Girls Weekend, Hunting Camp, and Fun with Kimmy and Friends

I should just call this post random hodge podge, as I'm trying diligently to catch up on my blog! =) This will get me up to Thanksgiving at least...

In early November we made a trip down to Madison to see Auntie Stephi's new house. Daddy and Uncle Andy were quickly put to work while Shannon and I entertained the kids =)

In mid-November, Emmit and Daddy made a trip up to the UP to go to hunting camp with Papa Herb. Emmit was SOOO excited for this trip. I'm not sure he really understood what hunting camp was or that he wasn't going to be spending the entire time there, but the whole idea of it had him pretty excited. He got to go hunting with Papa Herb and Daddy and also to breakfast at camp with all the Pomeroy and Groleau guys which was quite the treat =) While not hunting, he got to play with his cousins, so no complaints from Emmit!

Colin and Emmit left on a Thursday night, and Ellie had a half day that Friday so she got to spend part of the day all by herself with Kimmy (she was very excited for this)! Here she is visiting with Spot and Toby.

While the boys were gone, Ellie and I had a full-blown girls weekend. We had a busy Saturday getting our nails done, going out to lunch with friends, Christmas shopping, getting Ellie's haircut, grocery shopping, and more Christmas shopping...almost 8 hours in total! I love that we can have days like this now. That night we rented a movie and cuddled on the couch. Sunday we went to the Children's Museum and played with friends from school until Daddy and Emmit got home in the afternoon. They were both so excited to tell each other about their fun weekends =)

Ellie and Emmit all dressed up for their tea party. Emmit likes putting his "handsome" clothes on a lot lately =)

I don't even remember what this night was, but the kids are watching a movie with Alden and Caiden. I remember taking this picture though, cuz Ellie is draped across Alden's lap which was really funny. Chrissy and I both said this could be blackmail in about 10 years!

Kim always gets the cutest pics of the kids so I just swipe right from her =) She has a magic wand that always seems to get a smile =)

Ian, Alayna, Eli, and Emmit...this foursome will be spending lots of time together now. Ian and Alayna joined our nanny share part time earlier this Fall, and now started full time in early December. Emmit and Eli refer to them as "the twins" and at first weren't so sure about their new 2 year old companions. Kimmy has worked her magic though, and the four of them now have quite the routine. They have fun "group time" activities together and have even gone on outings to the Y (Miss Kim is brave!) They all seem to be getting along well, and I think it'll be good for the boys. I keep telling Emmit how he needs to act like a good boy because Ian and Alayna want to be big like him - we'll see if that works! =)

Ellie's Artwork

Ellie loves to draw and is starting to write more and more now since starting school. She's always coming home with books she makes in school, and coloring or drawing is the first thing she wants to do when she gets home. I take pictures of a lot of her artwork...here are some recent ones =)

Ellie and I had a girls weekend where we went and got our nails done with some friends, and went out to dinner, and a whole bunch of other fun 'girl' things =) She drew these after that weekend.

Translation: I went to get my nails painted.

Not sure what the translations is on this one, but the picture is Me, Ellie, Sydney, and Sarah going out for lunch.

A shirt she painted.

Translation: Alphabet

Some Christmas pictures

I had Ellie make me tags for Christmas gifts this year. These are a few she came up with =)

Happy Halloween 2013

Halloween was wet and cold this year, but that didn't stop us from having a lots of fun. A few weeks before Halloween we did our annual pumpkin carving party with the neighborhood. It was pumpkin madness in our garage, and I got no pictures. There were people in our garage, in our house, in the backyard - no time for picture taking! It was fun though - the memories we're making in this neighborhood are too many to count. We also made a ghost to make our front yard extra spooky. Ellie and Emmit thought this was pretty fun =) Here are some pictures of the kids with our pumpkins and our ghost.

Ellie had black and orange day at school on Halloween day. Here's the outfit we put together =)

Trick or treating was on Halloween night. It was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop the kids from coming in packs. Our neighborhood is a destination for area trick or treating. SO MANY kids! Our gang gathered right at 4:00 and headed out. We had anywhere from 5-25 people with us at any given time as the little kids were lagging behind the big kids and the parents were having to divide and conquer! Ellie and Emmit were running most of the time. Emmit called it quits after about halfway around the neighborhood. He had a full bucket and wanted to go home with Dad to hand out candy (and eat what we had). Ellie, Sara, and I made the full loop, along with Ellie's friend Ellie ("the other Ellie" in our neighborhood) and her Mom, Katie. It was a lot of fun =)

Ellie was a cowgirl this year - she decided this a long time ago (summer) and stuck with her decision.

Emmit on the other hand, could not make up his mind. He was going to be Captain America at one point, and then he changed his mind and decided to be Hawk Man. Well I searched high and low for a Hawk Man costume (Superman, Batman, Spiderman, no...he wanted Hawk Man!) We couldn't find a costume and making costumes just isn't my gig...so what did we do...quickly divert attention to yet another Marvel character - The Flash! We found this costume, and Emmit was easily convinced that this would be a really cool costume! He liked the idea of being able to run SUPER fast with his Flash costume.

And some more shots of the group and us in action =)

October Fun

Our October was filled with some traditional Fall fun and a few extras as well. I'll save Halloween for the next post, but here's what went on in our household up until then.

Our refrigerator was filled with Fall and Halloween art projects thanks to Kimmy and the kids. Here's a cute collage she made of one of them =)

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our neighbors the Shattucks. The kids had a blast playing. We took a hay ride, picked our pumpkins, and played all before it started to rain. Perfect timing =)

Emmit got to make a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's a few days early with Auntie Shannon and Henry. Emmit and Henry had a lot of fun playing together, and 'helping' Grandma at the Feedmill =)

Watching a show at bedtime together

While Emmit was gone, Ellie and Daddy caught a movie together.

We all joined a few days later then for Grandma's 90th birthday on Oct. 17th! We had a great family gathering to celebrate the most beloved woman in our family. These are the kinds of the weekends when I just love my family so much!

Playing a little Wi

Happy Birthday Grandma!

The weekend before Halloween we went to see the Imagination Movers Live with a bunch of our neighbors. The show was GREAT! The kids absolutely loved! My pictures didn't turn out great in the dark theater, but here are a few. The Movers were so interactive with the kids - in the audience a lot. They all got to high five at least one of them, and then they stuck around a long time after and signed autographs and just visited with the kids. Very cool guys!

Emmit talked to all of them, but only wanted his picture with Rich =) The kids have a new found love with the show now after seeing them live.