thanks to kira’s history teacher, i was on a mad scavenger hunt and didn’t get a lot of pics.

i’m tired today.. i think today calls for not a whole lot. 🙂

i wonder what made her think she could climb up there?! caleb is protesting because she is in his way (he was trying to pick out a dvd) and of course, doesn’t want her to fall. look at that look she’s giving me.. like sitting on the dvd drawer is the most natural thing to do. it is SO her world, people!!!!!

hope you all have a wonderful christmas!
xo

elsie, caleb and cam got the stomach flu. such a bummer because my SIL leaves tomorrow so we didn’t get to play/hangout today. we had a great week though, so i guess that’s ok. 🙂 here’s a recap: gorgeous ginko leaves in grammies yard.. she had to be wearing her daddy shirt. lol! must go back in a decent outfit. 🙂

these 2 are nonstop:

we love grampies!

gorgeous gabriel!

our family:

my SIL and her family:

the girls and their girls:

going through the massive amount of scrap stuff to hand off to rachael, with elsie’s help of course:

and then the sickies hit… first els, then caleb then cam… 😦

i love how kira has elsie on her hip. i love how elsie is looking at something else. i love how chris is down low with the kids. i love how caleb is standing. i love how cam’s head is popping in. i love the light. i love their arms and how they are all connected. 🙂