Happy New Year

Well, here we are at the end of another year. Each one seems to pass with greater speed than the year prior, and I am sure that will continue to be the case. The end of the year always seems to sneak up on me though. 365 days seems like such a long time until you get to the 364th day, and then WHAM! you've been through a time warp.

I don't know if 2010 was a transformative year, or a learning year - I feel neither changed, nor smarter or wiser, but usually those feelings come retrospectively, so I suppose I need to wait a little...... I think it was a year that made me want to hold even tighter to those near me - both in spirit and in proximity. 2010 taught lessons in how fleeing life really is, and how it should not be taken for granted, even when unexpected.
The children each grew so much in this year that looking back at pictures from last Christmas, they are almost unrecognizable.

I look forward to 2011 and hope to fill it with more even love, laughter and togetherness. I wish the same or better for all of you.

Merry Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas weekend. Here are some pictures I took with my phone.

We went to Mike & Nancy's (Agape Acres) yesterday to look at and feed the baby goats. The first pictures are of Ella and Max with the kids (Sam & Josie).

What is she up to now?

I realized we haven't posted anything lately about what Ella is doing. For those of you who are not Grandparents, this will not be a very exciting post, so feel free to skip it!
In the last couple of weeks, her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. We've felt a little guilty that we haven't read to her as much as it seemed that we read to Max, but now, I don't think we have anything to worry about.
She pats Zooey on the head and says "dog dog" - actually, it's kind of hard to tell if she's saying "dog dog" or "woof woof", but either way, she makes the same sound each time she sees a dog. She also makes a monkey sound when you say the word "monkey", says "sheep" and "baaa" (which sounds a lot like laughing -very cute), duck, and will say "moo" anytime she sees a cow.

She says "shoe", "sock" and "sit". Bows for her hair are "pretty", and of course she is really good at saying "Mama", "Daddy" and "Bubba". She has also started to say "milk" and is making the sign for it, as well as saying and signing "more" and "eat".

Ella also now knows herself in the mirror - this weekend she pointed and said "Ella" (it really sounds more like "Eya".