Thanksgiving at the Lake

This year we went to the lake for Thanksgiving. Despite our colds, we had a great time! There are just so many cute pictures so get ready!

Ella very excited to go to the lake

Miller fell in love with football


Of course Daddy was so proud!

Ella's first Smore


Ella loves Uncle Stephen!



Miller started saying "PaPaPaPa" every time he saw Papa! Papa is Miller's new favorite!

Miller's first Thanksgiving Feast

He loved it, especially the Stuffing!

Whew! What a weekend!

Thanksgiving Program

We reached a big milestone this past Wednesday, Ella was in her first school program! It was so great! As you might imagine, Ella was not the least bit shy and loved singing in front of everyone. Here are a few pictures from our budding performer.

If you look closely in these first two pictures, as you might expect with a two year old class, it looks like chaos. But if you notice, the chaos does not seem to bother Ella, she is singing loudly, and it looks like she is the only one singing!


This one is hard to see, but Ella has her hands cupped around her mouth so that you can hear her singing, "Gobble Gobble Gobble says the Bird"

Ella's good friend and partner in crime, Lucy. (we think they were separated for a reason!)

Singing "God our Father"


Although Miller was not in the Program, he still deserves a picture!

The Joys of Motherhood

Ella has gotten very lovey-dovey lately. She loves giving big hugs and kisses. It is soooo sweet and she has quickly learned that it can melt mommy's heart in almost any situation (especially during discipline, although I have developed a little bit tougher skin). The other night Murray was not home and I had already put Miller to bed so it was just Ella and Mommy for about 30 minutes. So, of course Ella wanted to read. We snuggled up in her chair and read probably 5 or 6 books (now her books are longer, so this was some good Mommy Ella time). In the middle of one of the books Ella reach up around my neck and leaned forward, so of course I thought she was leaning in for a big hug and kiss. I leaned forward and squeezed her. I was thinking this is just great! What a sweet girl we have. As she leaned forward to give me a "kiss" I realized something was not right. It took me a second to realize that Ella was wiping her nose on my FACE! Ella has gotten very particular about not letting her nose run. Since she did not have a tissue, I guess she thought Mommy's face was second best! Oh the Joys!

Blogger Anxiety

I have been having blogger anxiety. I don't know what it is but nothing has really seemed blog worthy lately. Well that is not true, this past weekend Natalie Craig came in town and we had a wonderful girl's weekend celebrating baby Jackson, but I did not take any pictures and I really don't like to post without pictures. But I don't know what my deal has been lately, I think of something to post and then second guess myself of it's blog-worthiness. So, don't loose faith in me, I will continue to post. I just need to take the time to step back and look at all that is going on in our life.

So, not to leave you empty handed, I have found this new blog that I love! To all you crafty, or want-to-be-crafty (this is the category I fall into), people, check out this blog.The Handmade Dress. She has the cutest ideas and lots of tutorials and downloads. I am not creative at all, but once I see something I am really good recreating and then making some twists. Enjoy!

Tinkerbell and Peter Pan had a great Halloween!



These two are my favorite pictures!


Grace, Miller and Ella

The Reddens (who Ella just loves!!!!) came by to trick-or-treat.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (baby Kelsey who is actually two weeks older than Miller. Miller is huge!)


Ella ending the night showing me all her candy. Can you tell she was loving it! The mean mommy that I am, I already threw it all away! I know, horrible. But Saturday was just horrible and Ella only had one small bag of M&M's. I figured the next month could be awful, always fighting the battle that sugar produces, or I could just solve the problem and get rid of the candy. Ella loved the candy Friday night and ate a ton of it and that was that. It was kind of sad today in the car she asked if she could have her roll up (fruit roll up) and I told her all the candy was gone. She seemed a little sad, but ok with it. Still, I have no regrets!

Growing Up

I don't know why this seems like such a big deal to me, but it is just another step towards growing up. Here is Ella in her first ponytail! It was so cute! But because of Ella's twenty cowlicks and very fine hair it did not last too long. She was so proud of her ponytail. She saw Kate Sterling wearing a ponytail at school the day before and wanted to have a ponytail "just like Kate!"

Pumpkin Carving