Fashion

I've never been what you'd call a fashionista. In our family, my sister Laura was always the one who was on top of current trends and styles. Me, I'll just wear a t-shirt and jeans, most days.

Unlike me, my girls are turning out to be very opinionated about their clothes! I've posted many pictures of Maisie's unique and creative outfits. It looks like Ella's got that same sense of style. This morning, she chose a blue and white flowered dress to wear. She then said "Silly!," and proceeded to pull on green pajama pants with little pink pigs all over them.

I tried to get a picture of the outfit, but Maisie immediately started clowning around. I was laughing too hard to get a good picture of their outfits, but you get the idea. :)

An Ella Day

Since the last time we posted there have been some really big changes with our family! The biggest, I think, is that Aaron's gone back to work. So instead of being a single-income family, we now have two incomes (and YAY for that!), but our lives have somehow become 150% more hectic! I'll choose to blame the long posting hiatus on that, instead of my own laziness and the fact that I somehow lost the charger for the camera battery.

ANYWAY, Aaron had to work this morning and Maisie was off to the Flint Hills Children's Festival with Grandma Liisa and Dylan, so that left me and Ella to our own devices!

First we checked how our strawberry patch is doing this year...



They look good, for a few plants we planted on the salty, sandy boulevard! They were planted last year in an attempt to get a ground cover we won't have to mow, and they're really taking off.



We might even get a berry or two, if the bunnies and squirrels don't eat them all!

Ella really needed sandals, so then we were off to the Mall of America. To increase the adventure quotient (and because I didn't feel like driving), we took the BUS!

The bus stop is next to a really fun hill, that kept waiting for the bus from being boring.




Ella fell asleep on the bus, so I guess it wasn't that exciting after all.

Once we got to the mall, she was all business: we were there for shoes! We hit a department store with a great kids' shoe selection, and she made her choice.

I thought maybe she'd want to check out a few other options, but no. It turns out that Ella is a decisive shopper. The lovely and helpful employee who was helping us brought out some other choices, but Ella said "NO!" to all of them. So we bought the sandals she chose, and we were off.


We got lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.


We then decided to check out the aquarium formerly known as Underwater World, f/k/a Underwater Adventures, n/k/a Sea Life Aquarium. For those who've been there before, it's been completely redone and is WAY better than it used to be. Ella was most impressed by the jellyfish, the turtles, and the "scawwy shawks!" She was not super impressed by the photographer who took our picture, however.

(sorry about the lousy camera-phone-picture of a picture!)

After all that, it was time for another bus ride home...

Funny story: one of our neighbors was on the bus, too. When we got off he said to me, "I didn't know if that was you for sure, until I heard her say 'NO!'" Yeah, that's our (almost) two year old! She busted out a four word sentence tonight: "I do it 'self!" Just like her big sister, Ella is turning out to be very independent!

So anyway, when we got home, Ella briefly had a fit about the fact that there were no graham crackers in the house. Shortly thereafter, this happened:

And then I took a nap, too.

The end! (until tomorrow!)

Cell phone photos

Here are some assorted cell phone photos... enjoy!

Ella is a turkey, playing with her turkey.


Saying "cheese," and showing off teeth!


Sledding at Suomi-koulu's Laskiainen celebration.


Showing off new bangs.



Naptime!



(A tip of the hat to cousin Sully for the blog post idea!)

Ella update!

I meant to do an update when Ella was 18 months. Due to some technical difficulties, it's taken a little longer... she's now 20 months old. Still, here's your Ella update!
At 20 months, Ella's receptive language is awesome. She can understand almost anything you tell her, or ask her to do. Her spoken language is really taking off, too - she's just getting to two-word sentences. Yesterday she said "Read book!" I almost exploded from pride.

Aaron and Ella do art just about every day. She loves finger painting, and knows almost all her colors: boo, lellow, pup-po, wedd, and geen!


Sometimes we visit a coffee shop not too far from our house that has a toy room, and sells juice boxes, cheese sticks, and other kid-friendly snacks.

We are big, big fans of this place!

Ella's also a big, big fan of Maisie... she really loves her big sister!

(and who can blame her?)

Attempted update...

I realize that we've been remiss about updating the blog. (Thanks Cathy for the reminder. ;) ) I was going to do an Ella update tonight, but it turns out I can't find the memory card reader so I can move pictures from the camera to the computer. Hopefully we'll track it down soon, and I'll do a big update... there are lots of cute pics on the camera!

In the mean time, here are some photos to tide you over. This year (and last year too), my mom took pictures with her grandchildren at a local photography studio, the Photographer's Guild, for her Christmas cards.

Here are some of my favorite pics of the girls (with Gramma Liisa and Cousin Dylan) from that early December session.

Snowy fun

The blizzard wasn't our only snow this month. In fact, this has been the snowiest December on record for the Twin Cities! As of the 21st we had received over 38" of snow. The usual snowfall for an entire winter is only 42"!

But don't worry, we don't let something like snow keep us inside.





After all, we are Minnesotans! And you know what they say... there's no such thing as bad weather - just bad clothing!

Blizzard!

As you may have heard, we got a bit of snow last weekend... 16.5", to be exact, in Minneapolis! Combine that with high winds and below-zero temperatures, and it's a full-on blizzard. Minneapolis is on its second consecutive snow emergency, and both Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools are on their second snow day.

Because of the frigid temps, we don't have any pictures of the girls playing in the snow. Also, it's way too deep for them! The drifts are chest-high on Maisie, and well over Ella's head. But I thought I'd share some pictures so those of you elsewhere can see what we're dealing with.

For perspective, here's a picture of Ella in our front yard in October. See the sign in the background?



Here's how it looks today:


Remember the climber in our backyard?


Here it is, mid-day Saturday, even before all the snow had fallen.


You probably heard that the Metrodome collapsed from the snow... I don't have a "before" picture, but here's my "after," taken with my cell phone on my way to work today. I labeled it because it's hard to see what isn't there.


Happily, not my car.


But unfortunately, this is my office.


Hmmmm... perhaps storm windows would've been a good idea.

Maisie's 4th birthday

Maisie was a lucky girl: she had two birthday parties this year!

On her actual birthday, we had a party at Auntie Laura, Dan, and Dylan's house. It was pretty low-key, with just Grammy Liisa joining us. We ordered pizza, opened presents, and ate cake. She got several Barbie dolls, a Hello Kitty purse, and a musical princess ballerina dress from her Grandma Jo, which she immediately had to wear.

Grammy Liisa made an amazing cake:

which Maisie LOVED!


Then, of course, we had a pinata. Even Ella took a swing at it:

It's hard to see because the picture is blurry, but trust me: that baby is holding, and swinging, a HUGE stick.

Maisie's birthday fell on a weekday. So on the following Saturday, we had a party with her school friends at Adventure Peak at Edinborough, an indoor play park. We also invited our friends Emi and Liza, who joined us and enjoyed the cupcakes.

Of course, Emi wasn't the only kid who loved the cupcakes...

Ella did some damage to hers, too!

Everyone had fun playing, and Maisie had a great day with her friends.

We're so happy with our sweet, silly, funny, loving, smart, and all-around wonderful Maisie! The past four years with her have been a joy. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

4!

Just 4 short years ago today, Maisie looked like this...


Look how far we've come!



At 4, Maisie is a smart, funny, confident, loving girl. She loves dancing and singing, drawing, coloring, and painting. She has a silly sense of humor and loves to tell jokes. She has an active, curious mind and is always asking questions. She is sweet and affectionate, and always gives hugs and kisses to her friends and family. She loves school, and is learning to read and write. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

Happy birthday Maisie!

Practicing for Halloween

First of all - nearly a month between posts! I have to apologize. We lost our camera for the longest time, but just found it again, so we should be back to our regularly semi-scheduled posts.

Okay. Yesterday we were sitting around when my sister called and asked, "Does Maisie want to go trick-or-treating with me and Dylan?" Are beans green??? Of course she wants to! Fortunately she was already wearing a costume - a ballerina tutu, 'cause that's what she wears at home most of the time. So we pulled some tights on her, found her pumpkin bucket, and off she went!

Dylan was dressed as Darth Vader - no mask for the picture, though.

They went up and down Grand Avenue in St. Paul for an annual event called Boo Bash, sponsored by the Grand Avenue Business Association. The local businesses hand out treats, and there were various activities such as pony rides, face painting, and a costume contest.

A great time was had by all! Thanks Auntie Laura for inviting Maisie along!