Ellie's first word is...

Of course she says Mama and Dada (not sure if she knows that Dada is Daddy, but she says it), but her first  official word is kind of unexpected. Rachel taught it to her, since she likes them so much, but it is unexpected that she is actually saying 'rat'. She calls the gerbils 'rat', since that's how Rachel taught it to her, since that's much easier to say, and Ellie just loves the gerbils, except when they crawl over her bare skin or tickle her face with their whiskers. But all in all, it's pretty funny.

-Becca

The Budding Photographer

We have a new photographer in our house- Miri. As I was doing the last post, I saw over 50 pictures of Ellie that have no purpose and look a lot alike. And then I saw some that were upside down! So here are a few pictures Miri took in the last couple days.

I wonder how Miri got the picture upside down. I guess the camera was upside down!

Aren't they cute??

-Becca

An Easter with Ellie

Hmm... How odd. All the pictures of Easter are of Ellie! I have a feeling that those are the ones you really want to see though, so here are a few.

Isn't she so cute? Hope you enjoyed these photos!

-Becca

A couple pictures

Jeffrey tried to stay awake...didn't work.



A woman on a mission...Ellie isn't crawling yet, just doing the up in the crawl position, flop forward, repeat...but it won't be long.




For mom--her beautiful dogwood tree is blooming while she's in Europe. So I took a couple of pictures so she could enjoy it from a distance. I don't feel too sorry for her. :)

Ellie's latest accomplishments

My life is about to get a lot busier. Ellie has figured out how to roll from back to front, and back, and back, and wiggle around so that she isn't right where I left her if I give her a few minutes. Soon, I won't be able to leave her alone on a blanket with a few toys, which is something I do when I want to do things like get dinner ready, shower, etc. :) She is growing...she was 14 lbs 15 oz at the doctor's this morning and she had an oral vaccine and a shot and gave only a tiny cry after it. Yes, she is awesome! (I remember Becca at 6 months just watching as they gave her her shots...not crying either...but all the other kids have cried every time and I don't blame them a bit!) Maybe it helped that her binky was still in her mouth (because it had helped her get the oral vaccine down). The doctor said she was the first baby that had been happy to see him today (though it was only 9:30) and she is generally a happy baby, except when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Here's a couple of pictures, which is what I know you really want, so enough words...love to you all!
Sarah

The sticker is courtesy of Brian...

Another cute picture and I'm sorry I don't know how to rotate it within blogger, so...a brief head tilt is in order.

Oh, she got her first baby cereal tonight. Not her first food because she's gotten tastes off of our plates, but the first time she got more than just a taste.

More snow info...

Quickly, before I go out again, I just wanted to add that the snow is 7 1/2 inches now. I took pictures this morning, and I will post them later.

-Becca

NEWS FLASH!!!

IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH!!!!

THE VIRGINIA CATES ARE NOW BURIED IN ABOUT 3 1/2 " OF SNOW!

A HUGE STORM BLEW IN AND HAS DUMPED SNOW ALL OVER THE LANDSCAPE. IT'S A HUGE WINTER WONDERLAND!! SO FAR, THEY HAVE BUILT A SMALL NORMAL FORT THAT LOOKS AMAZING AND HAS MANY PLACES TO STAND, AND THERE IS EVEN A PLACE FOR SNOWBALLS! THE OTHER FORT WAS BUILT WITH THE LITTLE KIDS IN MIND, SO IT HAS TALL WALLS AND A ROOF BUILT OF BAMBOO POLES LAID ACROSS THE TOP TEPEE-FASHION. IN THE TIME THEY'VE PLAYED OUTSIDE SO FAR, IT HAS ALREADY COVERED THE AREAS THAT HAD BEEN STRIPPED OF SNOW WITH A THIN COVERING.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW:

YOU CAN SEE THE CLOSER FORT A LITTLE IN THIS PICTURE. IT'S COVERED BY BAMBOO POLES.

IT'S STILL SNOWING AND THE CAMERA LENS GOT WET.

YOUNG RESIDENT BRIAN CATE SAYS OF THE SNOW, "I THINK THAT IT'S BEEN REALLY FUN AND WE MADE A COOL SNOW FORT WITH BAMBOO FOR THE ROOF. I THINK IT'S REALLY COOL BECAUSE SNOW DOESN'T REALLY GET THROUGH, AND IT'S REALLY WARM."

MIRIAM, HIS YOUNGER SISTER SAYS, "THE SNOW FORT'S REALLY COOL AND I LIKE HOW IT LOOKS. RACHEL AND LAURA'S LOOKS REALLY COOL TOO. AND I WISH WE HAD MORE COOL FEATURES THAT WOULD MAKE IT EVEN MORE FUN TO PLAY IN."

SAYS RESIDENT RACHEL CATE,"OUT THERE IT IS SERIOUSLY COOL. THE SCARIEST PART ABOUT IT IS THAT IT ALL JUST CAME ON US. WE WALK INTO CHURCH AND THERE'S NO SNOW ON THE GROUND. NOTHING. WE WALK OUT, ONE HOUR LATER, AND THERE'S ABOUT 1 1/2 INCHES ON THE GROUND. AND IT ONLY INCREASED. INSANELY."

RESIDENT LAURA CATE ALSO AGREES, BUT ADDS, "WE MADE A MAGNIFICENT FORTRESS THAT KEPT EVERYONE WARM. IT'S BEEN SNOWING ALL DAY. ALL DAY! I EVEN HAD SNOW ON THE TOP OF MY BUN! RACHEL WAS LAUGHING, SO I ASKED HER WHAT IT WAS, AND SHE SHOWED ME A MIRROR."

DEREK CATE, MAIN BUILDER OF THE SNOW FORT IN THE PICTURE, SAYS, "LOTS OF FUN. WET, BUT FUN."

Yeah, we got a lot of snow and we're having lots of fun. Good thing tomorrow's a Teacher-Work Day(School'll probably be all-out canceled because the roads are covered). Sorry I couldn't get a picture of Rachel and Laura's fort (it was WAY too far for me to walk to in my bare feet. I just stood on the deck for the other pictures.) But I'll get a picture tomorrow in the morning. They're predicting that it'll melt tomorrow, but they also predicted we'd get 2-4 inches, and we have 3 1/2 or 4 (Mom says we have 5) and it's supposed to snow until 10 tonight.

-Becca

Pictures of Ellie!!!

I decided you might like to see some recent pictures of Ellie, so here they are!

How cute!!!

Aren't Miri and Jeff silly?

Isn't she adorable???

-Becca