Colorful Cali

Thanksgiving in SF

We recently enjoyed a great family week in San Francisco. Erik’s parents flew to NYC and then we all flew together to California to visit my brother. We rented a great apartment in the heart of the city for our visit. Our days were spent enjoying the gorgeous weather, exploring neighborhoods and taking in a few museums, the aquarium and a boat ride on the Bay. Ellis loved all of our new adventures and time with family.

Halloween Princess

Despite super storm Sandy, our little princess made it out for a little Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. I had secretly hoped we could be a family of robots, but Ellis is growing up and really wanted to be her own Princess. Thankfully, she’s too young to notice I ate some of her candy!

Fall photos

Many of our October weekends were spent outdoors at fall festivals or checking out the changing leaves in the park. We had a wonderful time collecting leaves in Prospect Park. Ellis filled up her stroller basket with every shape and color leaf she could find. She dressed up as a princess for Halloween and ended up painting four different pumpkins. I should photograph them before we break out any Christmas decorations! The mornings and nights have been chillier. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ellis can still fit in her coats from last year, especially since I will be needing a maternity winter coat. We were really hoping for a Spring baby, but it also means my stretched out maternity tank tops and sun dresses are pretty useless this time around. 

Ellis turns 3!

Oh dear....October passed and I did not have a chance to post. So much has been happening. Being almost five months pregnant (with a boy) is probably my biggest distraction. We are very excited for our growing family and we were also excited to celebrate Ellis’s big third birthday in late September. The weather was perfect for our small get together in the park. We kept the food and decor pretty simple and just let the kids enjoy being together, running around in the new, soft grass at Transmitter Park. This was the first year Ellis was really looking forward and aware of her birthday. She talked about her party for months. I’m enjoying this age so much. It’s wonderful to see her playing with her friends and playing by herself for longer stretches. Drawing, coloring, Play-doh, Duplo, and cutting shapes with her scissors are her favorite things to do in her room. She also likes to play teacher, doctor and cashier, sometimes with us and other times completely on her own. Her version of hide-and-seek cracks us up. She tells me where she is going to hide and then has me count to ten. As soon as I enter her room, she giggles and yells “here I am”. I’d describe her three-year-old character as sweet, artistic, silly and even tempered. She really is our little ray of sunshine.

Block Island 2012

Our week in Block Island this summer was wonderful. The house was great and we were spoiled by amazing food and daily trips to the beach. Ellis is not a big fan of the waves, but sure loved playing in the sand. Ellis really bonded with Sophie, Roman and Rubi.