A lot of catchin' up means lots of pictures

So...here's the scoop. For the most part, these pictures are in order from most recent to ancient history. I didn't put explanations on all of them...but did on many...especially if I thought it needed explaining. I will try to keep these updates a little closer together in the future. Sorry it has been so long!

Joy and Elle showing off their latest fun...jumping on the couch with no cushions!

Joy wanted Elle to ride on her back...how sweet.

Elle's little binky trick.

Joy loved her cousin!

The "Joy" of Christmas cookie baking.

Enjoying the Christmas lights at the train park.

I cut each of the girls' bangs...Joy's turned out pretty normal while poor Elle had to grow into hers...I think they are just now starting to look more normal.

(Elle's cut...thankfully she is too little to be mad at me.)

Papa's shoes.

Joy showing off her new jacket and mittens.

Reading with grandma.

Yum, gingerbread.

Elle can accomplish a lot with only 2 teeth.

An attempt at a family photo.

Our Santa picture.

Joy was hamming it up making these faces.

Ahhh...all the girls know the right team to root for.

They look like top teeth, but they are the bottom ones.

Yum, a sticker.

The fuzzy bee.

The cowgirl.

Halloween day.

First Starbucks beverage.

Pumpkin Patch

We now have a new camera and I do have a few pictures that I need to add from earlier...but I thought I would get these ones from today up on the blog. Enjoy...I know I do.

Aren't these 2 girls sweet as sunshine?

She picked this one all by herself, what a big girl.

A lovely self portrait.

Here we go.

"I think I'll hold onto this one."

Wheee.



Elle's turn.

Oooo...this feels interesting.

Wish Joy would have been willing to sit with Elle and I.

But we still took advantage of the moment.

Oh boy...what's next?

Elle is just so content...sitting on a bale of hay.

Happy First Birthday, Elle!!!

First off...I apologize for being so long in adding updates. I misplaced the camera and now it is lost. We got a digital video camera right before Elle's birthday...but unfortunately the pictures are not very good. We just replaced our camera...but these pictures are all from the video camera. You can look forward to better quality and most likely more frequent pictures in the future. This was taken the day after Elle's birthday. Her birthday was on a Thursday but we didn't celebrate it properly until Saturday.
Joy has been full of facial expressions lately...this one is quite common.
Elle enjoying her birthday spaghetti dinner.
Elle opening her present with Joy looking on.
"What is this thing on my head?"

"Ahhh...a box!"
"This ribbon looks fun."
"I do like opening presents."
When you just turn one...a mouth full of food looks awfully cute. She really enjoyed her cake. I don't have a still picture of it, but it was a sunflower cake with a construction paper stem. The cake has a story. I baked the cake early in the day on Saturday and set it on the counter to cool. Suddenly I look and Joy has helped herself to some of the cake. I scold her and set the cake out of her reach. Then our whole group heads to Costco. My parents, my mother in law, my husband, and my girls are all included. My father in law stays at the house to watch the game. When we arrive home we discover that a whole petal is missing from the cake. My father in law noticed that someone had been nibbling on it and thought it was free game. So...I had to think of something to help disguise the missing petal and came up with a green construction paper stem with a bow around it. It actually looked pretty cute and makes for a fun 1st birthday story for Elle.
"Gotta wash that cake right outa my hair." What a happy girl!