I was smart this year. I had no desire to wait in long lines to see Santa Claus with my overly dramatic 5 year old or my squirmy, silly 19 month old. Instead, I left home at the end of the third quarter of the Iron Bowl and decided to see the big guy while everyone else was at home cheering (or scowling, depending on your team). I was nice this year. I let my hubby take BOTH tickets to the game, while I cheered from home and braved the mall with two crazy little children. Ella was really excited to talk with Santa this year and had really been practicing what she was going to ask him for. She decided that she didn't need (or have any room for) toys this year and wanted clothes, shoes and books instead. She knew she wanted to ask him for the entire Junie B. Jones collection and couldn't ...
sophie
mullet, meet bob.
On a whim last Friday, I decided that Sophie needed a haircut. It's her first "real" haircut, second only if you count the time Josh trimmed the pieces behind her ears! I couldn't bring myself to cut it and was quite enamored with her cutie-patooty pigtails. But, let's be honest... it was a bit of a mullet and was starting to be a bit embarrassing. This is what we started with. And really? Brittany brushed it out nice for the before picture, so you can't even tell how funny it looks. You can always scroll back to the pumpkin carving post if you want a reminder. I called SD to make sure he didn't mind and just as I had suspected, he let out a "Thank God!". She did such a good job and sat in the big-girl Hello Kitty chair like a champ. She kept saying "ow, ow" but I'm pretty sure ...
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? ...
Pumpkin Patch
Yes, I know it's November the 14th. We're just a little over a week away from Thanksgiving. In the interest of full disclosure I think it's only right that we recap Halloween first. What do you say? We were kind of late to the Halloween celebration this year. I don't know what is up with 2011, but I feel behind on just about everything. By the time I start thinking about a holiday it's practically over and we haven't even enjoyed it. Halloween was nothing different. We DID go to the pumpkin patch... the day before the big day! We loaded up after church that Sunday afternoon and spent a few hours enjoying the beautiful day. We ended up with three pretty pumpkins and two whiny girls. What's better, right? First up, the corn maze! It didn't take us long to cut through the side of the ...
Family Weenie Roast
Is it weird that we have family weenie roasts? If it is, I am SO glad we're weird. My parents have a rock fire pit in the back yard with big tree stumps to sit on. We had chili and potato soup and giant sticks to roast weenies and marshmallows. Revelation of the night? Roasted marshmallows are sticky, just ask Sophie! ...
Rodeo Cowgirl
This week, Ella got to enjoy her very first fall festival as a student. As luck would have it her dance class also performed in the rodeo themed show and did a tap dance from her first year as a dancer. It was beyond adorable to see them line up and dance for their friends - she was so excited knowing they were watching her. I was more excited about the fact that the booths were running out of candy and goldfish while my little one was strutting her stuff! Just in case you were wondering how well Sophie's lip was healing, here she is bouncing away in the moonwalk, oblivious to the gaping hole in her face. You would never have known she was four years younger than the other participants. She was running, turning flips and squealing at the top of her lungs! ...
Little Nugget
Since I'm not doing monthly posts now that Sophie is one, I decided maybe we should do a little update on what's going on in her world. It would probably make more sense to wait for Friday since she'll be officially 18 months old, but what's a few days, right? She was too sweet today and I couldn't wait to write about her. First up, stats. She weighed right at 21.5 pounds yesterday at the emergency clinic, but I'm not sure how tall she is. We have an 18 month well baby visit next week, so I'll be interested to see how she measures up. I still think of her as tall and skinny, but she is finally filling out. She has a round little belly and long legs. She can wear 12 months tops and dresses, but is in 18 months pants for sure. We have a few things for fall that are 24 months and I ...