Somebody turned Four!

This was a big year for our family, taking a leap we can never go back on...the Birthday Party. Initially I wanted to start a tradition of having as many friends as years. So, four this year. But, really? It just didn't seem to work that way for us. We invited 11, and had 9 plus 9 moms, a handful of Dads, a sibling, and a cousin. Thank god for Susie, or Quinn could have run away and i wouldn't have even noticed. We had a loosely themed Strawberry Shortcake party, per Ella's request, complete with a Lemon Merangue cake for grown ups to snack on, raspberry lemonade, a strawberry cake, fruit skewers, a game of Rotten Orange (with orange scented play dough as a prize), a fruit hunt in the berry patch, face painting and balloon hats. Surprisingly our small house fit everybody in. Ella had a ball, and the rest of us survived. Now we get a year to recover!


Ella and a few of her buddies blowing out the candles.


She wasted no time in tearing into her presents once the last guests left. Can you say overstimulated? She even fell asleep in the car on our way to dinner that afternoon. Hasn't happened since a beach trip last summer.


On her real birthday we had to buy a Fred Meyer cake for singing and candle blowing. Only one tiny piece remained of the giant cake I made for her party. Greg was on call that day and sadly missed seeing his birthday girl turn four. :(. We three girls, plus Grandma and Papa had a nice morning at the Japanese Garden and lunch at Elephant's Deli, before coming home to rest (and me to finish sewing up her birthday present, typical). I'm pretty sure she had a great day and felt special.



Waking up to find her almost complete bean bag chair.



Sister love

Pin the Nose on the Snowman

Christmas 2010, The Main Event

People, this is so disenchanting to be posting Christmas photos in mid-February. But, as you know there is a pretty big day coming up, and I really want to be caught up in time to post the photos immediately. So, here it is, the Christmas 2010 finale. Presents!


The kids, minus Quinn who was already in bed (still holding on to the 6 o'clock bedtime), all got to open a few presents on Christmas Eve. Here Ella is opening her dragon and zebra that she put on her Christmas list. She was very concerned that Santa didn't get them for her since the list was to him.


We nearly forgot to put out the milk and cookies for Santa before Ella went to sleep. Hence the reason she isn't wearing any pants in this picture. Although, she usually doesn't wear any pants so this could have been taken anytime...


Christmas morning, upon seeing her stocking with Unicorn on top. The prized Christmas present of the year. Which she came home and vomited on two weeks later. Poor girl was distraught. But, unicorn came through the was cycle good as new.


Quinn got up to see her stocking too. Holding her new baby Santq got for her, waiting for everyone to get up before opening.


Who-hoo! Opening...


Checking out Katie's goodies.

Christmas 2010, Part 3

Grandma took Ella and Quinn (and I) to their first play, A Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tail by Valley Youth Theater. It was a really cute musical with all child actors from the valley. Ella picked up on the story line pretty quickly as we had just finished reading the real Winnie the Pooh book before we went to Phoenix. They adapted the story of Eeyore's lost tail from a birthday party to a Christmas celebration. Both of the girls clapped for all the songs, Quinn even saying "yeeeeaaaaahhhhh.".


Ella took her program around to all the characters after the show to get their autographs and photos.


Then in the car ride home she had approximately 1 million questions about who the actors were, why did they do that, how did that work, etc.


Tigger was very bouncy, but she was not satisfied that he jumped on his feet. Tigers bounce on their tails!

Christmas 2010, Part 2

What would a trip to Arizona in December be without a trip to the Phoenix Zoo? The cool (for Phx) morning made for some great animal viewing. We heard the male lion roar, and both were pacing around their enclosure. I don't think I've ever, in 32 years of going there, seen them do anything but sunbathe.



Ella and the tiger, actually within eyesight.


Zoo was the best non-paid babysitter I've ever had. She was so patient and sweet with the girls all week, playing endless games with Ella, and helping Quinn with whatever she couldn't quite do on her own. Here there are looking at the otters.


And of course, the carousel. Highlight of the trip for Quinn, as she now calls carousels "upanddownyion"s. She randomly says this at least a few times a week even still.


Ella really, really wanted to ride the dragon. She remembered it from two years ago before we even got to the zoo, asking if she could ride it. Sadly, it was out of commission that day because it "needed oil.". Kind of lame if you ask me. She was bummed. Thankfully she was willing to ride the leopard instead.

Christmas 2010, Part 1

Christmas this year was a busy one, with 13 people living under one (thankfully decently large) roof. It was awesome to have all the Jeffries offspring together for a whole week. The cousins got in some major bonding time. The littlest of them quickly became the star of the show, what with her smiles and laughs and lack of naps there was plenty of time to soak up the Katie B.


She even tolerated the enthusiastic snuggling...


And hugging. Lots of hugging. Quinn of course just called her Baby. A real live doll!


A "nap" on Christmas morning. Let me just say that this little girl is lucky to have a more patient mother than Ella and Quinn.


All the cousins. See what I mean? Whose star is shining brightest? One happy baby. We miss you Katie!

Last Day of Gymnastics

The Fall term of Gymnastics ended the second week of December. Parents are not allowed to sit in the gym and watch, save for the first and last days of class. While Quinn and I watched through the windows from time to time, I was still surprised by Ella's progress in such a short time frame. When she started, Ella couldn't really do a forward roll on her own (or was too timid to really try), and couldn't climb the red cylinder, even from a step. She is getting much better at hopping on one foot and finding the courage to try new, difficult things, without worrying too much about the potential failure. You wouldn't know it from the looks of things, but all these girls seemed to really love the class, and even Teacher Jackie, who runs a very tight ship. I think we're going to sign up for another session.

More photos and videos for the truly dedicated HERE

Snow Day

Thanks to Greg's sometimes erratic scheduling at the hospital, we were able to take a weekday morning trip out to the mountain for some snow time. We found the bunniest of all bunny hill sled track on a snowshoeing/cross country ski trail and just hung out for a while. The kids had a blast climbing around on the snow, eating it, face planting out of the sled, and just general face planting. We had fun too, once the "Its too cold" tantrum subsided.

Many more funny photos, I had to post them

HERE

Somebody got a good Christmas present...

But, I think I like my iPad better.

I really wish I could remember what exactly they are looking at here. Or, maybe they're just hanging out over another heater...