Christmas Pictures

Over Thanksgiving weekend (which I have yet to post about!), my cousin Brooke took some Christmas family photos for us. The kids were less than cooperative (ok, not at all cooperative), but amazingly we got a few cute ones! =) These are my four favorites =) Thanks Brooke - they turned out great! =)

Every photo includes fruit snacks as that was the only hope for some cooperation =)



This one of Emmit is so cute. It was right at the beginning before his sister got in there!



And a cute one of Ellie to go with the cute one of Emmit (Brooke, can you tell what I did??) =)



And our new family photo. I liked this one the best...Ellie's face is very appropriate for her mood that day! =)

Rainy Day Adventures

It was a long rainy day at home today, but we managed to have some fun. The morning started out early, 5:30 with Mr. Emmit. He's always an early bird, but every now and then he'll 'sleep in' until 6:30 or so; but of course, not on a weekend. Ellie woke up on the wrong side of the bed too, so after breakfast, we went for a nice little Sunday drive. Colin and I enjoyed about 30 minutes of conversation while both kids slept (at like 9:00 am!) Back home again and our neighbors Sarah, Sydney, and Palmer came over to play (Colin secluded to the basement during this time to get some work done). We played, caught up, ate lunch, and had fun sprinkling and then eating some brownies. The kids napped again after that, and Ellie slept for over 2 1/2 hours - woohoo! Emmit was a stinker again though and only slept for a little over an hour. So, Emmit and Mama went to Old Navy and did a little shopping, and he got a new ball which made him very happy! The afternoon/evening then consisted of coloring, playing with play-dough, dancing, and then eating dinner. After dinner, Emmit wanted to play with his new ball, but so did Ellie, so of course it was temper tantrum city because they couldn't play TOGETHER! That would just be way too easy?! So, Colin decided to take Ellie to Menards to get some new Christmas lights, and she was completely FASCINATED with all the lights on display. Emmit was in bed at 6:30, and Ellie's on her way soon. Wonder how many more days like this we'll have before Spring? Winter hasn't even started yet, ugh =P

Some pictures of our little monsters...Ellie rocking some post-nap hair and doing her best CHEESES for Mama!









Emmit learned how to climb up on the kitchen chair and then the table from there this weekend. He was doing it ALL day! There's no turning your back on him at all now!

What's New?

We have been really busy in just the day-to-day here lately. Last weekend I went down to Chicago for my friend Karen's baby shower while Colin and the kids went to Grandma & Grandpa's. It was so nice to see and catch up with friends, but the weekend was gone in a flash! The weekend before that Ellie had her first 'friend' birthday party - it was her friend Bella's 3rd b-day, so all her little friends from school were there. It was kind of fun seeing her interact with the kids she spends time with every weekday. Other recent happenings...Ellie is pooping on the potty, yeah! We still have our share of accidents, but she's doing really good with the potty now, and stays dry all day. Emmit is a happy little clam, except when he's getting teeth, which happens to be now! He has 3 teeth coming in, including 2 molars...so that's been no fun at all! This weekend we're just planning on hanging out at home, which doesn't feel like we've done in forever, so I'm looking forward to it! I have not even started Christmas shopping - cannot seem to get in the mood this year, so the busy-ness continues...

Here are a couple recent videos of the kids at home. Ellie decided to pull all the blankets off our bed one night so she and Emmit were jumping away.



And Emmit showing off his moves. He has about 5 that we counted...the arm pump, the hip sway, quick feet, spinning around, and the knee bounce. Ellie still has about 2 moves so he's got her beat already! =) Both of our kids are obsessed with techno gadgets...Emmit the phone or camera and Ellie the phone and computer. Their world will be so different never knowing anything different!

Halloween Week!

We had a week long of Halloween excitement here! There was a lot of excitement building up to Halloween this year, so it was fun that it FINALLY got here!

The kids each had fun Halloween shirts to wear throughout the week. Our little camera monster! Emmit is obsessed with the camera lately, so it's impossible to take pictures w/o him throwing a fit and wanting the camera!



Ellie in her Halloween shirt



And the two of them together =)



A not-so-scary Frankenstein



Little monster is right! And with a runny nose...the house seemed to come down with colds last week =P



And a bubble monster too! One night last week, Colin turned the jets on in our tub for Ellie, resulting in this. It has become the new favorite thing at bathtime, for both kids now!



On Thursday they had Halloween parties at school and each got to wear their costumes. Ellie was SOOOO excited! Here we are in costume ready for school!



On Friday morning, Ellie got a special treat getting to come to work with Mama. We had trick-or-treating around our office from 10-1, so we just hung out at home in the morning and then headed to work for 10:00. I had every intention of taking pictures, but then found it time to go without having taken any! Ellie was just having too much fun talking to all of Mama's friends and filling her pumpkin full of candy!

Friday afternoon we all headed to Madison for a fun weekend with Shannon, Andy, and Henry.

All the cousins getting ready for dinner on Friday night!



Henry the big boy, eating food now!



Ellie & Henry playing



Auntie Steph came to visit too



On Saturday morning, Colin and Andy left on their road trip to Iowa, so Shannon, the kids, and I started our fun-filled Halloween day. First the kids dressed up and went trick-or-treating over to Steph and Mike's apartment.

Our attempt at a group shot - this about sums it up!



Little Nemo



Later that afternoon we got dressed up again, ate snacks, and painted pumpkins. Our friends Mary Ellen and Alexis came over to visit, so Ellie and Alexis had lots of fun painting together.

Pumpkin painting fun



Henry hanging out and watching



Painting hands and feet (they all went right in the bathtub after pumpkins!)



Emmit got in on the action too!



Ellie and Alexis



And the wine witches too! =)



Sunday morning we made our way back home, and it was finally time for trick-or-treat, FOR REAL! We already had more than enough candy than we needed, but dressed up one more time to walk around the neighborhood. Ellie had a bit of a tantrum getting her costume on, not wanting to put ANYTHING warm under her princess dress. We finally compromised on a long-sleeve t-shirt (which wasn't warm enough), so trick-or-treating didn't last too long for us. The time we were out though, Ellie and Emmit both had a lot of fun!

Princess Ellie (Ariel) and Emmit the crab





Our whole clan, Sara and Matt joined us too...Emmit insisted on walking so we weren't moving at the fastest pace =)



Sara and I were Burt and Ernie for Halloween, probably when we were 4 and 2 or something like that...so look at the shirts she found =)



Little crab learning the tricks of trick-or-treat! It only took him one house to catch on!



After trick or treating, we headed back home, and the kids had a lot of fun handing out candy then too. Every time the doorbell rang, Ellie would go running to get the bowl to give candy to her "customers". She would tell the kids, "You can take 2" or "You can take 3"...she pretty much ran the show! =)