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!