Ella is 5!!!!!

Lots of festivities to celebrate this little one's big birthday!  On the 30th Ella decided she wanted to go to Los Tios for dinner, so the grandparents and Jean and Tom met us for dinner.  She mostly wanted to go to Los Tios for the pralines you get at the end of dinner!  Then we came back to the house to open presents.  She got lots of fun stuff, including some pink princess roller skates so that she doesn't have to share with Addy anymore.

The BIG celebration was last Sunday when we had a bunch of her good girlfriends from school over for a very pink princess party.  All the girls had a great time and everything was quite peaceful without 5 year old boys running around!

 No princess party would be complete without a pink princess castle cake.

 

 There is no such thing as too much face paint.

 

 The girls didn't sit still much during the party, but they all seemed to enjoy the magic show with Honey Dew the clown.

 

 Bouncing princesses!

 

Ella C. + Ella Wolf = BFF

Happy Easter

A little egg hunting, church and Easter dinner.  We got a bit more dressed up than we do when we celebrate at the beach, but nice to switch it up now and again.

Learning To Write Letters

Addy is learning to write letters at school.  This one came home and it was pretty funny...Will is her best neighbor friend 3 doors down

Happy St. Patty's Day

Another fabulous St. Patty's Weekend in New Orleans!  The parade we went to this year was not quite as veggie heavy, so we only left with 2 heads of cabbage, which is not a bad thing.  We got to hang out with cousins this year which was super fun - Betsy happened to be in New Orleans at a conference with school and then Will came to join us this time.  Super fun weekend with Dave and Vicki and of course the pets. 

The 3 Little Pigs

Kolter's 2nd and 4th graders treated us to their rendition of The 3 Little Pigs.  The 4th graders had speaking parts and then the 2nd graders would come in and sign a song.  It was all in French, Spanish and Chinese, so we understood very little of the show (the speaking parts did repeat themselves in English) but it is always cute.  Here is Addy singing what I think was "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" in Chinese.    

Happy Birthday Granddad and Uncle Dave

We were excited to have Dottie, Fred, Dave and Vicki in for the weekend and we got to top it off with a celebration of Dad and Dave's birthdays.

Rodeo Festivities

 I was able to catch up with the trail riders at Kolter again this year.  It was pretty cold this year, so I think the kids were a bit less interested in looking at the wagons, but still fun to see horses walking down the street.   

 

Here is Addison and her teacher Ms. Reardon. 

 

Meanwhile, Ella was riding ponies at her school!  This will be the last year of pony rides at BAC...

 

We were excited to have family join us at the livestock show this year.  Here are the girls with cousins Ava and Zoe in their new cowgirl hats. 

 

Mardi Gras 2015

Another Crystal Beach Mardi Gras with lots of golf carts, plenty of beads and one prized stuffed animal.  The exciting part this year was that Aunt Jean was able to join us which was a lot of fun!  The girls were also super excited to wear the Mardi Gras tie-dye shirts we made.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Beach Garage Is Back

We are super excited to have a garage back!  Still need to do the painting, but the weather has not really been conducive to painting recently.  Looking forward to organizing and filling it up this summer.  #1 goal is to not fill it up with a boat that we never use!  Anxious to fill it up with some other toys though. 

Who Needs a Pool...

When you have a pile of leaves to jump into!

Runner

Another 13.1 in the record books!  Official time 2:07:55, pace 9:46. 

Ella and Ella

These girls are two peas in a pod!  They have been "Ella Wolf" and "Ella C" since they were in the baby class at Bertha Alyce. 

Braces!

Addy has a whole lot of metal in her mouth now!  So far so good, only a couple of days with some Advil and she was totally fine.  Think she has mastered eating now, although her first lunch after she got the braces took quite a while to finish. 

New Years Eve

Very cold New Years at the beach, but we vegged out inside for most of the time.  We did make one quick trip to the water though

This year we all watched the New Years Time Square show and both girls actually made it up to New Years New York time.  They were losing steam at the end but they hung in.  Definitely a record!  Michael and I made it up to midnight central time.  Not necessarily a record, but definitely an accomplishment.  We started the new year with everyone sleeping in past 9 which was a very nice treat. 

Christmas Day

Santa and the grandparents came bearing many, many gifts - I didn't think that our in-house Toys 'R Us could hold much more, but turns out there was room on the shelves.  Again, great times with family celebrating the big day!

 The girls were package unwrapping machines this year!

 

 Ella wouldn't pose for the annual Christmas morning photo.

 

 The girls getting ready for Uncle Tom's Christmas Day Feast.

 

Kind of blurry and a very slouchy Ella, but a cute pic nonetheless.



Christmas Eve

Another fun Christmas Eve that started with church and ended with good food and fun.

Ms. Reardon's 2nd Grade Hoiday Party

On the last day of school before Christmas break, Addy's class had a fun celebration too.  They had donuts, played games and exchanged gifts for books. 

 Giving Ms. Reardon her gift from the class.

 

Wrapping her classmate up like a snowman.  Pretty impressive toilet paper wrapping job, until he moved a minute late and it all broke apart!

Cats and Kids

This one is for the record book - the cats hanging out under the Christmas tree with both kids within range...the 2 blobs under the tree are the cats!

Happy Hanukkah

It is our last year to have any kind of Hanukkah celebration in the house since Ella will be moving on to Kolter next year.  Ella's pre-K class had a cute party to celebrate and fortunately I was able to go and join in the fun.

 No party is complete without cookies and icing.

 

Me and my girl!