June 8-13, 2012: Summer is Here!

We are only mid-way into June, and we have been ENJOYING summer.  And since we have teachers in the family, summer off means that Ellie gets a lot of visitors!

First, Betsy and Mike spent five days with us for a fantastic long weekend full of sports in the City.  Thank you to Betsy for photographing all of our fun!  On Saturday, we attended a Giant's game at the fabulous AT&T Park.  It had to have been the most beautiful day of the year in San Francisco!

 

Then, on Tuesday, we attended the U.S. Open practice round at Olympic Club in San Francisco.  We were lucky to have our friend Lisa's law firm get us tickets to the event, along with passes to enter a great hospitality tent full of yummy food.  It was fun to see players up close working on their shots.  And, as you can tell, we were blessed with another gorgeous day in the City.

The long weekend flew by.  Ellie sure enjoyed time with her Grammy and Grandpa!

Ellie's 6 Month Photo Shoot!

When Ellie turned 6 months old, we decided to capture the moment by taking family photos, and photos of Ellie, at the great Foothills Park in Palo Alto.  We couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out!  Enjoy.

June 5, 2012: We have a crawler!

June 5 was a big occasion:  our little girl became mobile!  This video was the very first bit of crawling that we saw from her.  Overnight, she improved tenfold, and she has been cruising around ever since!  Gone are the days of me getting ready for work with ease.

Grant was thrilled that the "carrot" that got her to start moving was an iPhone. We are sure to have two tech gurus living in the house!

June 4, 2012: Eight Months Old!

That's right!  Our little Ellie girl is a whopping eight months old!  Is it possible that every single day with little girl just gets more and more fun?!?!  She kills me with her cuteness.  This month, Ellie's biggest developmental leap has been the discovery of her booming voice.  This girl is loud!  She loves "telling stories" and chiming in on conversations.  She screams, squeals, grunts, and yells "dadadadada."  Needless to say, Grant is in heaven with the "dada" bit!  I am still working on getting her to nail down the "mmm" sound.

Since being back to work, it has been hard not to have as much time to get together with the group of incredible mamas and babies that I met during my maternity leave.  We were happy to change that this weekend by hosting a BBQ.  Is there anything cuter than all of these little buddies spending an afternoon together?  I don't think so!  Since 2011 appears to have been the year of boys, it's Ellie and Madi amongst six cute little heartthrobs.  We are going to have to watch out for this little girl come the teenage years!

May 12-13, 2012: Mother's Day Weekend

With Grant's birthday on May 8 falling just a couple of days before Mother's Day, we headed to Grammy and Grandpa's house in Visalia to celebrate both occasions.  We were so glad to make it a big family weekend, with Megan and Danny and Katherine and Jay coming to visit too.

On Saturday morning, Ellie enjoyed time playing with Grammy and Tia Megan, while Grant and I went to play golf with Grandpa and Danny.  Being out on the course again was a blast (I hadn't played in almost 2 years).  We came back to a tired little girl, and some adorable photos of Ellie showing off her "tricks" to Grammy and Tia Megan.

In their typical fashion, the boys came back from playing golf just to sit in front of the television to watch more golf!  This time, they recruited a little upcoming golf talent to join them.  As you can see, Ellie is perfectly content sitting on Grandpa's lap enjoying the action.

We had a nice, relaxing Saturday afternoon lounging by the pool, and then enjoyed a delicious family barbecue.  Thank you to Betsy for planning our yummy feast!  

On Sunday morning, Grant and I took a short run around the neighborhood.  Boy are we out of shape! Thankfully, we came back to a yummy breakfast prepared by Mike, followed by some fun Mother's Day gifts, and more relaxing family time.  Katherine and Jay showed off pictures of their little bean -- Baby Keaton due October 6, 2012!  It's hard to believe that by next Christmas, Ellie will have another little cousin to play with.  Here he/she is:

All in all, it was a fun and family-filled weekend -- a perfect way to spend Mother's Day!

May 4, 2012: We Have A 7 Month Old!

Cute ponytail!

At 7 months old, our little Ellie Rose has become a giggling, teething, rocking, screeching, spitting, ponytail-wearing little girl!  It's amazing how much of a sponge she is right now. She is curious about everything, tries to imitate sounds and movements we make with our mouths, and is starting to interact more and more.

Ellie's little personality is really starting to develop.  She knows what she wants, and she makes sure to let us know, loud and clear.  When she is hungry, she wants her food immediately.  When she is tired, she is ready to go to bed right away.  We are loving this more interactive phase!

We recently started taking Ellie to the park and putting her in the baby swing.  As you can tell, she LOVES it!

April 14-15, 2012: A Visit from the Serranos!

This year, Grant decided to set up Poppy Hills Golf Course as his "home" course for the Northern California Golf Association membership.  As a result, he's had the opportunity to play in a couple of tournaments down there with his buddies.  On April 14-15, Nick, Hannah and Landon made the trek down from Reno to spend the weekend with us.  The boys headed down to Monterey for golf, and Hannah and I enjoyed a day with the kiddos going to boot camp, checking out the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, and eating ice cream in the park.  We always have so much fun hanging out with the Serranos, and - as you can tell - Landon and Ellie are going to be life-long pals!