8 weeks old

I love crying pictures...is that bad? Isn't  he so cute?!?!?!
8 weeks:
*smiling all the time
*talking up a storm
*very social with others
*sleeping...ok...
*not a morning guy, he's a night guy
*pretty much skipped size 2 diapers
*wearing clothes in size 6-9 months
*falls alseep best when he's upright and pressing his face into my armpit
*still gets the hiccups all the time...soooo over the hiccups

Lesson Learned

I hate giving JJ a bath, it kills my back. So I thought I'd do myself a favor the other day and bathe him in our bathroom sink. I got a towel folded so it would be nice and comfy for him...I underestimated how big he is...I thought he'd fit nicely but once I got him in there he was practically overflowing.
I figured it would be my first and last time bathing him in the bathroom sink because he'd outgrow it in a few weeks.
It was the last time I decided to bathe him in the bathroom sink...but for other reasons:

Minutes after I put him in the sink we heard the familiar sound of many bubbles coming out of his bum.
Not once, not twice but THREE poo squirty bubbles.

Then immediately following...

After all of these bodily functions withing mere minutes of putting him in the sink all I could think was now I have to clean this mess up and I STILL have to give him a bath in the tub,

what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

And like a true man, this is the look he gave us after he was done filling the sink:

memorial day weekend 2011

Jeremy and I were trying to remember the last time we went to the beach...and it was memorial day 2010. That's right, we live an hour away from the beach and we only went once last year! We've already planned a few more trips over the summer!

Of course the best part of the coast for me is going to the outlet mall...seriously the deals are amazing, I always come home with buyers remorse for not buying more.
Anyway, this was obviously JJ's first trip to the beach too...he slept through the whole thing, except for lunch at Eleanor's Undertow (sooo good).
Here are our picture's from the beach, courtesy of Jeremy, my hands were full:

Do you like my awesome chair? It was one of my mother's day presents.

And of course the girls having such a great time. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was so nice and right when we were done it started sprinkling. It was a really fun day to be together as a family, I love my family.

They were having a blast having their feet sink into the sand and trying not to fall over.

And of course making friends everywhere they go.

bubbles, portraits, black eye, spirit week and salsa

I have a surplus of photos once again that need to get on here!
Hence my random title.
We'll start with bubbles. JJ's newest thing is spitting little (and by little, I mean little) bubbles out of his mouth and they some how migrate down to right under his lip, he looks like he has a mini bubble beard...or goatee.

Is that not the cutest ever?

Self portraits:
Eva's learning how to do portraits in art class and decided to do Elle's self portrait.

Then Eva went to the mirror in the bathroom and did her own self portrait.

They then hung them on their door, so cute. Love it when the sisters are getting along.

Black eye:
Elle came home from preschool the other day saying that someone ran into her, usually if something "major" happens the teacher lets me know, since the teacher didn't say anything I figured it wasn't a big deal and she didn't even cry or tell anyone. Then the next day we noticed that it turned into a little black eye.

She obviously was fine but all these little kid things are all rights of passage and "firsts" so we had to get pictures! :)

Spirit Week:
It was spirit week at Eva's school the other day, and as much as I wanted her to participate I forgot the first few days and got some of them mixed up...she participated in crazy sock day (without trying...they were striped, apparently that's "crazy" in Eva's mind) and tie day (she looked SO cute in Jeremy's tie but I forgot to get a picture) but I did get a picture of crazy clothes day and I tried really hard to get her to look crazy because I felt bad that I forgot on some of the other days.

Eva loved my idea of two different shoes. Yay, bonus mom points.

Salsa:
Jeremy and I love to make pico de gallo together, it makes the house smell soooo good and it's impossible not to eat it all in one night, since we do eat it all in one night we don't make it that often anymore.
Here's out last batch.

recipe:
roma tomatoes
onion (red or white)
garlic
jalapeno
cilantro
1 or 2 limes squeezed in
salt to taste, table salt or kosher, whatever you have
I got the original recipe here, I've tweaked it to our tastes, this recipe is totally open to interpretation.
So good, you'll thank me later.

I completely forgot this picture of JJ with great grandma Parkinson! Jeremy's grandma recently moved to Corvallis, right down the street from us and she came to Elle's party. She was a lifesaver too, she held JJ for an HOUR before he was ready to eat! It was great and she really enjoyed all the little girls crawling around and barking. We are really excited to spend more time with her now that she's here.

Elle's 4! Finally.

It seems like Elle has been counting down the days till her birthday since...January?
Luckily the day finally came. We were pretty low key on her actual birthday, we went to Red Robin (for the first time in years) because we knew they sang happy birthday, we thought she'd enjoy that. At her preschool the day before her birthday we brought strawberries for everyone for her school celebration.
And Saturday we had a puppy party. I wanted to keep it really simple and stress free and it all went great! Success!
Here are pictures from her birthday and her party.

The only thing Elle has been wanting for her birthday is a unicorn pillow pet. She was certain she was going to get one. Of course we got her one (it was the only thing she asked for), here are her pictures leading up to us giving it to her:

I think she's pretty happy with her birthday present, what do you think?

Elle and I checked the mail and found a package from grandma and grandpa and she was more than excited to open it up!

"It has pockets!"



She was very excited to get a new outfit and apron, thanks grandma and grandpa!

Once Eva got home from school Jeremy got off work early so we could head to Red Robin early and beat the Friday night crowd. Elle of course had a wardrobe change into a new outfit we got her from Naartjie Kids. My aunt and uncle got JJ some clothes from Naartjie and I really liked them, and their girl clothes are definitely Elle's style, they had a HUGE sale on some of their clothes so I picked some up for Elle...needless to say, she loooooves her new outfit.
Elle is all about showing off her passe from ballet.

We just did a little mini photo shoot in her new outfit before we went to Red Robin

Once we were at Red Robin and I knew they were going to sing their birthday song, I got my camera out for a few pictures there.

She didn't know they were going to sing and I was shocked how embarrassed she got, you can even see her cheeks turning red! This girl cracks me up, she can go up to complete strangers and start talking to them but when she gets sung happy birthday she's mortified!

My camera focused on the stupid sundae, but if you look you can see her cheeks getting red.

And completely red!

This sundae was gone in about a minute.

She did not offer to share (she usually does and Eva was a little heart broken over that) but

I think you're allowed not to share on your birthday. :)

Onto the birthday party festivities. I was going to make a cake but then I figured, why stress myself out? I just had a baby, right? So I went with a cute cupcake cake from Safeway.
Eva helped me pick this one out since they didn't have anything puppy oriented.
So cute! And that fudge sauce on it was gooooood.

I made puppy ears, the night before (yes, I procrastinated) and the activities consisted of

making a collar

learning commands

getting a doggy treat

agility contest

cake

presents

reading "Go Dog Go"

and then playing till parents came for pick-up.

Here are the girls right before the party started with their puppy ears.

Making collars.



Eva showing the girls how to roll over.

Begging

Having their puppy lunch for being good puppies.

Our agility obstacle course.

Once Elle tripped on the blanket we got rid of it.

Eva really got into it

And then we let them play for a little while

Cake time!!!!!





Presents!!!

Reading "Go Dog, Go"

After that all the little girls played till their parents came to get them.

After everyone left Elle was playing with JJ and she said,

"Look mom, JJ's a puppy too!"

Isn't that so sweet? She wanted her baby brother to be part of her special day.

And the last picture! Whew! That was a lot of pictures!

I thought grandma would like seeing a full picture of Elle in the new outfit she got her.

Elle is a little firecracker and she has been since the day she was born. 

She keeps us on our toes...all the time!

She makes us laugh so hard and she's pretty good at getting in trouble but it's impossible to stay mad at her.  She's a performer in every sense of the word and she's extremely talented, she's been good at everything she's ever tried.

She's a charmer and our little princess that's not afraid to get dirty.

She's our Sweet Ellie Belly and our lives would be less without her.

We love our Ellie May, Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Girl!!!!