One Year Photo Shoot

She's One!!!

Ellie 's one year photo session was....interesting.  The girl would not sit still for anything!  We had goldfish crackers and apples everywhere, balloons, headbands, and even the pearls from the strand she was wearing were strewn everywhere because she ripped it off.  The photographer was a saint and so, so patient with her.  I got quite the workout that afternoon chasing her all around.  Here are a few good shots we managed to get.

Getting cleaned up afterwards

CRASH.BOOM.BANG.

It was a dark and stormy night....

Just kidding.  Late last month I was headed back from a derm appt.  It was a dry, sunny, end of summer day.  The kind of day where I was eager to go pick up Ellie from "school" early and hang out in the yard.

Unfortunately, that never happened.  I was involved in a 4-car accident.  Basically, the first two cars were slowing down to make a left hand turn across traffic.  The third car (car in front of me) failed to see this happening and crashed into the car front of him.   Since all this happened so fast, by the time I saw his brake lights he was literally 15 feet in front of me.  We were all traveling about 35-40 miles an hour so at that rate I slammed right into him.

Instantly my airbags deployed and smoke filled my car.  I got out and felt pain creeping in real fast. I was put in a C-collar and attached to a backboard.    The police, fire dept, and medics arrived and took me by ambulance to the hospital to get checked out for injuries.

Hours and hours later, and after x-rays and ct scans, I was cleared to go home.  I am very grateful for only having minor injuries and that everyone else was able to walk away unhurt.  It took a couple of weeks for the pain and stiffness from the accident to subside but I count my blessings everyday and am so thankful Ellie was not in the car.

Unfortunately, the car was totaled.  It was a great car, reliable little fella, and paid off.  So after dealing with all the claim paperwork we decided it was time to buy another car.  And this is what we got:

We loved our old Maxima so we wanted to get another one and loved the new body style.  Plus, we were able to get a great deal on it across the state line in Pennsylvania so we went for it.

Pictures of our old Maxima:

Ellie's First Birthday

 

I cannot believe that my sweet (sometimes mischievious and monstrous) little girl is now 1.  Holy heck where did the time go?? How has it already been a year since the day we welcomed her into our lives?

I can still picture all of her teeny 6 lb 13oz body.  Her little bitty fingernails, the mounds of dark hair on her little head, and her swollen, squishy face.  Man....Dave and I always say that we hit the jackpot with her.  We just love her to pieces and are so blessed to be her mom and dad.

As active as Dave and I are, it was no surprise to many that Ellie would be traveling along with us all the time.  From day one she was in the car, on the plane, or out and about with us running errands, shopping, visiting people, and taking it easy.  She's already been on a plane several times.  The first was a trip to Kansas City at 10 weeks old to visit her Great Grandparents and all of her Vogliardo family.  The second time we flew cross-country from Boston to Seattle and then Portland to Boston.  Coming up next is her first international trip to Cabo San Lucas (change of plans) Hawaii!!!

She's been to many amazing places.  From being born on Cape Cod (not too shabby) to Fenway Park, Hood River, New Hampshire, Pike's Place Market, Philadelphia, and now living in New Jersey.

So to celebrate the fabulous life of Miss Ellie Reese we had a small party at our house with friends and family.  Anyone who has thrown a party for a 1 year old knows how exhausting it is!  But, we made it through and everyone had a good time.  Ellie of course was spoiled by many gifts but the biggest hit for her....balloons and ice cubes from the drink tub!  She couldn't get enough.  So we'll know for next year :)

She didn't seem too excited about the cake at her Cake Smash the day before so we opted to not bake another cake for her and just go with cupcakes.  But boy, did she tear up that chocolate cupcake or what?!

To commemorate her first year, we will be lighting a wishing lantern and releasing it with her.  I love these and will look forward to this tradition every year.

Here are some other pictures from our weekend.  Happy Birthday Ellie Reese!!!  We love you sweet girl!!!!

Playing with the boys

Throwing the football

Friends

Lots of balloons!!

Birthday kiss

Ha ha!!  Look at that face.  She looks terrified of the boys!!

Owen 

Present time

Matt's sweet fruit and veggie skills...thanks buddy!!!!

Finally wearing her converse :).....or eating the laces anyway

Happy to be ONE

Bella Marie Turns 1!

It's hard being the center of attention!  I'm sure we will capture a picture of the opposite at Ellie's birthday in a week.  Happy Birthday Bella.

Our dear friends Aline and Colin welcomed their baby girl Bella into the world on 9/23/11.  When we met her a few days after, she stole our hearts.  A couple weeks later Ellie arrived to play.  Those two girls are so darn cute together and have shared lots of fun times like baby yoga, holidays, birthdays, and hitting a bunch of milestones. Ellie was always trying to catch up to her "older" BFF Bella :)

Last week we drove up to Cape Cod to celebrate Bella's first birthday!  We left around 5:45 am to get through the City traffic before it got too bad.  With two quick pit stops I think we made itto the Cape in 6.5 hours...not too bad really. While we were there we were able to spend a couple days with the Pieroways, which is always a good time.  We took the kids to the Capron Zoo and Chucky Cheese (which I didn't know was still around), had lots of laughs and got to catch up with everyone.

Ellie hanging with the boys: William and Owen

Riding like a big girl!

Looking at the kangaroos

These two are birthday buddies.   I think Ellie loves him....look at that face!

On Friday night we stayed with our friends Dave and Lisa and went out for our favorite....Sushi!  It had been a while since we had good sushi so that was a must.  Then we spent the rest of the weekend at the Cape Wind Resort and at Bella's house for the party.  Everything was perfect.  The decorations were beautiful, food was fantastic, and the girls were just so cute.  I mean, really, how adorable is that tu-tu?!?!

Thank you Ryans for having us up.  Of course we'd never miss Bella's first birthday.  Love that sweet girl!!!!