Me and my crew

Look at this mess of kids. Sometimes I still can't believe they all belong to me. {Yes, I even claim the Hulk.}

5 Month Old Ella

I LOVE doing monthly photo shoots with Ella. She is definitely photogenic and it's fun to capture her growth and progress. (I wasn't going to post the shoots EVERY month but I just can't resist!)

This month was especially irresistible.  Check out these sweet little beauties.

As you can tell, Ella is a very happy, easy going baby.  We are thrilled because, for the most part, she lets anyone hold her. This is unprecedented among Shiflett babies.

 Just having fun with filters and I love this one. 

Kyle loved this picture of Ella lunching on her bunny.

 Ella's sibs always want in on the photo shoot action.

 Ella loves playing with her toes as this photo shoot most definitely proves.

Photographer and her beautiful subject.

{My hubby is gonna kill me when he sees this post 

as it will make it difficult when it comes time to "book" it.}  

4 Months Old Ella

I love my monthly photo shoots with Ella.

This particular one started out rough as you can see below. So we took a little breather and when we tried again we had success!

STATS

weight: 16.2

height: 26.5

head: 17.3

(I lost the paper for her percentages but I'm pretty sure she is in the BIG percentile.)

Ella is still waking up once or twice a night.  The days of all night sleep are long gone. (4-10 weeks old)  She is finally in her very own bed, in her very own bedroom.  I have never done that.  My other babies were in my room for two weeks tops. But alas, painting is hard and we are procrastinators AND

 I liked having her with me.

Ella is getting to be much easier in that I can put her down for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time.  She will even let her sibs hold her and entertain her.  Yay for getting something done.

She has gotten so chubby in the last month or so.  I so love a FAT baby!
Ella gives me "hugs" when I pick her up. She literally squeezes me wither arms and body and also nestles her face in my shoulder. Its lovely. 

Megan ADORES her sister.

A shot of her cuddly fatness.

 I absolutely love this picture of Megan taking the big sister roll and teaching Ella the importance of jewelry.

Sleeping Ella

What a sweet baby.

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Oh, this bunch. Love them.

Elvis' elf mischief. Of course the kids loved it.  

It'll be a sad day when I can't get away with 

these kinds of shennanigans.

Checking out the lights. We picked a perfect night. It was warm.

The kids found these tickets when the got in bed one night just after watching The Polar Express.
The thrill in their eyes was more than thrilling for me.
They got in the car with hot chocolate and popcorn waiting and a ride to see lights. 

It. was. awesome.

My cousin, Michelle's, "I Love Lucy" tree at The Festival of Trees.

Can you tell which one Megan decorated?

Aw, cuuuuute.

Our lovely, half burned out tree.

Daddy's birthday celebrated with homemade icecream cake.

 Of course, Christmas isn't Christmas with making a visit to see Santa Cow!

Gingerbread Graham cracker houses. 

I always dread doing it but always end up having a good time and the kids most definitely do.  

{And looking at Megan's snowman, you can see Daddy had a hand in helping...}

Christmas Eve jammies.

Before the tornado and after the tornado.

All I want for Christmas...

...is my 

TWO FRONT TEETH!