Having Breakfast with GiGi

This is our last day in New Orleans before heading back home. The girls are having breakfast with GiGi... I don't remember what they were telling her, but they were giving her an ear full. They were looking (and acting) so grown-up, we just had to capture the moment. As we were eating breakfast, we saw the firetruck next door -- A REAL firetruck!!! WOW! The girls HAD to check it out.
For the girls, however, the puddle in front of the fire truck was much more interesting (and fun!)...

PS: The temperature that day in New Orleans was mid- to upper-60's -- a beautiful, gorgeous day (especially compared to our NoVA mid-30's)! But, that is sort of cold in NO and the fireman next door kept saying to us, "aren't they cold? They don't have any clothes on!"

Christmas Morning 2007

Christmas morning... the girls were so EXCITED! Of course Santa went overboard... the BIG present was the new kitchen. We could barely tear them away from it to open their other gifts.

Ella opening the food that she can "cut".
Oh, how she loves cutting the food and cooking it up for us.

Katie was having fun making everyone "pizza".

Pizza's ready!
The "chefs" hard at work/play!



Ever since we saw The Nutcracker on TV, the girls have been obsessed with ballet. Aunt Margie gave the girls a ballerina dress for their birthday and now they have ballet slippers to complete the outfit. Above is Ella putting on her slippers...
Daddy is helping Katie get her slippers on... she's telling me how she can do ballet now, just like the Nutcracker.Another big hit was the miniature princess dolls... Katie is showing off her Sleeping Beauty doll (above) and Ella (below) is excitedly waiting for me to get her Cinderella out of the box.

Ella deciding what dress to put on Cinderella...

Another gift the girls are loving is their new "band in a box"... Katie is playing the harmonica (the harmonica was such a big hit, Daddy had to run to the store and buy a second one!) and Ella is on the triangle. (Not pictured are mommy and daddy having a good time with the xylophone and the recorder. Seriously -- it's fun to play 'in-tru-ments, as Katie says.)The next "big" present is from Mimi...Eukalalis! Pink for Katie and blue for Ella.Sorry, Ella is drowned out by the sun shining through the window, but here's the "family" band... Move over Mandrell Sisters, here come "The Briggirls"!

This next gift requires a little explanation... every time we took Katie and Ella to see Santa, Katie would say she wanted a "pink robot with fuzzy eyebrows". Thinking she had seen some kind of something on tv, I kept asking her where she saw this 'pink robot'. She would come up with some wild story about how she saw it on the roof, peaking through the window and then it went and hid in the snow. Bill and I asked every parent we knew (and even a few we didn't!) if they had seen a 'pink robot' and I watched every tv show the girls watched and every commercial, trying to figure out what in the world she was talking about. I should have known that Santa would come through... he knew EXACTLY what Katie wanted. He made her this very special pink robot with pink fuzzy eyebrows... and, he made Ella one in BLUE, because we all know Ella's favorite color is blue.

Katie's pink robot with fuzzy eyebrows.

Ella's blue robot with blue fuzzy eyebrows.

I just HAD to include this one last photo... this is Ella literally falling asleep at the dinner table Christmas evening. She had such an exciting day and, of course, no nap and she was POOPED OUT!

First Snow

We woke up yesterday to SNOW! The girls were beside themselves with excitement!! It was only a little dusting at first, but it continued to snow ALL DAY. This morning, the kids couldn't wait any longer. We borrowed a sled from the neighbors and they were off! The LOVED it. I had to make them come in when Ella said her, "toes were getting hurty". Guess we know what Santa is getting Katie and Ella for Christmas! :-)

First run... Mommy and Daddy thought we should document it quickly because there may not be another one.
Pure GLEE!
" This is FUN, Mommy!" "We're going FAAAST!"
"Uh-oh" says Daddy, "Watch out for that TREE!"
No problem!

Thumbs up from Ella!

Thumbs up, Katie!

"WEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"UH-OH"

Katie sliding down with DaddyElla's turn to ride with DaddyOur House

Baby Doll's Baptism

The girls like to 'bake' with rice... they get out all my measuring cups and spoons and bowls and go to town. (It's a MESS to clean up afterwards, but hey, it keeps them busy for half hour!) I was in the other room as they were playing and I heard one of them say, "It's okay Baby. This won't hurt." and I HAD to check it out... they were baptizing Baby Doll with rice. They were pouring the rice over Baby Doll's head and saying, "In the name of the Father and the Son..." and making a little cross sign on her forehead. I grabbed the camera as fast as I could, but this is all I could capture. It looks a little more like a susrgical procedure than a baptism by the looks of those tongs, but I had to capture the moment as best as I could.

Our Resident Artist, Princess Katie

I can't tell you how much this kid LOVES to paint. Katie is our resident artist. She asks to paint EVERY DAY... she loves it. Here are a few snapshots of her at her Mimi's house in her new princess hat.

The REAL Deal

While in LA, we took the girls to Disneyland and the girls had an opportunity to meet the REAL princesses... They were sooooooo excited! Katie took a little nap while we were waiting in line, so she was the most talkative. Ella was mesmerized, I think.

Katie (in the Lady bug shirt) telling Belle that she "colored her on the plane yesterday"

Katie told Snow White, "Oh, I LOVE YOU!"
Katie told Sleeping Beauty that she dressed up like her on Halloween. Ella told her that she dressed up like a 'blue one' (meaning Cinderella who wears a blue dress). Sleeping Beauty asked her, "A blue what? A BLUE BERRY?" Ella had a good giggle over that.

Meeting Baby Beth

We went to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving and this is the first time the girls get to meet their new baby cousin, Beth. They think she is AWESOME!

Katie's turn to hold Beth

Ella's turn