Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had a great day. We reserved a Honeybaked Ham and I made sweet potato casserole, sweet & sour green beans, Gran's mac & cheese, and rolls. Man, that ham was good! And, everything else was good, too! It was quite the day of cooking so now I'm sitting on the couch relaxing. I plan on cutting into the delicious apple pie waiting on the counter soon!

Kellen 6 Months

Can you believe we have a 6 month old? We can't! Our little guy is getting so big. And, wow, boys are so different than girls. Kellen cannot stay still. Just sitting with him in a chair is a workout for my arms and hands. He is the sweetest, chunky little thing. For the most part, he is very laid back. He loves his sister so much. His eyes follow her wherever she goes and he laughs at almost everything she does - even when she gets in trouble. It definitely doesn't help us trying to discipline Miss Priss. He has also discovered his Otis and tries to pull on his harness or pet him whenever he can.

Milestones:
- He's sitting up by himself
- He's eating 2 solid meals a day. He's tried pureed squash and apples. I pureed a leftover sweet potato tonight so that's next on the list. He loves solids. We have a hard time getting him to drink his bottles now.
- He's a scooter. And, a fast one. He's all over the place. Pretty soon, he will be crawling. His sister started crawling at 7 months.
- He sat in his high chair for the first time today.
- He swung in a swing for the first time. He giggled the whole time (video a few posts back)

Other stuff:
- He's still a great sleeper. He usually goes to bed around 9-9:30 and sleeps til it's time to get up for our work and school day.
- He's been a sick little guy since he started school. He's had a right ear infection that came back after his first round of antibiotics and several colds. He's now fighting a mean cough. I feel so bad for my little boo boo.
- His teachers adore him. They always say the sweetest things about him and talk about how happy he is.
- He loves music. Runs in the family.
- He has the strongest grip. When he gets ahold of his sister's hair, it's over.
- He loves to lie on his side. It's so cute. Last night he was doing it and I thought "who do you think you are little man" because he had his feet crossed, too.
- When he's tired, he loves to face you, whether being held or lying down, and touch all over your face. Sometimes, he'll get that grip going and hold onto our nose. It hurts!
- When he's hungry and you're holding him, he tries to eat your face. It's so funny. He does it to his teachers, too.
- He gives the best open mouthed kisses. Last night when I got home, he was in his daddy's lap but whined for me until I picked him up. When I did, he gave me the biggest open mouthed kiss. Melts my heart! Such a Momma's boy.
- He is so loud. I guess you have to be when you have an older sister who always tries to steal the show.

6 Month Check-up:

Head Circumference: 45.5 cm (44) - 90th percentile
Height: 27 in. (25) - 65th percentile
Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz (15.9) - 55th percentile

Ella's measurements at 6 mo:

Head Circumference: 44.1 cm (42.4) - 90th percentile
Height: 26 1/2 in. (24 1/2) - 70th percentile
Weight: 16 lbs 10.5 oz (14.6) - 60th percentile

We're so blessed to have such a healthy baby boy and love him to pieces!

Phone Pics!

 Mimi came to visit while out West for work

 Ella's future

This kid laughs so hard at his sissy

Dare to Dream - Disney on Ice

A few weekends ago, we took Ella Grace and Kellen to see Disney on Ice's Dare to Dream featuring nothing other than all Disney princesses with the main event being around Tangled. The beginning of the night started a bit rough - Friday night rush hour, 1 hour in traffic, no dinner, Ella fell asleep in the car which meant grumpy kid when we pulled into the parking garage, she was difficult as we got her dressed in her princess gear in the car, pouring down rain, standing in the pouring down rain waiting to get into arena (i will insert that a nice lady let us use her umbrella), we're soaked, kids are soaked, and drum roll please...Ella cried for the first hour. Literally, would not stop crying because SHE thought she was going to be skating on the ice (she doesn't know how) and be the Princess. She didn't want anyone in the arena. She didn't want any other little girls oohing and awwing over the backdrop (a castle). She didn't want to sit; she wanted to dance. It went on and on. Brian and I were about to yank her out of there and just go home. But once it started, she cried about 5 minutes and got over it. 

After that episode, she had a blast and told me she had so much fun. It was really cute. Stories of Cinderella, Tangled, and The Princess and the Frog were told. By the way, I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog but am now dying to. I didn't realize it has a New Orleans theme. It was super cute. And, of course, Tangled was the coolest. They used aerial silk artists to illustrate her long hair. It was really neat.

And, Kellen loved it.

Halloween 2012

Halloween was a success! The kids had a school pot luck the Friday before Halloween. Ella's class sang "Five Little Pumpkins" and we were told she stole the show (we were literally 1 minute late and missed it). I'm hoping I can get a video from a parent.

On Halloween, I picked up the kids and took them back to our work Trick or Treat event. Ella enjoyed it, especially seeing all the dogs. We then headed home for the big event. Daddy and Kellen passed out candy while me and Ella hit the neighborhood streets. This is our first real Halloween and it was amazing! Like 100's of kids. And, Ella was mixed in with all of them hitting every house in our little section of the neighborhood (probably 50-75 houses). Some houses were too scary so we skipped them. Others were super cool. She was a perfect little angel. She was the one who only took 1 piece of candy whether the door was attended or the candy bowl was left at the door. A little younger than most of the kids, she would sometimes be up the stairs first, but would hang out in the back and let all the other kids rampage the door before having her turn (then last down the stairs). Every house here has tons of stairs and there are barely any street lights making the night a bit tricky. We had no stair falls but had a major wipeout on the sidewalk before our last few stops. It was pretty emotional - hands were burning and candy went a flying out her pumpkin sack. But, we survived and she probably ate 20 pieces of candy before we called it a night.

Lazy Crazies

Lazy is what we did a few weekends ago...we haven't done this since!