Outer Banks!

Last week was our family vacation with Chris' side of the family (plus about 10 people from Amy's husband's family). There were 25 of us in the nicest, biggest beach house I've ever seen! There were 14 bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room that was about the size of my house, an impressive theater room, about 30 TVs (it was excessive), a pool, and a private "boardwalk" out to the beach. You can tell, we were impressed by the house. Anyway, we did a "formal" family photo shoot on the beach (coordinating outfits and everything!) so those pics will be coming soon. Here are some of the more fun pics of people and stuff we did.


I think this was my nephew Silas' first ice cream cone :-)

A close-up of our little beauty-kinda scary!

Erin, Dave, and Chris on "Adventure Night" (think teams, sand dunes, mini-golf with "special rules", beer, and Chris' truck stuck in the sand for 30 minutes)

Matt was the creator of "Adventure Night" :-)

Ella was obsessed with this umbrella

The cousins had the time of their lives playing ALL DAY EVERY DAY!

Chris and I on top of he Wright Brother's Memorial


That's the Memorial up on the hill behind them

Ella spent lots of time in the pool-last summer she needed the floating bathing suit but she does great with just the "water wings" or "blow-bluffers" as my family calls them

Chris' rents having fun when we were out to dinner for some seafood

Getting ready for the beach. Yes, Chris is wearing Ella's shorts on his head.

A really fun game of Catch Phrase once the kids were asleep.

Ella and Christopher got a little carried away in Nana's bathtub!

On the drive Ella did GREAT. She watched DVDs a lot of the time and it was SO cute to hear her laughing out loud at the movies or telling Curious George to "watch out!"

Watch for some of the good pics from the family photo shoot soon!

Extras

So, here are some random extra pics that don't really qualify for their own blog post but are too funny/cute/interesting not to post :-)


Ella hanging out on laundry Mountain while watching TV

could our 3 green shirts clash any MORE??? Cute pic nonetheless

Ella made this little bed for herself when she got bored during our pseudo-seder for Passover (4 christians, and a few atheists don't make for very good Jews)



Our new playground! Free from Aunt Bobby and Uncle Scott. Just needs the slide now!

More Garden Updates

Well, the plants are making their way from the seed pods to small pots and then into the ground! A few weeks ago Chris and his brother Andrew rented a tiller and took turns creating garden spaces at our house and theirs. Here's the finished product and some updated pics of the plants! We'll see how many survive the big move into the ground!




My sweet husband-turned-gardener

3 and a half !!!

Last week Ella turned 3 1/2! Just like last year, she's SO interested in her birthday it's fun to celebrate the half birthday since a year is a long time to say "no, it's not your birthday yet" and see her sad little face. So, we made cupcakes and a cake (Ella's request) and it got a little wild but what's cooking with a 3 year old, excuse me three and a half, if you don't get some chocolate in your hair?


It started out pretty tame with some mommy-sanctioned licking


Then she started painting her face!




Eating the finished product, one bath and a lot of washed dishes later ;-)


Happy 3 1/2 Ella! We love you so much and cherish celebrating you on any occasion we can find. You are a gift from God!

Last Day of Preschool!

Ella has finished her first year of preschool! We've been really happy with her school and she LOVES the social aspect, the structure, her teachers, everything. She hasn't missed a day and has never been sad to go. I have no idea how we'll make it through the summer with her asking all the time when she gets to go back to school!

Here's her first day of school, September 2009


Her last day, May 2009-she's SO big!!