Happy Birthday Elle

Today at 11:55 AM Elle turned 2! She has been telling people that she is 2 for a couple of weeks now because I was trying to help her practice holding up two fingers so it is good that it is official now. She also has been telling people that her birthday is "way up in the sky" because we have been telling her since Amber's birthday that her birthday is "coming up."

Here are a few things about Elle. I will get up some of my favorite pictures of Elle ASAP (I was working on it today and kinda crashed the computer so when things are up and running again I will post them.) Happy Birthday my baby girl!

• She is almost always happy with a smile on her face
• She is brave and will try pretty much anything
• She is a great snuggler
  
• She is good at making people laugh
• Her favorite color lately is orange—she wants everything to be orange
• She loves babies and will take at least one baby with her everywhere
• She loves playing pretend with Amber
• She easily adjusts to whatever is going on
• She loves to dance
• She is the messiest eater who loves to dip in various sauces
  
• She likes to do things herself
• She doesn't like when you try to call her anything but her name; she will correct you, sometimes very sternly, that her name is Elle.
  

Tall boy

Yesterday Nathan had his two month appointment and wow has he grown. For those interested here are the specs:

Weight: 11 lb 5 oz. (42%)
Height: 24 1/4 inches (93%)
Head Circumference: 15.75 (44%)

As you can see he is still growing longer and longer. I knew that he was long but to think that he is already 2 feet tall is crazy to me. He is doing so well and has been a pretty easy baby for the most part. Here are a few new pictures of him.

Nathan in his summer hat.

Look at those cheeks and his double chin.

Elle, Nathan, and Amber (I didn't tell them to do this they just did it themselves—what love).

Nathan's Blessing Day

On Sunday we blessed Nathan. It was a nice and simple get together with just family and friends because it happened to be Stake Conference, which we didn't know when we picked the date so family could arrange schedules and purchase airline tickets. J gave Nathan a special blessing and after we headed over to the bank for some brunch. We had a great time visiting and eating. Thank you everyone who made the trip and thanks to Mary for making some really yummy food. Here are a few pictures from the day and also a fun video of Nathan smiling for Grandpa Ben.

Nathan all ready to go.

The three silly monkeys all dressed up.

Nathan, me, and J.

My little man and me.

The Maxfield family
Top row: Kelli, Jed, Mary, Max, J, me, and Junetta
Bottom row: Amber, Drew, Elle, and Nathan

The Giles family
Elle, Ben, Virginia, J, Nathan, me, Amber, and Bonnie

Isn't he just so stinkin' cute!?

Princess Amber

"My heart tells me I am a princess."
This is what Amber told me the other day while we were driving in the car.

It seems to have started early.

She knew it and you can see it in her eyes.

Even while visiting in a far away land she was sure to show that she was a princess.

Her casual princess attire.

Even when she was dressing up she dressed up like another princess (Aurora).

She even has tried being a princess fairy.

Regardless she has always been a princess and now we know why - her heart was telling her she was.

3 silly monkeys

Here are some pictures of what we having been up to the last couple of weeks.

Elle and Amber have been having fun playing with each other

Elle eating one of Amber's birthday cupcakes

Amber with her birthday cupcake.

Elle is my little cleaner - she will just get decide something is dirty and will start cleaning. That is going to be awesome here in a few years.

Big guy Nathan

Flash shock face (He looks this way after I have taken a picture with the flash on).

Look at that hairline - oh dear, I think he may look like that again years down the road.

Amber getting ready to open her birthday loot.

Sweet little sleeper.

Amber at Jumpin Jacks.

Silly monkey boy.

2 silly monkeys with Grandma Mary.

Disgusted face.

In this picture Nathan reminds me of my brother Jim.

Cross-eyed boy.

Silly monkey Elle.

Oh and by the way Nathan has been smiling for the last week or so but we haven't been able to capture it yet. He is also starting to 'talk' to us. All in all he is still a mellow little guy, with occasional grumpy times.