Christmas in Minnesota (at the Houges)

We had an amazing Christmas Holiday, celebrating with both the Houges and the Yutzys! First we went to Minnesota and enjoyed relaxing and hanging out with family....yes, 26 members of the immediate family calls for a lot of stockings! Elli loved her cousins and the attention from G-pa and G-ma Houge.

Celebrating the Christmas Season

This has been one of the funnest Christmas' to celebrate! I think little ones put joy into the holiday season! I made an advent calendar for Paul so we would do everything we wanted to do in this short holiday season! Included in that was: tea party with the ladies, singing hymns, enjoying a fabulous evening with the Feldt's at the Westin's Christmas extravaganza, an amazing evening at Six Flags (for Paul's work party) where we enjoyed roller coasters, bbq and the most amazing Nativity Play we have ever seen! Paul's boss had another wonderful party at her house last weekend and have enjoyed dear neighbor Maggie and her awesome Christmas cookies and I even talked Paul into a drive through nativity (actually it was pretty amusing and cute). Needless to say, it has been such a wonderful holiday season and it has just begun! I also had to include some random pics of Elli, because she cracks us up daily! The latest have included: dancing so hard at the JCPenney Christmas music that I had to hold on tight to the stroller so she didn't tip it over and when Paul gets home she runs to the door with her arms wide open and a huge smile on her face. She has even started to give kisses to her baby neighbors(without us ever saying anything). But the best way to describe Elli right now is a girl who has a book in her hand wanting to sit on someone's lap to have them read it to her. I cannot count how many books I read her a day. I never could have dreamed how fun it would be to be a mommy.

Winter and Walking

I just thought I would add some more "walking" pics as well as it was supposed to snow either yesterday or today so we got dressed up in our snowman and Colorado gear...but there's no snow:(

Elliana liked the knee walk until last week. Over the past 10 days she has really got to like walking.

Elliana likes walking, Closing doors and hiding under chairs!

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week was wonderful!! My bro, Mike and fam came out and on Wednesday we got to all be together with all the cousins/siblings at Momacks. The kids played and played for 4 hours at the playground! On Thanksgiving we went to Sea World. We enjoyed no lines and Shamu, as always, was fantastic! On Friday we celebrated Thanksgiving with yummy turkey and the fixins. We relaxed, played games and naps were of course part of the day. Saturday we hit the Riverwalk, Rain Forest Cafe and the train at Brackenridge Park. Elli thought she was all that because she started walking and could "hang" with the cousins. Plus Abby and Bethany played and played with her. She was so sad when the house was quiet again! What a fun week!

Elli's Turkey Birthday Party!

Saturday was so much fun as we celebrated Elli and her friend, Maggi's, birthday! There was a bounce house, pumpkin painting and turkey hats to make. Of course, Elli loved the cupcake the most, but I have to say she is her father's daughter! Paul rates cakes by the FTCR (frosting to cake ratio) because he loves frosting so much. When Elli ate her cupcake she first ate the frosting then handed me the rest, wanting more frosting! We had such a great time and it was fun to celebrate with friends!