Her First Date

And the only one for the next 15 years according to her Daddy!

Ella had her first Daddy Daughter Dance tonight. She loved it! She was picked up at her front door with a dozen pink roses and treated like the princess that she is all evening! They had their picture taken, decorated a picture frame, Ella made a necklace, they had cookies and lemonade, but most of all they danced! Taylor Swift was the artist of choice so dancing was a bit of a challenge at times for these two! They appropriately ended the night dancing to "My Girl".

May Ella always remember her first dance and may this date be the standard to which she measures all of her dates!

SO MUCH SNOW!!!

We had an absolute blast in the Texas blizzard of 2010! We received 12.5 inches in just over 24 hours. It was amazing and the kids had two great days playing in the snow!

Big Will all bundled up!

the Snow Princess:
Cal loving his first snow:
check out all those flakes!




our day one snowmen:
on day 2, Ella went out in her PJs to get our newspaper:
view down our street:
our sideyard:

backyard shots:
this would be the kids' soccer goal buried under the snow:
day 2 snow fun:
Will caught in action throwing a snowball:

one unfortunate neighbor who lost a ton of branches off of a beautiful live oak.
mmmmm....eating snow!
Will and Daddy making the big ball for our next snowman:
Day 2 snowman (much improved from day 1, I'd say!)
ella girl...notice the snow is up to the top of her boot!
Michael with his nice snow creation. Ella is the photographer so it's hard to tell but it was a few inches taller than him!


Snow angels...awesome!

SNOW, come back again sometime! The Baker children loved you and maybe next time we'll have the appropriate winter gear to enjoy you even more!

Cal's 3rd Birthday

How can it be that my baby boy is already three?

We celebrated Cal's birthday this year out at the Great Wolf Lodge just the five of us and had an absolute blast. Here are the excited kiddos just after our arrival hanging out on the top bunk of the "wolf den"....which I'd like to add, is a genius creation in hotel room design.

Here is one of their favorite photo spots, the Bear Paw, where we enjoyed ice cream after the kids heard a bedtime story in their pjs:
the boys hanging out in the kiddie pool....such fun!
The next night (his actual birthday), we kept the Baker family tradition alive by having his birthday dinner at Pappasito's. Here is the big guy standing in his chair as "hey baby, que paso?!" begins.
We love you, Cal, and are so proud of you! This past year has been full of milestones as you have begun to talk so well! You have progressed from not being able to speak at all on your 2nd birthday to speaking in full sentences with much expression. You adore your big sister and brother and they adore you back. You are the "rough" one in the family and almost all of your hugs turn into tackles. You are full of joy, you love to be silly, you love to make people laugh and you love to laugh yourself. You are strong willed but are learning more about obedience every day! You learned to run, ride your big wheel and jump over the last year. Your Mom and Dad love your hugs, your sloppy kisses and your ear-to-ear smiles. You make us so proud! Happy Birthday, Big Cal!

Ella's Big Day

We've known that a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy was in Ella's future for awhile now. We often heard about the grandiose size of her tonsils from our pediatrician and then over the last year she had strep throat at least a half dozen times. After determining she was a strep carrier (positive test with no symptoms), all agreed that the inevitable was here so sweet Ella had her tonsils and adenoids removed on 12/29/09.

We were prepared for the worst as far as recovery goes, so Grammie and Poppa graciously took the boys off our hands for 3 days. Turns out this girl is pretty tough and having Mom's and Dad's undivided attention for a few day was pretty great, so who would want to sleep or rest, anyway!

Here's the brave girl with her bear, Rainbow, right before surgery. They gave her goofy juice (aka Versed) before taking her back and boy, was she goofy! We were cracking up and wishing we had a video camera as she slurred her words and laughed at herself.

And here she is right after waking up. She held on tight to her oxygen mask at first but thankfully did not need it. She had a few slushies while in recovery, did amazingly well with very little pain, and we were out of there just a few hours later.
Her recovery was perfect and so far we have been a strep-free family after her surgery...woo hoo!. We've also noticed her snoring (or shall we say "heavy night breathing") is much better! We are so thankful for modern medicine and competent physicians!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Let me start this post out by saying how pathetic that the only pictures we have from Christmas is on Michael's iPhone. He did manage to capture a few of our many memorable moments of spending the holiday with our families.

We spent our early Christmas in Austin this year. It was extra special for all of us since it was Caden's and Caroline's first Christmas (though they slept through most of it)!

Here are the kiddos chowing down on Uncle Jason's candy pretzel sticks:

Opening their stockings on "pretend Christmas Eve" after enjoying a delicious dinner at Pappasito's:
On "pretend Christmas morning", Cal won the prize for the largest present! It was bigger than him, for sure!
Here are the kiddos on Christmas morning checking out what Santa brought them:

We had a wonderful Christmas and loved celebrating the season of our Savior's birth with our families!

Ella's Reindeer Party

Around Mohawk Elementary, it's tradition for the kindergarten classes to have a "Reindeer Party". Ella loved the whole thing and I must say, it did not disappoint! The kids moved from station to station filled with different activities. Will already can't wait for his next year!

The snack station (always a favorite)!

Ornament making:Super cute reindeer bags that were filled with goodies by the end of the party!
listening to a story:
my girl:
Mrs. Mooney's sweet class:

just couldn't resist...

Who can resist a girl and her matching doll shopping at Sam's together? Not me!