more pictures from California trip

Christmas in California

We had a great trip to California to see the Eisenberg side of the family.  This picture shows all six grandchildren, plus 3 parents.  Others not pictured are Daniel, Sarah, Louis, David, Oma (Helene) and Opa (Robert).  Eve and Ella were giddy around their cousins, just like they were in Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving. Eve has been taking her pretend play to a new level of sophistication.  She especially likes to be the parent figure.  A funny example: she created a scenario where she was the mommy and Oma was the baby, and when Oma said something, she scolded Oma, "No, babies can't talk!"  Eve clearly likes to be in charge most of the time, although she also enjoys playing the baby role at times (undoubtedly as a result of seeing the attention Ella often gets).  Meanwhile, Ella is still on the cusp of walking--she has taken a couple shuffle steps, and she can stand for 30+ seconds.  Ella has also started saying more distinct things, especially "Ma-ma-ma-ma," which is usually in the context of wanting Mommy and/or food, "Da-dee" (can reject the null hypothesis that this is uncorrelated with the presence of Daddy at p=0.08), and "ba-ba-ba" (cannot reject the null hypothesis that this is completely random).

stars align

On December 10, 2011, Ella and Eve smiled and looked at the camera at the same time. The earth shook and the moon twinkled. Haley's comet felt a twinge of jealousy.

rewind a couple months

A few pictures from back in October and November...the first two are at the Toledo Zoo, where we will be returning many times.

 

visit to Tulls' house

Over Thanksgiving we visited Rebecca, Travis, Samuel, Luke, and Gwen in Somerset, PA.  The 5.5 hour drive went well both ways, although Ella made her displeasure known a few times.  Somerset is a beautiful rural location in the foothills of Western Pennsylvania, and Rebecca and crew were wonderful hosts. Probably the best part of the trip was seeing Eve so engaged in play with her older cousins (Samuel is 5, Luke is approaching 4.)  They did a lot of pretend play, especially related to swimming pools and food preparation (though not necessarily in combination?).  Samuel was especially attentive and patient with Eve, and was even willing to let Eve lead the show at times.  This bodes well for our trip to California in a couple weeks, when Eve will be able to play with more cousins. Below is a picture Rebecca took of Eve with Samuel and Luke.

Sorry for long time without a post! The girls have kept us busy.  Ella is on the cusp of walking (can stand easily and has taken mini-steps before falling ever so gracefully) and loves gnawing on apples.  Eve is in full holiday spirit as her birthday and Christmas approach.