New Beginnings and Valentine's Day 2013

I have found that with 2 small children it is almost impossible for me to find time to post more than once a month, so I am going to do my best to keep everyone updated about that often.  Maybe one of these days I will be able to post more frequently, but for now, here are some of the highlights and happenings from January and early February.

 

It's a new year and baby Eleanor is growing like a weed!  It is so hard to believe she is already 3 and 1/2 months old.  Here are some of the latest pics of her...

 

 

We think "mostly bald" is beautiful around here ;)  It looks like we are going to have another blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty on our hands!

 

 All smiles!  Nothing makes this kid giggle more than Alice and Daddy playing peek-a-boo with her.

 

                                        Getting some love from Daddy                                         

 

 

 Here is a shot of her I thought was particularly sweet. Eleanor really is a happy (mostly!), loveable baby, and if she had her way she would be held by someone every hour of the day!

  

 

 

Alice is so proud of her new tutu, and couldn't wait to show it off at school.  Here she is practicing her twirls in the bathroom

 

 

 

Alice has also become quite the little sous chef.  She loves to bake and is always "helping out" in the kitchen these days.  On this day we were making a special cake for family dinner.

 

Her favorite part of cooking...

 Daddy and Alice took some time to enjoy the 7 inches of snow we got during the second week of February, and then we made snow ice cream.  Alice loved it! 

 

 

 

 

Mommy and the littlest snow angel all gussied up before a birthday party

 

 Alice had a great time making her valentines for school this year.  I found something similar to this on Pinterest and then tweaked it so that she could actually help to decorate them.  She picked out the exact sucker she wanted each of her classmates to have ;)

 

 

 Valentine's Day cuties

 

 

 

In February we had the opportunity to meet a very big celebrity who was visiting our local library.  Getting to hug Clifford made Alice's day!

Holidays 2012

Here are some of the highlights from our busy holiday season this year...

 

The girls visited with Santa when he made an appearance at the library.  Alice also visited with Santas at Home Depot and the gym, but she is not yet asking questions about how different he looks at different places..hehehehe.  She asked him for a superhero costume and puzzles.

 

 

 

 

Our early Christmas present

We should have tried to take this photo about 2 weeks before we did.  It was hard to get her out of the stocking once we got her in it!

 

 

 

A holiday party date night for just the two of us

 

 

 

Mommy and Alice baking some holiday cookies

 

 

Daddy and Eleanor hanging out waiting on the Christmas cookies...

 

 

 

Christmas Eve

Our little "first Christmas" cutie...Eleanor slept through most of it!

 

 

    Daddy with Santa's helper                                                    Nana and Eleanor

 

 

 

 Aunt Andrea and cousins Kendall and Kaizer with Eleanor

A Christmas celebration

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Morning

 

RSV invaded our household, and our girls (especially little Alice) weren't feeling their best, but we tried to make the most of it.  We wound up taking a break and finishing our gift opening on

 New Year's Eve.

Eleanor has something to smile about!

 

 

 

 

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's "Super-Alice"!

 Here she is in  her coveted new custom-made reversible superhero costume

 

 

 

New Year's Eve:  Our Christmas Party continues...

 

 

 

 

It's a new year and we are all feeling better!  Here are a couple of beautiful girls ready to

kick off 2013...



Thanksgiving 2012

 

As always, we enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast at my parent's house this year. We also got the girls dressed up in Christmas red and tried to take a few pictures while we were at it. I mean, how likely are we to all be dressed up at the same time again before Christmas?! Here are some photos taken that day.

 

 

 

Each of us with our girls

 

 

 

 

All of the Lebow grandkids together

 

 

 

 

Pops holding Eleanor...I knew I had better get this shot while I had the opportunity!  He suffers from infant-phobia and it may be a while before you catch him toting another newborn!

 

 

 

Jeff holding Eleanor.  Yes, she is wearing a little boy outfit with a turkey on the bottom, but I knew there would only be one chance to wear a newborn Thanksgiving outfit, and this was the one we had!

 

Alice at Thanksgiving dinner like it was her last meal.  It was nice to enjoy some time off from toddler picky-ness.  You would think she had never seen corn on the cob before!

 

 

 

One shot of all of us after we were thoroughly stuffed!

November News 2012

November really flew by here at the Merrell house.  It's amazing how a little sleep deprivation can make the days run into weeks in  flash.  Here are a few of the highlights from this month...

 

 

 

Mimi came to visit our girls when Eleanor was 2 weeks old.  Alice really enjoyed spending time with her and having Mimi "sleep over" in her big girl rom, and it made us feel great that she was getting a little more attention than we had been able to give her the last couple of weeks while we were adjusting to the new little member of out family.

 

 

 

 

 

So peaceful when she sleeps.  It's amazing what a big miracle a tiny little baby is!

 

 

 

The weather around here this year has been anything but "fall like" with daily tempratures reaching 80 degrees.  Alice had her cousin Kendall over to play in all of the leaves that have invaded our backyard, and they had a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

Alice spends about half of her time these days playing dress up.  Here area a few of her latest costumes...

 

The princess ballerina

 

 

The...errr... fairy princess/super-hero is what she likes to call this one.  She says the purse is her helmet.  I guess safety comes first when your dad is the regional safety coordinator!

 

 

 

 

The Veterans Day Parade

 I am so proud to be raising little patriots, and Alice takes her flag waving job very seriously!

 

 

 

 

 

A big thumbs up to Thanksgiving Feast at Children's Day Out.  Alice said the best part was the macaroni and cheese.  So easy to please...

 

 

 

 

Sweet sisters...Alice really likes her new baby sister except when her crying interrupts Sesame Street.  Once this happend and she said "Mom, I can't like Eleanor.  Can you take her back to the hospital?"  I told her the window on the return policy had closed!

Dancing Queen