My big sister

I got the idea for this picture from our friend Erin's blog. She is an amazing kiddo photographer. It took about 50 shots to get this one (which I'm disappointed that I cut off the side of Andrew's head) but I'm just thrilled that I got a half way decent shot of Andrew and Elizabeth.

This one deserves captions. Any ideas?

Jan and I have been taking massive quantities of pictures of Elizabeth since birth. She is used to the camera always being out and is starting to enjoy photography herself. Sometimes she asks if we can go take pictures in her room or of Andrew, daddy etc. She has a little Elmo camera that she uses while mommy or daddy are taking pictures. Yesterday I let Elizabeth use my camera for a few shots and she amazingly got this one of Andrew smiling. I've been trying to get a picture of him smiling for a few days now but leave it to Elizabeth! She can get her little brother smiling so easily as he is always just watching his big sister in amazement.

And then we had to let 'monkey see monkey do' take a few pictures.

Andrew 6 weeks old

Andrew was being very tolerant the other day so I decided to sieze the moment to snap a few photos.

Like Grandpop like grandson

My dad has a huge head... to the point that he can't find hats to fit him - ever. However, he does have a nice collection of custom made cowboy hats which I have the feeling Andrew will be inheriting. The little guy has a huge head. I wonder where he got that from?

These pictures are actually from December 20th when mom and dad were out visiting Andrew for the first time.

Princess Ellie

The name Princess Ellie is one that Grandma Lois and Grandpa Jan fondly call Elizabeth. Either that or the Jumping Juwawa . . . on most days, Elizabeth thinks that she is a cross between a monkey and a rabbit. She hops all over the house, hops to and from the park, hops to the car etc. Then when there is any opportunity to climb on something, she does. Elizabeth climbs on chairs, swings on the kitchen table or the stair railing, the pew at church etc. She loves the park as she can actually hop and climb on things that are meant to be hopped and climbed on.

I love this first picture. Elizabeth is sitting on her "big girl bed" which was my bed growing up. My dad got the bed from one of his infamous auction outings. The bed used to be painted white and my dad and I refinished it together when I was about 10.

Her latest "Elizabethisms"

Whenever Elizabeth is doing something she knows she is not supposed to, she says, "what is Elizabeth doing." Similar to her cousin Madeline who when she is doing something she is not supposed to says "look at me!!"

Elizabeth loves to ask what we are doing. However, she says, "what you doot?" It's absolutely precious as we hear it about 100 times a day.

Every evening, Elizabeth makes herself a cup of tea. It consists of dipping a decaf tea bag into warm tap water for about 10 seconds. She drinks her tea out of a plastic car coffee mug with a lid. Talk about entertainment. She is as happy as a clam, drinking her tea and telling mommy and daddy all about her day. Her vocab is pretty incredible. This morning (while drinking a morning cup of tea) Elizabeth heard Andrew crying in his room. She said to me, "mommy, you need to attend to Andrew right away." She somehow picked up the phrase "attend to" in the past two days. Her phrase yesterday was "get out of town."

One month old

We can't believe that Andrew is over one month old already! I have no idea where the last month has gone. Time does not slow down for anyone, that is for sure. Andrew is such a good baby and growing so quickly. Elizabeth, as you can see in these pictures, is the proud big sister. She absolutely loves being involved with helping mommy and especially when it comes to Andrew. She is such a loving child. She sat with Andrew for about 10 minutes when we were taking these pictures. I thought she would maybe last 30 seconds but she was so content sitting with her little brother.

Snow snow snow

Andrew has been the center of photo attention for the past month so we thought we'd give Elizabeth a little "face time." She is such a great big sister and really helps out mommy and daddy with Andrew. She is always trying to help change his diaper, feed him, get him a blanket or buckle him into his bouncy chair. Elizabeth loves being involved and loves being helpful. Not to say that having Andrew in the house has not been an adjustment for her. It has! Melt downs are pretty common place around here lately. Elizabeth is still learning how to share mommy and daddy's time which is a very difficult thing to learn for a 2 1/2 year old.

We actually took these photos back in November but they are very appropriate for today. We've had so much snow this winter that Elizabeth's little north facing sledding hill accross the street from our house has been covered since November. And good thing because Elizabeth likes to go sledding!