The McDonald Family

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

We wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day! We are so blessed to have such sweet and loving family and friends.

(Here is mommy's attempt at a "photo shoot" - she needs a little more practice)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

8 months old

Ella turned 8 months old on February 2nd and what a month of milestones! She is so much more active and so much louder which is funny at times and challenging during others - like when you are trying to have a conversation with someone and she wants to be the center of attention! She also loves playing with her toys and watching Baby Einstein and her favorite song is the Mickey Mouse Hot Dog Dance! Here are a few of her many milestones this past month:

She got her first tooth the day before her 8 month birthday and we think she is working on tooth number 2! She has done really well with teething and has not been really fussy - we think she is going to be a tough cookie!
She kind of starting "crawling" but it's more like scooting everywhere. She can get around in a complete circle, move herself backwards, but can not figure out how to move forward! We have a feeling she will master this before her 9 month birthday!
She also started waving "hello" and "bye-bye". She does it all the time now and even does it to herself in the mirror every morning when she wakes up. It is so cute!
She loves napping on her tummy now and has become really found of her bunny lovey when she sleeps. She is always holding it in her crib and grabs it to snuggle as soon as we put her down. We need to figure out a name for it, but for now we call her "Lovey".
She started Music Together Class and loves it! We go every Wednesday morning and she loves the music and watching the other kids. All the instruments go straight to her mouth but she kicks her little leg with the beat of the music and sometimes even tries to sing her own tune!
She had her first experience with snow during our trip to Tahoe. Of course she put it right in her mouth but it kept her entertained for awhile and it was fun watching her explore! She also loved sledding and laughed every time she went down the hill (in mommy and daddy's lap of course)!
And of course we can not forget that she experienced her first National Championship win! War Eagle! We are hoping for an NCAA Championship win to make her daddy happy as well - fingers crossed!

Here are a few pictures from this past month:

A little harder to take the pictures now....

She is laughing at Lexi - she LOVES her!

Just hangin with her bunny friend!

Uh Oh....time to move the crib down!

All bundled up and ready to go for a walk when it was really cold out!

Playing with her many toys!

Starting to "crawl" while watching Baby Einstein

Crawling towards the camera

Still practicing....not quite to a full crawl yet....

Monday, January 17, 2011

Lake Tahoe!

For the holiday weekend we decided that we wanted to see what Tahoe was all about. Everyone around our area talks about going to Tahoe in the Summer and Winter so we decided to check it! We found a great house online last minute and headed up to the North Shore of Lake Tahoe in Kings Beach. The lake was absolutely beautiful and the view from our house was amazing!

While we were there Ella and Lexi experienced their first encounter with snow - it was pretty funny! We went sledding (hilarious), went to NorthStar Resort where we rode the gondola up to the Ritz Carlton (even Lexi got to ride) and Brandon went on a snowmobile excursion to the top of Mt. Watson.

The weather was perfect - sunny in the 50's - but there was still plenty of snow on the ground from all the snow they have gotten this year (they have had over 51 inches of snow so far this season). We are looking forward to taking some more trips back to ski and will probably look at going this summer so we can enjoy some of the lake excursions.

Here are many pictures from our trip!

Kings Beach just before sunset

Ella and Daddy at Kings Beach

View of Lake Tahoe from the house we rented

Daddy and Ella on the snowmobile

Ella at Garwoods in Carnelian Bay

Mommy and Ella

Ella eating the snow!

Ella after we told her that she was not allowed to eat the snow!

Ella on her sled!

Sunset view from our deck

Lexi trying to figure out how to get on the deck.

North Tahoe Park

Lexi and Daddy on the Gondola to to Ritz Carlton!

Lexi exploring in the snow.

Lexi running in the snow!

Ella and Lexi at the park while daddy was snowmobiling!

Daddy at the top of Mt. Watson looking over Lake Tahoe

Thursday, January 13, 2011

War Eagle!!!

We had a great time watching the Auburn vs. Oregon National Championship game on Monday and seeing Auburn WIN! It was an intense 2nd half but we are thrilled that the Auburn Tigers are the 2011 National Champions!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

7 months old!

I know I keep saying it but, WOW, the time is flying by and little Miss Ella is getting so big! She turned 7 months this past weekend! She now weighs over 16 lbs and is so much more active. Here are a few of her milestones:

She reaches for mommy when mommy puts her hands out for her!
She loves reading (and eating) books.
She loves Cheerios and puffs and makes the funniest faces when she eats them. Lexi loves when she throws them on the floor, especially the Cheerios and sweat potato flavored puffs!
She enjoys "drinking" water out of her sippy cup and doesn't mind that she is soaking wet when it's finally empty!
She still talks a lot, but has added GAGA and other sounds to her vocabulary!
She rides in the grocery cart and stroller now like a big girl and smiles at EVERYONE in the store and sometimes even squeal's with excitement!
She loves to play with all her toys and loves it even more when someone plays with her.
She loves bath time and enjoys splashing around and playing with the toys in the water.
She likes to stay up all day with mommy and only enjoys naps in the car, but she is still sleeping through the night so we are not complaining!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful 2010 with quite a few big milestones in our lives including having our sweet baby girl and moving across the country. We are definitly looking forward to what 2011 will bring and are thankful and hopeful for much love, happiness and health!

Happy 2011!!