School Pictures 2009

I don't think I put Ella's on here yet and I just got Jude's so here they are....

Ella's Birthday - Camera 1

Ella had a big treat - me too - and we went to Chicago on her birthday weekend to pick out an American Girl doll. We were so lucky that my friend Joni who has a daughter - Ella's friend, Reesi - went with us. We had a great girl's weekend!

Day #1: It was quite eventful starting with the accessories our Elf on a Shelf left Ella for her birthday and to share with Reesi. The plane trip was fun - Ella sat between "two big men" and I had to sit behind her. The limo ride from the airport to the hotel was also a highlight as was the fact that the hotel was very "fancy". Our first day we (I) decided we would walk to get pizza. What I thought was a 1.5 mile walk was really a 2 mile walk in the freezing cold wind with two little people that did not appreciate it so much. As we were approaching our destination, Reesi fell off a curb. She survived but we were not too thrilled with our 1 hour pizza wait at 2:00 in the afternoon. Onto bigger and much better things, we took the girls to AGP (now I will abbreviate American Girl Place because it will come up - alot) where they picked out their AGD (you get it now). Ella picked Julie from 1970s and Reesi picked Felicity from 1770s (Reesi could not remember her name until the trip home - she kept saying "what's my doll's name again"). Then Joni and I proceeded to pick out accessories for afore mentioned AGD. I think this is the part where we enjoyed it more than they did. Afterward was dessert time and what a better way to celebrate freezing than with ICE CREAM! Yeah and then we decided to cab it back to the hotel for an evening of AGD play.

Day #2: We woke up and caught a cab to AGP just in time for the doors to open. We headed with our AGD up for brunch. I think I may have liked this part more than the girls too. The place was really cute and the food was not bad either! After this, we did a very (and I mean very) minor amount of "grown up" shopping and as that may sound weird, it was just the Gap, Apple store (I left my charger) and H&M. We then cabbed it back and played....yep, AGD. We went for an early dinner and ice skating afterward. There was an incident at dinner that left Reesi wet so we strayed over to Old Navy only to discover by the time we got there that Reesi was dry...but we did get a look around, a little. Then off to ice skate...where we waited for quite sometime then decided to hit the rink "around the corner" with no waiting. It was a bit farther than around the corner but worth it because it was not crowded at all. The girls LOVED ice skating. The big girls were frozen but we endured for close to an hour. Then guess what...yep - CAB. Reesi and Ella were able to hail their own cabs by the time we left! We hit the room where there was more AGD play and finally to bed.

Day #3: Not really much - Apparently the Chicago Bears players stay at the hotel where we stayed before a game because the lobby/restaurant was a buzz with Bear fans grabbing autographs. Joni and I were just hungry. Well, we the packed up and grabbed a cab and hit the airport. We made it back to TN safe and sound sporting 2 extra girls - Felicity and Julie!

ICE! then ice cream...

it was messy

they got to slide as many times as they wanted

don't put your tongue on that...

ice skating!

Tuesday we went to Ice with the "big" kids. Of course, cold is one word to describe it...but we had a good time. The place was pretty empty so we were able to slide over and over (all of us). Afterward we went to Chilli's for Ella's birthday celebration since the boys will be gone on her birthday. They enjoyed molten lava cake (I did too). A big thank you to Pops and Mimi who kept Gabe!

Hermitage Field Trip...

Andrew Jackson's tomb

the class (or kids that were there) - posing with the Ginko tree

our "group"

on the big cheese

take 2. The first one was cancelled (day of) due to rain and the fact that it was under construction. The second one was a go...pretty boring, but the kids enjoyed not being in school. Not much to it: house, movie, lunch. We were out of there by 11:30. I was glad that I was able to go, Ella would have been sad if one of us wasn't there.

Still not caught up...

Visit to KY for Nana and Aunt Brenda's birthdays (August).

the tea party

The deer siblings whose mom got hit by a car and they would run in a pair all over White House

tonsils - 7/15/09 (pre removal)

These pictures are oooold but I feel the need to go back and blog them anyway. They were on my small camera and I even found some from Easter but I will not post those since I have some others.

Nick Rock-n-Roll

Ella wrote Nick and Jude wrote Rock - n - Roll

Our Elf arrived on our doorstep out of nowhere! Of course, today Ella and I went to Trendy Trunk where she saw them and realized that someone had probably bought it and sent it to us...ok, so much for the "magic" of his arrival....Anyway, we named him - Ella picked Nick for St. Nick (not Nick Rose) and Jude picked Rock-n-Roll. So, we decided that He would be Mr. Nick Rock-n-Roll. In the matter of only a couple of days Mr. Nick Rock-n-Roll has turned over our Christmas candy, played in our tree and is currently dangling from the chandelier in the kitchen! Who knows what else he has in store for us.

Thanksgiving - the program and the feast

Hanging at Nana and Pepaws
It was loud, but fun.

The parade has started.

Elmer Fudd

being really patient waiting for the parade

The hostess (both of them) with the mostess

The dudes at Ella's tea party.

The turkey

eating the turkeys

assembling the turkeys

Jude's program

The Butterflies! - and I am pretty sure I cut some off...

You would think that by now I would get the hang of how to load these pictures but I haven't and everything is backwards! Basically, Jude had a program on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was Thursday then the Christmas parade (complete with mobile home) was on Friday.

November....in a nutshell

Puh, Lofton, Jonathan and Jude went hunting at Pops and Mimi's house

Ella laughed at Jude's gum in the hair trick then karma showed her and she got her hamster wheels stuck in her hair...ha ha.

He thinks he could take that little girl...

but really, he would rather sit on the bench....

with Daddy - at his last game (and with green hair).

Our pumpkin still sits in November - only 1/4 (if even) carved.

Impossible for everyone to look at the same time!

Well, Gabe was not really a fan.

We hit Wal-Mart after Halloween and don't you know, everyone needs a couple of good wigs (or bad wigs, you choose).

So, I did REALLY bad at blogging in November ~ these are basically the highlights. Thanksgiving will deserve its own post!

Halloween 2009

The week of Halloween was filled with craziness; Dr. appt, 3 soccer games, meeting at church, Trunk or Treat, supposed to be a field trip - however, the week ended in fun on Saturday night. The chaos of kids juiced up on cupcakes and excited about the candy was actually really fun. A big thank you to Mimi and Pops who supplied the pinata and some of the decor. Also, to Nana and Pepaw who brought me all their serving pieces. There was good food (as always), great friends (as always) as well as a Guess the Goo contest, Skittle toss and as I mentioned before a pinata. Thanks for everyone who came and brought their little Goblins to celebrate with us!

also, apparently there were no pictures or evidence that Ghostbusters were there...with Slimer -sorry Harringtons (you will have to send me a picture so I can add it on here)