Ella's 1st Haircut!

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2 years old and Ella finally has enough hair for her 1st haircut (sort of).  Goodbye mullet, hello bob! 

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful and quiet Christmas at home this year.  Aunt Sugar joined us for breakfast and opening presents, then for dinner (after we all took a nap!).  Ella had a blast playing with her new toys.   She also had a great time helping mom make sugar cookies, although mostly she liked to eat the cookie dough, but then, who doesn't.

Halloween 2010

Ella had a blast at Halloween this year.  We started on the 30th at Boo at the Zoo.  Trick-or-treating with the animals, dressed as a Vandal cheerleader.  On Halloween she dressed as a witch and ventured out to Harrison Blvd in Boise for some big time trick-or-treating.  She LOVED it.  After a few houses she caught on to what she was supposed to do, and ran squealing up to the houses and grabbed a piece of candy then put it in her pumkin.  

Rogan's Puppies

And here they are... 3 adorable little black lab puppies.  2 boys and 1 girl.  1 boy is really mello, just Mom, and the other 2, crazy and rambunctious just like Rogan!

New Babies on the Way...

 We are excited to announce we are expecting...

...another batch of Rogan puppies!

They are due to arrive the middle of June, so more pictures to follow.  

Trip to the Zoo

We took Ella to the zoo for the 1st time.  It was a big hit!  Of course we had some great tour guides (Cyndi, Eryn, and Brandon Wade), who have been to the zoo enough times they could live there!  Ella loved the animals and all the crazy sounds.

We saw this Giraffe, which was sleeping.  The volunteer said they only sleep about 10 minutes at a time, so it is not very often you will catch one sleeping.

Ella even liked the fake elephant that blew water out it's trunk.

And, Ella rode the carousel for the 1st time!

Just some pictures...

Ella's 1st Birthday

Ella had a wonderful 1st birthday party.  A large group of family and friends came to our house to help celebrate.  It was a beautiful, warm sunny day, so everyone was outside.  The kids played with the sidewalk chalk (yah, some of them tried to eat it, including the birthday girl) and with bubbles.  Ella loved her cupcake, eating it slowly as if she was savoring every bite.  She of course was covered in frosting by the time she was done.  She has a blast opening all her birthday presents, and was equally excited about the presents and the wrapping paper.   The party ended with a bath and nap for Ella, but the day kept going.  She woke up to find her cousins Zach and Sam still here, and was pretty excited to be outside running around with them, in her birthday suit.  We had a nice dinner on the porch, then headed out to the hotel where Grandma Sharon and Aunt DeeDee were staying for some time at the swimming pool.  Ella wasn't too excited about the big pool, but loved the little wading pool.  And she looked pretty cute in her new swim suit that Dad picked out!

 Ella was lucky enough to get 2 birthday celebrations.  A week after her real birthday we traveled to Moscow, where Aunt Jennifer put on another birthday party for the Lowe side of the family.  She made an adorable butterfly cake out of cupcakes, which Ella also loved!

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Ella is 9 months old and so full of spunk.  She loves the freedom that comes with being mobile, exploring everything, chasing after Mom, Dad, and Rogan, and getting into anything that catches her eye.  She is already standing by herself and loves to hold our hands and "walk".  She is quite the talker, jabbering constantly and tries to imitate sounds, especially Rogan barking.  

Rogan with his favorite girl, Brinley

Natalie and Ella

CHRISTMAS 2010

Christmas has taken on a new meaning this year.  It seems like it is more fun for all of us now that we have Ella, even though she really doesn't get it yet.  She has been enjoying all the Christmas activities so far.  This week we picked out her 1st Christmas tree, and she got her 1st candy cane.  She didn't really care about the tree, but the candy cane was a huge hit.  It only took her a few seconds to figure out she needed to suck on it, and of course made a huge mess all over her and mom.  Tonight ventured to the mall for pictures with Santa.  No problems with stranger anxiety for Ella.  She was so content to just lean back and sit with him, I thought we'd never get her back!  We are experiencing the biggest changes to our lives with trying to get everything done and entertain Ella.  It's a week before Christmas, and we are still working on getting all the lights up, decorate the tree, sending our cards and finishing our shopping. We used to have a tradition of going to the mall, then out to dinner.  This year, we only managed to buy 1 present, get our pictures, and settled for Macaroni Grill take out.  I'm thankful for the internet and free shipping!