Ella gets her Bible!

Ella received her first Bible in church yesterday! They are presented to all the Kindergarteners of our church and Ella was very proud - as were Danny & I!

snowmageddon 2012

since last saturday we've had a feet of snow fall in our area! winter came late this year but it finally arrived. ella and danny have been home this week - the entire city of seattle has pretty much shut down - so we've enjoyed snowmen, snow angels, winter nature walks, hide-n-seek, and hot chocolate. ella has been a little disappointed that she's not been able to go to school (she really LOVES going to school!), but it seems she'll be able to go back monday and it's been a relaxing and cozy week at home together.

this was taken last saturday before the BIG storm hit. there was only about 2-4 inches on the ground that weekend.





this is Wednesday after the big stuff had come through :)it snowed, non-stop, from Tuesday night through Thursday!









passed out before i could even get the winter gear off her!


neighborhood pics

visit with grandma & grandpa

my mom and dad arrived 2 days after Christmas for a 2 week visit! As always, the girls were overjoyed and danny & I appreciated the help :) this was the first time my dad was getting to meet miss maren in person (we skype regularly) and she went right to him!!

out & about

we have our "must do" things when grandma and grandpa are in town - chuck-e-cheese and the mall :)






showing grandpa the American Girl store in the mall - Norah was walking around, chatting on her phone

snow tubing

while mom and dad were here we spent a day at Snoqualmie Pass and took the girls snow tubing. my mom was wonderful and spent the morning in the lodge and took care of maren while danny and dad and myself played with the girls! it was a wonderful day! ella was tall enough that she had to go on her own - she LOVED it! - and layla and norah were just fine riding down with one of us. i think their favorite part, though, was the rope tow back up the hill . . could've been danny and my dad's fav part as well :)