Santa's Comin'

merry christmas to all

and to all

a good night!

may santa bring you all the joy you deserve! ;)

November - Now

Pre-School Thanksgiving Party, my little indian man. He wanted me to leave and stop taking pictures bad. Probably the first time he was embarrassed by me! I'm pretty sure there will be more:

I have a similar picture at my preschool Thanksgiving party with my two cousins. I need to dig it out and look at it. I had him wear the same outfit that my mom made for us to wear back in the day. Now here he is with his little cousin and friend.

The hanging of the lights:

Lucky for us it takes about 5 min. ;)

Her first time in pig tails:

Like everything else, they were pulled out shortly after.

Confessions

I did not make this.

I've been wanting this giant cupcake pan for awhile now. When Cole was the one to suggest getting "this really big cupcake pan" I was all over it! He then ordered a frosting set to go along with it. I was thinking throw together a box cake, with some frosting from the store and walla. But he worked his mad kitchen skills and put together this homemade chocolate pound cake with homemade buttercream frosting. I found a favorite cake, and I never thought I would say that. I just don't normally care for cake. Anyways, my confession is that Cole is the best. He is always helping me clean up, constantly doing the dishes and cooking for us. He also taught me a sweet tip (for all of you that know him this falls under the random facts category - and it totally came in handy.) Sleep with your car keys handy so that if you hear something out of the ordinary you can set off the panic alarm on your car.

Happy Halloween

Now what do we do with the three buckets FULL of candy they have? With only three days left on my two year candy bet I am feeling a little bit like I am just about to be released from rehab and not quite sure how I will do! Continue on, or give it up and surrender to the sweetness? Tough.

Cole's Contributions

Does anyone else hate the way wash cloths and towels get that stinky smell after they get wet, dried, and then wet again? You know what I'm talking about right - It's not just me? Apparently after washing them for so long the detergent and fabric softeners cake onto the fabric, so they get dingy and don't absorb the water after time during washing... SO don't keep throwing out the wash cloths. I can solve your problem! (Thanks to my dear hubby who's hobby of surfing the web is quickly adding more to his know all list! He is the one who really found this tip.)

Here it is:

Wash towels in HOT water with one cup vinegar

Don't dry. Instead wash again in HOT water, this time with 1/2 cup baking soda

Then dry.

It doesn't need to be done every time you wash, but maybe every-other for the first couple of times... then just every once in awhile. Try it. You'll notice a huge difference just after one try.

Seriously

The other night I was watching SNL and they had the "Seriously" Segment on. It's with Amy Poul*r and some guy, and it's really funny. In this particular one they were making fun of Kan*a We*t... If you have never seen it, they go back and for between each other saying totally obvious statements followed by "seriously!"

Today I kept finding myself thinking the same thing to Ella after she would repeatedly do something to get on my nerves. An example would include coloring on the keyboard instead of the paper in front of her.

On a different note, I've been enjoying my one on one time with her while Tate is gone to pre-school. It's nice to be able to concentrate on one thing for a moment.

(Classic face. This is her "I'm so excited, Oh that is so cool, Look at me - I'm trying to get your attention!!" look. She does it all the time)

Smile

Love

Gram

While I took pictures of my little sister a couple weeks ago we dropped all our kids off for my Mom to watch. When we came back they had a slip and slide set up, water guns out, and bubbles. From the dirty faces I'm guessing there were also plenty of treats.

Boots Are Made For Walkin'

Ella came out of the house tonight with two of her animals carrying them just like so:

(I ran back in for the camera. When I asked her if she wanted to walk... so that I could get some pictures of her with her animals she went and got in the stroller with them. She thought I meant let's go for a walk, not you walk and be cute so I can take pictures. She ended up doing that for me too.)

She loves to smell flowers. She stopped and bent over. It took me a second to realize what she was doing. (See the flower?) She was smelling what is left of that dandelion. MMM.

Cheeeeese

Family picture time!

Hair Do's & Don'ts

I gave Tate a haircut. The next day I glanced at his hair as he walked by and thought "I really didn't blend that too well." Then I started to sweep the kitchen floor and noticed chunks of long blond hair in the mix. It clicked... He had cut his own hair, and a few days before family pictures! I left it this way for a couple of days debating on canceling pictures, or having him wear a hat. I ended up just buzzing it all off. I didn't cry like I thought I might, but look forward to it growing back. I'm thinking prenatal vitamins with a lot of brushing his bald head!

Four

Time flies and Tate is already four. We had a little get together with family to celebrate. He is full of energy and funny remarks. We are thankful for him everyday and love the little guy!

Cabin

We had a fun weekend up at the cabin with my family and Cole's.

The kids had fun playing outside and getting dirty. And oh did they get dirty. These pictures are after the first full day of playing outside. Ashley and Alan brought up a Razor and it was a blast. The first day we drove it over to what we call the secret valley. When it was finally time to wind down and call it a day, we were all covered in dirt. (I think Tate takes the cake for the messiest face though.)

The Razor:

I think a few of these might be blurry here and I am too tired/lazy to fix it

Another day we went to Mill Hollow Reservoir for a picnic and a little dip in the water.

The wild flowers were beautiful!

What started like this:

Became this:

Turning into this:

...and you see how it went:

Everyone wanted in:

Crafting

Ella is now trading in her walk for a speed walk and I think she thinks she's running.

She can say baby, ball, juice, Momma, Dad, and Tate... although I don't think it really sounds like Tate at all. =) I would say her favorite word is Momma because she follows me around 80% of the day saying it while clinging to my leg. I won't lie, 80% of the time it drives me crazy. BUT... I do love the little stinker. We sometimes call her crew ella devil. fitting? crewel? She continues to love to climb on things. This morning she carried a stool in front of the toilet and put it down so she could climb up onto it. Soon she'll figure out how to get up to the sink. Soon she'll be a little girl, and not my little toddler trying to run around me. And while I don't think I'll miss how much she cries, I know I'll miss all this!

Tate is a little boy now and it's so fun, and so sad!

Summertime

Wow, where does the time go?

This summer has been one of a kind for us. I am so far behind on blogging it's not even funny... and so not like me! It's been a summer of realizing how important life and loved ones are. Without going into detail (more details here & here) we are currently being reminded how fragile life is, and trying desperately not to forget just how important everyday we have together is! (For those who may not know, this is my father in law... Cole's Dad)

Taking you back to the first of June...

Great Sandwich

I just got done eating this for lunch and loved it so much I thought I should share.

Get Away

Good times at our family cabin over the weekend.

Happenings

...Breaking promises to Cole.

He graduated and I said I wouldn't mention it, but I can't not!

I am so proud of him and his plans to go on and further his education! We think he's pretty smart, and we are pretty proud! I still am getting used to him going to bed before me, and waking up before me too. It was a neat day. I was really happy for him and it was neat to have our little family there. I hope they (our babes) follow in their dad's footsteps and even though they are young, I'm so proud of his example to our kids.

....Doing a lot of this:

Tate got a bike, and Ella is now walking and getting faster every day.

...Anxiously awaiting this.

It's not even for me. My Mom is getting a fun cruiser bike, and I'm SO excited to take it for a spin!

...LOVING Dr. Pepper and seriously feeling fueled by it!

Coke can't even compete. It's SOOO good, and SOOO bad. I never drink pop, but after having no energy yesterday I picked one up and stayed up to 2 am. It was great. Now I'm trying to forget how great it helped me stay awake so I don't go for another! =)

...Enjoying my newest photography purchase.

Simply put, I am in love.

...Day dreaming of what color I would get: