Our cousins head home and Corinne and Daniel head to Uganda!

On January 3rd Ellie had a doctor appointment. She loved their toys.

Mastering the skill of eating with a fork.

Bonding over breakfast.

The Girls

All the cousins!

After the Canches and Brusts headed back home we tried to help Corinne and Daniel prepare for their move to Uganda.

We both got haircuts

We went to the grocery store for lunch supplies

We helped pack up their Christmas tree

Packing is exhausting!

On January 13th we were sad to say goodbye but excited for them as they finally were able to head back to Uganda and start their work as Mr. and Mrs. Iya!

To try to help us feel better we visited Daddy at work. Ellie enjoyed trying out his current projects.

A mini-swing thing.

Another swing.

 Ellieisms:
In January Ellie continued using new words. Her favorites were more, uh-oh, Daddy, tickle-tickle, and no.

Stoltzfus Christmas 2013

Although it's been over two months, I have decided to post pictures from the Stoltzfus family Christmas and Christmas Concert. This year our family of three performed a piano "trio" at the Christmas Concert.  We did Christmas differently this year by splitting up the children Christmas and the parent Christmas. The adults opened gifts on New Year's Eve while the kids opened them New Year's Day. I really liked the new system.

The Twins rebonding

reading books to dolls 

Piano playing

Waiting for the concert to begin

All the girls except Maya 

They sang a quartet.  

A failed attempt at a cousins picture

Learning how to drum from the pro 

Adult Christmas! (how is this my only picture from the night)

 "Christmas morning"

Reading the Christmas story

Picture with the gifts

Ellie's cousins opening the pillowcases  

Kelsey thought it would work better as a sleeping bag

The twins with their backpacks from the Brusts

Waiting patiently for Dad to open her doll from Mimi

Trying out her table and chairs from Mimi and Pops

Christmas 2013

I am so far behind that I will just round up Christmas in this post with pictures and brief commentary.

We celebrated Mountz Christmas on the 23rd. Everyone went to Doug and Donna's house for lunch through until Ellie's bedtime. We enjoyed spending time with the Mountz family.

Ellie with her Mountz cousins

Serious about helping Dad unwrap his gift

Doll stroller rides by Grandpop

Christmas morning we woke up and opened gifts right away. I forgot all about the music, reading the Christmas story, etc. Oops! We turned on music while I made breakfast and read the Christmas story together. She played with her new toys (her play kitchen and crayons) then we went over to Mimi and Pop's house for dinner. 

Helping Daddy wrap his brother in law gift

Mimi gave Ellie an early gift 

Playing people post dinner

Mimi showing Ellie some toys

 Caleb and the Iyas were also at dinner. Following dinner Ellie fell asleep in a crib upstairs and Brie came over. We played some games and enjoyed a relaxing Christmas day.

Picture Update - December 2013

Since I am so far behind and cannot imagine trying to catch up day by day, I decided to look through my phone pictures and just give some commentary on what happened. Here's the first round: 

Ellie had her first shopping experience at Good's with their mini shopping carts. She loves shopping. 

Picking her cart

Browsing the merchandise

Heading to checkout

We celebrated Mimi's birthday by having dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma pulled out all the stops! I brought a chocolate cake and Corinne and Kelly brought other parts of the meal, but Grandma made the main dish. Maya joined in on the fun. 

Ellie and I tried to make our own Christmas wrapping paper. We colored enough for her Stoltzfus cousins' gifts before we gave up. It was taking way too long.

 We went to the farmer's market for breakfast one snowy day. Jon will appreciate this picture. 

Ellie learned how to bring wood in for the fireplace from the shed. She's a lot of help. 

 Daniel and Corinne babysat for us while we had small group and Daniel graciously took Ellie outside when she was begging, in spite of the below freezing temperatures. I think the blanket helped keep him warm.

Ellie started training for becoming a good housewife. We started with washing the dishes.

 Then we moved on to baking cookies.

 We made enough cookies for the cookie exchange Kelly and I hosted at her house for our Wednesday night Bible Study. 

Ellie discovered her love for Utz Sour Cream and Onion Chips. She will sneak them out of the cabinet for a snack.

 Ellie had her 15 month check-up (although she was technically 16 months by this time). I can't find her paperwork at the moment (ok, I haven't left the couch to try to find it) but I recall she was somewhere around 21 pounds and average across the board. But then again the lady who measured her height wasn't very accurate (her head wasn't very close to the board).

Ellie learned how to stay content while I'm shopping. She grabbed her book when she got bored at JoAnns.

 We took advantage of having the Iyas in town. Daniel and Corinne came over. Jon and Daniel got in several games of FIFA in December. 

 And Ellie taught Daniel how to play the piano at Mimi's.

Above: a video of Ellie from early December when she first discovered her love of Life cereal.