Full of Thankfulness

"The Lord has done GREAT things for us, and we are filled with joy". Psalm 126:3

Thanksgiving 2010

Below is a daily scene around our house. Oh! The joys of motherhood! I wouldn't have it any other way!

We have real fall leaves here! And we play in them too!

Mark's parents and sister and brother in law came for the holiday from Texas! We were blessed to have them drive all the way to be with us on Turkey day. AND they did ALL the cooking!

Noah and Nana

Noah tried to "help" Grandad in the kitchen

 Noah with Aunt Elaine

 Uncle Matt

 Here are a few of my firstborn sons...they often arent included anymore in my posts since having real kids..but they are very vocal and active members of our family..and I thought they needed a couple of snapshots this holiday. My sweet boys took their job in the kitchen very seriously. What was their job you ask? Guarding the turkey. The never left it's side.

 

 The table pre-meal..and pre-kids sitting at the table. It was pretty.

  Here are a few sneek-peek shots of our family christmas card. We couldn't resist the fall colors and opted for a fall-ish theme rather than winter. I dont think we get any snow until the new year around these parts anyway. 

 Sweet girl loves her daddy

We had a wonderful holiday week full of family, fall weather and good food! Now- let the Advent and Christmas season begin! Hoping you had a wonderful Turkey day!

Latest Happenings this Fall

This fall has been INCREDIBLE here in Gville since the changing of the leaves. We've never actually lived in a place where the seasons truly exist so its been a real treat being here the past couple of months. We've really started to feel like this is our home and feel reassured that this was the place for us.  I've met a couple of girls at the park that I've been making playdates with weekly and we have storytime at the local library too. We've actually been fairly busy over the past weeks with various events and "first time" occasions which include Sesame Street Live, Taylor's first trip to Disney World, and Halloween. Here are a few highlight pics:

 

Sesame Street Live at the Bi-Lo Center: every parent should experience this. Taylor yelled out each character name as they made their entrance...but so did the other 1500 kids there. It was hilarious...but of course I cried. Because I'm a sap. and Because it was so sweet that they all ( including both my kids) thought they were real and for some reason that made me cry.I guess I wish I was a kid again.

 Daddy and Taylor Grace

 My little Man jumped during all the songs in the first act and wore himself out

 Outside the Bi-Lo Center with my babes

 I think Taylor is screaming at the bus that drove by: She just learned what buses are

 Boo in the Zoo for Halloween

2nd best part of the night: Taylor ran into a boy in a gorilla costume and poor girl came out of her skin ( it wasnt really scary but she was startled)

Best Part of the Night: She got lots of yummy candy for mommy and daddy to eat...and she got the stickers

 My little owl

DISNEY WORLD!!!!

So, I dont recommend traveling to FL to take your toddler to Disneyworld. BUT, when your family lives there its totally worth it. Taylor Grace has taken on a bit of an obession with Mickey Mouse lately, and she's also recently learned about princesses and castles. So, naturally I decided we should take to THE place with princesses and castles.

I DO recomment, however, to take an entorauge with you when you plan on taking more than one child under three. Just the diaper changes alone require more than one person at disney. I was glad to have family there to help.She did well and there were actually a bunch of rides and shows she was able to ride.  We stayed all day until about 10:00PM. The kiddos actually napped for two hours in their strollers, which was crucial.

The only meltdown happened at the end of the night, when she asked her daddy what happened to the castle. Mark, being a sweet daddy, just replied " Honey, the castle went bye bye, it had to go night night."

Oh MY GOODNESS the FLOOD of tears that came after Mark told her that! Poor girl, had hit her breaking point and leaving the castle was too much for her! 

It was an awesome event. I do regret, though, that she'll probably never remember it. But we have the pictures to prove it.

Meeting Goofy was an event for sure. We waited for 25 min to take a picture with him and when we got to him she was scared to stand next to him. Just look at her face.

 Classic family shot: oops my son is being blinded by the Florida sunshine

My favorite part of the whole day was when we rounded the corner and saw the castle and taylor yelled " OOOHHHH A CASTLE!!!! A Princess Castle!"

 First time Taylor saw Mickey in person. Within the first 30 min of our arrival an impromtu parade came down the street with all the characters. I choked back the tears. I did think to myself " Dang it, how do they do it EVERYTIME! This really is the happiest place on Earth"

Taylor was very excited to see all the characters in person during the parade. I think Mickey, Minnie and Daisy are her favorites.

Sidenote: We watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse waaaaay too much at the Ellis household

 Sitting on the sun porch in Minnie's house

At home, theres nothing more entertaining than bathtime here at the Ellis fort. 

 Noah with a foam letter "Y" in his mouth

 Taylor singing "Home on the Range" I love how she says the word antelope...its more like anteyope. Other bathtime songs include Gloria in Exceles Deo, Aint gonna rain no more no more, and Daisy Daisy..and the occasional Boom Boom Pow by the black eyed  peas ( she only knows one line by the way)

Noah is almost 8 mos now and fully crawling and pulling up on everything. I think the difference between the girls and boys is that I can already tell that Noah is very physical in everything he does. He's always working on something or trying to get somewhere. He adores Taylor and pretty much has to be near her at all times. He's already learning that little brother are supposed to annoy their sisters and take their toys away.

 This is a typical scene multiple times a day

 I LOVE HIM

 Noah was really into the elections this time...



Officially the worst

Ok I am OFFICIALLY the WORST blogger ever. I know this is true. I check all my favorite blogs on a daily basis but I almost never update my own. So, to those of you who check mine with any regularity, I'm sorry...and I do feel guilt quite often when I think of you and how you hope to see a new update only to be disappointed again and again. I would like to promise you that I'll get better but instead I'll just hopefully find more time in my days to suprise you and post more. I have some pics from our recent trip to Disney world, our Fall party, and recent events - I will post soon but for now here are a couple of teasers.

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Little Man

Here are a few of my little man. He is 6 mo now and growing fast. We've started him on solid food now and he is almost fully crawling. He's got an army crawl/scooch going on but he's fast and gets around well already. Dont you just want to squeeze him? I cant get enough of my Noah.

This was our first time trying rice ceral. We've moved on now to carrots, zuccini, yellow squash and assorted fruits. I've been making my own pureed baby food this time and its much tastier. Hopefully he'll become a better eater than his sister.

Birthday Girl

Last month my baby girl turned two! Yes, we've entered that stage now. We are officially full force into toddlerhood. I can hardly believe how fast these years pass. I, of course, had to have myself  a good cry  because I knew she would never again be 1 years old again. I have to fight back the tears thinking about her growing up.

Anyway back to the birthday... We had a sweet little "mickey mouse" themed party with just the family plus my mom was in town too. This is the year I think it "clicked" with her about birthdays. We bought her some pretend cakes and birthday candles to play with and practice the birthday song in the days leading up to her big day. So Taylor was well prepared for the moment. She was so taken with the whole thing that we ended up celebrating at every meal the rest of the week. Good thing I bought enough cake and candles to sing, blow candles and repeat x 3 meals a day x five days. It was BIG TIME for her.  loved every minute of it!

 Of course I had to dress up our party guests...our dogs get colored ribbon collars for every occasion. Red went with the mickey theme

 Just a view of the decorations. Tay woke from her nap to find the kitchen covered in streamers

 My sweet boy

 Obi and Noah sitting on the back patio

 Happy dog- yes, he got cake. No, we didn't give him any. Bad dog.

 Birthday girl and mommy

 Singing happy birthday

 Precious face

  Had to include this one... This is what we call Taylor's stormy face. Its what happens when we wake her from her afternoon nap too early. She was less than enthusiastic ( as shown in the pic below) at first. But after a few minutes she came around and realized it was all for her!

  

 Both Taylor and Tahoe love to catch bubbles

Just for memories sake here are a few of Taylor's favorite things:

Blanket, bunny, music box, passies, bubbles, hearing the crickets at night, catching fireflies, talking about noises she hears, mickey mouse, SINGING ALL THE TIME ( ABCs, Daisy Daisy, Take me out to the ballgame, Oh how I love Jesus, If you're happy and you know it)

Playing outside, tormenting Raleigh with shadows, throwing all the pillows, cushions, placemats, blankets onto the floor, Chalk, CRAYONS, juice boxes, jumping in noah's crib, Tahoe is her best friend, Emptying mommy's purse, jumping, talking about lambs which she calls "yams", kisses and hugs and screaming for joy

Sweet Taylor Grace. We are so proud of you! You are the light of our day! We love you to the moon and back!