Cozy Morning

This is how I found my two favorite guys yesterday morning.  I think they're going to be very good friends for many years to come.  

Yes, Still the Obsession with Accessories

Ellie still LOVES any and all accessories.  She's constantly playing dress-up.  Just this past weekend, we got together with some of my family (Uncle Jerry, Aunt Sheila, my cousin Brigid, her husband Ed, and their two kids: Emily and Tommy) in Los Gatos.  Ellie had the absolute time of her life...played all night long in Emily's room with Emily's Cinderella castle and Barbie dolls.  We didn't have to pay attention to her at all all night long...she spent THREE hours in there entertaining herself!  Oh, and check out the Cinderella gloves...yep, those stayed on for all three hours, too, including through dinner and dessert.  You should've seen her operating her fork with those things on!

Thanksgiving Cutie

We had such a fantastic Thanksgiving this year.  Joe and I got to go away early in the week for a two-night stay at the Ojai Valley Inn, while Mahgie babysat the kiddos.  It was our first time away from either one of them over night, and it was HEAVEN!  We talked about the little ones and miss them the entire time we were gone, but it was just so romantic and so refreshing for both of us.  We got to celebrate Thanksgiving with an nice, lazy day at the Borchard house (delicious, casual lunch), followed by a slightly more formal, very fun, and surprisingly not crowded-at-all Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Katie's little condo in Ventura...we had about 16 people there, I think.  Best turkey and stuffing EVER...Katie did them authentic Italian style.  Yum!  We spent about 10 days total down south, and it was a great visit overall.  Now, we're back up here at Stanford for a quick 6 days more as Joe finishes his exams.  We'll soon have another Stanford grad on our hands!!!!

Stanford-USC Tailgate

Such a fun weekend!  The Borchards (Joe's parents and his Aunt Martha and Uncle Tony) and my cousin (Charlie's godfather), Will, came up to stay the weekend and tailgate "in style" for the Stanford/SC game.  Joe's mom went ALL out ...I swear, she must've been cooking and preparing for this thing all week long...she brought up coolers (yes, multiple) of food...potato salad, homemade cookies, pumpkin cake, chicken salad, season tri-tips, sausage, chips, seven layer dip, chili beans....YUM!!  Joe was in heaven entertaining all of his buddies in Chuck Taylor Grove.  The kids and I lasted over there for about two hours...they had a ball, but it exhausted us all.  Ellie passed out cold on the walk home to the apartment!  I really do love my in-laws...they spoil us ROTTEN.  Thank you, Mimi.  By the way, how cute are the Stanford polo outfits Joe bought the kids for the game?!

Jewel Gypsy!

One of Joe's best Stanford football buddies sent Ellie a gift in the mail two days ago...a Disney Pretty Princess jewelry board game.  His card read: "Ellie, Happy Birthday.  Here's a game for you to play over and over and over again with Daddy."  She LOVES it!!!!!!  She's been totally occupied dressing herself up all day long over the past two days.  So funny, she really did make Joe wear an earring and her crown immediately upon opening the gift=).

Cake...Finally!

Well, we'd been practicing our candle-blowing all week long...in our toast, in our sandwiches, etc., and birthday dinner finally brought candles in CAKE!  I baked a birthday bomb for her (or for Joe, really...it was his request)...a pan of Ghiradelli brownies, with white chocolate chips, chocolate frosting, and rainbow sprinkles.  Mmmm!  We did the whole "Happy Birthday" song and cake with Grampy and Mahgie on iChat video.  It really was special.

The Jungle

Next on the birthday agenda was a trip to "The Jungle," a slightly cleaner, slightly fancier Chuck-e Cheese-type place in San Jose.  I took her by myself (with Charlie in the the Bjorn) while Joe was busy in class, and she had a BALL!  We didn't go until after their naps, so it was late afternoon, and didn't stay for much more than an hour...but that was ALL the time we needed at that place.  Ellie is still talking about "The Jungle" five days later.  Oh, and she ended up with a bloody lip within the first 30 seconds of her time there...she still loved it.  I'm a good mommy=).

Messy Morning

Just playing with her toys.  Holy Hurrican Ellie!

Happy Birthday to You, Ellie!

My baby officially entered her "Terrible Twos" this week!  We had such a nice day of celebrating as a family.  We had no big party, no family or friends in town; we just celebrated ourselves, and it was so special...much more fun and celebratory than I'd anticipated it being.  I set up her place setting extra special for breakfast with ever pretty princess thing I could think of...plus candles in her toast, of course.  She got to blow out her candles, open her gifts, and wear her crown...life was good.  Best gift EVER...a Dora sing-along DVD...talk about the best electronic babysitter EVER...if necessary, I can get a good hour of peace out of that thing!

Practice Makes Perfect!

Ellie turns TWO tomorrow!  So, we've started practicing the whole blowing out the candles bit...she's VERY into it.  It's pretty much all she talks about while she's in bed talking to herself, delaying her naps=).  We've been doing candles the past couple of mornings on her toast and cream cheese breakfast.  She has no idea how to blow yet, but we're working on it!...maybe by tomorrow night!

Sticker Faces

Ellie had a bit of fun with stickers the other afternoon...all over both of our faces.  She's getting to be so much fun to hang out with these days...funny, creative, busy and so smart.  She totally speaks in complete sentences all the time now, and I just can't believe some of the things that come out of her mouth.  Tonight, we went over to my cousin's house for dinner up here (Mark and Michelle Box), and Ellie bent down to greet their dog, Banjo, and said clear as a bell: "Hi Doggy, how's it goin'?"  Hah!

First Fashionable Haircut

How cute does my girl look?!  She just got the most expensive haircut of her little life...a whopping $23!!...I almost refused to take her once I saw the price.  It ended up being totally worth it, though...much better than the Super Cut specials I was getting.  Anna let me know that her hair was very much resembling a mullet, as of late...ouch!  So, we got her this stylish little bob; looks like a cross between Posh Spice and Matilda Ledger to me=).

No, Not Halloween...

No, this is not Ellie dressing up for Halloween.  This is just a normal morning in the Borchard household...that girl LOVES fashion....she just needs to refine her tastes a bit in the coming years.  On Anna's last morning here, she decided to "try on" all of her Auntie's dirty clothes...nice!

First Food

Charlie got his first taste of big-boy food this week....mmmm, rice cereal!  He's not really so sure about it all yet, as you can tell my that expression on his face.  We'll keep trying, though.  I'm hoping the extra weight in his belly will help him sleep through the night...wish me luck!  He kind of looks like his dad in this picture, doesn't he?!

Best Pals

Ellie and her Auntie Noni are such good buddies.  I've loved watching their special little friendship grow.

Visit to Aunt Barbara in Monterey

We visited Aunt Barbara, Haley and Ian the day after Halloween for some fun in Pacific Grove and at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Charlie LOVED cozying up on Barbara's couch to watch movies, while Ellie was a crazy, wild one at the Aquarium...ran around like a mad-woman!  The kids are still catching up on sleep post-Halloween/Monterey!!

Our 30 Seconds of Costumes

A big thank you to Ellie's and Charlie's Mimi for buying them their adorable costumes.  What a bummer they didn't last a bit longer.  At least in only takes a few seconds to catch the moment on film, though=)

Happy Halloween!

We had a ball this Halloween!  Auntie Noni was in town, and we all went down to Los Gatos to be with my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sheila at their home.  The do it up in L.G!...you should've seen the decorations up and down their street...amazing!  Ellie liked the giant blow-up Tigger dressed as a pirate on somebody's front lawn best of all.  She still wakes up every day from her nap asking to go to "Tigger's House."  Ellie was a banana for Halloween, and Charlie was a giraffe...Charlie tolerated his costume for approximately 30 seconds, while Ellie stayed in hers for about three minutes.  Oh well!  E wore the giraffe head for most of the night at least.  She would not trick-or-treat, as the whole thing just scared the heck out of her.  The decorations were VERY scary, and when one of us would try to walk her down the street, she'd just bury her head in our necks and quiver all over.  Kind of sad.  Instead, she ate only candy for dinner and planted herself on Jerry's front porch all night long.  She LOVED handing out candy to all of the kids and wishing them a "Happy Halloween."  We adults enjoyed a relaxing night of beers, Mexican take-out, chocolate chip cookies, and the comfort of family.  

Dog Bowl Swimming

Despite the delicious taquitos, enchiladas, chips and guac, and cookies from La Fiesta ("The Dive"), Ellie provided the highlight of the post-Baptism party, for sure! Wearing her nicest dress from fancy Saturday's Child, she decided it would be a great idea to go swimming in the dog bowls.  I was too tired and busy mingling, eating, and taking care of baby, that I just told her to go for it.  She is a HAM and a half!  Towards the end of her swim, she decided it'd be a great idea to get undressed...diaper and all.  Everybody thought she had the right idea until the diaper came off and hit the bricks with a giant "stinky poo-poo" inside!! And that was the end of that.

Oh, Holy Day! - Charlie's Baptism

Well, we officially have another little Catholic in our family!  We were down south in L.A. last weekend for an insanely busy three days of wedding activities (I was a bridesmaid in Caroline Liset's beautiful Santa Monica wedding...wow!), Charlie's Baptism, hospital visits (Dad ended up with a pulmonary embolism post-knee replacement surgery), and a constant shuttling of kids between sweet baby sitting grandparents.  The baptism on Sunday was, sadly, almost an afterthought with how nutty the whole weekend was.  God has a way of slowing you down and making you appreciate the truly important things in life, though.  We had THE most beautiful day, holy ceremony, and intimate/relaxing/fun appetizer/cocktail party at my parents' house afterwards.  Father Leon presided, and his homily was beautiful...all about the special way in which a child is loved.  And on that day, surrounded by our closest friends and family (all family really...except for Natalie, who really IS family), I felt overwhelmed by the love showered upon us and our children.  We are so very lucky to be members of the Bannan and Borchard families.

Happy Halloween!

I found another mom at the pumpkin patch with two kiddos, one of them in the Bjorn, just like me.  Sneaky, passive-aggressive gal that I am, I volunteered to take a picture of the three of them with her camera, knowing that she'd, in turn, have to volunteer to do the same for me.  Hah!  It worked.  However, I wasn't about to make her take multiple pictures of us, so this is what we got...Ellie was pissed because she wanted whatever pumpkin or toy the other mom's toddler was playing with.  Oh well, at least we got a photo of the three of us to prove that we were all there!

Second Go 'Round at the Patch

I was totally stir-crazy and sick of being stuck indoors this afternoon, as the kids had slept most of the day away, so I decided to take them to the pumpkin patch for our second trip in about three days' time.  Ellie has been waking up from every nap and every night's sleep asking about pumpkins and ghosts...she's obsessed with ALL things Halloween right now.  She even snuggles with her pumpkins, wrapping them up in her blankie, making her little huggy "awww" sound, and telling us how she's "getting cozy pumpkins."  Anyway, the three of us had a ball making our way through the slim pickings at the patch, meeting the other bored mommies, and picking out a baby pumpkin especially for Auntie Noni.  It's already packed in the car ready to make the trip down south to you tomorrow, Annie!

Fun Visitor

My dear friend and former Stanford roommate, Jessica, came down from S.F. to visit us for the day Saturday.  Joe watched the kids for me while Jess and I got to go out for a long, leisurely brunch at our favorite spot, Hobee's.  What a treat for me!  Then we took Charlie (Ellie was still napping) for a walk all through campus.  Jess has 8 siblings, so she was an old pro with Charlie.  Also, every other time she's come to visit us, Ellie has slept through Jess' entire visit; amazingly, the two gals had never met.  When we got back from our walk, though, Miss Eleanor had finally arisen and greeted Jess at the door with a very sour, very loud moan...not very welcoming at all.  By the time Jessica left, though, Ellie was crying because her new friend was gone.  My toddler is bipolar, for sure.

Morning Routine

The morning routine around here is pretty darn cute.  Just thought I'd snap a picture of what a typical morning on the couch looks like.  Aren't my three babies adorable?!

Happy Tummy Time

The key word to the title of this post is "Happy."  Charlie generally considers Tummy Time horrible punishment.  Today, though, I decided to try propping him up with his Boppy, and he thought it was tons of fun for about five minutes.  Hey, I'll take it.  Who wouldn't find that super cool canopy of colors and toys fun?!  Looks like Disneyland to me.

Buddies

Ellie and Charlie are really starting to interact and get along now.  She loves to cozy up to him in the mornings, especially when he's been propped up by mom or dad in her favorite recliner.  Doesn't it look like they're working on a project together in the second picture??  Really, she's just pure entertainment for him...thank goodess...because he seems to always need to be entertained these days!

Homecoming Begins!

It's Homecoming this weekend at Stanford, and we are already having so much fun.  We took the kids on a walk this afternoon all around the athletic facilities and ran into all sorts of old friends and coaches.  And then tonight, we had two of our old guy friends stop by, Darin Naatjes (played baseball and football with Joe) and Tyler Besecker (basketball).  Don't they make Joe look short?!  I felt quite petite, I must admit=).  Can't wait for the tailgates and date night tomorrow night.  I've decided that I'm going to go all out, too...I'm going to wear a dress and heels...gasp!!