Monday, October 28, 2013

Fall Family Fun

We have kept ourselves very busy lately with different fall activities!

This was at Family Night at the pumpkin patch at Carter's school.
The kids enjoyed the bounce house the most, and picking out a pumpkin to take home and carve.



On the hunt for the perfect pumpkin.
  Daddy carving our pumpkin the next night

"Whoa!"
Looks pretty good to me!
Enamored with our glowing jack-o-lantern

The kids dressed up in their costumes and enjoyed playing games at our neighborhood fall festival.

And we also enjoyed fall festival at our church..... 
games, hayrides, live music, and best of all, trunk or treating!



This car was the cutest decorated as the house and the characters from the movie Up (complete with a bundle of balloons!). This was my favorite, but there were so many fun and creative trunks. It was so much fun walking around looking at them all, and letting the kids do some trick or treating!
Carter and Carson
 The kids enjoyed painting and decorating pumpkins at a MOPS playdate last week, too.




As I said, we've kept so busy with all these fun activities, even with some illness going around our house. Hey, it wouldn't be fall without some yucky stuff creeping its way in, right? Unfortunately, I caught strep last weekend and spent the entire weekend nursing myself back to health. I did quarantine myself well enough those few days, though, that I managed not to pass it onto anyone else in our family, luckily. But then, the first day I started feeling myself again, I was attacked by horrible sinus/allergy problems. And everyone else was not lucky enough to escape those...... all 4 of us suffered from that in the last week. It's been a symphony of sneezing, nose-blowing, coughing, and some really hoarse voices around here! And, as if that wasn't enough, I was the lucky one who caught a stomach bug yesterday. So far though, no one else has shown any symptoms of that at all, and I think I can finally say that we are all on the mend, and hopefully we'll all be 100% this coming week. Eric has been amazing the last 9 or 10 days while all this has been going on. He's single-parented many of the last several days, and I cannot say how much I appreciate that man and what he does for all of us. All the time, of course, but especially when I'm out of commission. I hit the lottery with that one. :)

Looking forward to a fun Halloween, and hopefully a healthy November!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ella!

We had friends and family over this weekend to celebrate Ella's 2nd birthday. The party theme was pancakes and pajamas..... everyone came over for breakfast in their jammies! Mix in a little bit of playtime, opening gifts, and cupcakes, and you have the perfect day for a certain little 2 year old. She had been looking forward to her party for several days, and I know she really enjoyed herself.



 Breakfast with Mason

 Excited to open gifts!


 Sweet Lucy
 She loves Dora, and was very happy to see her!
 Carter and Gavin :)



Singing Happy Birthday.... despite the cautious look, she really enjoyed everyone singing to her. 
She had the sweetest little grin on her face the whole time.
 Blowing out two candles!
 Mmmmmmm.


 Sweet Dylan
Ella got her first pair of high heels, and it was quite humorous watching her walk in them for the first time! 

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us! Still can't believe our girl is TWO!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Our Baby Girl is 2!

Two years ago today, our sweet baby girl joined our family. It's hard to believe that much time has passed, but at the same time, it feels like she's always been here with us.
We spent the first part of the day around the house. Since the weather was pretty dreary and rainy, lounging around watching the Little Mermaid seemed like the obvious choice, especially since Ella just got it and Ariel for her birthday.

Later on, we headed to meet Daddy at the mall for lunch and some indoor fun. Ella had one of her favorite meals for lunch, pizza, and finished it off with a chocolate chip cookie.


Next up.... carousel rides, times two.
So fun!!
She couldn't get enough!
Then we went to the play area for some playtime before heading home to rest. Later on after dinner we enjoyed some left over cupcakes, and Ella got to open up her gifts from Carter and us. She played and played with all her new baby doll stuff until bedtime. I'm pretty sure as far as 2 year olds are concerned, it was a perfect day!








Ella, we hope you had a wonderful birthday! We love you so, so much, and are so grateful to have you! You make each of our days brighter! Happy Birthday, big girl!