Ella showed me

Well, I think Ella got tired of hearing me fret about when she was going to start talking and decided that this week-end would be the time to debut her speaking skills. Yesterday she was a "dadadada" machine and this morning when Seth came downstairs she looked at him and said- not dada, not da- but "daddy", clear as day. Whew, guess that's another worry I can check off my list.

Here's one to add to it... Ella has been walking well now for about 4 weeks. Lately though, she's decided that walking isn't her thing- it holds her back too much. She'd rather run. She starts walking as fast as she possibly can until she's practically running and then inevitably falls down- hard- and then gets up and starts again. She watches Noah run and thinks she should be able to, too. I have a feeling it's going to be a looong summer.

Zoo Pictures

We went to the zoo today- it was a perfect day weather-wise! I don't know who was more excited to go- Noah or me. I was so excited to try out my new camera and my new zoom lens, and I was excited about the new Butterfly Pavillion that opened yesterday. I just realized as I typed that that they should have called it the Papillion Pavillion, but I guess not a lot of people speak French. Anyway, my brother Jeff and his girlfriend Lacey met us there. Jeff is into taking pictures, too, so we decided yesterday that we should be camera "buddies" and go out and shoot pictures together because we feel silly going by ourselves. I did get some good pictures- I LOVE my new camera. The only downside of the whole day was that I DROPPED my camera! I am still sick about it. I had it sitting on a picnic table and was cleaning up our stuff after lunch. I went to grab my camera and the strap got caught on a chair and it pulled out of my hands and fell on the cement. I don't think it did any damage, but it got scratched on the bottom. I was so upset with myself, but, I guess, accidents happen.

couple more!!

I'm so excited about my new camera- I was definitely obsessed before, but this is beyond obsession. These two pictures are straight off the camera- no editing done. My poor kids are going to think I have one normal eye and one big black eye that follows them around and clicks!

My new favorite picture ever!!!

I LOVE this picture of Noah. I was so excited about it because as I was walking around the lake with Ella I kept seeing dandelions, and I knew the sun would be setting, so I had in my head a picture I wanted to take of Noah where he was blowing the dandelion in front of the sunset, and so all you can see is his silhouette, and it came out exactly as I had it pictured in my head. (Well, with a teensy bit of editing to help it along). I posted it on Parade.com and it was chosen as an Editor's Pick, so I was excited about that, too.

More pictures

The sunset was gorgeous!!

This was the view from our blanket where we ate our picnic

We went to Zorinsky last night and had a picnic. Then Noah and Seth fished while Ella and I walked around the lake. It was a beautiful night and we had a really fun time. They only caught one fish, but Noah was more interested in making "friends" with the worms anyway.

New pictures with my NEW CAMERA!!!

Seth got me a new camera for Mother's Day!! I am soooo excited. I still need to learn how to use it, but I know I will love it!

Noah's video

I finally finished Noah's video. It was very overwhelming because we have about 1000 pictures of his entire life, but I narrowed it down to 20 minutes worth. If you only have a few minutes, at least watch the last few minutes of the last song (Forever Young). I tried hard on that one to match the pictures to the words of the song. I think it turned out cute. I think he will like it because he loves hearing stories about himself when he was "little". Making this was a little bittersweet for me. I can't believe how fast the time has gone and how grown up he has become.