Something New

Im getting the feeling that our blog followers are getting a little bored with the same old pictures and stories about Leyton and Ellis. blah blah blah. I am going to switch things up and share some photos a buddy of mine took on our recent flight up to LA.  We had some time to kill so we we took two helos up to LA to do some sightseeing. 

 This was us transiting past Pacific Beach and Mission Beach in San Diego, CA.

 Mission Bay in the background. 

 This is the Queen Mary that is located near Long Beach which is right where the port of LA is. The River that you see is called the Los Angeles river and it empties out near Long Beach. The river is essentially a man-made culvert.

 This is us flying by Compton.... dont worry - we made sure the doors were locked. 

 More of the industrial side of LA that you never hear about. 

 There is downtown LA in the back ground. 

 Getting closer to Downtown LA.

 We did a few laps around Dodger Stadium. They were playing later that afternoon and we thought we would catch batting practice, but no one was out.

 We then made our way up to Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl. We did a few laps around that as well. A pretty spectacular site.

 Back to Dodger Stadium west bound to the Hollywood sign. 

 The Hollywood sign. 

 This was flying by West Hollywood Hills. A lot of legit houses. 

 Did a few laps around Mr. Hefner's house as well. 

 We only saw the Pool boy, Javier. 

This is  the UCLA Campus. 

 Back out to the coast. Didnt have time to fly by Malibu so headed south. That is the Santa Monica Pier in the background. 

 Santa Monica Pier. 

 We flew through the LAX airspace, which was nuts, and headed south along the coast back down to San Diego. This is the pier at Manhattan Beach, which is home to the inlaws of the guy that was taking the pictures.

Just another day at the office!

Happy Easter!

This was our first year dying Easter eggs.  Leyton thought it was pretty cool, but would have been a lot cooler if Mommy had let HER play in the dye.  But she liked that the eggs magically changed colors.  Ellis smiled and chewed her toys.

Oh Wow!

Magic!

Easter bunny had trouble keeping the eggs from rolling around, so he borrowed some stuffed animals to hold them

We told Leyton that the Easter bunny would come and break into our house, hide our eggs, and if she found all 12, then she could have the prize he left her in her basket.

Thanks Ga and Grampa for helping the Easter Bunny fill the basket.

Both girls love these eggs, but Ellis only gets to play with them in the morning before Leyton wakes up.

I realized I didn't take 6 month pictures, so we slapped the sign on her Easter dress... viola!

TROUBLE!!!

After church and naps, we headed over to the Mallory's for more eggs and yummy food

Ellis got the hang of it quickly

Leyton soon figured out that there was candy in some of the eggs... so she quit hunting and began eating

Not a bad picture considering how many kids we were trying to get to look at the camera

Such a fun Easter!

Wedding weekend

Nice photo-bomb Dad

I lied about not having any pictures from Mason and Liesl's wedding.  We did take our little camera, so I am posting a few shots.  But first, also on that camera, which we obviously rarely use, is a picture of Leyton, taken about a year ago (April 2012).  Note the major lack or hair!

The girls and I all got new dresses for the wedding, which will also dub as Easter dresses this week

We bribed Leyton with Hello Kitty fruit snacks, which she is clearly worried about sharing in this picture.

Leyton likes to hold the Hello Kitty bows up to her hair

This is right before Ellis fell backwards and hit her head... opps...

Leyton got to go play with Grammy and Papa (thanks!) while Ellis hung out with the old folks.  That is her to the right of the picture, in a giant high chair.

The reception was at a beautiful vineyard.  The entire trip made us ponder moving back to that area when we 'grow up.'

Shh... don't tell Leyton, but Ellis got to play with big sis' toys!

A trip, a tooth, and a BIG baby!

Its a good thing Ellis is around to make me blog each month.  She is now SIX months old!  She has a new tooth as of March 16th and because it literally takes me WEEKS to type posts, she now has TWO bottom teeth.  She can sit up easily by herself for as long as she likes and is now lunging forward and sideways (so she will be crawling waay before I am ready for her to).  On Saturday, she had her first taste of baby food -butternut squash.  She does okay with the food, doesn't seem to love it or hate it.  We also gave her cereal, in hopes she won't be iron deficient like her sister was.  Ellis HATES her baby swing, rocker. and exersaucer.  Now that she can sit by herself, that is what she wants to do.  She weighs 19 pounds and 9 ounces, making her only 6 pounds lighter than her 23-months-older sister and putting her in the 94 percentile for kids her age.  She is 27.25 inches tall, which is the 93rd percentile.  She also still has the best smile on earth.

Leyton continues to grow up fast as well.  Mommy gave her a little trim on Saturday, just to even out the back of her hair as it grows.  So she is sporting a cute little bob 'do, but don't worry, there are still plenty of curls.  Her vocabulary is amazing and it's amazing the things she knows.  Take the potty for example.  She still has no desire to sit on it.  That is until I said she could have some ice cream.  It was right before her bath, and I could tell she has just gone in her diaper, but I told her she could have ice cream if she went potty, mainly just to see what she said.  The little stinker sat right down, squeezed out a few drops of pee, and got some ice cream (which she decided was too cold, so that no longer works as potty bait).  I have since tried cookies, cupcakes, stickers, and fruit snacks, all of which she says she would like to eat, but not bad enough to go potty for.

On a positive note, the girls are playing better together.  Ellis of course loves to watch her sister and OCCASIONALLY her sister is sweet and plays nicely.  Leyton gets very excited when it's time for Ellis to eat, and thinks it's hilarious to watch her sister eat baby food.  So in another 6 months or so, they will be the same size and will hopefully play together quietly all day, leaving me to clean and blog at my leisure.

We took a quick trip out east to see Grandpa Brown and attend Mason and Liesl's wedding, but you'll have to wait until the grandparents send us pictures before I can post any.  For now, here is Ellis' first go at baby food!

Ellis is Five Months Old!

I feel like I was a little bias on the last post, making Ellis to seem a little too angelic.  So...She's not ALWAYS a ray of sunshine.  We all have our moments.  She is 5 months old though.  YIKES!  I feel like I just had her last week, but she is already almost sitting up on her own.  She still needs someone around to make sure she doesn't face plant, but I would say probably by the end of this week, she'll be sitting all by herself.  Ellis is still a major drooler, but no teeth as of yet.  She and her sister are sharing another cold, so both are grumpy, and Ellis wakes up for an extra feeding at night.  She still only rolls from back to tummy, gets stuck, and cries.  She is always on her tummy when I get up to feed her at night, though I always put her down on her back.  We haven't tried solid food with her yet, though the pediatrician said we could.  I am holding off for at least 6 months because I am lazy and don't want the extra work of food prep for another person.  I remember being so excited to feed Leyton real food, only to realize how much work it was and then get really disappointed when all she did was spit it out for the first month and a half.  I was also naive enough to think it would be fun to see Leyton crawl.  I am dreading when Ellis starts.  I look at all the choking hazards on my dirty floor from my toddler and I cringe.  

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My other sweet problem child is still keeping us on our toes.  Ryan and I are in discussion about disciplining this little cutie.  She needs it.  She only listens when she feels like it, and now that she is bigger, this is a problem.  She ran away from me at church the other day, down the sidewalk.  She thought it was funny to have me chase her... I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  That was a prime time to start spanking, and I missed it.  But we may have to go there, because as the nursery worker said, "she is very spirited and strong-willed" (i.e. bad).

This is a princess party.  Each princess must knock on the door, come inside and say she is hungry.  Everyone is welcome, except Baby Cinderella.  She knocks but the others won't open the door, so she sits in her coach and cries with her lemon....  I didn't make up any of that story.  Leyton did.  I am equally amused and disturbed by the whole not letting Baby Cinderella play.  Where did she get that from?  She thinks it's funny that Cinderella has to sit in her coach and cry!  We may have a future 'Mean Girl' on our hands :-/

This kid could NEVER be mean

I tried to get her sitting up, but she wouldn't cooperate

Leyton wore this butterfly suit around all day for about 4 days (including to church).  She also rode that horse and made it sing until the gears in it's mouth began to smell and I feared it would catch on fire

Ellis is too big for her swing.  And she can finally reach her toes but can't get them to her mouth.  Her belly is just too chubby.  Oh well.  We have plenty of toys in this house for her to chew on.

If anyone is ever bored, they should have (or borrow) children.  Never a dull moment!