Happy Birthday, Daddy!

First Day of "Big Kid" School

Here's a few photos from the girls first day of "Big Kid School". (Big Kid school, by the way, is Preschool.) They were SO EXCITED!

Katie (in pink) and Ella (in blue)
A close-up of their new school shoes -- they are very sparkly!
Off they go!
After school, we had Anna Yuki (the girls BFF!) over for a picnic play date.
"CHEEEEEEEZZZZEEEE!"

A Day Out with Our Friend, Ben

Ella and Katie have a new friend, Ben. We met Ben out for a play date at Burke Lake Park. They had a BLAST riding the merry-go-round and the little choo-choo train and eating ice cream. Here are a few pix from the day.

Katie (in pink) and Ella (in stripes) on the merry-go-round. Ella was adamant about NOT sitting on the horses. She thought they were too scary. Katie followed her to the "little" ones... at first.
But soon ended up on a horse... the WHITE horse was her pick. Ben is in the background.

Mom and Ella
Katie giving a cute grin.
Ben, Ella, and Katie getting ready for the train ride to begin.
Photo op with the engine.

Bedtime Rituals

The other night the girls were in rare form before bedtime... happy and funny (for a change). I grabbed the camera and took a few shots of our bedtime routine.

Ella showing me how she can brush her teeth.
Letting me see how bright and shiny they are!
Katie in bed with her book all ready for night-night. Getting a cuddle from Daddy while waiting for Ella to finish her teeth.
Watching themselves in the mirror!

With Daddy, the Bedtime Guru.
Reading books -- their favorite part of the day!

Sleepy Cheerleaders

The girls were all excited to watch opening game with Daddy. I think they were asleep before the end of the first quarter. Them's some sleepy cheerleaders.

Catalog Shopping

For those of you that don't know, I LOVE catalog shopping. It's like window shopping in your very own living room. Well, surprise, surprise, Katie and Ella like to catalog shop too. And, because of all the online shopping I do, I get PLENTY of catalogs to keep us shopping pretty every day. Here are a couple of shots of us checking out the latest in Halloween costumes... on nearly every page, the girls found something they wanted. Again, surprise, surprise! ;-)

Ella in dog ears (-and yes, she's in her underwear!) and Katie is on the right

Shaking The Sillies Out

The girls had a play date with their two best friends, Ben and Anna Yuki. We heard some kind of craziness downstairs and this is what we see... 4 kids laying on the couch kicking and screaming. Literally. The photo doesn't do it justice, but they were definitely 'shake, shake, shaking the sillies out'.

Ella (in pig tails), Anna Yuki, Ben, and Katie