ONE!

Our sweet Ellie is ONE YEAR OLD today!

We can't believe it either but a whole year has passed and our little baby is growing up and is officially a toddler! Crazy! She has truly blessed our lives and those of our family as well. One of the things people comment most about her is how happy she is; it's so true! We have a happy and sweet little girl. Life is different but so much better now that she's in it. She loves to play, loves to read, loves to eat, and loves to sleep! She's very social and enjoys being out with other people and playing with her friends. She is all Daddy's girl too! He is her favorite person! She lights up when she hears him come home and loves stories and bedtime with him each night. She loves walking and practices every day and is taking more steps each time. She has a great appetite and is growing like crazy! Here are her stats to see how much she's grown!

Newborn: Weight 7 lbs 7 ounces Height 20.5 inches
12 Months: Weight 23 lbs 1 ounce Height 30.5 inches

Walking!

After church today we went to my sister's for dinner. We were all sitting in the living room when Ellie stood up on her own and just decided to walk across the room! It was so surprising and fun and exciting and the camera was in the other room of course! We managed to get her 3rd attempt on camera!

Fourth of July

Looking good on Sunday in her patriotic colors!

Every year our ward has a 4th of July breakfast followed by a neighborhood parade. This year we thought it would be fun to participate and try out Spencer's new bike trailer. Ellie sure looks like she enjoyed the ride!
But she doesn't look too sure about Uncle Sam....

Later in the afternoon we went to a BBQ at the Murray's to cool off! It's super hot and humid today! Ellie wore this swimmer for the first and last time today... sorry for the rolls hanging out... she needs an 18 month swimmer asap! She enjoys the pool more each time we take her swimming.

Since fireworks are now legal in Mesa we thought it would be fun to grab a few to light before Ellie had to go to bed. She really liked the sparklers and the strobe lights!

She loves when we say YAY and claps every time!
Happy Fourth of July!!!

Happy 30th Birthday!

Can you tell who's older? I didn't think so! :)

sales clerk - Are you sisters?

me - Yes, we're twins.

clerk - Oh, but you're not identical right?

me - Yes, we're identical.

clerk - But you don't look like it.

my inner monologue - Seriously? We look the same!!!!

People look at us all the time when we go out together and we know we will soon be having this same conversation. It's still fun though to mess with people and cause them to take a second look.

It is so fun to have another half. We have many of the same interests and hobbies and love spending time together. I love my sister and the example she is as a mother. She is loving to all around her and especially to my little Ellie and I'm forever thankful for that. I had fun spending the day with you and I love my new shirt you made me!

Happy Birthday sis!

Today was so fun! I got to spend the day with my beautiful twin sister. We had a yummy sushi lunch and then went shopping!

Spencer got a group together for dinner and dessert last night. I love being able to hang out with friends and family. Tonight I was able to (easily) talk Spencer into going to sushi!

I have the best hubby, baby girl and sister!

Thank you for making 30 so special!

Ellie had a blast too and is feeling so much better!

Ellie did a little lip syncing for our special day!
Thank you to Caprice for the real singing!

Seven Months Old

Ellie loves eating!!! Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, prunes, peaches, apples, and bananas! She didn't care for peas but I don't like them either so that's fine with me! She loves grabbing the spoon while she's eating and making a big mess. But we've gotten cleaner with more practice. Thank goodness Grandma Smith gave us this plastic bib that we can spray off each time she eats!

Ellie still has NO teeth and NO sign of any coming soon. She is getting better and better at her army crawl and loves being mobile. She is getting really good at picking things up and grasping objects. She is a big fan of any and all jewlry! Even the smallest earings she will yank out of my ears.

RSV! Yuck! Sunday night Ellie started having a runny nose, sneezing and coughing. Things only got worse over the next few day so I took her in and they said she had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). It's a very common virus that causes cold-like symptoms in children. It can be more serious for babies and some even need to be hospitalized. Thank goodness we have a tough little girl. She doesn't seem to be bothered with the horrible hacking couch or the runny nose. She does not like getting it sucked out but it getting better and holding still for mommy and daddy. To add to it she got an ear infection because of the congestion but has antibiotics to help her get rid of that. She's been able to sleep through the night still and is still playing and smiling! What more could we ask for?!

Ellie found new toys to play with in her room... she's tall enough to reach when daddy's holding her

Lights out!

Poor little red face... we hope you get well soon!

Susan's Run

Today we went out to support our friend who lost her battle to cancer in 2008. Her family started a foundation in her name http://www.susanmturley.org/ to help raise money for young adults and their families going through cancer treatments. Their biggest fundraiser is Susan's Run held annually in Tempe, AZ. This was the 2nd run and it was a blast despite the threatening rain clouds.
Spencer took Ellie along for the 10k and placed 3rd in his age group with a time of 57:17:10!

Ellie decided to take a nap for the last 3 miles :)

Be Mine

As a Valentine gift I had some pictures taken of Ellie when she turned 6 months. Here are a few of my favorites!

I love my sweet Ellie!

Thank you Whitney Dibble Photography for these amazing pictures!

http://whitneyphotography.blogspot.com

Craft Blog and Giveaway

To all my gal pals that need cute hair things for your little girls

check out my sister's new blog

http://www.whos-itsandwhats-itsgalore.blogspot.com/

She does it all - burp cloths, hair clips, leg warmers, and picture boards and all of these can be made just the way you want!

Right now she's doing a giveaway to get her blog started!

Saturday with Family and Chocolate!

Today Ellie's cousin Ariah turned 2! We met up with them at a play place out in Desert Ridge. Ellie loved going down the slide with auntie Bean and watching Eire' and Ariah climb the rock wall.

This evening the whole family got together for the Glendale Chocolate Affair. One of the fun things to do was take a tour of the Cerreta Candy Co.

As soon as you walked in your could smell the yummy chocolate!

Santa here was 500 pounds of chocolate!

tons and tons of sugar

and the biggest chocolate bars I've ever seen!

All I wanted was a chocolate covered strawberry but I was not going to pay $3 for one so my sisters and I shared a giant piece of chocolate covered cheesecake! Yummy!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Ellie!

It's hard to believe we've had Ellie for six months already. We have been having so much fun with her! She has a very happy personality and loves to see what's going on around her. Her biggest accomplishment is sitting up unassisted! She loves it too! She went from only sitting up for a few seconds to several minutes in just a day.

She has an adorable laugh but she holds them in for her favorite person, daddy! He gets more smiles and laughs than anyone. She just adores him!

Ellie is also talking a lot more and using words like mum, da and ba. We try to practice mama and dada to see whose name she'll say first. A not so fun thing she's learned is fake crying. It's pretty funny to look at but not a funny habit to keep. She does it when she's done with playing and wants to be held. She loves her playing in her exersaucer and bumbo and going on walks at the park.

This face is hilarious!!!!!

She seems to be ticklish on her feet especially when daddy rubs his scruffy face on them. She loves playing peek-a-boo and singing and dancing to mommy's made-up songs.

Cute little button nose, perfect lips and Smith chin!
What an adorable profile!

Mommy and Ellie

Ellie's Six Months Stats:

weight- 15 lbs 10.5 oz (50%)

length- 27 3/4 in (97%)

head- 17 in (75%)

Perfect in every way!

Rock and Roll... again!

ROCK ON!

My sister Cristina and cousin Jen talked me into doing the PFC 1/2 Marathon again. These gals are speedy and run on a regular basis. Even if I ran every day I'd still be slow! It also would have helped if I trained. One day I'll learn from experiences like this and actually train... hopefully by November so I can beat my time in the Desert Grande Triathlon.

I made a goal of beating my 2 previous times (3:00 and 3:26) I kept up with the gals for 2 miles and waved good-bye from there. My music kept me company till mile 11 when my phone died. I was so relieved to see the finish line after almost 3 hours of jogging. I was ready to be done! And I did it... finished in 2:55:42! Time for ice and rest!

Cristina rocked an amazing 2:11 and Jenn 2:19! They are awesome!!

Glendale Glitter and Glow

Family night in Glendale! My sisters and our families went to Glendale to enjoy some pretty twinkle lights and some hot air balloons.

The girls had fun on the rides and the tall bumpy slide!

I have some seriously cute nieces!!

Glitter

and Glow!

the Rasband clan

Guess who bought her that shirt?!

All six girls on our side of the family!

the Villella clan

They had all sorts of balloons - Spider Man, Bumble Bee and even this gigantic Polar Bear. Ellie's face would light up each time the flames when off on the balloons. We all had a ton of fun being together and looking at all the balloons.

Christmas part Two

My sweet nieces were with their dad this Christmas so we were lucky enough to spend Christmas part Two with them when they got back home to AZ!

Ariana helped pick out Ellie's elf hat and got herself one to match.

Aren't these girls beautiful?! They were so excited for all their gifts under the tree but they decided to have dessert first and presents last - Caprice and Ariana "save the best for last" followed by a fist bump! They are hilarious!!!!

Thank you Trini! You really are AWESOME!

Do you remember those bitter beer face commercials... Ellie totally has a silly face! I think the flash right in her face was a bit too much LOL

The Rasbands

Thank you for letting us be a part of your fun family night!