the cutest kids

a day at the park...
wild girl!
sweet baby

we had a great christmas! after we got home from grandma & grandpa brown's on christmas eve, elli sprinkled the magic reindeer dust in the front yard and then helped put out cookies and milk for santa and carrots for the reindeer (elli had to have a carrot, too) she picked out 3 special cookies to put on the plate (thanks to gram and kristin for making sure we had plenty of cookies in the house!)

she was so delighted to see that santa ate the cookies, drank the milk and gave the carrots to his reindeer! he also left the much anticpated purple rubber ducky in her stocking, along with some other very cool things!

ralphy was in good spirits throughout the festivities...he is so laid-back and easy-going!

the kids were thoroghly spolied by our families (thanks everyone for such wonderful gifts!) some of elli's favorites are her new baby indian doll and her shark tent! ralphy loves his tigger bouncer!

our best present came a few days before christmas on december 20th when elli decided to use her potty chair! yippee! she's a big girl now....

we've enabled the "comments" feature on this blog, so if you want to leave us a note, click on COMMENTS just below ralphy's picture...thanks!

growing up...

ralphy is 3 months old and gets cuter everyday! he "talks" to us all the time and is always smiling...elli can really get him to show a smile - he just loves to watch her and listen to her talk to him...

elli helping papa brown feed jake a carrot (chief didn't make into the picture, as he was sunning himself on this 60 degree december day!)

woo-hoo!

waiting for santa...

so...we tried the whole "sit on santa's lap and have your picture taken" thing...but it didn't work out so well...ralphy sat there just as content as can be, but like most two-year-olds, elli completely refused the idea...she did tell him that she would like a rubber ducky (a purple rubber ducky, to be exact...), but she gave him that message with several feet in between them...oh well...we'll try again next year! and why a rubber ducky? who knows, but that's what she tells everyone who asks what she wants santa to bring...she's asking for jelly beans and a candy cane, too....

ralphy loves the lights on the christmas tree...we position his swing so he can see the tree when he gets fussy! elli has another new friend - she dances with her, pretends to put her to sleep and puts beads around her neck...how did aunt tina know that this snowman would become a perfect christmastime companion?

snow day!

we've had lots of fun in the snow! elli didn't want to leave her gloves on...until she realized that her hands really hurt without them on and she could still pick up snow with them on...
















elli likes to eat the snow/ice combo...she said, "mmm...that's so dood!"

ralphy got to hang out inside...

just haning around...

our little guy rolled over today for the first time...amazingly enough, i caught it on video!

he'll be crawling up the steps before we know it!

max has a new friend...
yes - her shirt says "WILD"!

we've just been hanging around (literally)...outside it is sleeting and hopefully changing to snow soon, so the next post will hopefully include pictures of us playing in the white stuff!

best friends

i realized i have not posted a picture of elli's favorite friend, max-dog!

elli has been cozy in her footie pajamas - she wants to leave them on all day!

Ralphy is 2 months old!

Our little guy is 2 months old already and still growing like crazy! He'll go for a check-up this week, so we will update you on his size soon. He is sleeping less during the day, giving us more time to play with him. He is a happy, easy-going baby. He gets fussy almost every night around 9:30, but other than that he usually just cries to tell us he's hungry or tired.

Elli is still making us laugh all the time. She is the ultimate 2-year-old country music fan - she loves learning singers and their songs by watching CMT and listening to the radio. She'll shout out the singers after hearing just a couple of notes. Her favorites? I'd say Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, the Wreckers, Sara Evans, Keith Urban and Jason Aldean top the list, but I could list a whole page of those she likes! When we took the pictures below Elli said, "I wear my 'Tardinals' hat like Nick and Jessi do." :)

ghosts, goblins and....indians!

before the festivities:

getting ready for the festivities:

ready to prowl!
our little indian had a great time on halloween (though she wasn't too fond of her cousin makayla's "old lady" mask!)

we had a whole crew of people over for chili and then we headed out to the streets...ralphy stayed inside with the family while elli and her cousins went door-to-door....

elli's favorite candy of the night? the turquoise blue tootsie roll pop!

Fun, Fun!

A little fun with shaving creme....(won't it be fun when they can both get messy!?)

ralphy just watched...

the "leaf-is" (that's elli's way of saying "leaves") are falling...