Happy New Year's Eve!

'Tis the last evening of the 2011. Isn't it amazing how quickly time passes? I know we hear that all the time, but really, it's true! Last year when Pete was working for New Years, Ella was 18 months old and slept in a Pack n Play while Pete delivered babies and I watched the ball drop in New York. This year, she's sitting next to me in the resident room at the hospital watching Sesame Street while Daddy delivers babies again! I don't know how she's still awake, but I'm pretty sure the little package of Cheetos she just ate has nothing to do with it. (wink, wink) I'm just hoping to make it long enough to celebrate the new year at midnight with my man before heading home with the tired girl. She'll definitely be sleeping by then.

visiting Daddy at work

I watched this video earlier today and thought it was adorable. Happy New Year, my dear friends!

Lights, Lights & More Lights

Every year we try to make a trek to Bentleyville, the enormous light display that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. It used to be way out in Cloquet, but a few years ago it was moved to Bayfront in Duluth. It's a whole lot easier to get there now, especially with a bundled little girl!

We ventured down to the see the lights last Wednesday night with our friends, Eli & Krista. It was far warmer than it was when we went last year. We practically ran through the entire display last year and still nearly froze. This year we got to enjoy cookies and hot chocolate and roast marshmallows over the fire. Ella loved it!

Ella's new trick - closing her eyes during photos

Krista & Eli (expecting their first baby in May!)

Ella was mesmerized by this big guy

marshmallows with Daddy

Don't forget about this week's giveaway! If you missed it, scroll down to the previous post or click here. I'll be randomly picking a comment on Sunday night to receive some pretty tasty treats from The Little Yellow Kitchen. Anyone can enter!

Three Year Blogiversary & Giveaway!

It's our three year blogiversary!

Blogiversary?? Is that even a word?

I don't know if it's technically a word, but it is something that exists within the blogging world. It's the anniversary of when we began blogging, and today is our third anniversary! Can you believe it? Three years ago we started with this post announcing that we were expecting our little Ella. Here was our very first blog photo:

Ella's first photo

We've been through all kinds of adventures since then: two moves, the end of med school & beginning of residency, a trip to Maine, the start of my masters degree, and all of Ella's milestones & memories. It's sort of been a form of a baby book for Ella, a creative outlet for me, and a fun way of sharing everything with you!

Here are a few photos from the last year:

I've always thought it would be fun to do a giveaway on the blog, so what better day that today! I want to send out a fun package to a reader that will include fresh biscotti from The Little Yellow Kitchen, a handmade coffee cozy, and a couple other little surprises. What do you need to do to be a part of the giveaway? Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking the last few days about holiday traditions. Therefore, to enter, you can simply leave a comment below with your name and your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition. I'll randomly select a comment as the winner late Sunday night. Be sure to check back next Monday to see if your comment was selected!

I'm excited to read your holiday traditions! Maybe I'll get some ideas. And, in the next few days, I'll post some of the things we ended up doing for our Christmas here in Duluth.

Uncle Mike's Chrsitmas

This year my older brother Mike hosted his first holiday with nearly the entire family. Ella was super excited and kept saying we were going to "my Mike's house." Unfortunately, Pete was on call, so he couldn't make the trip with us. I packed our bags on Friday morning, we jumped in the Jeep, and off we went.

On the way, we were surprised by this lovely Grand Casino billboard featuring one of my very best friend, Jessica. Yes, it would be nice to call in rich to work. We saw two more right around St. Paul. Nicely done, Jess!

We made it to Uncle Mike's in the late afternoon. Ella couldn't believe all the gifts under the tree! 

My sister Jenny and her family were able to make it. This was Wyatt's first Christmas. He's almost nine months old.

the poor guy took a tumble & bumped his lip

My niece Hailey is always ready for a photo. She's almost four.

 After an amazing dinner prepared mostly by Uncle Mike, it was time for presents. It's not easy to capture these moments since the kiddos move so fast. I did my best!

new magnetic paper dolls from Great Grandma Scott

the girls working together. the gift wasn't even for them!

Miss Hailey loves Hello Kitty

and Ella loves coloring books

an impromptu fort with Uncle Mike

Ella & I spent the night at Mike's and had planned on hanging around there for the morning, but Ella woke up early. The poor girl was throwing up, so I whisked her into the car and drove the three hours straight home. Fortunately, she slept most of the way and wasn't too sick the rest of the day. We did have to cancel our trip to the Christmas Eve service, but that was all we had planned for the day since Pete was on call.

Ella has adopted the Cabbage Patch I grew up with, though she also has her own. I think this was Patti's 26th or 27th Christmas. Ella kept giggling, saying that Patti was tickling her. It was adorable!

And, for my Christmas Eve gift from Ella, I got a make over. Isn't that sweet? She used different colored crayons and drew all over my forehead. She was very proud.

We had a great Christmas celebrating with my family! I'll post more pictures very soon of our other Christmas adventures.

Merry Christmas!

Olsen family Christmas card 2011

Growing Up

Sometimes I look at Ella and am amazed with how quickly she's growing up. She's my baby! The girlie is saying more every day and understands far more than I often realize.

Here we were getting ready to head out the door to meet Daddy at work for dinner. She was sitting on the step looking so grown up in her little pea coat and sweat shirt.

My favorite phrase she's been using lately is "Doin' up there?" Imagine her saying it in a high-pitched voice. That's exactly how she says it every time. And it doesn't matter where were are, whether we up or down or standing right next to her. "Mama, doin' up there?" she'll ask as I'm standing next to her in the kitchen. "Daddy, doin' up there?" she'll yell from the bottom of the stairs while waiting to take Pete to work. "Ella, doin' up there?" she asks when she wants us to ask her what she's doing. It always makes me smile.

And here she was practicing her letters. While I'm doing homework on the computer, she'll come up and ask "Ella ABC? ABC, Mama?" That means she wants a blank Word document to type. It's been a fun way to learn letters.

Mama's Kitchen Assistant

Meeting the Reindeer

Miss Ella got to meet two very real reindeer at Fitger's last Sunday. We were there having lunch with friends and it just happened to be the same time these furry friends were in the area! She was thrilled. And I have to admit...so was I.

Finals Relief Night

The Bump Has Appeared

This morning Mama Bex captured the first picture our the wee bump in front of her Christmas tree. I was comparing it to belly pics with Ella and thought it might most resemble this one at 19 weeks. Since I'll be 14 weeks on Saturday, I'm showing a bit sooner this time, which I've heard is common and makes complete sense.

13.5 weeks

Oh, we've decided to nickname this little one Peanut. It sort of comes from the mountain of pb&j sandwiches I've been eating through the last few weeks. If you remember, Ella was named Dino because we joked from the beginning that we were growing a little triceratops.

Big Sister!

It's true! One very special little girl in our house is going to be a big sister! Our little one is due June 2, just three weeks before Ella will turn three.

Miss Ella taking practicing for her role as big sister

 Yes, I've known about the new baby for quite some time. Actually, we found on on my 30th birthday. What a birthday present! We decided to wait until Thanksgiving to start sharing the news since that marked 13 weeks. Pete had the holiday week off, so we were able to travel to both sides of our family. My family had already figured it out. I blame that on the fact that I see my brother and sister so often. They quickly picked up on the changes in my clothes and eating habits. Pete's family, on the other hand, doesn't see us in person as often, though we do try to Skype whenever possible. They had a much better reaction than my family (no offense, Scotts). I have to say that it's a relief not to have to keep the little bump hidden any longer. I was running out of shirt options!

It was a bit of a rough first trimester, especially compared to my pregnancy with Ella. My constant nausea made it quite difficult to do school work. Forget housework. I threw that out the window by week five. But at least I can say I ran a marathon pregnant. The wee one traveled the 26.2 miles with me on October 2. Yes, I knew I was pregnant, but the sickness hadn't fully set in yet, so it was manageable. The feelings of yuckiness is also why I haven't been very good at posting on the blog the past couple months. I'll try to do better.

And now I'm tired. That's common too. More updates to come!

Photo Friday: The Girl is Getting It Done

Before bed last night, Ella said the living room needed to be shoveled. Then this morning, she completed her first water color painting. She knows how to get it done!