Kinder Eggs

Over the years, Mike has collected quite an impressive collection of Kinder Egg Toys.  He lived in Germany as a kid, and then spent 2 years in Italy on his mission where it became a goal of his to add to his collection.  Mike's mom gave us these wooden houses/display cases and we finally got around to painting them. 

This is only a small portion of his collection, mind you.  These are the full sets he was able to collect.  We had fun painting the houses together and they make a nice addition to our apartment. 

Monkeys

Trees & Flowers

Magic Collection

Little Crayon Dudes

Haunted House Collection

It's beginnig to look a lot like Christmas

We had a great, albeit short, Christmas break up in Utah. 

Ellie's first time sitting on Santa's lap.  She doesn't look like it, but she really enjoyed meeting him!

It's a little colder in Utah than it is in Phoenix.

 Mike's parents took us to Midway to go on a Sleigh Ride to Santa's village!

Making Sugar cookies with the Higbees

On Christmas Eve, Grandma & Grandpa took all the grand kids on the Polar Express.

Showing off their bells.

 We spent the rest of Christmas people, with Grandma Mona & Grandpa Ken.

Grandpa Ken's funny glasses

 It snowed so much while we were in Utah, so Ellie had ample opportunities to play in the snow!

A nice action shot of Tilly.  She liked the snow too!

 We also got to go to a Fun Center in Layton with the Trowbridges.  Ellie loved riding down this slide, and I got to play Laser Tag for the first time in my life.

 

We spent a night with Dave & Tiffany.  Mike and Dave passed the time in the garage with Dave's home-made forge.  They made a knife out of a railroad spike.  Very impressive!

 We also made it to the Natural History Museum up at the U.  It was a really nice museum, and we all enjoyed ourselves.

 Thanks to family and friends for making it a great trip!

I have 3 fingers!

You can tell how behind I am on my blog...

Ellie turned three in December!  When we ask her how old she is, she enthusiastically replies, "I have 3 fingers!"

As always, she had two birthday celebrations: one with my family, and one with Mike's.  

In keeping with tradition, here are a few of the things we LOVE about our 3 year old:

1-  She is OBSESSED with Super Heroes.  I blame it on our babysitting group, which consists of 4 little boys and Ellie.  Every day she is someone new: Batman, Spiderman, Superman...  Even when I get out her My Little Ponies, they immediately become Super Ponies and Bad Ponies.  Some days, she'll only respond  to me if I call her Batman. 

2- She loves music.  One night she woke me up around 3:30 to help her go potty.  She's sitting there taking care of business, eyes half-closed, and starts singing "Hey!  I just met you.  And this is CR-A-A-A-ZY.  Here's my number.  Call me maybe." 

3- She has mastered the art of negotiation, and she knows exactly what I want.  "Mom... can I have some candy, and then we can snuggle on the couch?" 

4- She is one of the kindest people I know, and I hope she never loses that.  We were at a baptism and during the intermission where the people were changing clothes, she decided that she wanted to share her Teddy Grahams with each of the 20+ people in the room.  As she handed one to each person, you could see the joy in her eyes as she learned that giving of yourself brings happiness.

5- I can give her a paper and some scissors and she'll blissfully entertain herself for hours.  She'll cut up the paper into tiny pieces and dump them on the floor so she can collect it in our dustpan and dump it in the garbage. 

6- The girl is left-handed.  She has sort of switched off hands up until just recently, but she has now definitely committed to her left.

7- She loves babies.  She's had 3 new cousins born in the last few months, only one of whom she's met, but... she loves making faces at babies and will work determinedly until she can make them smile. 

8- She's very independent now.  She gets deeply offended if I try and help her do something that she can do herself. 

9- One of her most frequently used phrases is, "Oh, I LOVE (insert name)!  Her so cute!"

10 - She licks her lips all the time, to the point where her upper lip becomes red and chapped.  I'm trying to break her of the habit so it won't be so painful on her lips, but I'll be honest... it's so cute, I think I'll miss it when she stops. 

We absolutely adore our little Ellie, and feel so lucky that she's our daughter!

 

 

 

The delicious Red Velvet Cake my Mom got from Nothing Bundt Cakes

The My Little Pony Cake, made by the lovely and talented Tiffany!

This was a seriously delicious cake!  And I loved the frosting!