White Christmas

 We are taking advantage of the time Brett gets off of school and spending Christmas with his family up in Canada. It's been snowing a bit the past few days so we've had the most gorgeous white Christmas. Ellie started off slowly pulling things out of her stocking but by the end she wanted to rip through all the gifts under the tree. I think her favorite thing was the fruit snacks Santa put in her stocking. He knows her

Brett surprised me with a sewing machine which is great because I'm not very good at all but I want to learn more. I surprised Brett with tickets to a professional hockey game in Dallas a few weeks from now. *the way to any Canadian man's heart ;)

Ellie was a sheep in our Christmas story reading

While we've been here we've been eating way too much food, visiting tons of family and friends, and sleeping in. Ellie loves going on tractor rides with 'papa' and is mildly obsessed with his kitties. Brett had the opportunity to go to a hockey game in Calgary with his brother Justin. And I got my first ride on a snowmobile.

This is the famous train from Brett childhood.

Family Pictures

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

This is our pumpkin :) he's not very scary but a week later on Halloween he had so much fuzzy green stuff growing on him that he was pretty scary to me.

At Trunk or Treat, Ellie had the most fun in the ball pit but she also did the ring toss & got her face painted with a heart.

If you can't tell - We dressed up as Peter Pan, Wendy, & Tinkerbell

The next day, I took Ellie trick or treating for real. She had so much fun ringing the doorbells and meeting new people. She didn't mind eating a little bit of the softer candy either.

On a sightly less happy note, We had a bit of a rough week financially.  First I paid my speeding ticket (ouch...) , then my phone died so I needed to buy another one (luckily I found a used one for cheaper), & then Brett ended up spending the weekend driving to Austin twice so he could pay the money to get our car registered. Life keeps you guessing, Better get couponing ;)

Pumpkin Patch

     We are so happy that it's finally getting cooler (or at least not in the high 90s anymore). Our family decided to celebrate by making our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. Ellie liked it a lot more this year.

18 Months

It's October and our not so little Elizabeth is 18 months old. I thought it be fun to have a little show and tell of some of her latest achievements - hope you enjoy!

Ellie is a happy kid

She likes going to her nursery class at church so she came jump during the sunbeams song, sit in a chair like the big kids, and of course see her friends (especially Noelle)

She still loves to swing

She has learned her body parts

and she knows her animal sounds (though apparently all dogs sound like rottweilers)

Ellie likes being silly and playing with her Dada

and lastly, Ellie like to take Mommy's phone without mom knowing (she's not the greatest videographer)

Elizabeth also had her check up where they said she's growing just as she should be and we are grateful!

Height - 2 feet 9 inches (84th percentile)

Weight - 27 pounds 9 ounces (94th percentile)

Slow September

It's been a relatively uneventful month so far but here's the update. 

Brett is in school and did Awesome! on his last cardiology test. 

Ellie climbs on all furniture, carries her baby doll everywhere, and grows out of shoes every couple weeks I swear.

I've started choir again; we're singing some Schubert and it's crazy high... like every 3 measures we're singing A's. (2 above middle C) I love seeing my 'older' friends Pat & Buzz each week though. :) 

Also, I've started this cool thing called planning the weeks meals ahead of time and trying new recipes each week. Here are the ones that I've really liked so far

1. Ranch Breaded Chicken : You just take some chicken rub some ranch salad dressing on it and the put it in a mixture of bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Then bake it until done. I like to make this and then cut it up and put it in a regular toss salad and call it dinner.

2. Shrimp Tacos (with mango avocado salsa) - Here's a link if you're interested: http://withsaltandwit.com/coconut-lime-shrimp-tacos/ 

p.s. we have our coats, is it time for Christmas in Canada yet??

The Newest Addition to Our Family: Remus

Brett had been asking and pleading to get a cat for the past 6 months and for some strange reason I finally caved. Upon returning from our Canada vacation we began searching for the perfect cat. We knew that it needed to be very cute, child tolerant, and Brett's top priority - cuddly. We also wanted a cat with short hair to avoid shedding and a male preferably. I told Brett that if we were going to get a cat in had to be in the next week or so before school started up again so he could help me get things set up and such; low and behold we found our perfect cat on Day 2 haha. * I'll admit that I postponed blogging about Remus because I wanted to make sure he was a keeper... and he is ;)

Ellie playing with the kitty at Petsmart; you can see why we needed this cat.

We bought a litter box, the cat toy from the video, some cat food, and brought him home that day.

We've name our blue tabby addition, Remus and he's everything we'd hope for.

He's cute

Child Tolerant

And very cuddly...

The truth is, I've been replaced.

Just kidding I also enjoy my Remus cuddles during family nap time

Kitty is truly Ellie's favorite word. Each day Remus follows me into her room as I get her from the crib and Ellie's first words are always "Kitty? .. KITTY!!". Then she proceeds to chase him around the apartment. As much as she terrorizes him I love noticing that he can't stay away from her. Even after all the tail pulling and face poking, and accidental falling on top of, he still follows her to her room and curls up by her while she plays... it's pretty adorable. 

15 Month Update

The 15 month mark has come and gone and Elizabeth just keeps growing up

Weight: 24.5 lbs

Height: 2 ft. 7 in.

Today at the doctor's office she didn't even cry when they gave her the shots.

ELLIE'S FAVORITES

WORDS: mama, dada, kitty, thank you, & nana (banana)

FOODS: blueberries, blackberries, bananas, pizza, & ice cream 

THINGS TO DO: dance, play at the splash pad, listen to music, run, climb, & put small toys inside containers and then take them out again

SONGS: If your happy and you know it (she always starts clapping for this one), Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (she knows when to jump ;) , and popcorn popping

One of the things that I love about Ellie is that she is a great sleeper. She wasn't always this way, but almost every night we give her a pacifier and her favorite blanket and she willing lays down in her crib and goes to sleep for 12 hours without a fuss. I love it!