i bought ella some valentines today, i found her decorating herself with the heart stickers.

rrrroar!!

ella, wearing noah's halloween costume

ella loves playing with daddy's phone. she is always "calling" someone new...today it was uncle dave.

marta's baby shower

...we all fall down! Here ella and her little friend marina were having a blast playing with the balloons.

just hanging out

4 months

family pictures....what's that?

i have no pictures of me with my kids. i just dumped 1175 pictures onto my computer from the camera and i think i am in maybe 5 of them. so sad. here is an attempt to get just one cute picture of me and my kiddies. not quite picture perfect...but very accurate.

RACCOOOOOOON....

the very first night we moved into our house, we discovered two raccoons hanging out on our fence. their big black eyes just stared at us as we stared at them, trying to figure out what they were doing there. i don't think any of us knew what to think. for the past five months, RACCOOOOOONS have been a big part of our lives. i don't think a day goes by that we don't talk about them, hide from them under the covers, and leave out little treats for our furry friends. the other day, chris brought home the tackiest mug with a closeup of a raccoon's face on it. ella was in heaven. i think she hugged it right when she saw it. he definetely knows how to win her over. it doesn't take much, as long as it has to do with a RACCOOOOON!! over the holidays, ella decided that this is the face of a baby raccoon. i can't stop laughing whenever she does this. it is absolutely the ugliest face i have ever seen on my little girl! she does it whenever you ask to see the baby raccoon. notice how she very willingly pulled this face for the camera...too bad she's not this excited to get her picture taken on sunday afternoons when i am trying to get pictures of her in her darling little dresses. i think my sister had something to do with teaching her this face...i'm still not sure.

something we love about california...

ella loves her oranges! i have watched these babies grow on our neighbors tree for the past 3 months now. every time i am doing the dishes i look out the window and want an orange tree of my own. we were sure lucky to get a bag full of them, free of charge! (i offered to pay, knowing i wouldn't have to!)