birthday bash

we celebrated corinne's first birthday on sunday. she had so much fun with all the kids.

was i really thinking they'd all sit still for this?!

you can't tell but the pink cupcakes were decorated with little orange flowers and yellow dots.

let's just say her first birthday cake tasted a lot better than ella's. this was a carrot-raisin cake with cream cheese frosting. corinne ate almost all of it. of course, the icing was the first to go.

happy birthday, corinne!

today was corinne's first birthday. as i nursed her tonight i looked at the clock and it was 8:15pm. a year ago that same time i was snuggling her in my arms for the first time. i can't believe it's been a year already! i am so thankful for our sweet little treasure. she is growing so fast and has 5 teeth with a sixth on its way. she can walk but still prefers crawling unless mommy or daddy are right in front of her. she gives hugs and kisses and she has started talking. this morning as i got her dressed i could have sworn she was trying to sing "baby beluga" with me. thank you God for our precious gift: corinne. she melts my heart!

cookie monster

as a treat i made snickerdoodles last week. when ella woke up fom her nap i gave her a few cookies and a cup of milk. she made the mistake of leaving her cookies on the table...isn't that more than enough explanation for this picture?

green thumb

if you've been to my house you know i don't have a green thumb. but i decided that it would be fun for ella and me to plant an herb garden. so, we picked up all the stuff and while corinne took a nap, ella and i planted the seeds. she was interested in planting a few and then just wanted to play in the dirt. i couldn't believe how quickly they sprouted! we've got sprouts in all the little "pots". very cool.

this is ella playing with rocks in the yard after "gardening" with me. she did enjoy herself.

cool playground

they had a really cool play area in the aquarium. ella had a ball. she really loved these little spring cars or whatever you call them.


heres ella sportin' a crab shell.

this is just one of the many amazing tanks right next to the playground. look at the colors on those fish!!

more monterey

my little cutie! she just loved the fish!!!!

these tiny gold colored fish were pretty cute.



i think we all were thinking this, it just reads better on a kid's face!

monterey aquarium part 2

this is just a cute picture of ted and corinne having fun at lunch. who doesn't love riding on daddy's shoulders?! you can see everything from up there!

after lunch we sat on the deck for a few minutes enjoying the fresh sea air.

the girls had fun tickling each other and "bonking" heads.

then we headed over the to "secret lives of seahorses" exhibit-awesome! how many seahorses can you find in this photo?