January was busy!

We have been blessed to have so many fun visits from dear people! Miss Jenn spent the weekend with us and we went to the Aquarium and drove around "the circuit" and enjoyed time together. Here she is with Daddy and Kate at the "petting" part of the Aquarium. Thanks for coming to visit, Jenn!

Then, the week after Jenn was here, Aunt Beth and Uncle Evan came to see us. How fun it was to spend time with them and hang out. We went to the Aquarium again (we love that place!) and showed off our beautiful January weather to the winter-weary Chicagoans. Here are Beth and Evan, having lunch at the Aquarium. This was taken just before a seagull swooped in and snatched the sandwich right out of Aunt Beth's hand. It was an amazing feat!


Uncle Evan enjoyed lots of drool and smiles from the Ellie Bells, and Ellie enjoyed having more people to show off for and attract attention from.

A visit to our home is not complete without seeing Kate's favorite park. See she actually smiles for these pictures!

We also went to visit Carmel Beach, one of our favorites. We were shocked to find the beach landscape had almost completely eroded away to reveal just the bedrock underneath. I'll post more on that another time. But we had fun anyway, enjoying the waves, the low tide, and the sand castle king, Daddy. :) Kate always puts him straight to work when we hit the beach.

Thanks to Uncle Evan and Aunt Beth for coming to visit! We had a wonderful time and loved having you here. Wish you didn't live so far away!


And also, here are a few videos of Ellie's newest skill--crawling forward. What fun it was to share this milestone with Beth and Evan. Enjoy!

Ellie's first successful attempt at crawling forward. How exciting!

Now look what I can do, says Ellie:

Oh, and if that wasn't enough for your kid fix, here are three things that Kate said to me just today. Seriously, that kid is hilarious:

1. While she was brushing her teeth and I was fixing her hair, she sluggs my tummy with her little toothbrush-clamped fist and says "Way to go!"

2. I was changing Ellie's diaper and Kate comes in to me, carring the DVD Enchanted. She points to a random part on the cover and says "Is that her boyfriend?" I take a second and pick my chin up off the floor. Then I reply, "is what her boyfriend?" She points at the apple. Sighing inwardly because I realize she doesn't know what that word means, I simply reply, "No." WHERE in the WORLD did she hear that??

3. At lunch (after the video of the girls playing peek a boo), Kate says to me "My eyebrow hurts." I wasn't sure I heard correctly, so I asked her to repeat it. She said again, "My eyebrow hurts." I said I was sorry, and did she want me to kiss it for her? She responded with "No, I already kissed it and it feels much better."