The Parrillo Family

Our little Sadie - or "SD" as I call her - crossed the seven month mark in mid-January. She sure is one happy baby.  She's now eating a lot of real food.  Cheerios. Mashed up veggies.  And guess who loves feeding her?  Her big sister Ellie!  SD's seventh month included her first Christmas and New Year's Eve (spent in Coloma with her Uncle Charlie) and her first snowfall. Sadie's hair is getting even longer and staying very curly but is distinctly darker than Ellie's was at this age.     Look at how different they are at the same age . If you are reading this in your email and can not see the photos below in the slideshow, click here to view them all on the site.

Our little Sadiebird crossed the six month line in December.  In the hubbub of Christmas, we didn't get around to sharing these photos until now - at her seven month benchmark. Sadie has been a joy to have in our life and brings so many smiles to our house on a daily basis.  If you can't tell from the photos below, it is *very* easy to make this little beauty smile one of her big gummy smiles. She's army-crawling all around our house, is sitting up in her high chair at dinner and even trying some real foods!  Her Momma has been busy steaming/puree'ing an assortment of vegetable treats that we've been giving Sadie each night.  It appears that carrots are the big winner. These six months have flown by, but each and every day she's here, makes me realize how special she is to our family.  We love you SD.  Can't wait to watch along as you grow up and become a big girl. Here's the post with photos of Sadie at five months - to show you how ...

This year, we had a visitor arrive at our house right after Thanksgiving.  He came to our family without a name and in the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition, after explaining what he was doing here, we asked Ellie what she wanted to name him.  She picked a name that we know from her cousin's fish:  Goldie. Well...with the help of an incredibly creative Momma, an excited Ellie woke up each morning during the Christmas season and went on a little treasure hunt to find her own personal elf Goldie.  Each night, Goldie flew home to the North Pole to report on Ellie and Sadie and how they were doing to Santa.  He came back every morning, but he was always in a different spot. Sometimes Goldie brought a note with news from the Big Guy.  Sometimes he brought Ellie and Sadie a little prize. It was sad to bid him adieu after Christmas, but we know we'll have another elf come back next November for the girls to enjoy. If you're reading this in your inbox and ca...

Eloise is THREE! I don't know how that happened. Its really become more obvious that she is less toddler, more kid. Her face is a little leaner, she can carry on pretty complicated conversation and she's becoming more coordinated. She is also becoming more independent. I hear "I want to do it by myself!" all day, in regards to getting dressed, going to the bathroom and making lunch. She loves to help! Sometimes her help makes things take a lot longer, but Jake and I are trying our best to include her. Eloise is also becoming so creative. Her imagination is growing like a wild, colorful garden. She will tell me about the conversations that she has with Sadie. No, Sadie cannot talk yet. Listening to her "read" to herself is one of my favorite things! She also loves, loves, loves books. If the books are about Disney Princesses (to differentiate from other princesses), even better. I love this age! Here are a few photos from her family and friend filled b...

Before Christmas 2012 got too far in the rearview window, I thought it would be nice to document a piece of our Christmas traditions:  Our Christmas train.  Or...as she likes to call it:  Ellie's Christmas Train. For the second year, we put up a Lionel train - but after doing a simple oval on the floor last year, with the help of Uncle Bill, we put up a 5x9 table complete with an overpass.  The whole train thing starts and ends with my father who has had trains throughout his whole life.  In fact, he has the locomotives from when he was just a little kids still!  Each year, at Christmastime, he would pull them out and we'd run them around the Christmas tree or in the basement.  That was until I became a teenager and I lost interest.  Fast forward 15 years and when Ellie was born, my dad gave me my own train set.  With a little help from his basement stash of train cars and buildings, I began to build our own line.  For the first time...