Christmas Eve 2012 - The Professional Shots

I have some of the most amazing pictures of Ella because my cousin is such a talented photographer.  Here are the amazing shots she took on Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ella's First Christmas

Ella's first Christmas couldn't have been a more wonderful time! We feel so blessed to have been able to be with family to share the joy Ella brings us.  I feel even more blessed that we could share it with my three grandparents...Ella's great-grandparents.  Before the all the crazy festivities, we celebrated just the three of us a few days before Christmas.  Ella was all into the wrapping paper.

 

 

 

We spent this Christmas with my family in Allentown.  Ella got spoiled rotten.  :)  First part of the celebration was Christmas Eve with the Alves side of the family and the most amazing Portuguese meal you will ever eat. My cousin (the amazing talented photographer) took some amazing shots of Ella.  See tomorrow's post to take a look at her work.

 

 

 

Christmas Day was spent at my parents celebrating with the Johns side of the family.  Ella loved opening presents but I think she like chewing the wrapping paper more than the actual presents.  One of my favorite pictures we captured was Ella holding the Ella books her VoVo got her.  Perfect shot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrippsmas 2012

Every year we celebrate Scrippsmas the Saturday before Christmas.  Since Mikey's brothers live locally we can make sure we always get together for the holiday.  For the past couple of years I've taken a family picture of us.  It's amazing how the family just keeps growing...

2011

2010

No picture for 2009 because of snow storm

 2008

2007

Mommy and Daddy Take a Vacation

We had our visit time away from little Miss Ella.  Mikey's been away from her before for work but this was my first time being away overnight and of course it had to be for an extended time (business trip scheduled right after).  We all survived and as hard as it wasn't there's nothing like coming home and seeing our angel's face.  While we were out celebrating one of our dear friend's weddings in New Orleans...

 

 

...my parents watched Ella.  She had so much fun playing and snuggling with them.  She was definitely spoiled.

 

 

And then when we were both gone on a business trip.  Ella got lots of love from her great aunt and uncle.  We are so lucky to have such an amazing family to come and watch our sweet pea.  I don't know what we would do without them.

 

Not a Fan of the Green Beans

We've been slowly adding new foods into Ella's diet.  So far she loves sweet potatoes and squash.  I thought she liked green beans but she showed my uncle she was not a fan.  When my aunt and uncle were watching Ella last week, she decided she didn't want green beans anymore.  It's a super cute video of her doing some "strawberries" every time green beans touched her mouth.  Unfortunately my uncle ended up wearing them.  :)

Ella's First Snow!

I'm so far behind on posts so I apologize for some very over due recaps and photos that will come in the next week or so.  While we were visiting the Scripps side of the family over Thanksgiving, Ella got to see her first snow.  Isn't she the cutest snow bunny you've ever seen.  She didn't real know what to make of this cold, white stuff falling down on her face but she was all smiles. 

Ella and the Lamb

Ella has a very soft lamb play mat from her "Uncle" Grove.  She absolutely LOVES it.  One of her favorite things to do is to wrestle with it.  Daddy caught it on tape the other day.

Milestone: We've got a crawler

Sorry for the lack of posts the last two weeks.  Our house has been plagued with sickness from RSV to stomach bugs to sinus infections.  Thankfully Mom and Dad are on the mend but poor Ella has a cough again...hopefully it doesn't lead to RSV this time.

In breaking Ella news, we've got a crawler on our hands...well kind of.  She's definitely moving towards toys and its a little more than just an army crawl.  It made my day when I walked into her classroom to get her and I saw her doing this.