Baby Sister

In August, I went with my mom and Ella to visit my baby sister, Miranda, and her husband, Ryan, in northern California.  It was Miranda's 24th birthday and she had just bought a house.  Who buys a house at 23?  In California!  Pretty amazing.  The truth is, she's pretty amazing in a lot of ways.  I spent her childhood reminding her on a regular basis that I was her best friend (I was serious, by the way). By age 11 when I went away to college, she was totally convinced.  Now that we're both adults, Miranda really is one of my very best friends.  I admire her and am so proud of her.  She is smart, kind, creative and a good friend.

Another thing you should know about Miranda is that she is an artist.  She got all of the artistic ability that should've been divided between all 5 of us kids.  This was made very apparent when we decided to do a little art project and decoupage some letters for Ella's room.  My mom and I only lasted for like twenty minutes--my mom has a short attention span and I am too much of a perfectionist (and wasn't very good at it anyway).  But we were good moral support to Miranda and stayed up late watching tv with her while she finished the letters.  So really I guess we can take all the credit.  I also used to offer moral support to my sister-in-law Marci in Illinois while she made hair bows for Ella. I think I have a good thing going...

As a bonus, we got to see my sister-in-law Stefani (whom I also absolutely adore) and my niece, B.  They live about an hour and a half away from Miranda.  Ella and Bailey are arranged BFC's (Stefani's term--Best Friend Cousins).  I just love family!

Maybe not quite BFC's yet, but we're working on it...

Ella loves purses

Ella also loves playing the piano

(by the way, the art work in the background is from Miranda's BFA show--is she talented or what?)