Prayers to the Northeast!

Hurricaines are devastating! I've worried about my sister through many and we cancelled our trip to NY last year due to a hurricaine. Sandy is HORRIBLE! We've been watching CNN and checking Facebook for updates! Joe's side of the family is in the path! Be safe! Keep us posted when you can!

Picture this

I carried a roughly 25 lb pumpkin into Ella's school, up the stairs and into her class!!!  Hilarious!

I'm a Mean Old Witch

Trick or Treat at the lacrosse store

Ella put on Tinker Bell again and we headed to the lacrosse store.  They attempted a Trunk or Treat with little turn out, but they had a haunted tunnel and candy for the kids!  Ella went through the tunnel with Bat Woman and was proud and had fun!

Joe is begging them to begin girls lacrosse earlier for his girls!  The store owners have a little boy born a day after Ella.  They met and Ella was sure eying his marshmallow shooter!

We went out for wings which Ella ate a LOVED and then out for ice cream!  I had the pumpkin milk shake I've been craving!

Happy 4th Birthday Abby!

Abby and Ella both joined the daycare at about 9 months of age.  They were just becoming great friends when we left the daycare and I left a note for Abby's parents stating that Ella mentioned Abby alot and we would be leaving daycare for a while.  We did some playdates and have all become awesome friends!  I made a cute book of Ella and Abby pictures from the last 3 years and it was a hit!

The swimming venue was PERFECT!  The kids had a blast!

It was fun to watch them work together!

I think they were teaching eachother things
they've learned in swimming lessons!

Boo at the Zoo

It was COLD, it was CROWDED, and we didnt' last long!  Joe approached it as a race and I was 20-100 steps behind!  We skipped the first few booths and ventured to the less crowded areas.  We had the amazing experience of watching the baby elephant, Zuri, do her tricks!  It was awesome to see!  We did a quick loop and made our way through the crowd at the beginning and came home with enough candy to please Ella!

I'm excited for Zoo Lights this year!  The set up has begun and the new areas of the zoo should be really cool.

Bring it!

We have an event-filled day!  I've been up since 3:15!  I did get back in bed and sleep a little bit at 5, but Ella was up early and then I couldn't get back to sleep!

Ella had her Tinker Bell costume on before 6!  Her nails are full of glitter and her hair is in 2 french braids leading to a "ball" in the back!  She HAS to have a ball like Tinker Bell!

We have Boo at the Zoo followed by ballet and a swimming birthday party!  We are going to try to make the neighborhood party this afternoon as well.

I'm hoping the events commence with a nap at home, but we'll see!

I love this girl!

I'm gonna be a witch!

I blame all the fun activities they do at school, which I am honestly thankful for, but Ella expects the same enthusiasm at home.  This big prego lady has ZERO energy left at the end of a 9.5 hour day of work!

Ella wants to decorate EVERY room in our house!  Every room has to be SCARY!  I told her this weekend I'll find more of our decorations and we can go shopping for a few more.  I think I can make some spider web go a long way!  We did hang a ghost decoration and made some additional milk jug ghosts with lights!

She has also been begging me to dress up on Halloween.  I stole a friend's idea.  Black dress, witchy tights, and a black hat!  Done!  I ordered some purple/black striped tights and a hat tonight.  They SHOULD arrive by Halloween! 

We were Boo-ed

We have some fun kids on our street!  Last year we were ding-dong-ditched with a bag of candy and cute note.  Monday morning as Ella and I left in the dark for our day we found a pumpkin bag of treats.  Joe brought the bag in and I forgot about it.

Last night he described the bag to me a little bit.  "Ghost peeps, chocolate candy and a note to hang on our door or something".  This morning he gave her a Ghost Peep (yep, bribe to get out the door). 

Tonight I saw a bag of graham crackers and asked why they were out.  Oh, those came in that bag.  I looked further to find a giant Hershey's bar (opened and partially eaten)!

Really, Joe?  I love you, but SERIOUSLY!

He completely missed the theme of the Halloween S'mores!  When I asked what he thought the graham crackers were for, he replied, "I thought they just wanted to include something more healthy!!!". 

Do you boo or have you been boo-ed?  Here's a great link to get you started!  Ella's not quite ready to get it, but maybe next year!  What a fun tradition!

Maybe she'll be a runner?

Ella has been on our treadmill a few times!  She knows we use it (not enough) and has always been curious.  Today it was SERIOUS!  She walked/ran for 15 minutes (through an episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the iPad) TWICE today! 

Our treadmill got the boot from the baby room and we don't think we can fit it down the stairs to the basement, so currently, it resides in our patio!  After my recovery I want to be able to use it and now that Ella has such interest, we're going to have to find a home for it this winter when the patio won't work!

She LOVED it!  Joe was with her and had the safety stop on her.  She did awesome!  He pushed her at the end with a run and she was so proud to "finish and win"!  I heard her say, "I'm tired", but she pushed through the end and the 2nd workout was HER idea!  She said, "I need to get my exercise!". 

This may be our solution for her energy this winter!  She'll be 4.5 years old next summer and I think we will get her into some races!  She'll even be old enough for the triathlon camp at a rec center near us!  Last summer at swimming lessons she was so intrigued by their training activities!

If you've spent any amount of time with Ella, you will understand!

Someday when Ella is a star runner....I can break out this picture and announce she began her career at age 4!

*** she's still in her PJ's and she's wearing Keens.  It was 7:30 AM

*** I would NEVER take a single step on that treadmill with the neighborhood watching!

*** Lisa, you had a 4 year old sympathizing with you this morning!   Congrats on your 1/2 marathon!

Pumpkin Festival

We went to Cornbelly's this morning with Ella's best bud and her parents.  We were running late and then had a hard time finding the place...but it was awesome!  I kept wondering why we hadn't gone there in the past....but I know why.  Jumpers and too many kids were not an option for Miss Ella!  We've made up for lost time in the past almost 6 months and I often forget the "helmet days" or as Ella would say "bad days"!

It was fun and will become a fall tradition for us!  There were slides and jumpers and corn mazes....but I missed all that in my pictures!  Will my photo journalism skills ever come back? 

Miss Energy didn't have time to stop and pose!

Hi Girls!

The Cow Ride

I love how much fun these two have together!

Ella's cow didn't have a seat belt.  Her cow appeared
empty when they arrived back.  We started to panic, but
the stinker was just hiding in her cow!  At this point I
could breathe again!

Snacks and a chicken show!  Ella liked the hay, Abby
wanted to keep her costume clean.  It works!
Abby likes my snacks, Ella likes Abby's Mom's snacks!
At least they are predictable!

Adorable pumpkin carriage and horse

Dresses and a stage!  She LOVED it!

Then she found the microphone stand hidden next to the
stage!

She sang for over 10 minutes!  This was the most time she
stayed in one place the entire day!

Acting out Sleeping Beauty!

Roashed Marshallows

Ella has been begging for roasted marshmallows!  She sees the bag in the pantry and always wants to open it and I say no.  She also found a new roasting stick and then she was really begging....

Last night was the first night in weeks that she slept ALL NIGHT in her bed and didn't wake us up until 6AM!  We were thrilled!  She won herself a lot of praise, a new princess tattoo (Ariel, of course), and an evening fire with roasted marshmallows!

She keeps saying, "let's roash marshmallows or roashed marshmallows"! 

It cracks me up and I did find myself correcting her a few times, but it's too darn cute!

Word World

Ella has found a new show!  We randomly had PBS on a few weeks ago and World World came on.  She stopped what she was doing and watched the show.  When it was over she asked to watch it again.  I figured out what it was and set the DVR.  This was a Friday and it wasn't on until the following Monday and I told her it wouldn't be ready to watch until next Tuesday! 

Like clock-work that Tuesday, she said, "Is today the day for Word World?".  Seriously....I need to give HER my to-do list and grocery list!  I barely remember what I went into a room for lately!

The show is cute and super educational!

Go Ella!  Your TV time is limited and I'm super proud you're choosing to learn during your TV time!

Yesterday she was painting and was drawing W's.  She told me that they were for Water and if she turned the paper over then they were M's for Mommy.

I LOVE watching her learn and be so proud!

Thank you PBS and I sure hope you stay around!  We NEEDED Sesame Street for a few years and now we are finding more and more shows to enjoy!

Nuffin' and Zero

Even today I still laugh when I think of the conversation yesterday.  We left Gardner Village with all the witches and stopped by Culver's.  I LOVE the frozen custard and I'm rarely anywhere near Culver's so if we're close, I often stop!

We asked Ella if she wanted ice cream and she was over tired, fiesty and demanded a slushie!  We said they didn't have slushies, so could have ice cream or nothing!  She suggested we go elsewhere and find a SLUSHIE!  She lost.

We left the drivethru with ice cream for me and Joe. 

She said, "I GOT NUFFIN'!?!!".

We both cracked up laughing...and I can still laugh today.  I stopped laughing and explained that she said she didn't want ice cream!

Joe had asked for an extra spoon and he shared and she didn't just get nuffin'!!!  The high fat/calorie custard did the trick and she was asleep before we got home!  A full-sugar slushie would have kept her going!

She also LOVES to answer yes/no questions with "zero" instead of saying no or no thanks!  I'm glad she's finally learned the number zero and it's concept, but it's kind of annoying!

Ella's 4th Birthday

October 14th is HERE!  She's been waiting and waiting for the day to REALLY be 4!  It's been a fun 3 days of parties and she pulled the "it's my birthday" card a few times today! 

Birthday Princess

All Smiles!  "Can I wear this to school tomorrow?"



"I wished and wished for this!!!"



I learned there isn't a donut shop between home and
church!  Starbucks to the rescue!



More gifts!

Yee Haw!!!



Lunch at Texas Roadhouse!





We visited the witches at Gardner village

All the shops were closed and it wasn't crowded, so
Ella could RUN!

Who's as big as the pumpkin?

Smile with Daddy and then you can JUMP!

Leaping off things is one of her favorite activities.
I just hope it isn't the playground again!!!

The Ariel Party!

Our day began at 5AM!  There was just too much excitement to sleep!  My plan was to have a quiet house so I could finish the details and get ready, so I sent Joe and Ella out on errands including picking up the balloons.  Ella said, "No, YOU have to go get the balloons and then bring them home to surprise me....It's MY birthday!".  100% MY CHILD!  LOVE IT!  She finally agreed to go along!

We invited all 11 girls from Ella's class.  Five RSVP'd and 5 really showed up!  It was a perfect size for this age and awesome to meet the moms.  Some of them I KNEW, but didn't know they were the moms of the kids!  I was so paranoid more girls may show up, but everything worked out perfectly.

Miss Excited was FULL of energy and literally BOUNCING as her friends arrived.  Ariel was spotted circling the block and then arrived perfectly on time!  The girls were in awe!  It took a bit for the younger ones to warm up, but I think they all loved her!

Ella and Abby were the Disney fans who could identify the princess by the song Ariel sang!  Ariel exceeded our expectations by miles!  She looked great, was awesome with the kids and had an amazing voice!  She entertained 6 toddlers for an HOUR and kept pulling trick after trick out of her basket!  I highly recommend Pirate and Princess Parties. 

We're READY!

Smile Princess!

My girl!

This is how everyone could find our house!

She was sooooo excited, she couldn't stop moving!

Ariel INSTANTLY had their attention!

Happy girls!

Ariel read her story

Learning to walk like a princess

So very serious!

Twirling

Group photo.  Ella couldn't take her eyes off Ariel!

Everyone had a photo with Ariel

Then Ella wanted one with ME and Ariel! 

Playing games

Awesome cake made my Grandma Dorothy! 
Beautiful and delicious (and guaranteed
peanut free for Ella's best bud - first time she had
birthday cake at a party)!!

More games!

Ella was so happy she was singing!

Eventually ALL the girls were participating!

Proud birthday girl!

Ariel sang her "happy birthday"! 

The candles were out before the song was over!