Christmas a la Edwards.

We celebrated Christmas with our Edwards clan on Saturday. Ella really got the hang of opening presents this year and was kind enough to lend a helping hand to anyone who asked for her assistance!

She got some lovely presents this year, including new clothes for her American Girl dolls at Gramma's, a wardrobe to keep the clothes in, a potty doll complete with working bathroom, and a precious Madame Alexander doll that she loves and calls "Alex."

The presents are great, but the boxes are even better!

Great Uncle Frank and Uncle Matt open their gifts.

Aunt Angel opens her presents.

Ella helps Daddy open his gifts.

You're a Mean One...

Mr. Grinch! I, along with Mom and Grandmother, took Ella and cousin Kalynn to see an ice exhibit over the weekend. This year's theme was The Grinch and I can't even explain how much ice was colored and carved into fantastical creations to tell the story of The Grinch.

Kalynn loved it. Ella must have said, "Sceowed de de Gwinch" (Scared of the Grinch) 500 times, and insisted upon being carried through the entire thing. Can't say I blame her. He is a bit scary.

Here Kalynn sits on a block of ice, just out of the Grinch's cold grasp!

This was Ella's expression each time I put her down for a moment.

NO! Sceowed! No like it!

She must've liked it a little, though, because the moment we stepped outside she was yelling, "Again! Go again!"

Holiday Spectacular.

This past Saturday Ella had her first big recital, the annual Holiday Spectacular of her gymnastics school. All of the preschoolers showed their skills on a route that required climbing, jumping, flipping, and walking on a balance beam.

I must say that even though Ella was the smallest kid there, she did quite well, only running off the route a couple of times.

We had quite the crowd there, with Daddy, Mimi, Grandmother, Gramma, G, and cousing Kalynn coming out to show their support!

Here Ella races to the foam triangle ahead of me. Once she climbs aboard, she flips down the slope with a little help from me.

Here Ella and I wait for the next event with our classmates Ms. Emily and Kaitlyn.

Ella had to climb all the way up this double rainbow, turn around, and slide down on her tummy. Such a feat.

At the end all of the kids got four ribbons, one per event: floor, beam, bars, and vault. My little gymnast is SO proud of her accomplishment and loves holding her ribbons!

Picture Us.

We had a wonderful photographer come to the house to take some family shots of us. I thought it might be nice to pretend to be a good mother and have a few pics taken of Ella at two, even though it was clearly way past that birthday!

I will be happy to pass along the photographer's info to anyone who is interested as I highly recommend her!

Cutie Pie.

Here, a sneaky little sprite hides in the study as Mom and Dad try to catch her to take her to church.

We won.

Mom and Dad: 5,947

Ella: 0

Gal Pals.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, four wonderful old friends converged to catch up over some fabulous food. It had been a long time since the four of us had been together, but trust me when I say that Maynaze Icewater's still got it!

Here Sara, Alisa, Maria, and Beth show that old friends really are the best.

Thanksgiving.

As I tend to forget to take pictures during actual events, I make sure to take them coming and going. Thanksgiving was no exception.

Coming: Ella licks her chops in anticipation of Uncle Pit's famous fried turkey.

Going: Ella rides home in a tryptophan-induced coma, baby snoring all the way!

Sweet November.

Here are a few pics taken in November...

Here's Ella in a hat she stole from her bff Mollie for a few days. It was VERY important to her that week.

Here Ella counts "ray-deer" in the hat. She has been on a mission to figure out how to get up in the tree to touch the rest of them, but so far has not been able to devise a successful plan.

Here Ella wears her "Escaped from Alcatraz" shirt I brought her from San Francisco. Once she escaped, she got a case of the sillies, forgot that she was on the run, and got caught.

Here Ella's lawyer is taking her to court to defend her. He not only got her off on the escape charges, but got the initial sentence reversed too! Apparently being that cute is actually NOT a crime.

Getting Festive.

I decided to decorate early this year. REALLY early. The nice thing was once the task was complete I had such a relaxing holiday season, and the truth is that I never get tired of Christmas decorations! I didn't put it all up this year, but I have so enjoyed all my little shiny things this season.

This is the big boy in the living room. I can't remember if it's 8' or 9', but it's about 12' by the time I'm through with it. This year I propped it up on some bins underneath the tree stand to allow extra room for presents-- an old trick of Mom's that I've stolen. It was nice that the tree actually didn't fall from its precarious position and kill one of us.

The Twelve Days of Christmas tree in the kitchen, along with "two ray-deer," which are Ella's new favorite things.

I love decorating the mantles at Christmas. My strategy is to throw stuff up there until it starts falling off. That's when you know you're done.

Why yes, those are birds in in the stockings. What, is that weird?

Here's the mantle in the parlor. I still love the nativity that my MIL Laura got me for our 1st Christmas.

I like dressing up my horse with a bow. Russ likes rearranging the Noel letters to say as many words as he can think of. SO clever.

Rainy Day Baby.

Here Ella is sporting her pink raincoat for a rainy October day. This is one of two made by a great lady in New York who sells these at the Christmas Gala at Grand Central Station and online. The other one we have happens to be my size...

Want one? Get your own at http://www.bodyscapeskids.com/.

A Hatfield Halloween.

We Edwards spent Halloween '08 with our pals Andy, Jessica, and Abe. It was the longest car ride Russ had been on with Ella, and I must say that both did very well!

We started the weekend by trick-or-treating at both of Abe's grandparents' homes and Ella got special treats at both! While Russ and Andy joined some other guys for a football game on Saturday, Jess and I took the kids to a wonderful hands-on museum and to her parents' for a delicious dinner.

Ella and Abe had quite the adventure playing together all weekend, and he was kind enough to let her sleep in his bed. We all had a fantastic time!

Ella as Dorothy. Fun fact: I actually played Dorothy in a summer camp once. This fact is fun because I CANNOT act. Singing and dancing scenery I can do. Acting? Nada.

Abe as a golfer. Andy and Jess as Andy and Jess.

Ella as Dorothy. Russ as Russ. Sara as... a liger?

Ella and Abe share a giggle on Gram Cookie's stairs. This one is going to be great in their wedding slideshow!