Happy New Year

Casey and I began dating ten years ago on New Year's Eve. To celebrate our "anniversary" we went for a family hike to Rainbow Mountain and took in the last sunset of 2011. When we got home Casey made the most delicious dinner! He made beef wellington, roasted fingerling potatoes and a warm wilted winter greens salad with parmesan cheese shavings and pomegranate seeds. It was the best dinner ever!

Casey cooking the meal. He has become quite a chef!

Not only was the dinner fabulous but it was beautiful too!

Merry Christmas

Ella's Christmas Musical

Ella did a great job singing in the Christmas musical for her school. She practiced for several weeks memorizing the songs for this special night. She had a great time singing with her classmates and eating some yummy treats after. Be sure to watch the video of one of the songs she sang. :)

Mmmmm cupcakes!

Posing in front of the Christmas tree.

After Colby really wanted to practice shaking the maracas that Ella used in the musical.

We finished the night by listening to holiday music in the car while driving around looking at all the beautirul Christmas lights.

A Visit With Santa

Ella and Colby had a great time at the children's Christmas party for Casey's work once again. It was held at a hand's-on science center with snacks and a visit with Santa. This year when Colby met Santa he was not as excited. In fact, he cried the whole time while on his lap. Ella, on the other hand, enjoyed talking with Santa and telling him all about our dogs and the toys she wanted for Christmas.

Colby did not want to sit on Santa's lap this year.

"Mummy, Daddy . . . . I really want to get off Santa's lap now."

Ella loved chatting with Santa this year.

Ella had fun making giant bubbles in the science center.

We all had fun making music on these xylophones.

We Love to Dance!

Ella loves to dance to music and Colby is really getting into it as well. Here is a fun video from the other morning. I love how Colby imitates Ella's dance moves :)

Meet Chloe - The Newest Member of Our Family!

Meet Chloe - the newest member of our family! We adopted her from the group Friends of Retrievers here in Huntsville. As soon as Fenway met her he really liked her and immediately wanted to play! The rest of us was struck by her beauty and sweetness. She loves attention and affection and is doing a wonderful job with obedience. She is a 2 year old pure bred golden retriever that came to the rescue group as a stray. We took her into our home as a foster with the option to adopt. She is officially our dog now and in the month that we have had her she has settled right in. We all love her so much and can not imagine her living anywhere else.

In Chloe's previous life we don't think she received much attention. Here she is letting Casey and Ella pack her into a box that had been mailed to us earlier in the day. She loved every minute of it!

This is Chloe's first hike on Rainbow Mountain. She was a little jealous that Fenway got to be off leash but had a wonderful time!

Fenway and Chloe are best buddies. They are always near one another and have a blast playing in the backyard every day.

Chloe came to us with the name Autumn. Casey and I liked the name Casco (from Casco Bay in Portland Maine) but Ella LOVED the name Chloe and was the one in the family to officially name her.

Ella Sings!

Every Wednesday night Ella goes to choir at church. Last week her teachers had a parent night. Ella had a great time singing the songs they have been working on all fall.

Ooops!

For some reason I could not add this video to my Halloween post after I had published it. It is a video of Colby playing a game at the Fall Festival at Ella's school. It was so cute I had to share it.

Winter Hats

Do you like our winter hats? "Roar" "Hoo-hoo"

Colby's First Hair Cut

Two weeks ago Colby had his first hair cut. He is becoming such a big boy! We trimmed alot of his hair on the side and back of of his head and left most of the length on top.

BEFORE

I am not so sure of this . . .

I like this toy!

AFTER

Colby really wanted to sit in the seat all by himself :)

Happy Halloween

For Halloween this year Ella was a kitty cat and Colby was a dalmatian. We also loved that Auntie C.C. came to visit us during such a fun time of year. We carved pumpkins, went to a Fall Festival at Ella's school and had a great time trick or treating!

Carving pumpkins with Auntie C.C.

"Trick or Treat"

Colby the dalmatian.

Ella the cat.

Picking the "Just Right" Pumpkin

Last week we went to Isom's Orchard to pick out some pumpkins for Halloween. There were so many different shapes and sizes to pick from. It took quite a while to pick out the "just right" pumpkin for each child. We came home with six pumpkins! One large, one medium, one small and three mini pumpkins :) One mini pumpkin was for Ella, one was for Colby and the other for Bitty Baby. Stay tuned for pictures of us painting and carving our pumpkins.

Fenway the Love

Fenway has come along way since Ella was born. When Ella was little he used to get nervous when she would approach him with a hug or a snuggle. Over the years he has grown to love snuggle time with the kids! Here are some pictures I captured just this week :)

Sleepy time with Ella

Colby loves petting Fenway!

A big hug from Ella :)

New Tables

In the process of cleaning out some baby gear from storage Ella discovered a Disney Princess table a dear friend in New York had given her. After some thought she decided the best place to put it would be in her bedroom. She also wanted Colby to have a table in his room so we moved the one we had in the play room into his room. Both tables look great and the kids couldn't be happier. Ella loves coloring in her room and reading stories to her babies while Colby is working on actually sitting at his table instead of climbing all over it. ;)