Preparing for the Holidays

Did decorations get put up last night?  Nope.  Did baking get done?  Nope.  But we did have a nice time hanging out together and playing games like Let's Go Fishing and Candyland.  I <3 our family!

I got this game as a kid for my birthday, and I LOVED playing it.  My parents even have similar pictures of Kristin & me or my dad & me playing on the living room floor.

On a separate note: I've been working with Eli a lot lately on "Soooo BIG" and kisses.  He has yet to catch on to so big, although he does love a good game of peekaboo.  However, last night, he was SO excited to give me kisses....big, drooly, open-mouth baby kisses on my chin.  I love those kisses!

They help to make up for the fact that no one is sleeping at our house.  We haven't for the last week.  Is it that I'm trying to get Eli to sleep through the night without feeding him?  Yep, probably.  Is he teething?  Possibly that too since Tylenol does help.  Is Ella having bad dreams?  Yep.  Is Nick sleeping on the couch to avoid waking up and not getting back to sleep?  Yep, that too. :(  Do you know that sleep deprivation can make one nearly go crazy?  After 5 nights of no sleep, I'm really getting close!  At least the kids are cute enough to make up for it. :)

That's all for now I guess...until next time....

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I wished Ella a happy Thanksgiving this morning, I asked her what she was thankful for.  First, I had to explain that thankful means "happy to have something."  She said, "Oh, okay.  Then I am thankful for food and my vanity."  At first, my heart soared when I thought she said "family," until I realized she was talking about her Disney Princess vanity with mirror and make up that talks to you.  Oh well....she is only 3 afterall....

Then Ella asked me what I am thankful for and I said, "I'm thankful for my family (big kiss on the top of her head) because you all mean the world to me."  This got me a huge hug and kiss from her.  Sheesh I love that girl. :)

Wow....really? Almost 2 months?

Okay, so it's been 2 months since the last post...I'm embarrassed!  Rest assured I've really missed blogging, I just haven't had any time!  Working & going to school full-time (TWO classes right now--ack!), along with deer season have really kicked my butt!  In any case, here's what we've been up to for the last few months.....

October-
DeAnne's Bachelorette Party

What a good time!  We rode a bus to a winery, then back to Harrah's Casino and a piano bar for the rest of the night.  It was so good to get to go out with Lindsay and DeAnne and get to know the rest of the bridesmaids better. The pic above is one I stole from Lindsay's blog. (Thanks Linz!)

Ella's birthday
Her party this year was Barbie themed.  We had SUCH a good time and watch the Cards beat the Brewers (game 6 of NLCS to go on to the Series) in the background.  (For historical purposes, I must add here that in Aug/Sept, no one thought we'd even make it to the playoffs, but I never gave up hope.  We took the wildcard and beat the Phillies, then Brewers, then Rangers.)  Ella had a great time and got a lot of makeup/nail polish/princess presents.  One favorite was a Dora and Diego movie that also features her as a character!  Way cool (Reagan was especially impressed!).

Pictures are on the camera, which I don't have near the computer or I'd load one up now.  Rest assured Ella, we had a great time and did take pics.  If I save this post until I put the pictures on the computer though, it won't be posted until 2012....

Devon's Wedding
This was a whirlwind trip to Omaha.  The wedding was the night before Ella's birthday.  It meant a lot to me that Devon gave Ella a tiara and feather boa with wand and had everyone sing happy birthday.  Almost daily, Ella puts on the costume and asks me to call her "Princess Devon."  :)  This was a beautiful wedding & really nice to see all of our family together.

Halloween
Ella was Ariel, the Little Mermaid (really, just a mermaid, I just told her she was Ariel....) and Eli was a tiger.  People we passed literally gasped at Ella's costume & said how adorable it was. :)

Which brings me to November....
DeAnne's Wedding
Despite my best attempts to copy pics from Facebook, I just can't seem to make it work tonight.  Refer there for pics. 

What a day!  Loved it!  Among other things, I got to see Jennifer and hang out with her.  Lindsay said the nicest thing about Jen the other night about how she misses her and wishes they were closer.  It was true for me too.  I miss our whole group.  It was so nice to see everyone and be all together.  The photobooth was my favorite part of the reception. :)

End of Nov.
Here we are almost to Christmas!!!  (OK, well Thanksgiving is just tomorrow, so not quite.)  I never decorated for fall this year because I just plain ran out of time.  When will I ever have time again to do things?  Anyway, we had the kids' pics taken.  Here are a few good ones.

Okay, Eli is crying, so I should really stop blogging & feed him....later gators!