Christmas has come & gone with some great memories of the family. All the kids were home for most of the three days, even had Doug & Brenda come over for a visit an dinner.

Started with Amy, Andy & Abby going to Christmas Eve candle light service, then the kids went sledding before the rains came on Christmas, just enough snow for a good time.

Christmas Day was a full day with family here for gift exchange. Santa s

ure was good, I am not sure he checked his list for naughty or nice.

We saw Ella & Abby make a bake their first birthday cake together, it was a cake for Jesus.

Yes, Marilyn baked allot of cookies, however as normal the kids didn't eat all of them so the most of the cookies are still here so "WE" will have to eat them. Most of them will go to the freezer to be eaten thru out the first of 2010.

We sure do look forward to this time of year to spend with the family an it always takes so long to get here a then it is gone. However photos & memories will remain with us for a life time.

Cookie Time

Its Monday and we get Ella & Ben while Jen is working. Ben comes in, sits in the chair an states this is how the day will go folks. He is funny and you can see big changes on how much he is progressing toward crawling & getting around. He is on a mission an he will full fill that mission one way or another. Just don't get in my way folks.

When Ella walked in the door she was ready to make cookies with grandma, she could hardly wait. Grandma has not been feeling well for the past few days so the amount of cookies and frosting would have to wait for next week. However they did make one. Ella did have fun putting everything in the pan, grandma said that chocolate chips that dropped outside of the pan she could eat. Well, there were many that found its way out side of the box only to Ella's desire.

Pre Girls Night

Marilyn & I watch Ella & Ben on Wednesdays at their house while Jenny works, yesterday was an exciting day because Jen & Ella were having a "GIRLS" night out. Ella was looking forward to it but didn't want to take a nap after lunch. Both kids were good during the day. Ben is not quite at the crawl stage however I have been doing the "boot camp" process when they are at our house on Mondays an I can see that he is just about there. Ella was going from the living room to her room showing Ben how, but not yet. They did have a little "loving time" as shown in the photo. Ella is so gentle with Ben.

Crafts

Marilyn's friend JoAnne Hazel came over today to do some crafts with Ella. Ben would have been happy to be involved but he is still to young so he had to watch.

Overnight stay

We had Ella for a sleep over last Monday, Jenny works Mondays so she brings Ella & Ben here while she works. Of course we enjoy having the opportunity to have the kids for the four - five hours, lunch, naps and what every time is left to read books, play-doh, card games, puzzles, run outside (Ella just loves to run down the hill), go to the park.

I had put Ella down for a nap, she had about 3/4 hr when Scott arrived on Tuesday to pick her up. She didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay longer. Not enough sleep. I was glad to hear that she wanted to stay longer but mom, dad & Ben missed having her home. I am sure we will have more sleep overs.

Ella gets most of the play time, but Ben will be getting involved soon, he is such a team player and he wants to be in the there doing the same thing. I can't wait to have both of them running and playing together, Ella has such a good time with Ben, will that continue once he can walk and get into the same things that Ella wants, we will see.

Its nice to see Ella warm up to Josh, previously she hasn't seem him very much so she was shy when he was around but lately she has seen him allot and that has made a big difference. She spent time with him watching TV or doing puzzles by him.