Halloween Costume Rehearsal

So I apologize for all the posts of the kids in their costumes but I swear Halloween lasted for three weeks! When Jack's costume came in the mail he couldn't wait to try it on. He did get shy though after he saw himself in the mirror wearing it and I wondered if he would really actually want to wear it when it came time. I worried for nothing though because we definitely put great use to the costume and definitely got our money's worth!

And don't worry... even though she didn't have her costume on Ella made sure she posed a few times for the camera!

Amazing

Sometimes I really do have to wonder how we have managed to keep her alive this long? She is going to be one tough little cookie thanks to the boot camp on survival her brother has put her through in her first two years of life!

JaCk-O-lAnTeRnS

(I know it's blurry but can you see Jack's little nose right squished up to his Jack O' Lanterns nose?)

We carved our pumpkins at the beginning of the month because Jack just could not wait! They had so much fun with Dad carving the pumpkin and then we baked the seeds. It always surprises me what Jack remembers from the previous year because he is the one that insisted we bake the seeds like we had last year. We hadn't even mentioned it and he definitely remembered doing it!

Pumpkin Patch

Once again this year we were able to go to the pumpkin patch at Grandma Rosie's house. The kids have so much fun looking all over for the perfect pumpkin. Grandma Rosie was actually taking her preschool class there on a field trip so we tagged along with the whole class. All the kids just love Ella and all want to help her do everything which she gets rather annoyed at because she thinks she is very self sufficient! It was a fun trip and we ended up coming home with some great pumpkins!

Of course though Jack's favorite part was checking out all the sprinklers and trying to turn them all on! He is obsessed with sprinklers! We actually had to start yelling at him to leave the sprinkler alone and look for a pumpkin! He is easily entertained sometimes!







I just love this picture.... she thinks she is totally 4 years old just like the rest of them!

Macaroni & Cheese

Mac N' Cheese

Every kids favorite right?

It's no different at our house... both kids love to eat Mac and Cheese. Last week I whipped some up for lunch and we all sat down to enjoy. Jack finished first like usual and Ella and I stayed at the table eating our lunch. Several minutes later Jack yells from the living room "How time you will help me get this out of my nose?"... I whip around and say "WHAT is in your nose?" You guessed it macaroni noodles! I searched for my tweezers after trying to get him to blow them out to no avail. Once I got the tweezers I quickly learned how soggy a snot covered macaroni noodle actually is. Everytime I would get a hold of the noodle which was WAY up there the piece would break off. After 10-15 minutes of trying I was starting to sweat a bit. Am I actually going to have to take my kid to the doctor to get his lunch out of his nose??? I called Julie who gave me a few ideas of how to get it out and went back at it. Finally I was successful after the noodles started itching his nose and he sneezed and launched the noodle closer to the nostril opening. Just as I pulled it out and gave a sigh of relief I noticed some noodle hanging out the OTHER nostril. That little stink had shoved noodles up both of his nose holes! Luckily the sneeze had also propelled this one forward too so it wasn't quite as tramatic to get out! After the relief of success in getting them out I started lecturing him on how we don't put things up our nose! I said "WHY did you do that?" Jack simply shrugged his shoulders and stated that he was saving them for later!! AHHHH what am I going to do with this kid?

Little Monkey

This happened a couple of weeks ago but looking back it was quite funny so I thought I should write it down so I don't forget. Jack was at school and Ella and I were running errands. I was making dinner for a neighbor and needed a few more ingredients so I ran into Wal-Mart quickly to grab them. I only had about 20 minutes before I had to be there to pick Jack up from school so I was really trying to hurry. We had only been in the store less than 5 minutes and Ella already started whining. I was hurrying to grab all my produce and rushed on over to the lettuce display. She continues to whine but I know she is securely buckled into the basket so I ignore her and continue looking at the bags of lettuce looking for the freshest looking lettuce. (I think Wal-Marts' produce always looks bad! Anyways...) All of the sudden I turn my head back to the cart just as Ella goes tumbling over the side.... it was like slow motion.... although with lettuce in hand I couldn't quite catch her. Don't worry though she fell over the side.... directly into the entire display of lettuce and then sort of rolled off again in slow motion onto the floor. I almost started to laugh out loud because it was funny and I knew she wasn't hurt. She started crying her best I'm so embarrassed cry as I scooped her and all the lettuce back up off the floor and continued on our way. Lesson learned.... the belt buckle in the shopping cart is not secure enough to ensure my monkey doesn't escape.

CatFish

So I am really late in posting these but I couldn't not put them on the blog! Ryan and Jack spent countless hours at the pond by our house fishing this summer and several fishing trips were successful in catching one of these ugly beasts!


Jack would talk for days about the catfish they would catch and tell every stranger we met all about his fishing adventures!


Occasionally we would follow up the fishing adventures with a white trash marshmallow roast. Since we don't have a firepit we improvised with our charcoal grill, we didn't have any roasting sticks so we tore a willow off our tree and finally we didn't have any big marshmallows so we stuck about ten miniature ones on the willow and roasted them up! Jack loved it but we discovered mini mallows aren't the best roasted... especially ones that have been in the cupboard for about 2 years!

CupCakes

I never thought I would have so much help in the kitchen. I thought cooking was difficult when I only had one helper. Now that Ella insists on getting right in there too it makes for quite the cooking experience!

Sleep Over

Pax thinks he is just one of the kids and always makes himself right at home!

18 Months

Our little Missy turned eighteen months and I of course am behind on blogging about it but I can't forget to write down some of the things she is doing right now. She LOVES playing with other kids. Jack never (and still doesn't very well) liked to play with other kids. He always did his own thing but not Ella Rose. She loves all the little neighborhood kids and gets right into whatever game or thing they are playing with. She still speaks her own language fluently. She can carry on a whole conversation complete with pauses for laughter and voice fluctuation and we have NO IDEA what she is saying. She does have a very limited vocabulary in the english language mostly limited to:
OWIE- (Can you imagine why she knows this one so well?)
NO
MINE
HAT
JACK
Hair
MAMA - (This one means "HEY YOU, I don't care who you are but get me whatever it is I am wanting!")
Bapa (Grandpa)
Mam-Ma (Grandma)
Deer
Nose
Dog
HI
Pax
Mow (cat)

She is our spunky little lady and it is so fun for her personality to start showing through. She still has no hair (grandma Rosie calls her fuzzy)but can point out where her hair should be along with that she knows her nose, ears and eyes.
While Jack is screaming to not go to school she is our social butterfly and is usually screaming when I won't let her stay at Jack's school!

She had her 18 month checkup the other day and she did fantastic. She had the dr wrapped around her finger and he couldn't believe how social she was being with him. The nurse on the other hand Ella now hates courtesy of the 4 shots she stabbed into her leg.
Overall we are just loving our little Ella Rose but I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up. Seriously, where did my baby go? This went by WAY TOO FAST!

Her Stats-
22 lbs - 28th percentile
31.5 inches - 46th percentile