In Ella’s world pigs are the second coolest animals on the planet — after dogs of course. She was pretty excited to see all the pigs at the Minnesota Zoo.

The tractors were pretty cool too.

Ella is not only walking, but running these days. She keeps everyone on the move!

Her new hobby is sliding. If there is a slide she’s going down — usually by herself — who needs mommy!

That’s all for now. The Bug is off to San Francisco at the end of the month with Mommy and Aunt Christina. Napa won’t know what hit it.

Yep. We’re five days late on this post, but we had a party to recover from! The Bug celebrated the big 1 with lots of family and her very own cake. You can see all the messy action here, here and here

The weekend kicked off with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Cothran, Aunt Colleen, Cousin Anthony, and Aunt Laura.

Grandma brought Ella a super cute birthday dress

Complete with her first bow — such a girl!

She got lots and lots of toys — see all the action here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (videographers we are not!)

Some she shared

And some she didn’t

She LOVED her cake

And had to get a birthday bath

Great Grandma Chapin came too. And showed Ella how she should act 94.5 years from now

Aunt Connie, Unc and the Haugens also shared in her special day.

Daddy of course took some formal pics

And even got a few with the him and the Bug!

Thank you to everyone who shared in our day. It was so special having all of you with us!

This is a post for Grandma and Grandpa who are high up in the Andes and away from their Web cam for two weeks! First we have a video of the Bug trying out her new skill — walking. She took her first steps in the beginning of May and would whip out three or four steps in a row every now and then, but it took a play date with her friend Lily to bring out her competitive streak and move across the room.

We also had a special visit from Tim’s Aunt Teresa, Uncle Rob and two of their Kids Sam and Ryan. They were in town for two days to enjoy the Mall of America and to have Sam’s senior pictures taken. They treated all of us to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and Ella couldn’t get enough of the robotic monkeys.

Ella had to get in on the senior picture action

And show Ryan her truck

And get lots of love from Aunt Theresa

And pose for a few pics in front of her favorite door (Knoke’s Candy Store)

We all loved having the Pinnicks here. Thanks for coming guys!

Ella’s getting bigger every day and doing lots of big girl stuff –like walking her dog.

She’s also getting cuter by the day too. Here are a few updates from her latest photo shoots (10-months-old!)

For those of you who haven’t seen Ella in action recently, here is a clip of her helping mommy finish up our new front garden.

Ella also celebrated her first Syttende Mai with Great-Grandma Chapin and found her new favorite food — romegrot!!

So Good!

On a significant note, Ella took her first four steps as few weeks ago — while mommy was in NYC — of course!

We’ve been busy around here. Spring has finally sprung and Ella can’t get enough time “OUT” (her new favorite word)

She is busy helping Daddy get the truck ready…

and wondering when Daddy’s going to modify her ride

This thing is not all terrain!

Daddy’s been practicing his photograpy skills and Ella’s been making some friends during the process.

Ella’s also learning to swim. Here she is all ready for her first lesson

She’s also been busy going with Daddy to gymnastics. She has an unusual way of making friends, but it seems to win people over

The time at the gym has really paid off. Her stair climbing abilities are second to none

Grandpa Chapin paid a visit and nap time has never been so much fun.

More to come next week. Ella is invited to her first birthday party, Grandma Chapin is coming to visit and Mommy is leaving for New York City!

Just try and resist me bunny! My cuteness will make you leave me sweet treats and lots of toys!

Tim here - I know I’ve been gone for a long time. No excuses really, so I’ll just get to the point of this post. Since our trip to the Como Conservatory I’ve made a couple of observations I’d like to share with you. I’m just going to put these out there, cause I don’t think words will do them justice.

#1.

#2

That’s right….I compared my baby to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Marilyn Monroe in the same post. This could of course have wide-ranging implications if she were ever to read this. The fact that she’s wearing a “bunny suit” in the Monroe comparison definitely doesn’t help things,  so we’ll just have to delete this post before she’s able to read. Problem solved.

On her first trip to the Como Park Conservatory Little Bunny Fufu had a thing or two to tell the good fairy…

Once she was done telling the good fairy what she really thought, we managed to get a few good pics…

At least it’s springtime somewhere in the great white north!

Ella’s getting pretty good at photoshoots these days. She sees the camera and knows just what to do. Here are a few of the highlights from her seven-month sitting: