Merry Christmas 2009!

Love,

Mike, Karen, Ben and Ella!

(After standing in line for 3 hours Ben refused to sit on Santa's lap, so....the whole family got to see Santa!)

1 Month Old!

It's amazing to me that it's already been one month since Ella came and blessed our lives. What's even more amazing to me is, although that month has come and gone with just a blink, Ella's presence in our family is so natural that it feel's as if she's always been a part of our lives. Here are a few "action packed" photo's of her first month.

5 days old

9 days old

20 days old

Her happy place seems to be her carseat...so glad to have figured this out!

27 days old

Hangin' with her brother!

1 month old!

Fun morning activity - watching her mobile!

Our Little Green Frogs

I just love these pictures of Ben and Ella in their froggy towels!

Ben

Ella

Ella and Luella!

Steven and Tenielle had a baby girl on November 25th - Luella Marie - 9lbs, 20 1/2 inches! Another big girl in the family. How fun for Ella to have a cousin so close in age. I have a feeling these two are going to be trouble growing up :)

Big Sister Ava, Luella, Ella, and Big Brother Ben

Wow - must be a trick of the camera! Ella is a bit longer, but not by THAT much!!

What two beautiful girls!

Ella's First Bath

Today was Ella's first bath since coming home from the hospital! She had the same opinion as her big brother did about his first bath - not a fan.

Here she is letting us know what she thinks about the bath idea.

Ben was very helpful and lent a hand with her first bath.




The final rinse!

And finally, all done and warm again!

Hopefully with time she'll learn to love bath time :)

Big Brother Ben

Ben is so very proud to be a BIG BROTHER! He loved his sister right from the start (even though he REALLY wanted her to be a boy).

Meeting Ella for the first time!

Getting the all important "Big Brother T"

Reading up on how to be a Big Brother

Holding Ella for the first time!

Realizing that you get lots of presents when you become a Big Brother!

An expert already! Here he is showing us what to do when Ella get's fussy.

Ella is one lucky little girl to get you as her big brother!

IT'S A GIRL!

We are so excited to welcome our beautiful daughter, Ella Grace, to our family!

Born at 4:38am, Monday, November 16th

9lbs 1oz, 22 inches long!

Just a few hours old!

Daddy and Ella

Mommy and Ella

Proud parents!

Big brother Ben, so loving to his new baby sister!

Gymnastics

Ben, along with his friend Sophie, just finished an 8 week long Gymnastics class through community ed. Ben REALLY looked forward to "Gymnastics Day" every week. The first week of class Ben was the perfect little attendee, following directions and listen well. After that, it all went a little downhill as he was always so excited to be there - which corresponds to CraZiNesS on his part.

However, he did manage to learn quite a lot and really improve in those 8 weeks...well worth it!

The HIGH Jump

And a perfect "10" landing!

The Wall Climb...this was his favorite thing to do.

Made sense too, as he was always "climbing off the walls" when he was there.

Somersaults!

The bars...what a little monkey!

The Balance Beam...he wanted Dad right next to him each week, until the last - then he did it all by himself!

Way to go Ben!

Ben's Birthday - Apple Orchard Fun!

Ben's birthday, although celebrated with parties last weekend, still proved to be quite the event today! First, a fun birthday lunch at Chucky Cheese, and then off to the Apple Orchard. It was a beautiful day! Although we didn't get pictures of it, we went on a fun wagon ride and picked some apples right off the tree. Then after playing hard, we had a yummy apple fritter snack and cider!

"BOO"

Farmer Ben

Sliding down Hay Mountain

"Look at me! I'm bigger than Daddy!"

"I'm the bus driver Daddy, you be the kid!"

Hollowed out logs...who knew they were so much fun!

"Put your seatbelt on Mommy!"

Ben couldn't be fooled by this maze!

After a full day of fun, we had Ben's favorite meal for dinner - Mac and Cheese! And of course, you can't have a birthday without a candle!

BEN IS 3!

How can that be?!

How much our lives have changed over the last 3 years, and so much for the better! Ben, you have brought us so much joy, laughter, amazement and pride! We see your personality shining through in new ways every day, and we can't believe how lucky we are to have such an amazing little boy on our hands!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!

WE LOVE YOU!

Ben's First FRIENDS Birthday Party!

For Ben's 3rd birthday, he got to have a big boy birthday party with his best buds (and yes, Ben, at age 3 almost all of your best buds are girls :)). His friends Kendall, Sophie, Lily, Ethan and his cousin Ava all came to celebrate.

Of course there was a craft - decorating Trick or Treat bags! All of the kids did a great job.

(Ethan and Lily, busy at work)

And present opening!

Cool Favre Jersey Ben!

(Present from Sophie)

Dinner is served -A pumpkin pizza!

And cupcakes for dessert - make a wish Ben!

It was so fun to see Ben and his friends having such a great time together!

The Monster Mash - Happy Halloween

A little early, but Happy Halloween from the Stays! Enjoy!!

Get to work!

My mommy and daddy told me it's a lot of work when you buy a new house, and that there are a lot of things you need to do. They also said I should do my share, so...

Daddy put me to work painting the garage walls...

First, I had to get paint on my roller,

then spread it all over on the walls. I had to do this A LOT of times.

Whew! I worked so hard my pants fell down!