Some pictures of our little princess:
The whole group (with weird lighting behind us):
Our family of FOUR!
This is more indicative of a typical Sunday for us :)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Ellie's Blessing Day
Ryan blessed Ellie at our church on Sunday October 25th. It was a beautiful occasion, and particularly special because we had Ryan's parents and his sister and brother-in-law here to share our joy with us. Ellie was adorable in her little white dress and behaved well during the blessing. Ryan gave a beautiful blessing to our little girl. Our ward has quite a lot of elderly persons, so a baby blessing is a fairly rare event (as opposed to when Lincoln was blessed in Provo - you practically have to make an appointment before the baby's born to be slotted in! jk).
Some pictures of our little princess:
The whole group (with weird lighting behind us):
Our family of FOUR!
This is more indicative of a typical Sunday for us :)
Some pictures of our little princess:
The whole group (with weird lighting behind us):
Our family of FOUR!
This is more indicative of a typical Sunday for us :)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Brett and Sarah and other stuff
Last week my brother Brett and his wife Sarah came to visit! It was so fun to see them and see some new things with them.
We went to London - unfortunately, not to sightsee - but to register Elizabeth's international birth and apply for her passport. It was a neat experience to go to the US Embassy in London; I felt like a world-traveler with my "foreign born baby". Just like back in the States, it was a long wait - I guess that's the same everywhere! Thankfully, there were a lot of toys there for Link to play with which kept him occupied for the majority of the time. When Ryan and I finally had our number called we discovered that we left one vital piece of documentation back at home - her birth certificate!! Ahhh! I thought they would turn us away right then and there, but they were able to process the rest of the documents and have Ryan and I declare our oaths in Ellie's stead, and we could just mail in the birth certificate. Phew! I was eying a Reese's in the vending machine the whole time(they are really hard to find here) but Link shoved a small piece of plastic in the coin slot, which seems to have broken the machine. Oops! [And if you're wondering why I couldn't use a bill instead, it's because the smallest paper bill is a 5 pound, so there is no bill slot] :)
Another day we went to Arundel Castle - a huge castle only about 40 minutes away from Brighton. My favorite part were the beautiful gardens. I especially loved to watch Lincoln explore the gardens and enjoy the open spaces. [Ah, maybe one day we'll have a house with a nice big backyard!] I imagined what it would be like if he was a little prince playing in the gardens all day.
All these structures were made out of wood carved to look like stone.
We also went to the Royal Pavilion here in Brighton, which was pretty amazing. It was the vacation home for King George IV when he was Prince Regent. It is lavishly decorated - including an enormous chandelier held in the claws of a dragon. Sorry, no photography was allowed. :)
Brett and Sarah's visit was far too short and we miss them already. It's so fun to have family around!
Other than that, we have been enjoying the beautiful English autumn by going to the park or taking walks. My brother brought our new stroller (pushchair/pram/buggy in proper British) that we bought online that was only sold in the US. It is the Joovy Caboose Ultralight and I LOVE it! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a double stroller who has a baby and a rambunctious toddler. Link loves his "special seat" at the back and really likes the drink holder so he can get to his juice or water bottle on his own. Check out this link to see it!
Being a mom of 2 is getting better and better. I feel like I am more 'in the swing of things' and am getting closer to a regular daily schedule, which seems to be an important factor in my happiness and sanity. :) Ellie is sleeping like a champ through the night (down at about 10pm and waking up about 6am to eat, then sometimes sleeps a little more)- which is completely wonderful. I especially love to watch Lincoln interact with Ellie and enjoy her more and more. One of our new favorite things is at bedtime when we say prayers together we put Ellie on Lincoln's pillow. He is extra sweet to her during these times and usually offers her his blanket, snuggles next to her on the pillow, and once even read her a story. She just smiles and watches him in adoration.
(You may also notice Link clutching/biting his 3 Thomas bath toys, which he always insists on taking to bed.)
And here's a recent picture of Ellie doing one of her silly smiles:
Sorry this post is so long - I guess that's what happens when I don't write in 2 weeks! :)
We went to London - unfortunately, not to sightsee - but to register Elizabeth's international birth and apply for her passport. It was a neat experience to go to the US Embassy in London; I felt like a world-traveler with my "foreign born baby". Just like back in the States, it was a long wait - I guess that's the same everywhere! Thankfully, there were a lot of toys there for Link to play with which kept him occupied for the majority of the time. When Ryan and I finally had our number called we discovered that we left one vital piece of documentation back at home - her birth certificate!! Ahhh! I thought they would turn us away right then and there, but they were able to process the rest of the documents and have Ryan and I declare our oaths in Ellie's stead, and we could just mail in the birth certificate. Phew! I was eying a Reese's in the vending machine the whole time(they are really hard to find here) but Link shoved a small piece of plastic in the coin slot, which seems to have broken the machine. Oops! [And if you're wondering why I couldn't use a bill instead, it's because the smallest paper bill is a 5 pound, so there is no bill slot] :)
Another day we went to Arundel Castle - a huge castle only about 40 minutes away from Brighton. My favorite part were the beautiful gardens. I especially loved to watch Lincoln explore the gardens and enjoy the open spaces. [Ah, maybe one day we'll have a house with a nice big backyard!] I imagined what it would be like if he was a little prince playing in the gardens all day.
All these structures were made out of wood carved to look like stone.
We also went to the Royal Pavilion here in Brighton, which was pretty amazing. It was the vacation home for King George IV when he was Prince Regent. It is lavishly decorated - including an enormous chandelier held in the claws of a dragon. Sorry, no photography was allowed. :)
Brett and Sarah's visit was far too short and we miss them already. It's so fun to have family around!
Other than that, we have been enjoying the beautiful English autumn by going to the park or taking walks. My brother brought our new stroller (pushchair/pram/buggy in proper British) that we bought online that was only sold in the US. It is the Joovy Caboose Ultralight and I LOVE it! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a double stroller who has a baby and a rambunctious toddler. Link loves his "special seat" at the back and really likes the drink holder so he can get to his juice or water bottle on his own. Check out this link to see it!
Being a mom of 2 is getting better and better. I feel like I am more 'in the swing of things' and am getting closer to a regular daily schedule, which seems to be an important factor in my happiness and sanity. :) Ellie is sleeping like a champ through the night (down at about 10pm and waking up about 6am to eat, then sometimes sleeps a little more)- which is completely wonderful. I especially love to watch Lincoln interact with Ellie and enjoy her more and more. One of our new favorite things is at bedtime when we say prayers together we put Ellie on Lincoln's pillow. He is extra sweet to her during these times and usually offers her his blanket, snuggles next to her on the pillow, and once even read her a story. She just smiles and watches him in adoration.
(You may also notice Link clutching/biting his 3 Thomas bath toys, which he always insists on taking to bed.)
And here's a recent picture of Ellie doing one of her silly smiles:
Sorry this post is so long - I guess that's what happens when I don't write in 2 weeks! :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Drusillas!
This weekend we headed out to Drusillas, a cute zoo/playground/amusement park/Thomas-land - in other words, Lincoln's dream outing! My parents took Link there while they were visiting, but Ryan and I wanted to see it for ourselves. We weren't disappointed! Despite the cold, windy weather we had a great time.
Link driving like the crazy-boy he is! (notice the R-sided steering wheel) :)
Thomas!! Link is still talking about "Ride big Thomas!"
Playing in the gift shop...first he lined up all the toys...
...then sorted them.
Link LOVED the big slide! It was pretty tall and fast, he must have gone down it 20 times!
And Ellie's 2-month birthday was Saturday - wow, time flies! She liked Thomas almost as much as Lincoln.
Link driving like the crazy-boy he is! (notice the R-sided steering wheel) :)
Thomas!! Link is still talking about "Ride big Thomas!"
Playing in the gift shop...first he lined up all the toys...
...then sorted them.
Link LOVED the big slide! It was pretty tall and fast, he must have gone down it 20 times!
And Ellie's 2-month birthday was Saturday - wow, time flies! She liked Thomas almost as much as Lincoln.
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