Butler vs. UAB

Cole-the excitement was too much for him!!

My parents went with us to the BU game and enjoyed the WIN!! The kids were great, as usual, and I think my dad was suprised at how good they were! We've trained them well! Scott, Stacey, Collin and my uncle Eddie all went to a Pacer's game and got Ric Smits autograph and sat in the second row...I may be a little biased, but I still think that the Butler game was probably more fun! Just and opinion!!

Maxfield Christmas

Ben and Elise
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Maxfield, my dad's parents, and Ella and Cole

We went to the Maxfield's today in Illinois for a quick visit. It has probably been since Ella was 8-9 months old since we saw them the last time and this was the first time that they met Cole. My dad's brother Bruce and 2 out of 3 of his kiddos joined us for the afternoon! We couldn't have been more excited that they drove all the way from Cincy for such a short trip, but we usually only see them once a year.
My kids are so lucky to have 7 great grandparents and 4 grandparents!!

Cheely Christmas

Scott and Stacey

The guys

Trying on Daddy's "cool's"

Aunt Amy and Ella

Cousins...Ella and Elle...just 4 months apart

Ella and her main man Cam!

We went over to my great aunt and uncle's house to have our annual Christmas get-together with the Cheely clan! We did our usual thing...ate...gift exchange...ate...talked...ate!! You get the picture!

Christmas #3

Grandpa and Cole

Ella and her new larger than life Minnie, she got a matching Mickey too!!

Collin...it's hard to beleive that he is 14!!

Great-Grandad and Cole...matching hair do's!

Ella "playing" Wii too!!

We headed over to Illinois to have Christmas with the Cheely's and see the Maxfields. My dad flew in today and we scooped him up from the airport and the rest of the Maxfield crew and Scott's girlfriend Stacey all drove straight to the Cheely's late last night. We all had a great time and played Alex and Cam's Wii well into the night! I really think that I may be sore in the morning!

Christmas #2

Package or gift? Which is better?? Tough choice!

When Chris and Ella were handing out gifts, Ella wanted all of them to go to Papa!

Santa baby!

The Santas'!

We spent Christmas afternoon with the McGrath's and had a great time! Judy had a wonderful idea of picking up Maggiano's carry out on Christmas eve and heating it up today for Christmas dinner! It was so nice to have Judy with us all afternoon instead of being in the kitchen and the Maggiano's was awesone, as usual! This year we decided that the adults would pick names and get one gift for someone...and I personally think that went great!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!!

Love, Scott, Abby, Ella and Cole

Ella was so much fun this Christmas!! She was so excited to head down the stairs and see Santa...that was the funny part...we kept telling her that Santa was coming, so she expected to see Santa when she came down the stairs! She was so disappointed when we said that Santa wasn't there, but he had left her presents, she was bawling!! So, my parents had sent some gifts and one for her was a Santa box, so she was ok enough to open that, and thank goodness, it was a stuffed Santa! That was a HUGE relief!! She said "oh, there's Santa!!" How literal!! Anyway, she had a great time opening gifts...a new easel, smock and finger paints from Santa and a few toys from Santa for Cole!!

We feel really blessed this year, as always. But I couldn't help but get a bit nostalgic as I watched her open gifts! This is our third Christmas since Ella was born, and now we have Cole too, where has the time gone!! From a helpless newborn to a gift-opening pro, I cannot imagine a Christmas more fun than this one! We can't wait to see Cole next year right in there with her. I am sure that every holiday will just keep getting better and better, but this one was pretty special!! We hope that everyone else had a blessed holiday as we did!

Christmas Eve

Our attempt at a photo of them after Christmas Eve service...unsucessful!! Oh well!! Santa Clause comes tonight!!!

Hmmm...

Not so sure about this fashion statement!!

Visiting Santa

So we couldn't get them both to look at the camera and smile at the same time...but they both sat there!!! Ella was smiling because Scott was making reindeer ears above my head and Cole could not have been more intrigued by his beard! Good thing it was real, because he had a handful!

That really went so much better than we could have ever hoped for, and I would love to say that it was just because she is so well behaved, but I think that it had something to do with the fact that we gave her some Benedryl because her nose was so runny...so she was pretty out of it!! Oh well, whatever works!

Yet another...

The kiddos wore their Christmas hats to the Bulldog game and looked just as cute as can be!! The Bulldogs won again!!! What a fun season this has been so far! We can't wait for more W's!!!

2 Years Old

Our biggie 2 year old!! How crazy that is that she is already 2!

Her check-up with the doc didn't go as I had thought it would. I was prepared to hear that she was above average in her verbal skills and that she was excelling in everythign else she was doing, her weight was fine, and she was in excellent health. Most of that was true, but there were a few suprises.

Her weight was 24lbs, which is only a gain on one pound in six months and the doctors like to see anywhere from 2-4, and more like 4 in her case since she is a little on the small side anyway. The concern was that her weight had again dropped off of the growth curve that she was on. She was in the 60th percentile when she was 6 months old and now she is in the 14th. She was in the 18th percentile for height. They asked about what and how much she was eating and they would like it if she would drink at least 4 pediasure's a day and also increase the amount she is eating! They were also a little concerned about gross motor development-she is not really running or jumping. I walked out of their feeling like I had done something really wrong and that she had something wrong with her...I was a mess! It was really all I thought about over Christmas vacation, but I am better now. We are working on getting her to eat a little more, and giving her foods that are higher in calories. We go back in 6 months and we will see where we are. They suggested getting her into a tumbling/gymnastics class to help with gross motor development...so I think we will look into that.

If anyone has any suggestions, we are open!!!

Christmas Party

Ella at child's day out for her Christmas Party! They were so cute...they had jingle bells and sang the song!! I have it on video but can't seem to upload the video from my camera!! Bah humbug!

Christmas Cookies

We got together with the McGraths to bake all of our christmas cookies. This is the 4th year, and if I don't say so myself...it is probably the best baking yet! We made all sorts of cookies and then Jessie and I decorated all of the cut-out sugar cookies! Yummy!! I took Ella's little kitchen baking supplies and her play dough to pretend, but instead she ended up being a great big helper with the real cookie! I think she had a really good time!