Photographer Evie!

Since Evie was about one year old, she has loved taking pictures with our little Canon PowerShot digital camera ever since we bought our fancy Nikon. Once we taught her where to press the button on the top of the camera, she's been off and running taking pictures everywhere. We figured it's about time to feature her portfolio. Here are a dozen of our favorite pictures (Mommy has added some titles).

Angles on a House (2011)

The Affect of Children on Furniture (2010)

Girl, look at you at CVS (2011)

View from a Stroller (2010)

Shadows in the Backyard (2010)

Illumination in the Backyard (2010)

Lonely Baseball Pinata at Birthday Party (2011)

Blue Skies Ahead (2009)

Runner (2009)

Self-Portrait in Storm Door Window (2009)

Light illuminating all but dark Mommy figure (2009)

Empty Chairs (2009)

More pictures to come in the future!

We love to read!

The family decided to brave the cloudy skies and take a trip down to the city to check out the National Festival of the Book on the Mall. There we saw some storytellers, authors, and singers, but most importantly Evie got to meet the Cat in the Hat. She looks a little terrified here, but when we actually walked away from the Cat she had a big smile on her face.



At the PBS Kids tent, Evie enjoyed painting on the Electric Company mural and taking a smell test at the Sid's Science table. Hmmmm... what could this smell be?

Mommy and Evie work on designing some bookmarks together with crayons and stickers.

At the Target Book Nook, Daddy reads Evie a Curious George book that comes with a Curious George himself.


Ellie seems really into this story of a pig who would dream big which was written by Kristi Yamaguchi.

She looks straight at daddy while Mommy reads on.

Hmmm... she also seems fascinated with her "I Read Today" sticker. Here's to reading everyday!

The last birthday...for another 10 days or so.,.

This Wednesday was Mommy's birthday, and we had a lovely dinner with Ba and Opa to celebrate. Everyone enjoyed the chocolate cake after Mommy and Evie had blown out the candles.


Mommy and Ba pose for a picture.
Evie seems particularly excited about her $50 bill, but Mommy explains that it won't be going into Evie's piggy bank!


Ellie watches with wide eyes all the birthday excitement. Hey, she says, when do I get one of these?!?


Evie gives Mommy a big birthday kiss after she opened her card, which Evie had composed herself. Evie is getting very good at signing her name and also writing other letters and words, like "mom" and "love".

Whew! What a day/night! Mommy looks wiped out but still enjoys holding little Ellie in her lap.

We followed the yellow brick road...

What a lovely visit we had in Philadelphia and New Jersey this weekend. On Saturday we were so lucky to celebrate Amelia's very special 2nd birthday at Smith's Park. The theme of the party was Wizard of Oz, one of Amelia's and Mel's favorite movies. Above, Amelia admires her Dorothy birthday cake dressed as Dorothy herself.

Aunty Lillian and Aunty Mel with little Ellie. Baby Ellie had lots of smiles for everyone, while Mommy stuffed her face with rainbow rice krispie treats. Yummy yummy.

Amelia digs into the delicious rainbow cupcake which was topped with a ruby slipper.

...Evie had about five of them. Well, that's an exaggeration - between the whole family we had about five of them.

Amelia loved touching Evie. She stroked her cheek and then told Mommy Mel "I am being gentle, Mommy!" That she was! Check out Amelia's blog for more pictures of the awesome party!

Then we returned home to Bebe and Popi's new house in Wall and celebrated Mommy's, Daddy's and Evie's birthday with delicious chocolate/vanilla cake!


The next day Ellie got some quality time with Popi. She was fascinated with Popi's voice.

Eyes wide open (and with a little mohawk).


Ellie takes a nice nap on Beanie, content as content can be.


Evie, on the other hand, was a bundle of energy. She liked showing off her ballet moves.

Take us out to the ballgame!

On Labor Day the family (sans Daddy who was at Telluride for another successful film festival) was off to the Nationals ballpark with our $5 tickets for family day. Evie got to ride on Opa's shoulders just like Mommy used to do when she was a kid!


Even Ellie was getting into the excitement - there were four home runs by the Nationals and they ended up winning against the Dodgers.

Evie digs into her ice cream sundae - the thing she was most excited about at the game!

Ellie prepares to do the wave from the Red Porch restaurant - best seats in the stadium (well, better than the cheap seats).

Ellie, Ba and Opa cheer during the President's Race - it was TJ's day to win.

Ba and Evie pose with the Geico Gecko. Looks like he lost a finger from an enthusiastic high five.

We always said Opa looked like Abe Lincoln - what do you think of his doppelganger?