over the mountains...

...and through the woods to Grandmother's house she goes!

Ellie just drove away with Dan. They are on their way to meet Bucko and Grandma Kristy in Cascade where she will swap cars and head home with her grandparents. She will be gone until FRIDAY! That is 5 whole nights! Yikes! Is she old enough, independent enough, to handle that many nights away from mommy and daddy???? We will soon find out! We've talked ALOT about her trip the past few days and she has never expressed any doubt about going without us. She is actually very excited about the adventure. She has lots of family to visit and lots of playing to do at the ranch so she should have a blast...not to mention lots of cartoons to watch on Grandma's satellite dish. = )

I think Dan and I will miss her more than she will miss us. = (

I'll let you know how the week goes...

If she gets homesick at least she will have her fingers. = )

Ellie Belly and Captain Colty

Ellie has always been "Ellie Belly" and a month or so ago Ellie called Colton "Captain Colty". It only happened once but it was pretty funny and out-of-the-blue...now I find myself calling him that...just because it's kinda catchy. = )

They both went to the doctor the other day. Colton had his 4 month check-up and Ellie had her 3 year check-up. We really love their doctor, she was trained in the army and it's obvious that she loves kids and loves her job. Ellie had alot of fun showing off her skills, she got to run down the hall in her doctor gown to show off her coordination, she named a few colors, shapes and letters and kept asking for the nurse to take her blood pressure. We found out Colton has an ear infection but other than that he is developing perfectly...even a little advanced for his age...of course! = )

He is:
16lbs. 2oz. (75%)
26.5 in (95%)

I took some pictures of them the other day since I needed to document Ellie at 3 years and wanted some cute black and whites of baby Colton. Here is one I got of them together.

a couple pics

smiley boy!

getting stronger!

a fun outing

At the recommendation of Grandma Kristy we took Ellie to D & B Farm Supply tonight so she could see the baby chicks. Wish I had a picture to show you how cute they were! There were hundreds of them and Ellie LOVED watching them. There was a man and his son there looking at the chicks and a clerk came over and picked up one of the chicks. Ellie was very concerned and said "oh no, I don't want them to pick them up!!" She was worried it was hurting the chicks...I told her it was okay and that they were going to buy some. Well, that was the wrong thing to say! She said SHE wanted to buy some! I told her we couldn't buy any because chicks live on a farm and we don't have a farm. She got all bright eyed and said "we do have a farm! my little toy farm!" So then I had to explain to her that her Fisher Price farm wasn't big enough for the baby chicks. When we had to leave them to go home she said that she needed to stay with them because they would miss her. How cute is that! = )

I must say that it was a little sad thinking about all the baby chicks that will be purchased as Easter presents and won't be taken care of properly. = ( But, Ellie is oblivious to that!

The Adventures of Mommy and Colton

This past weekend Colton and I flew to Spokane, were picked up by Grandma Weezie and Grandpa Dan, and drove to Wenatchee to celebrate my cousin Natalie's first baby shower. We had such a good time staying in Natalie and Jake's beautiful home and getting to spend some quality time with them before they become a family of three. = ) Saturday morning I even got to take some pictures of Natalie's beautiful baby belly!

I enjoyed being able to give Colton all of my attention for a couple days while Ellie stayed home and had some fun times with daddy. I heard they baked a couple batches of cookies, washed the car and had a slumber party.

Nat and Nik at the shower (Colton's in the background with G'ma Weezie)

Colton with cousin Maddy

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Our sweet little girl is 3! We had a fun weekend celebrating her birthday. This year we decided to just have a family dinner and birthday cake. There was still a full house with Grandma Weezie, Grandpa Dan, Bucko, Grandma Kristy, Grandma Susan, Mikayla (those were the out of town guests) and Uncle Nate, Aunt Linda and Cousin Lanae.

All the singing and clapping scared Colton. = (

Ellie loved her new lip gloss. She shared it with everyone...even Bucko!

Cousin Mikayla's Visit

Ellie's cousin Mikayla was able to fly over with Grandma Susan (Dan's mom) for Ellie's birthday weekend. It was great to have her here! Ellie had so much fun playing with her. Thanks Mikayla for being so sweet to Ellie!!

Yikes!

Dan showed me this great trick...if I aim the bite of food at Ellie's nose she goes cross-eyed!!! = )

a nicer puppy post

Ellie wakes up too early these days. Usually she comes in my room and harasses me until I roll out of bed. This morning she decided to be nice to me and harass Sadie. As soon as Dan gets out of bed in the morning Sadie jumps up and falls asleep on the bed.

Ellie said Sadie was "coooolllldddd" (with shivering motions) so she needed a blankie. After I got out of bed, took a shower and helped Ellie with her bath I came back into the bedroom to find Sadie still on the bed and still with the blankie on her. = ) How cute.


Yes, I wish I could throw this scraggly blankie away! Just curious...how many of you have kids who have a ratty old blankie that they can't live without?? (just for the record, Ellie currently has two)