Friday was Zoe's birthday, so after supper she got to open her presents!! LOOOVE! She's very good at unwrapping paper (um, and please ignore the fact that it IS Christmas wrapping paper..it's all I had!), and she always makes sure to hand all the paper to me once she's ripped it off. *Gush* Such a clean little lady...


Max was desperate to help...
Oh, and this was the crochet pillow I made her to go in her next present...

Deep concentration...

"Ere Mommy!"


A crib for her babies! I made a crochet blanket for her too! She took it to bed with her that night! Glad she liked it... ;)

Kisses for baby.


She is singing to her baby right now. I think it was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", her fav song.

Feeding her baby.


Kraft Dinner - her fav ;)

Blowing out her candles. She's been practicing...

Time to eat the frosting!

Ella Bells...yum, brownies!

Mr. Max, deeply into his brownie.

Awww, Ella and Daddy. And Murphy's Law, a pic with his eyes actually OPEN, and he's looking somewhere else! GAH!
Happy Birthday little Monkey! Can you believe she is TWO already? Wow...

Yes, it's true. I have a weed. Actually, a couple. And...at least they are cute. ;)

Ella is growing so fast...it's crazy. Obviously got that tall 'Vries' gene, that's for sure! 2 weeks ago she wore pj's that fit just fine. Sunday night at J&J's we put the same pj's on her, and they were so small they looked like floods on her legs, and her belly was showing. Oy!! I'm simply amazed at how FAST it happens too - I noticed her belly getting bigger last week - then over the weekend BOOM it's going, and she's not fitting in anything. Oh MAN!!!

With the big growth spurt, comes a lot of tiredness. She was so exhausted yesterday morning (plus it was Monday) she was super-touchy, and when I dropped her off at Trish's house before school, she broke down. My heart broke. She wanted to go anywhere with me. :( I tried everything with her (normally you can reason quite well with her) but NOTHING worked. I had to leave her crying in Trish's capable hands. ((Today I find out that she got over it pretty much before we left the driveway at least!!))
I did talk to Colleen who dropped Chloe off at school that morning, and she said Ella seemed 'chipper', so I was relieved. It's so hard to leave crying children, especially if they don't usually do that.

Anyway, I cried my words out to mom in an email yesterday, and she took a pic of Ella-Bells after school - obviously just FINE!!! YEAH!!!
Sometimes working full time just sucks. BUT...it's short-lived for now at least! ;)

Cutest pic ever. Thanks Lisa...!!

Yesterday Ella had to get her picture taken for ballet - as they are having a concert this year. She is 'fairy dust' (can't you tell?). She was so excited to dress up in her pretty dress! It was so cute! I was desperately trying NOT to mention how itchy the dress looked - and luckily it didn't seem to bug her much, but it DID but some of the other girls. They might have a few red spots on them for their pics!!!!! Poor things!

This past weekend we had Zoe and Max's birthday party! It was a super-hero party, although Zoe didn't want anything to do with her cape!! LOL!! Oh well, it's her party right?

Here are Ella and Max, ready, and waiting...waiting..."When will they get here?"

So cute! (I had to bribe her to wear this outfit. She picked out this old brown knit dress...ugh! Luckily, she is easily swayed...!)
Max, drooling over the cakes...
SUPER ZOE and SUPER MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our SUPER suckers!

Presents!!!

Spiderman pj's. Who would want anythine else?


Zo-J getting into it after she finally woke up!





Zoe, putting on her 'show'!!

Pretty Shay

Um...crazy Max?

Chloe, Ella and Madi - happily eating way! LOVE sliders!!

Max, patiently waiting for the cake part. He has already told me that one of the hair ties on Zoe's cake looked like it was falling off, so he ate it. LMAO!!

Methinks Madi wants some cake too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAXWELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Note the 'helper' off to the left?)

(Still helping...)

(She's determined to blow one of those candles out if Max can't!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HIP-HIP HORRAY! HIP-HIP HORRAY! HIP-HIP HORRAY! TIGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And she did it. She blew them out all by herself! Wow...my baby is two! And Max is FOUR...Gosh..when did this all happen?!?!?!

I had Rick take a pic of me the other day...I can't believe that I still have 2 more months to go! WOW! But at least it was a good 'before' hair pic. I got my hair done last night - new style!!!!!!!! Yeah!! It's about time! Now I need another NEW preggo pic methinks!

And now onto a happy pic - my new hair!!!!!! It's was soooooooooo time for a change!
Ella was so excited this morning - she exclaimed: "Mommy! You put pink in your hair for ME!"

Yes, yes honey, it was all for you. ;)