Fall Fun!

Jack and Ella are continuing to surprise us everyday with their new knowledge and abilities. Ella is talking so much and putting together some impressive, funny, and sometimes sassy sentences. She is still going to daycare in Parsons and really likes it there. She has mastered potty training. She rarely has an accident anymore and is waking up dry about 3 nights/week.

Jack is growing faster than I could ever imagine. He gets around the house easily. He isn't walking yet, but can crawl really fast. His daycare claims that he has stood on his own for a couple seconds when he didn't realize that he was doing it, but at home he is too scared to let go or let us let go. He is sleeping through the night now. It seems like he woke up more frequently than he has since he was a newborn and then all of a sudden decided to sleep through the night. It was rough for a few weeks.

Ella dressed up as an owl for Halloween this year. At first she wanted to be a cat, but as Halloween got closer she decided she really wanted to be an owl. I found a picture online of a little girl in a homemade owl costume and decided to give it a try. I spent only $12 on all of the items I needed to pull it off. The costume was mostly comprised of felt and hot glue. She was so happy with her costume and couldn't wait to show it off. There was a Harvest Party at her school during the day on Halloween and she got to Trick or Treat at the different classrooms. She also got to eat lots of sweets! That evening we went home to pick up Ben and headed to Coffeyville to Trick or Treat. We visited the Neely Grandparents, the Shearhart Grandparents, Aunt Lynn and Uncle David's house (uncle David wasn't there yet, but Finian, Isabel, and Jennifer were), and our final stop was at Grandma Judy and Grandpa Phil's house. Judy made chili and we ate some dinner while Ella helped hand out candy to the kids ringing the doorbell. She liked seeing all of the costumes. After dinner, Ben and I took Ella to Trick or Treat. She made it to the second house, got a REALLY cool treat, refused to leave their porch, through a tantrum in their yard, and was done Trick or Treating. Yep, she's 2. Jack did not dress up, but wore an adorable First Halloween shirt sent to him by his "Auntie" Meka. She takes good care of our kiddos. The weekend before Halloween we got to take part in a few Neewollah festivities. Grandma Tammy, Grandpa Mark, Uncle Erik, Aunt Chelsea, and Baron came to watch the parade with us. It was pretty cold, but Ella stayed entertained most of the time. Jack fell asleep before the parade began and slept through all of it. He peeked a few times just to make sure we were still there and went right back to sleep. After the parade we went back to our house to celebrate Grandma Tammy's birthday. All in all, it was a fun weekend!

 Ella and Finian

 Ella was very excited to carve her first pumpkin.

 She didn't even mind all the mess. She was a trooper when is came to cleaning out her pumpkin.

 Our little pumpkins with their pumpkins. Jack watched us while we carved. I didn't think that he got close to any of the pumpkin seeds, but the next morning his daycare teacher found 3 pumpkin seeds in his dirty diaper. Just in case you were wondering, pumpkin seeds do NOT digest.

 Jack in his Halloween shirt. We were mean parents and didn't get him out of his carseat until we reached our final destination.

 Sweet little owl!

She was not ready to leave Aunt Lynn and Uncle David's house.

A couple weeks ago, Ben and I got to drop the kids off at Grandpa Mark and Grandma Tammy's and go up to Manhattan on a game day. Ben attempted to relive his college days in Aggieville and then we drove back to Allen to watch the game on TV. Ben and Ella stayed at the farm for most of the following week and Jack and I went home. Ella got to spend lots of quality time with Grandma Tammy and Ben got to do some hunting.

Ella got to ride a horse for the first time last month. The daycare is located on the grounds of the Parsons State Hospital. This means that they get to take advantage of some of the facilities there. Every couple of months they take all of the kids to the stables and let them ride the horses. The horse's fence comes right up to the playground fence, so the kids are used to seeing the horses and petting them.

 Ella was not too sure at first and needed to pretty much be forced to get on the horse. This is not the first time Steve has had to introduce a child to horsebacking riding so he knew that if he could get her on there, she would love it.

 She is coming around to the idea.

 And...she loves it!

 She asked to go around twice!

 Happy girl!

 These are Ella's daycare friends. Isabel (middle) is my coworker Jessica's little girl and Chloe (right) is my coworker Heidi's granddaughter.

And lastly, a bathtime pic of both the kids. Jack and Ella take a bath together most nights. They don't mind it at all and even play and wrestle sometimes.