Candy, Candy and More...

CANDY!!

It's not even Halloween yet and my daughter has received 5 treat bags full of candy. That makes for some very challenging nights at bedtime. I do limit her intake but as you moms know, a little goes a LONG way. Oh well, tis the season for sweet teeth! Plus, the potty bucket (a bucket full of goodies for going on the potty chair) has gotten very full and tempting.

Anyway, we were invited to a Halloween party at a neighbor's house so here are a few pictures from our evening.

Also, here are a couple pictures from this morning's Explorers class that Adelyn participates in every week. Isn't Adelyn's friend cute? She is an Ella, too! (BTW, I already landed her costume for Adelyn next year.)

Finally, I wanted to share a couple cute pictures of our Ella just being sweet as always.

We're looking forward to Halloween day so the girls can score me.... um, er, I mean.... score THEM some more candy!

Happy Halloween!!

Boo at the Zoo

It has become a tradition for us to attend the annual "Boo at the Zoo" even though there really aren't many animals out to see this time of year. Adelyn and Ella seemed to like getting dressed up and looking at the Halloween-decorated zoo, though. Here are a few pictures from our night. This is the first time I've had both girls in their costumes and I will definitely take more pictures of them next week as they have 3 more opportunities to get dressed up. Ella makes the most precious little pink caterpillar and her sister is a beautiful pink butterfly! :)

Ain't I Sexy?!

I came across a picture of me as a chubby infant. I think my dad is right... Ella does have my eyes. I'm afraid the poor little thing has mommy's figure, too.

Speaking of the little angel, here are a few pictures of our baby girl during some floor time today. Doesn't she look darling in a little sweater? Notice in one of the pictures how hard she is trying to crawl; then notice in another picture how she finally just gives up and sticks her thumb in her mouth. This is classic of Ella... but mommy isn't giving up!


You might also notice that Ella's hair is really starting to grow. Since it's stick straight, I'm not quite sure how to style it.... so it just kind-of awkwardly lies over her ears. I wonder if Britney had the same problem when she shaved her head. Maybe we should invest in some hair extensions? (Kidding.)

9 Months of Sweetness!

Our little Ella is 9 months old today! In honor of that, we had professional pictures taken yesterday. Poor little Ella was out of sorts, though, because she had a cold and the shoot was outside on a chilly day. We'll have to hope for a smiley baby during her 1 year shoot!

Here are 9 facts that you may or may not already know about our sweet 9 mo old:

1. Ella learned to clap today! (See pictures.) In fact, she has become a master imitator lately with sounds and hand movements. She can now say 'ba ba' and 'da da'.
2. Ella is STILL working on crawling. She'll bunch her little bottom up but then fall to the ground before rolling to her back. She's our lazy daisy- sometimes she'll just stick her thumb in her mouth and lay on the ground during tummy time.
3. Ella still very much loves to watch her sister. She thinks she is very funny and belly laughs when Adelyn is acting silly.
4. Ella is still a very good sleeper. She sleeps 8 pm to 7 am plus 3 naps during the day. She likes to have something soft in her hands while she sucks her thumb. When she is sleepy, she will lie her head down on my right shoulder with her thumb in her mouth.
5. Ella has an extremely large appetite for anything that will fit in her mouth as well as things that should not be in her mouth. I've given her pretzel sticks, bread, apples, etc. on top of her veggie and fruit purees and there isn't anything she has disliked.
6. Ella is a big fan of bath time. She gets super gitty when she enters the water and doesn't even mind a little water in her eyes.
7. Ella has definitely taken after her daddy's hair texture... she has super fine hair and it's difficult to keep bows in it. Somehow I manage, though!
8. Ella's first non-family friend is another little girl 2 months younger named Caroline. They love to sit up and stare at each other during their sibling's tumbling class. Ella was especially interested in Caroline's toes today.
9. Ella's personality is really taking off and we feel so special to have been blessed AGAIN with such a beautiful, sweet little girl!

Randomness

O.k... I have something to vent about that is totally random. If you'd rather not hear someone complain, feel free to skip this part and go straight to the pictures. :)

This morning, we had our weekly Explorers class at the Children's Museum. Today's theme was all about acorns and it became pretty apparent that the teacher was struggling to find activities that involved acorns. Understandable I guess... but even after spending half the class talking about next week's pumpkin theme and the exciting activities in store, our class was cut pretty short. Like 20 minutes short of a 45 min. class. Well, these classes aren't free so when I noticed on our way out that the other side of the museum was filled with all kinds of fun toys, stations, etc., why not compensate for the 20 min. by allowing Adelyn to explore? Besides, there were other kids and parents there so I assumed it was open to the public. So I and two other moms with their children didn't think twice about allowing our toddlers to join in on the fun. Then we got paid a visit by a mean old museum employee who said that our children were not invited to that part of the museum and that only those who are part of field trips could be there. Geesh, lady... our kids are 2 and they weren't bothering anybody. It took me everything I had not to tell her that I was simply trying to find time at the museum that I already bought! I'd like to think that me keeping my mouth shut and pulling Adelyn out of the play area (with her kicking and screaming of course!) was a sign of maturity on my part. Mean old museum ladies just aren't worth it!

ANYWAY... here are some RANDOM pictures of the girls over the last few weeks that I haven't already posted. Some are from Festive Fall Day when a clown made a poodle balloon to match Adelyn's shirt; a few others are from tumbling class including a picture of Ella with her playmate, Caroline, looking like twinkies in their matching sweatsuits (Ella just woke up so she looks a bit bewildered); some are from one of cousin Austin's soccer games; and the rest are of Adelyn making some poses for mommy including acting as a deodorant spokesperson!

Eckert's Farm

Our annual apple pickin' trip to Eckert's Farm was a blast. Hope you enjoy the slideshow I put together. There were just too many pictures to post... it was like photo op heaven out there!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Handy Andy

Sorry, Andrew.... I couldn't resist!

After a couple months of nagging from his wife, Andrew finally decided to throw together a baby gate for our soon-to-be-crawling baby Ella. Throw together he did! I think it matches perfectly and he didn't use a kit or anything. Seriously... all from scratch!

As Adelyn would say, "Good girl, Daddy!" :)

Leaves of Three...

Adelyn had her first class at the Children's Museum this morning and she had a great time! It is a fall themed month and today was all about apples. In light of that, one of the activities included crafting her own apple tree. See?

If you're wondering why some of the leaves are circled... there's a funny story behind that. When Andrew started to get an itchy infection on his arm, he insisted that it was not poison ivy. After all, he's never been infected and even once rolled in it as a kid and had no reaction at all! Then he saw a familiar picture on-line... he was cutting branches off a tree in our backyard the other day and evidently, it was covered in poison ivy. It's funny... he STILL won't admit that he is allergic to poison ivy. He said that he was infected only because he recalls being scratched by one of the branches which means that it was directly placed into his blood stream. Translation, Andrew: You are allergic to poison ivy!

In jest, I asked Adelyn to help me find the leaves on her tree that were poison ivy by using the popular phrase, "Leaves of three, leave them be." She found two all by herself!

So now we have a very crafty reminder displayed on our refrigerator to our sometimes stubborn man in our lives that even though he's not truly allergic to poison ivy (Rrrriight, Andrew)... you should look out for those leaves of three next time! :)

Our Little Pumpkins

Hope you enjoy the small slideshow below of the girls at the local pumpkin patch yesterday. Adelyn had her first pony ride (AKA "baby neigh") and this was Ella's first time at helping us hunt for the perfect pumpkin! :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

FABULOUS!

FABULOUS BECAUSE:

1. Adelyn loves to play with mommy's make-up when mommy isn't looking.
2. Adelyn has mastered where mommy's make-up goes on her face.
3. Adelyn has not mastered how to put lids back on mommy's make-up when she's finished playing with it.
4. Adelyn has a very unconventional way of applying the make-up (with the wrong tools.)
5. Adelyn thinks it's funny that mommy has a mess to clean up on the ground when mommy finds her playing with her make-up.
6. Adelyn thinks it's funny that mommy has a mess to clean up on Adelyn's face when mommy finds her playing with her make-up.
7. Adelyn also likes to play with mommy's perfume when mommy isn't looking.
8. Adelyn also likes to try to apply mommy's make-up to the baby when mommy is cleaning up her make-up mess. (No picture to include, thank goodness!)

It's a Match!

I've been hearing for the longest time that Andrew's Aunt Barb looked just like Ella as a baby. It came up again a couple weeks ago when we were visiting Andrew's grandparents house so I asked if I could see a picture. Unfortunately, it was tucked away and would take longer to find than we were willing to wait. So, yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to accept a sweet letter with this picture enclosed:
I was stunned when I saw it. It really does look like our sweet Ella Bella Butter Bean!!

Do you see the resemblance in the following picture?

That is Aunt Barb holding Ella!

The black and white picture really doesn't do the likeness justice because their coloring is the same, too.

Ella is very lucky to look like her Aunt Barb! And her mommy is still very perplexed by the law of genetics.....

Before/After

So, I heard about a lady who does some interior design on the side for a nominal fee and my husband agreed to allow her to do decorate our recessed bookshelves in our living room so he didn't have to put up with all of my indecisiveness. Remember this post? Yeah, I'm a little kooky like that. With that said, you'll find it humorous to know that I basically paid this lady to organize my thoughts. The money would have been better spent on a therapist visit. Yep... she did little actual decorating. With exception of the two glass vases near the butterfly prints and rocks that filled the vase on the mantle, I hand picked everything. In fact, I even took a couple things she had picked out back to the store to exchange for different colors, etc. What she did do, however, was give me great ideas on how to start and finally, how to arrange the items to create a focal point. Note: If my husband asks, she did it all!

Now that you've been prefaced, here are some before/after shots. I apologize for the not-so-awesome before shot... but I hope you get the idea!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I am most proud of finding everything on discount. (I am THAT girl who always feels the need to tell you how cheap she got it..... but I'll spare you this time!) Also, I wanted to add to the canvas, kid-friendly storage boxes in the lower left-hand shelf so I found a couple ribbons and hot glued them on. Call me crafty!

The only thing that has been modified since taking the after shots is the arrangement near the charger in the upper left area. I wasn't satisfied with it so it is now fuller and softer. It looks tons better now. I hope you like it!

Now that I've built up some confidence, I'm ready for my next decoration projects (sans interior designer lady). I'd like to do something with these two spaces. I'm thinking a console table with an arrangement and books for the foyer... possibly a fancy chocolate wall vinyl scrolly thing (for lack of a better description) above the door. And for the clock area, maybe a floating black shelf underneath to place a view various sized pictures and candles. Kind-of like this but with black and white family photos, cream mattes, and sage green candles:

Whatcha think?

Oh, and did I mention that I have a repeat of the recessed bookshelves flanking a fireplace downstairs that needs some decorating? More before/after shots to come!!