Lola's Party

Ellie was able to make it to Lola's birthday party while we were in town.  She looked so happy running around with all of her friends again!

 Her bff, Georgia.

 Leah

 Happy Birthday, Lola!

St. Patrick's Day

 St. Patrick's Day in Chicago is quite an event!

The river is dyed green in the morning!

 We also went to the parade, but it was so crowded that Ellie was the only one with a good view.

Ellie loved it- she was waving and cheering the whole time!

Clara is one!

Clara is ALMOST walking.  She likes to push things around the room.  She will also stand by herself if Justin or I am right next to her.  She will then take a step or two, fall into us, and start cracking up : )

 Ellie helped make the day special for Clara and Daddy by making pictures and helping wrap the presents and frost the cupcakes.

 The birthday pair.

 Out for a special dinner.  The weather was beautiful, so we sat outside.

 She looks like such a big girl in this picture!

 Happy baby girl : )  We went for her one year check-up on her birthday and found out that she had an ear infection!  Otherwise, she's doing great.  She's in the 75th percentile across the board for her measurements.  

Sisterly love.

Roscoe Village Brunch

Our neighborhood held a spring brunch at a local restaurant and a special guest was there!

 Ellie was so excited to see the Easter Bunny.

 As one child decides to accept Santa and the Easter Bunny...

...the other becomes terrified!  Clara bawled every time the bunny was near.

Go Clara, Go!

 We went to a play cafe today and Clara spent a lot of time pushing this walker around.  She is gaining confidence, and was very proud of herself today.  Maybe she'll be taking her first independent steps before her first birthday!

Fun Times

Riding the Thomas train at Navy Pier.

It was "Snow Days" at Navy Pier that weekend.  Although it was pretty cold, we didn't have a lot of real snow.  Outside of Navy Pier, there was a snow sculpting contest going on.  They also had snow painting for the kids!

Thought it was pretty funny that the girls were staring at the TV when golf was on.  I guess they made their Daddy proud : )

Justin and I were affectionately calling Clara "our little turtle" because she absolutely refused to roll from her back onto her belly.  Finally, at 11 months, she decided that she was ready to roll.  This was the first time I had ever found her standing in her crib!

Her proud big sister : )

Clara is praying : )  When we say grace, I guess we emphasize folding our hands as we wait for Ellie to decide to join us.  After watching this each night, Clara decided that she wanted to pray with us too!

One day when we were walking through Babies R Us, Ellie started putting cards in our cart.  I told her that we didn't need to send any cards right now and her response was that she wanted to make some cards for her friends.  I said that would be perfect since Valentine's Day was coming up!  She sat for a long time at the table making her valentines.  She even wrote her name completely by herself on each one! I got a little teary-eyed about that because my little independent baby is growing up so fast!

Standing and cruising!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?!  Ellie wants to say and do everything that we do.  She often likes to wear my "loud shoes" around the house : )

Bath time!

It is so amazing to watch Ellie and Clara become friends as Clara gets older.  

Ellie's closet has become one of her favorite spots to hang-out.  Clara will follow her in there and they will typically spend some time in there each morning playing together.

They are becoming fast friends, but we see so many differences already in the two girls right down to the way that they sleep!