Easter Eggs

I may have mentioned a week or two ago that we started a new family tradition last year of painting ceramic Easter Eggs. It is by far one of my favorite traditions now, and we just completed year two! We have six eggs now in our little collection, and they make me smile every day. 

The best part of this tradition is the memories it creates. We headed to the same doughnut shop as we did last year, and fueled up before we began painting. 

 These doughnuts are SO tasty! They have all kinds of fun flavors like salted caramel (delish!) and PB&J.

 They have windows where you can watch them make the doughnuts.....Ellie was telling Scott all about how doughnuts are made.

After our sugar high was complete, we walked across the town center to the ceramics shop.

Last year, Elliott didn't really "get" it, and the shop owner ended up helping a lot with her egg (which turned out beautifully with a thumb-print bumble bee on it). This year, however, Ellie was all about the painting! She had a blast! And while Scott and I were concerned with the technicalities of painting our slippery pottery pieces (you have to layer your paints, you can only use a dark color over top of lighter ones, etc), Elliott was busy painting coat after beautiful coat onto her tiny little egg. 

 Why yes, Ellie even painted her hands! This paint is amazing and washes off so easily that I didn't even bother to tell her to stop.

 I'm grateful every day for my little family, and traditions like this make my blessing feel so real! The bowl full of eggs sitting on my kitchen counter prove to me that God is good, and he has truly blessed my family.

2011: A Look Back

I kept this review to three pictures per month. Once I got started though, I realized that three pictures is just not enough! I had a lovely little trip down memory lane looking through all of our pictures from the last year. Here are some of my favorites to sum up each month:

 January we celebrated a walking baby and her first birthday!

 February was all about swimming lessons, a case of the sickies :( and Valentine's Day.

 In March we painted our nails for the first time, and met up with some awesome mommy bloggers and their babies.

 April was all about family time: we painted ceramic eggs for Easter, took a weekend trip to Portland, and giggled as first-time parents watching Ellie try to get the hang of sleeping in a big girl bed.

 May brought us another awesome blogger playdate (one that involved mustaches on babies). My mom, Ellie, and I took a fun trip to Cali to see my grandma, and we spent a good amount of time at gymnastics.

 In June we soaked up the PNW sun at the park, the zoo, and a day at the races for momma's 27th birthday!

 We celebrated the 4th of July with family, followed by the Warrior Dash for Scott and I, and Elliott's first time as a flower girl in her Auntie's wedding.

 We held onto summer during August with BBQ's with friends, playdates at the splash park, and camping with family.

 In September, we took a family outing to the fair where Elliott rode a pony for the first time....it certainly won't be the last, either! Ellie and I also saw Caspar Babypants in concert, which was quite a hit with her!

 I love all of the excitement that October brings: Pumpkin patch and Halloween, complete with Ellie's homemade Raggedy Anne costume!

 November was a busy month, and I can tell because of my lack of pictures ;) We did get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving......a tradition with friends that I look forward to every year!

December brought with it all the feelings of the Holidays: warmth, family, giving, love. We celebrated with a gingerbread house, a visit to see Santa, and lots of presents!

2011 has been a good one.....I can only imagine, dream, hope, and pray for 

the goodness that 2012 will bring us!

 I wish only the best for you and your loved ones in the new year!

Wordless Wednesday: Gingerbread

I feel like I should write a lot to go with these photos, because tonight was one of those magical nights that I want to remember forever.

Scott was being pleasant, helpful, and just plain fun to be around.

Elliott was also pleasant, as well as cute, funny, and not throwing tantrums at every turn (in fact, no tantrums were thrown in the making of this Gingerbread House).

Tonight was how I picture every perfect and cozy holiday tradition to be.

But since they won't always be this glorious or cute, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Linking up with The Paper Mama, Jenni From the Blog, And Then She Snapped, and Naptime Momtog.

Happy Wednesday!

Flashback Friday: Santa!!

With our little family of three, we have been making great efforts to build solid family traditions. While sometimes this gets expensive on our small-family-budget, I think it's totally worth it.

One day, I'll look back on ten year's worth of Santa Pictures, and they will be worth far more than the money we spent each year.

Already looking back on just our first year of Santa photos, and my heart is overwhelmed.

I love seeing how much Elliott has grown and changed, and so many memories come rushing back to me as I flip through the photos. Here's a little recap and comparison......really just a photo dump from last year's Santa trip, and then this year's!

2010

At 11 months old, Ellie didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap at all!

This Santa was SO sweet! I'm bummed we missed him this year....

Ellie was really intrigued by the "snow" last year at snowflake lane.

2011

Things started off okay with our 22 month old.....

Until we put her on Santa's lap! Poor girl!

We cheered her up with snowflake lane, where she seemed just as fascinated as last year!