Ellie

As part of our bedtime ritual, Ellie has been brushing her teeth like Mommy and Daddy do. Well, as much as she can anyways...

Ellie celebrated her first birthday today. Boy, did she ever enjoy it too...

Here's the birthday girl in her birthday bib. AKA the calm before the storm.

The birthday girl asks, "Is that for me?"

"It is for me! Gimme that cake!"

Yeah, um, she kinda likes cake.

Max likes cake too!

Max really likes the cake. He was a big help with the cleanup afterward.

Hurricane Ellie is all done with her cake. Baby, tray and feeding chair all needed to be hosed off good after this one. Everyone who is coming to her party on Sunday now has something to look forward to. Be sure to leave a note in the comments section below wishing Ellie a happy first birthday!

At long last, the often promised, never delivered toddler video! Yes, our little Ellie is toddling away. Crawling is for babies, Ellie's almost a year old and determined to show she's no baby.

Although, it might help her balance if she quit drinking!

So, click here for the exciting video of the toddler.

Just so you all don't think I'm slacking, I have to put up a cute picture of Ellie and her godfather John. John was explaining the finer points of softball to Ellie, so that she can one day be on the gold medal team for the USA. No pressure though (but she does already have a glove!)

Man, I was doing better about updating Ellie's page too... Oh well, here's some fun pictures from our visit to the Chicago D's.

First off, we went downtown to North Avenue Beach to watch Uncle Mike play volleyball. It went a little longer than Ellie could stay awake for, but we still got to see him make the finals (unfortunately, he lost). Ellie got her first taste (literally, she ate a ton of sand) of beach volleyball.

That girl can jump! She's showing good form getting ready to roof somebody!

So, we were actually there for cousin Austin's christening. He's six months old.

No really, he's six months old and Ellie is nearly a year old. She does have a slight height advantage, but he's got the weight advantage.

Ellie also has the mobility advantage. (Walking video coming soon, I promise!) About all Austin could do was airplane on the floor. Not that it's a bad thing, I certainly enjoyed it too!

Ellie's godmother, Aunt Amy, works (or worked) at the Detroit Parade Company. One of the few perks is getting to play with the cool floats, as Ellie discovered.

I think this is a float from the Wizard of Oz. There's lots of corn in Kansas, Toto.

We're off to see the Wizard... Oh wait, we're there already.

I have no idea. It's a big sandal. Ellie enjoyed it though.

Amy's trying where many have failed: to ride off with Ellie! We're not letting her go that easy though.

I really need to get better at more timely postings for the web site. I'm sure the legions of Ellie fans would appreciate it too... At any rate, here's some more pictures of the latest visit to Michigan.

I don't know about this nature thing...

OK, let's see what else is around here.

Grass? I love grass!

I could play here forever!