We were hit with the East Coast snow storm overnight. It was beautiful to look outside and Ellie fared better playing in the snow than she had in previous years. She joined James in his crib for some post-morning nap playing and then went to console him after he woke up from his afternoon nap. I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for either of them. Ellie pulled one of her chairs up to his crib and chatted to him until I could get there. James was pretty delighted to see her!
Ellie assisted me in creating Christmas cookies yesterday. She was pretty into it for awhile. Can you guess which three cookies she made on the cookie sheet? 
We celebrated Cate's 2nd Birthday on Monday. Julie had a great party with Christmas cookie decorating. Ellie and James had so much fun with their friends. Happy birthday, Cate!
Jennie and Colin were married last Saturday, December 12th in Buffalo. It was a beautiful ceremony and a very fun reception. Ellie had her first experience as a flower girl and it was James's first time at a wedding (the kids didn't go to the reception). Ellie and Quinn did an excellent job walking down the aisle. We all had a wonderful time. Congrats, Jen and Colin- we love you!
I hope James will forgive me for posting these photos of him on the internet by the time he's, say 25. They were just too cute not to share.
We put our tree up last night and decorated it tonight. Ellie is excited about Christmas this year. It's the first time she really "gets" it. She shrieks with excitement each time she sees Santa anywhere (on a sign, on someone's lawn, in a book...) and each night we read a few Christmas books together. Ellie won't know what to do with herself when Christmas actually arrives!
We continued Ellie's birthday celebration a week after the fact at the Children's Museum. Ellie had an animal parade party with her friends. They read a book about animals, made animal masks and went on a parade through the museum. She had the best time celebrating with her friends. Adam came up from New York which made the party extra special.
Ellie turned three on Saturday, November 28th. We had such a wonderful day/weekend celebrating her birthday. When she woke up in the morning, she opened her gift from Erica and Todd and her birthday book that I made for her. We then told her that she was going to the Boston Children's Museum to see Arthur and she was thrilled! It's one of her favorite places to go and I was happy to indulge her on her big day. We spent 90% of our time there in the Arthur exhibit. Three seems like such a big leap from two. Ellie's becoming more and more independent, insists on dressing herself every morning. She likes to tell jokes and is always interested in hearing stories from when we were younger. She loves James dearly and is very affectionate with him. I'm looking forward to all of the things that three year old Ellie will do this year.
Today we celebrated our first Thanksgiving with James. Ellie and James had fun at their cousins' house and Ellie especially liked having turkey "cakecups" to celebrate her 3rd birthday with her cousins a few days early. There's nothing I'm more thankful for than my two little turkeys. We hope you had a wonderful holiday, Happy Thanksgiving!
Our bouncing baby boy turned 7 months old yesterday. He's doing just great! The best thing about the smiles in the photos above are that they are all directed toward Ellie. He's got nothing but love for his big sis and the feeling is mutual. James did a lot this past month- began sitting up independently, ate table food (bread) and ate more baby food, celebrated his first Halloween and began to talk (he's been saying "dadada" for a few weeks now). James also has two bottom teeth now and I think he'll have two top ones soon, too. He continues to be mild-mannered and a joy to be around. Keep up the good work, James!
Ellie will be three on Saturday. The festivities began yesterday morning when she proudly took turkey cupcakes (or "cakecups") to daycare. She came home to open a gift from Grandma and Grandpa. These birthday celebrations will probably continue for awhile and then mesh into the Christmas holiday celebrations. It's quite an exciting month in our house, I wonder what Ellie will think of January?