elle's first haircut

since the kitchen is being demolished elle and i must find a quieter house to nap at during the day. so today we hit up the thomas' thanks! elle took a really long nap and loved trying to "walk" to catch up to the boys speed. tile floors make that a little difficult. seeing how we had some extra time on our hands martha and i decided it was time for elle to get her first haircut!
honestly, i was more nervous than i am when martha cuts mine (no offense, martha - you did awesome) elle really didn't notice too much since she was busy snacking on goldfish.

the boys shared their bounce house with elle too, she loved sitting in it and being bounced by the boys. and well sydeny she's such a cutie, only 8 lbs. away from elle. yep! either she's a tank (as martha says) or elle is a pipsqueak. either way the BFFs don't really know how good of friends they'll be this summer.

move over HGTV...

the kitchen is well under way
here's a few pictures of the demolish work josh did in the last week
cupboards are ordered, appliances will be here in a week, the wood floor is in the back room waiting to be laid, now just onto the small details: lighting, plumbing, replacing a window with a door and replastering the walls. not too much to do, right??

and yes, elle use to crawl around on this floor. gross, i know! soon it will be brand new

merry christmas, ellington!

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, laying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
-Luke 2:11-14

it's been a whirlwind of a fall but somehow around christmas time you get the chance to have a break from it all and reflect back on the blessings you have been given by God. i've read this verse more times than i can count, but for some reason each time/each christmas it means something different. while our life has been crazy and totally different over the last year i can't even imagine the excitement that must have been in the air the night Christ was born. what an amazing gift He has given us. THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF PEACE!!

and thanks to our amazing families we had a wonderful first christmas with ellington. we treked across the better part of michigan from the west side to the east side visiting with family all while carting our 50 lbs husky and 11 month old. what a trip! (to say the least)

both of our families have some wonderful holiday traditions like christmas church service, crown roast for christmas dinner, christmas morning cinnamon rolls, stain glass window treats, baby Jesus birthday cake and story, and so many more. but this year it was fun to include ellington in our own family traditions. since our first christmas josh and i have exchanged pjs on christmas eve and christmas morning our stockings were filled with new underware and socks. (ok, maybe to personal, but it's fun anyway) so this year was no different. ellington got a fun new pair of jammies and we couldn't leave her stocking empty so this year her new undies were well, diapers!! so cute! another one of our (josh, ellington, i) family tradition is to have pizza on christmas eve. i know, not your typical but we love it anyway!

merry christmas, ellington

elle's dedication

He has shown you, O "Elle" what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act JUSTILY, to love MERCY,
and to walk HUMBLY with your GOD.
Micah 6:8

this past sunday we had the privilage of dedicating ELLE to the LORD. we were so blessed to have both of our families there to celebrate with us. we feel so honored to be her parents. she is such a cool little girl and each day she amazes us with her spunky personality and zest for life.

elle was also dedicated along side her new BFF sydney paige thomas (pictures to come of the two girls) we're so excited to watch these girls grow up together and come to know the LORD as their savior. the thomas' have been such a blessing in our lives for the past four years.

elle with her great grandmother virginia's baby locket

elle with great grandparent hostetters

elle and the vogel clan
(minus a few)

o christmas tree...

i love this time of year...

the smell of fresh pine
twinkling lights at night
christmas music
snow days
snuggle time with elle and tackle
christmas cookies
family time

elle putting up her first ornament

we're hoping to take elle to see santa next week when we're both off from school. we looking forward to a much needed break from school. life's been crazy busy but at the end of the day we love where God has us.

just because...

seriously?
this is quite the preview for her senior pictures

flashback

can you believe this is my old snowsuit?
i know there's no snow, but i had to at least try it on her
she's like ralphie's younger brother in the christmas story movie.

at least she's ready for when the snow does hit.

truly thankful

we had a great thanksgiving stayin' in the ville.
it was a weekend filled with lots of family and great friends.

we welcomed elle's newest friend
sydney paige thomas
11/25/09
8 lbs. 22inches

micah & elle's 1st kiss

i think they both liked it!!! they're both quite the flirts, we better watch out

we enjoyed a visit from anna & bryan
it was so good to have a nice long weekend with them

just playin' with her BOY!

of course we packed as much as we could into our extra long weekend
and in typical josh & emily fashion we decided now would be a great time to start a house project

THE KITCHEN


stay tuned for upcoming pictures
before & after
we're hoping to have it done for elle's 1st birthday

happy birthday

happy birthday, josh
you're an awesome dad!

my all time favorite picture of you!
thanks for being such a great supporter and loving husband.
i love you

girls just wanna have fun...

last weekend we had our niece, olivia down for for her 7th birthday. we decided to invite the nieces and nephews over for a fun special birthday weekend when they turn 7. so of course, livvy was the first. we had a blast hangin' out and just doing girl stuff.
so here's the run down of our weekend

friday- pick olivia up in holland, drive home with elle screaming the whole way (very unusual, but who honestly wants to be stuck in a car seat looking backwards in the dark when your very cool cousin is right next you?)
- bubble bath - the girls were so cute. elle couldn't stop laughing and olivia kept saying "she's the best bath baby ever. you have to take a video for my mom!" and we did.
- stayed up late w/ ice cream and a movie

saturday
-morning: snuggle cartoon time in bed
-special uncle josh pancakes for breakfast
-went for a morning training run, around the block with tackle. we stopped more times for tackle's sniffing than olivia getting tired.
-designed our own t-shirts with bleach pen: FYI best kid project ever!! they turned out great.
-baked and decorated cookies
-made cool bead bracelets
-checked out the massive tanker that docked in the st. joseph river before having dinner
-silver beach pizza...need i say more!
-spa night for olivia and i: bubble bath w/ candles, foot scrub, & a pedi w/ orange sherbet and the goofy movie. - can it get any better?

sunday:
-olivia helped me teacher sunday school in the preschool room: quite the assistant she is
-drop off in holland: olivia was silent the whole way as she wrote down everything we did in her journal. and, decided to let elle stay at home this trip around. a much better idea!

thanks olivia for an AWESOME weekend

Yabba Dabba Doo

meet THE FLINTSTONES...
fred, wilma & pebbles

it isn't halloween without a jack-o-lantern. elle helped daddy carve her pumpkin into a perfect jack-"E"-lantern. it's funny how much we treasure the little things with her like carving her first pumpkin. we often wonder if we'll be the same with the other kids in the future. hopefully, we'll still take time to enjoy their firsts as much as we do with elle. she is such a curious little kid. of course we're a little bias, you can tell us if we're wrong.

since halloween was on a saturday we threw a kiddie halloween paloozza at our house before trick-or-treating. we turned the garage into a sparkling carnival game land, doughnut eating contests, pumpkin bowling, pin the broom on the witch and of course play-dough creation station. who knew it could be so easy to entertain kids of all ages and the adults at the same time. we were all cracking up as we watched the kids devour the doughnuts with just their teeth and tongues. elle even got in on the action and had her first taste of SUGAR! thanks grampie!!

we had blast watching our friends' kids enjoy themselves and fellowship with good friends. my parents even joined us for the festivities. it was so fun to have everyone there. great memories once again!

fall birthdays

with 10 adults and 7 grandchildren it makes it hard to get together for "everyone's" exact birthday so here's the fall birthday clan. (with a few helpers for blowing out the candles...i.e. ryan!)
ok, so here's the run down of birthdays:
matt - 36 (i think)
josh - 28
olivia- 7
garrett- 5
matilyn - 4
ellery - 1
we had a great time visiting with my family and elle even learned to climb stairs while we were there. she took one look at the staircase and UP she went. (video to come!) she is definitely a mover. we also took some family shots of each husband and wife for my parent's family photo album. obviously josh and i did not discuss what we packed for the trip...check out the embarrassing photo below. pretty sure that one's going to be in the album for some time. so typically!

the birthday gang + ryan

G-man loves his Star Wars Lego set...enjoy the tiny pieces dad!

what's up littl' buddy?

ahhh...matilyn

yep! that's embarrassing!!

GR 1/2 marathon

we've been quite busy lately from keeping up with our jobs & school to chasing after elle. so where did i find time to train for a 1/2 marathon you ask...well i didn't exactly train for this one. surprise, surprise right? actually surprisingly enough it was my personal best 1/2 time. 2 hrs. 10min. it was a great race with my sister, elizabeth.

our cheerleaders!!!

elle was quite the trooper, snuggled up in her stroller! she even took a short nap during the race.