3 Mazacs

Pics from Christmas Day. Thank you Ellie for letting us sleep until 7:00 AM!

Ellie carbo-loading before presents with some monkey bread.

Off to a fantastic start with a school bus. Ellie loves 'em!

Had to take a break to enjoy a new book.

Monkey bread wearing off, but there are still 6 presents to go!

Dora table and chairs! Now there's room for a tea party, coloring, and working on her thesis.

A Dora kitchen to work on her masterpieces. She already has a full sink.

The blender was a big hit on the Dora kitchen.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

This was Christmas #1 on December 20 with Tita before she left for Florida

Tita picked out a great new outfit for Ellie for when she goes cruisin'.

Thank you Tita for all the new Little People toys!

The new Dora book was a hit. Anything with Dora on it is a pretty safe bet.

Ellie felt she needed to tweek and tune her new ride before hittin' the streets.

Ellie has an extreme fascination with anything with wheels - especially bicycles. Here she is at REI soooo happy that she got to sit on a bike. Later Titi (what Ellie calls my mom) pushed Ellie around the store (at which point she was made to put on a helmet by the store employees).
Ellie looks so grown up! I can't believe she'll be two soon!

We also just scored big and got her a bicycle with training wheels at a garage sale for $5 (great shape too!). SShhh! It's a secret for years later (who could pass up that deal?)!

Ellie found my eyelash curler AND knew what to do with it.

She now may know more about makeup than Steve... ;-)

For some reason if you tell Ellie to say "cheese," she puts her arms in the air.
If you say "smile," she'll smile with her head tilted way up, like she's looking at the ceiling.
If you take a picture of her singing/ screaming, it's perfect.

I only had to wait until Ellie's second visit to Santa so I could get a picture of her crying on his lap. I'm not being mean, I think it's adorable.

Clearly, she doesn't wanna.

Having some quesadilla on mommy's lap while Santa sings Christmas songs.

Santa had a plan. Sneak up behind Ellie and smile. I like the crying picture better.

The gourmet talent!

The spread!
(Roasted turkey, salad, garlic rolls, stuffing, garlic green beans,
sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie of course!)

Our first Thanksgiving where Ellie ate the same food as us!

Cranberries were the undisputed favorite.

What do you mean no more cranberries?!?!?!!?
(This is her classic "mean face" that we frequently ask her to make b/c it's hilarious.
She does it briefly and then cracks up. It's adorable!)

Cranberries!!!!!!!!!!

This Father's Day Steve's parents came to town.

Here are some pictures.

For many different reasons, it wasn't until June 20th that we finally made it to the pool for the first time. Here are some pics.

Ellie's so cute. Just like her great- grandmother, grandmother, and mom, she holds her pinkies up when she drinks.

We wanted her to drink a lot to make sure she didn't get dehydrated. Of course, this is even before we got in the water. So, we basically just ensured that Ellie pee in the pool.

What, I'm going to go in there?

Here's Ellie in her cute bathing suit that Grandma and Papa gave her.
(p.s. look at Steve's big guns!)

Ellie had to warm up to the water a little.

Ellie starts to have fun as Daddy teaches her how to splash.

Taking a break to blow some bubbles.

Awe. Great pic of Ellie and Steve's head.

So, I've been updating the blog like crazy trying to get in all the old cutie pics I'd taken the last few months. I have this thing about going in chronological order... and I really want to post Ellie's first hair cut pictures. So I have lots of motivation to get the old pics in!

This picture was taken in June.
I bought a snack trap for the first time. Ellie loved it so much that I thought,
why not combine her favorite food (avocado) with her favorite snack trap?

Big mistake. Snack traps aren't so much for soft foods... Didn't really think about that.

But hey, she had a good time, and I got a great picture. So all in all it was a win-win.

Let's see what happens when we give Ellie a green smoothie.
(Green Smoothie = smoothie with a green leafy vegetable and fruit to sweeten it)

Mmm... yummy! All clean so far.

Ellie attempts to be an Anne Geddes baby.
I mean, c'mon, who doesn't look cute with a chard leaf on their head.

Forget the straw. I want more.

Maybe I'll get more if I use my tongue.

Yay! That was soooo good!
God knew what He was doing when He made fruits and vegetables!
I don't think I can smile any bigger!

All done!

Ellie was on a roll one day last month with being so cute. This happens often when she's eating, so I have learned to have my camera ready... :-)

Ellie's hair is very "trainable" & only needs a rubber band for a short while.

I mean really, can you make a cuter face?!!

For a couple weeks Ellie got into grabbing her feet as I was taking off her high chair tray. Made cleaning her up especially fun!

I could not believe she held this pose for so long that I could actually get a picture.
Looks like we may have another cheerleader in the family...!