Tra la la la la

Has anyone else noticed how quickly retailers push Christmas on us? It’s seems to come earlier and earlier every year. I used to get silently frustrated with this marketing scheme . . . until now. I’ve decided that if there is a holiday worth coming early, it’s Christmas. Now I know that the retailers motivation is $$$, but we can simply enjoy the spirit of the holiday. I pulled my Christmas music out a few days ago with this thought in mind. How better to internalize Christmas spirit than to begin with showing thankfulness?

May you all have a joyous holiday season.

Halloween Weekend

Because Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the festivities lasted for days. We kicked off the festivities on Thursday with the preschool parade. But before we get to the activities, let’s see the all important process of dressing up.

For some reason, my girls choose to be characters that require most of our attention to be on the hair. Honestly, I can’t complain. I love doing their hair.

Ella became the story-book character Ella the Rose Fairy. An illustration of the character is here for you to see. Addi became a Boise State cheerleader. Her hair was less of a project than Ella’s. My time was consumed here in making the coordinating hair pom poms.

(Before)

Love those silky waves!

Ella’s inspiration

(After)

Now for the preschool parade. Things move very quickly here, as evidence in the quality of my snapshots. I guess it makes you feel like you were there.

There she goes.

Ooops, there she goes again.

Aaahhhh, I almost caught her that time.

There she is!

Now for the activities and snacks!

The weekend continued with our ward’s Harvest Festival on Saturday. It didn’t take Addi long to learn what she needed to be doing.

Ella always loves to go to the face painting booth. It’s to bad that this activity was in the evening, because it was heartbreaking to her to have to have her beautiful rainbow washed off.

Add is demonstrating the proper way to do the candy walk – you have to have a piece of candy in your mouth as you walk. : )

My beautiful girls . . .

. . .and their beautiful smiles.

On Sunday, the girls loved handing out treats to all the visitors that knocked on our door. What a fun weekend.

The Perfect Pumpkin

Ella's preschool adventures continue. On this beautiful Autumn morning, her class took a field trip to a local farm. There, they were all able to play on the haystack jungle gym, navigate the hay bail maze, take a hay ride, and enjoy a scrumptious snack. It was a fun filled morning enjoyed by all!

My very happy preschooler.

I was able to come on this adventure with my sweet girl.

Are there any pumpkins left for us?

Ready . . . Set . . . GO!

Several minutes and several pumpkins later, Ella had chosen the perfect ones for her and me.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Several months ago, our family began a journey. We sold our house, searched long and hard for a new one and here we are!

This is just a quick little tour of some of the vital rooms/spaces of our new home:

First, our living room and dinning room. I'm very happy to get my piano out of the dinning area again (that is where it has been in the two previous places we stayed).

Our lovely kitchen - plenty of room for 2 cooks. : )

The well used family room. My favorite part is the view that is seen while sitting on the couch (see the final picture).

The play room . . . hooray! I don't know who loves this room more, the children or the parents.

The back yard. And yes, the view - aaaahhhhhh.

We are so happy to be somewhere where we all enjoy being home together.

Ella Goes to Preschool

The day has finally arrived for Ella to go to school. She has been anticipating this day for months. On Thursday, September 9, we had our orientation. Ella was able to go see her classroom, meet her teachers, and meet other children in her class. As a bonus, she made play dough and colored her first of many alphabet posters.

Monday, September 13, was the first day of class. She was expressing some nervous feelings, but as you can see by the smile on her face, she was not about to let a few butterflies keep her from going to school.

Her very own cubby!

Ella with one of her teachers, Mrs. Burton.

Ella was the first child from her class to arrive on Monday, so she was able to take her time in choosing what kind of activity she wanted to do while she waited. Again, you can see she was having no issues with separation (that's more than I can say for Mom).

After the day was done, Ella waited with others from her class and her other teacher, Mrs. Nye, for all the parents to arrive to pick them up.

I'm so excited for Ella and all the wonderful adventures she is going to experience in school. Here's to a great school year!

The Summer of Ella

As our Summer comes to a close, it is amazing to reflect on all the things our girls have done and accomplished. Here are a few snapshots of the things Ella has done.

Ella has been able to sing her ABC's since she was 18 months old. She has been able to recognize letters since she was 3 and now can independently write several of them. Most importantly, she can write her name.

Ella has mastered several physical activities as well. The Summer began with a new two-wheel scooter and instant mastery.

The balance she mastered on the scooter gave her the courage to allow her dad to remove the training wheels from her bicycle. And within moments, she was riding independently.

One of Ella's closest friends learned to do the monkey bars last year at school. From the time she first watched Lauren scale those bars, it has been her goal to do the same. By the time Summer began, she had mastered the activity.

Our Ella has always loved to swing. We have spent many hours at the park swinging. Up until this Summer, either Landon or I had to stand there to push her. Now that she is an independent swinger, she earned a new play structure - one complete with monkey bars.

This is Ella's 4th summer of swimming lessons, and all of her hard work (and love for physical activity) in the water paid off. She can now swim independently! She does, however, need to grow a few more inches because she still can't touch the bottom of the pool; even in the shallow 3 feet end of the pool.

We are so proud of all the things Ella has learned to do. It is obvious that she has high expectations for herself, but she also is courageous and persistent. I love watching her grow.

We Are A Happy Family

I have been having fun with some new photoshop software, and I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos from this summer.