Parade Of Lights

Happy Holidays!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking ahead to a blessed New Year in 2011.  I wanted to start the year right in my blog world and be all caught up through December for a fresh start tomorrow:)  We had a crazy-busy month as usual.  We stayed home for Christmas this year and it was just perfect for this time in our lives.  Not worrying about traveling and road conditions, or the kids sleeping in unfamiliar beds, but the best was watching them wake up in their own house to see what Santa brought them.  Connor was especially a joy this year as he has really grasped the concept of Santa and all the Christmas happenings.  It was so fun with him!  So here goes... December with the Ellis Family!

The Christmas season started off with the Parade of Lights the first weekend in December.  It was not nearly as cold as last year, so that was nice. 

Cora staying warm

Connor Lee enjoying the show.

Of course, Connor's fave was the snowmobiling float:)

Go Nuggets!!

Chris and Connor have started the tradition of going to a Nuggets game each winter with our friend Matt and his twin girls, Carli and Jillian.  Looks to me like they had a pretty fun time!

Connor and Daddy

Matt and the kiddos.  Yay for cotton candy!!

Ha ha!

Connor checking his stats against the "Bird Man"

And the cutest hockey player I've ever seen:)

Happy boy!

Clark Christmas

Since we were staying home for Christmas, my parents came out a couple weekends before to celebrate with us.  It was fun to have them and everyone got an early dose of presents:)

Papa and Cora reading about dragons.  Our house is pretty much filled with stuff from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" as that is Connor's latest obsession.

My little Christmas babies!

The much anticipated Pillow Pet!!

Cora got one too.  They are so snuggly!

Connor helping Papa put together Cora's new rocking chair.

Love you Mom and Dad!  Thanks again for everything!!

Little Sprout Christmas Program

When I heard Connor's class was going to do a Christmas Program, I was just tickled because I thought a group of three-year olds singing Christmas songs had to be one of the cutest things in the world.  We knew Connor was practicing at school, but he wouldn't share any of the songs with us, and he told us he would rather sit down on stage than sing with everyone.  He also confessed that he got in trouble for taking his "robe" off.  So we weren't sure what to expect when the big day arrived.  Well, it was indeed one of the cutest things in the world, and Connor did so AMAZINGLY well up there.  He mostly just stood quietly in his back-row spot, but we were just grateful he wasn't causing any sort of distraction or messing around like some of the kids, flipping their robes over their heads and such:)  We were so   proud of him and it was such a joy to watch all those little cuties up there!

Connor, last in line in the red, taking his spot.

Handsome boy in the back:)

Shakin' that jingle bell!

Proud parents with Connor after the show ;)

Visit With Santa

We had another fun "Santa Party" this year with a group of my friends.  The kids got to talk to Santa, but I did not get a decent picture.  Luckily, my friend Amy, got a "winner" (if I can even call it that!)  Connor did very well with Santa, but Cora screamed her head off, face down in her blankie while he held her. 

Cora before....

...on a rocking horse, happy, Santa's in the background:)

                                                                                 And after...

Merry Christmas!!!!

Miss Cora

Here are a few shots of life with Cora:)

This is pretty typical.  She's definitely our little monkey!

Enjoying some light reading.

Snuggly girl, slowing down for JUST a minute:)

Christmas Eve

We went to church Christmas Eve and then came home, had pizza for dinner and made cookies for Santa!  Here we are before church...

Take one...

Take two...much better!

And our little family.

Mommy and Cora after church:)

Decorating Christmas cookies!

Mmmmm.... I think Santa will like these:)

Christmas Day 2010!

As I said, we had a lovely Christmas at home this year.  We had our friends, the Stock's, over for Christmas dinner, so we were in good company.  Our day was very relaxing and we are so thankful for the many blessings and friendship we had that day. 

Cora getting into her gifts.

This pretty much sums up Connor's Christmas...

Dragons, dragons, and more dragons!  He was a happy boy though!

An unfortunate incident with Cora and a chair.  She just kind of laid there in shock!

Later in the day, enjoying her chair the right way ;)

Merry Christmas!

Snow Day

We FINALLY got some snow yesterday and the kids were so excited to get out in play in it!

Here's Cora, ready for her first REAL experience in the snow:)

Mmmm... snow tastes good!

Snow angel.

Happy kids!

Cutest snow bunny EVER!

Dump truckin' it!

Cora Grace

Connor Lee

Cora's Collections

If there is any sort of basket or container around, Cora will fill it up with whatever is available.  She likes to go around with a little toy or socks in each hand.  She just likes "things".  This was a perfect example the other day when she had the shopping cart loaded with the funniest assortment of items...

Baby, shoe, toys, bottle, cookie cutters, what else?!!  She'll just push it around until she finds something, then stops and throws it in!

Proud little scavenger:)

Okay, Now It's Christmas Time!

We waited oh so patiently for the day after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas decorations out.  It is getting more and more fun each year the kids get older to do this sort of thing.  We put a little tree in Connor's room and he just loves it and worked so hard to decorate it.  He kept telling us that our big tree had too many ornaments on it so he'd need to take one off and go put it on his tree.  I'll just say our tree looks a little bare now!  But not Connor's! 

Connor decorating his tree.

Cora helping with ours.  Well, actually, she's probably taking that ornament off of the tree:)

Little Maverick

Chris got tickets to some of the Mesa State Maverick's basketball games this weekend.  Friday night he took us along.  It was only slightly enjoyable with Cora there...she just wants to get down and go all of the time!!  Well at half time we let both the kids run free on the court... maybe not OK, but no one said anything;)  The kids were overjoyed to have that open space to run in, but most of the joy was for Chris and I.  You know, there are moments in life that just kind of seem so surreal, and this was one of them.  I'd like to think that when Chris first stepped onto this basketball court for the first time thirteen+ years ago, he NEVER imagined he would one day be letting his precious, tiny children run free on that very same shiny wood he spent so many hours on.  It was exciting and we had to snap a few pics... who could blame us?! 

Cora heading towards center court!

And coming back... Connor's in the white shirt in the background:)

And oh, GO MAVERICKS!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We decided to stay home for the Holidays this year.  We'll really miss seeing family, but will not miss  traveling with two little ones and all that goes along with that!  We are very fortunate to have some amazing friends, Nicole and Tony, here in grand Junction that also stayed at home with their two little ones, Ella and Owen.  They had us for Thanksgiving dinner, and we'll host them for Christmas.  Our kids love each other, we love their company and we all LOVE good food.  It was a perfect combination of deliciousness,  cozy conversation and even a little RELAXING!!!    

                                                       














Ella and Connor playing in the leaves

Tony carving the turkey!!

Cora having fun bouncing.

Cora's turkey dinner...

Connor and Ella's dinner.  It is no easy feat getting a good shot of these goof-balls!