Building Traditions

 We had an awesome weekend in Dallas with our friends the Larsons & the Falcos :) This tradition started last year because our husbands were college roommates when we all met, but now we live in different cities. Once a year we all meet to let the kids play, stay up all night & just plain be crazy.

                                                      We took the kids to the Dallas Zoo

Brett and I went to the Dallas Stars hockey game against the Avalanche. 

And of course we screamed our way through a lot of Wacky Six, Taboo, & Scattegories :)
It was so nice to stay in a house where there was plenty of space for the kiddos to chase each other and nap while we still catch up with each other. Ellie was so sad to say goodbye, she had to give H and hug and kiss ;)

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??