Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful and I was so busy enjoying the day with my little helpers that the camera was never by my side. Instead, I decided to give you a little recap with Instagram photos instead. I hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours! {kitchen helpers / big girl bed / early morning cartoons / sausage balls} {Macy's Thanksgiving Parade / silly girl / chocolate chewy bars / my full plate} {feeding herself / post-lunch football / plenty of leftovers / afternoon campfire} {girl time / playing outside / snuggling by the fire with mommy / impromptu family photoshoot} Believe it or not, Ella was in attendance, but she's so independent these days and spent the majority of her day outside with the big kids! ...
holidays
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving from my CRAZY big family to yours! ...
Owl + Ice Cream
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Pumpkin Guts
Not long after church on Sunday evening, both girls were ready to dig into our pumpkins, very eager to help. They were not sure what they thought about the pumpkin guts. And certainly did NOT want to touch it or help in any way! Ella wanted to carve a face this year and picked a pattern out on the web. She even had a hand carving it herself! Didn't it turn out spooky and perfect? ...
Only a Month Late!
Now that it's time for school to start and schedules to be regulated, I'm missing our long and lazy days at the pool. It's hard to believe that Independence Day was over a month ago. It was probably my favorite family holiday of the summer. I love days where the girls are content to play with their cousins and I can spend some time with my sweet sister. We read a LOT and as you can see, drank plenty of DP. This girl feels the need to pose for every picture. It's making me dread the age of thirteen even more than I already was. She also decides to boycott the water from time to time and spent plenty of the afternoon coloring bricks on the pool walkway. These girls are such sweet buddies. UNTIL they've been together for about two hours. After that, Ella will tell me that she ...
Easter
Although Easter was really late in the season this year, it seemed to sneak up on me. I had been thinking about the girls' baskets for weeks and all of a sudden I had a mere days to finish them up! Luckily, I had been taking good notes and Ella had been making many requests over the previous weeks. I am not a huge fan of candy for the kiddos, although they do get sweet treats. Instead of loading up on sugar, I usually shop for things that I would be buying them anyway. This year, Ella got a beach towel and bathing suit, silver sandals for spring/summer, a cute quilted purse that she spotted several weeks ago at a local shop {thanks, Sue}, some alphabet flashcards and the movie Tangled. There was also some candy, bubbles, kaleidoscope and hopping chick. Sophie got a beach towel, bathing ...
Dye Time
What's Easter without eggs? At first I felt a little guilty when my mom volunteered to help the girls with their eggs on Good Friday while I was working. Then I reminded myself how much I hate dying eggs and forgave myself for missing out on Sophie's first experience. I'll do it next year when she can follow directions! I remember dressing the girls really cute that day, knowing there would be pictures. When I got home and saw that Garan made Ella wear a t-shirt as a smock I cracked up. Oh well. Apparently, I bought the cheapest dye known to man because there were only three heinous colors and even uglier stickers. They are lucky I didn't see this before the dye process. I might have bought something else and postponed this little shindig! Then I reminded myself that this was ...
Eighteen
The day before Easter, Gran I took the girls to the annual Easter Egg Hunt at a local church. The number of eggs {and children!} was astounding. Since this was Sophie's first Easter, I didn't register her to hunt eggs, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a wonderful time. First up was the Easter Bunny and Ella really surprised me by walking right up to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled so big for the camera. This is a HUGE accomplishment for her... she is a scaredy-cat. Sophie, on the other hand, was a little timid and refused to be held by him. We let her stand next to him like a big girl and eventually got a smile {although I didn't manage to capture that}. Next there was face painting, which was actually just blush & eyeliner. SUCH a great idea. Ella ...