Shoes

Ella has a little bit of a shoe fettish. If you have been to our house and taken your shoes off, I guarantee she's worn them. 

Today, for the first time, she took notice of the shoes in my closet. 

And learned a valuable lesson: Heels are hard to walk in. 

Family

Last weekend I gathered with family to celebrate the wonderful life of my grandmother, Val Bezanson. Val married my grandfather on his 80th birthday and 10 years later sat with him as he passed. I'll always be grateful to her for the love she showed my family through her love for our patriarch. Her love for him was true and vibrant and I appreciate that she spent harder years with him compared to the earlier years of young love.

Val met my grandfather working in The Stamp Room at their retirement community. I love that stamps are a part of their love story. One of the quirks I remember about my grandfather is that he had tons of stamps from years ago - I honestly never received a card from him with one modern day stamp in the upper right corner; each envelope carried at least 3 stamps cobbled together to meet the current rate.

In The Stamp Room they take used stamp from envelopes and organize and package for dealers to purchase. Val was an avid card writer -- she never missed a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion. If you asked her, she knew all of the important dates for her 5 kids, 13 grandkids and numerous great grandkids. Because of her thoughtful card writing, I always had fun stamps she had used on her envelopes to collect and send back to her. This is how I first built a relationship with her - through cards. 

It was a joy to hear others speak of her love and joy for life. She had a caring heart and was truly the definition of "cute as a button." 

I can't write about Val without stopping to celebrate my grandfather. 

He was a warm, loving, full-bearded Santa look alike. I loved sitting on his lap and walking along the beach in Cape Cod with him. I've never once been to the beach without pacing the sand on the prowl for sea glass, an art learned from my grandpa. Another sweet quirk of my grandpa was his gift wrapping in old wallpaper. He used to hang wallpaper professionally and kept the extras. I'm sure my cousins will remember the blue paper with purple and silver shells. 

Some pictures from the weekend. I loved seeing by cousins Mike, Marc, and Brian. The family time was awesome but incomplete without so many cousins and my Uncle Tom. 

Big Heart

Ella's love for her baby sister just melts my heart. Lord give me joy in the tiny things like this little angel. 

Reading to V:

Cuddling: 

Breakfast

Now that Josh leaves earlier each morning to commute into the city (his company moved locations) Ella and I have a little breakfast ritual. 

Wonderfully, Ella is very calm in the morning. After I get I up we talk about her dreams (which are always about the moon or "Ellie and sheep" her two stuffed animals). Then I get her breakfast ready.

I eat while she eats and she constantly has me laughing. We mostly sing and count her bites. My new favorite is when "Twinkle Twinkle" (Winkle Winkle) mixes with "Jesus loves me" and "This little light of mine". :) 

Mimicking my excitement over her eating 10 bites of banana. 

Every morning she asks for the curtain to be opened so she can see outside. She also asks for the 2nd curtain to be opened, to which I always say it makes the house too cold to open both. But she still asks, and even answers her own question "house cold". 

Today Elmo, Monkey, Lion joined us. (With V in the background). 

Evelyn Two Months

Evie is growing like a weed! She is 13 pounds 3 ounces putting her in the 85% (at 2 months Ella was 12 pounds 15 ounces). 

She CAN sleep for 7 hours at night; she just doesn't always choose to. 

She is smiling a lot and loves when Ella "plays with her" (translation: tickles her, talks in her face and bounces her chair).

She loves chomping on her fist - hasn't quite figured out how to suck just her thumb. 

Here are a few photos: 

Those eyes!!

My two girls: 

Ella obviously wanted a picture too: 

And then she got artsy taking pictures of Elmo:

Snow Fun

If you know Ella at all, you know she loves anything outside! We have been waiting for it to warn up a bit to get her outside playing in the snow. This weekend it was 40 degrees - perfect! 

Daddy and she built a snowman: 

She is the cutest pink marshmellow I've ever seen! 

When it's cold

And your kids are sick and your going stir crazy. You become desperate for something new. When you become desperate you teach them to play Wii. 

When they are two, they get bored after 4 minutes. 

When they get bored after 4 minutes you bring out secret toys you have been hiding. 

When they get bored after 1 minute you let them color with markers. 

When you let them color with markers they love it!