Fall in Love with Fall

Fall has come and gone all in quite the blur.....Halloween is all wrapped up and the weather is getting a bit more chilly. Ellie LOVED going trick or treating and enjoyed going to each house and chit chatting with all the people she met. She got quite the pile of loot and didn't hesitate to ask for her "triqueets" (trick or treats) in the days following her trick or treating venture!

The fun just doesn't stop around here :)

Here she is post-triqueet

Here she is a few days prior trying on the costume with dada

 and taking a break!!

We took a break from all the fun and went to the park!

We hung out at home and made messes!

Then we cleaned them up.... (blogger will not let me add these pics right side up....so I gave up and posted them sideways....my apologies!)

We got all dressed up.....

and then we rested.....

It was a busy time....

Ellie Mae

My (jennifer) mom decided some time ago that she was going to give Ellie the nickname Ellie Mae -- well that has backfired on her!

She said it sooooo much that Ellie equated this as being my mom's name so my mom is now officially Ellie Mae. She sees my mom, hears her on the phone or sees a picture of her and she instantly says, "Ellie Mae!!!" 


Here is Ellie Mae on a recent visit:

{Parking Structure after a Tucanos lunch}

 {Me, Ellie and Ellie Mae}

Too funny!

Dr. Ellie: Sweet Dreams

Dear Ellie,

You are now almost 2 years old (21 months to be exact) and you are still the light of our lives! I cannot even keep up with writing updates on you because you are changing so fast and you are learning to do so many things I cannot even keep track! You LOVE music - singing, dancing, and listening to music. You LOVE to talk!! You know so many words and phrases and each day to say new things and dada and I find ourselves asking "Where did she learn that from???" You are the happiest little girl in the whole universe and your bright smile shows us that each day. You laugh and laugh and laugh which is always contagious!! You have been enjoying eating hamburgers, are starting to ask for Candy more often (thanks a lot Halloween!!), your appetite isn't as voracious as before but your company as restaurants is getting more pleasant! You are a HUGE Elmo and Yo Gabba Gabba fan and not a day goes by that we don't watch these shows all day long. It's a treat to get to see how excited you get at watching these shows and, of course, singing along to all the catchy tunes. I posted these pics of you sleeping in the car seat because this is a rare phenomenon! You are always on the go and getting you to sleep is quite the feat - much less in the car. Your inquisitive nature means that you never want to miss out on a moment of action - and you rarely do!

Your dada and I find ourselves constantly enamoured with you and we cannot believe that such an amazing little lady is in our lives. We ask these questions frequently, "How did you get so cute?" "How did you get so smart?" and "How did we get so blessed to have you?" You are a one in a million dream that we are thankful for each day. There are, indeed, days that we are tired and frustrated by one another but the love in our home is unquestionable.

Oh yeah, You now clearly say "I wuv you" .......

We wuv you too ladybug

Build-a-bear

I am a part of the MOMS Club Rio Rancho and they do various volunteer projects throughout the year. We were fortunate enough to get to participate in their Build-A-Bear project! The kiddos from the MOMS club got to go to Build-A-Bear and build some bears which then were given to kiddos at the Ronald McDonald house. Those kids can then take the bear to Build-A-Bear and do all the registration, getting a birth certificate and getting their bears outfits etc....

Ellie is still a little too young to really understand what was going on however I thought it would be good to begin the process of "giving back" early. We talked about what was going to happen with the bears  and who would get to keep them.....she was unfazed. She wanted to play on the computers MUCH more than building bears.....that's our girl!!

Getting instructions:

Getting the Bear!!

Bear Bath Time

COMPUTER!!!

 Patiently waiting to stuff the bears 

Stuff it Mr. Too-Hyped Up-Teenage-Build-A-Bear-Worker

Ellie had a lot of fun and hopefully will look back on this day as the beginning of her "giving back" days!!

"....God loves a cheerful giver." --- 2 Corinthians 9:7

The Ladybug is a ladybug for Halloween

We went back and forth on exactly what costume to get for Ellie --- we settled on a ladybug. It was appropriate as this is what we've always called her.....and she rocked it rather well!!



Our first Halloween excursion was a Trunk or Treat that had games, a jumpey house, and lots of candy! She was not super interested in the games, refused to enter the jumpey house, and LOVED the playground equipment - I think she ran everyone to exhaustion!!  After this we headed to Five Guys for some tasty food and then had a second Trunk or Treat planned however Ellie was so tired and took a long nap! Here are a few pics from the day :)



Our next Halloween excursion was the acutal night of Halloween - Ellie went out with her dada trick or treating and then she helped me give out candy. She had an absolute blast!! Dada said she loved going to the doors and interacting with the people.....she only went to a few houses in our neighborhood but she got quite a stash of loot (candy, sunglasses, a glow in the dark foam thing, pencils, and some rings). We had quite a few kids come by the house (even though we got started late) and she loved seeing their costumes and putting candy in their bags!