Bought Me an Ella

When I got home from the grocery store the other day, Ella had a blast with one of the paper bags. Isn't it amazing how they can have more fun with a box or wrapping paper or bags then with whatever came in those things?

Anyway...

Her little self climbed in the bag and Heath pretended like he brought her home from the store.






She is SO much fun!

Pumpkin Waffles

The preschool that Ella was in last year and this year has a tradition the week before Thanksgiving that involves the director of the school making pumpkin waffles for all the kids. I can not tell you how much Ella loves these. She talks about them for weeks. In fact, another parent who had helped with the waffle making, stopped me in the hall when I was picking Ella up and told me that Ella had seconds and wanted thirds. I thought, are you sure you got the right kid? Because getting my Ella to eat is sometimes like pulling teeth. This girl just doesn't like to sit and eat.

So when she told me that I had an idea. At that moment I knew we needed to implement a new tradition into our family. I love traditions and was excited to start this one.

I decided that for Thanksgiving morning every year from here on out, we would start our day with Thanksgiving waffles. And it was very convenient for me that her school gave each kid a copy of the recipe! :-)









They were yummy!!! If you would like, I can definitely pass on the recipe to y'all!

Thanksgiving '10

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! It was pretty low key, which was nice because Heath had to work Thanksgiving day for a bit. So Ella and I, joined my parents at my uncle's house in Mansfield. It's always so fun. We ate good food, played games and Ella got to play with her 2 cousins that she LOVES!!

Ella with her Great Grandparents!


Ella and Cousin Tiffany!


Sweet cousins Zach & Ethan!


Words can not express how much I love these next pictures! I just think my grandparents are the sweetest, most precious people ever! And I think these pictures are the cutest pictures I've ever seen.


I could just cry at how in love they are with each other! I pray that Heath and I are exactly like them when we have been married that long.


This is my granddad trying to give my grandma a kiss! It was so cute!


Can you tell that I can't find the words since I keep saying cute, precious, sweet? I haven't used adorable yet! :-)


They really are the rock of this family. My granddad is still a preacher at his church. I think he just always will be. They love the Lord and they taught their children to love the Lord. Who taught their children to love the Lord and we are teaching Ella to love the Lord. The legacy they are leaving is priceless and I am so thankful.


Ella and Ethan had a little bit of outdoor time. It was 35 degrees this day, so I lasted long enough to get a few pictures and run back inside. Ella and Ethan didn't last much longer.




My mom and dad so sweetly washing all the dishes for us!


When we got home that evening, daddy was off work and Ella was done with the long, hard day of playing. So this was just the perfect ending to the day! So sweet.


It was a great day!! LOTS to be thankful for!

Gavin's Fire Station Bday Party

This past weekend, one of Ella's sweet friends from church, Gavin, had a birthday party at a historical fire station in Dallas. It's historical because it's one of the oldest working fire stations still around and it is only 1 of 4 that still have a pole that the firemen use to slide down when a call comes in.

Did y'all know that they are taking out all the poles? I had no idea. I'm not sure why that makes me sad. It just seems strange to me. As a kid, when I saw a movie or show that had a fireman sliding down the pole in an emergency I just always thought it was so cool.

It was a great party! The kids and the adults had a blast.

This is Ella, her friend Layla and the Gavin the birthday boy walking from the parking lot to the fire station.


First sight of the fire truck.


Looking down the hole where the pole is. After all the kids got to look down the hole, we all walked back to the bottom floor and got to watch our guide demonstrate sliding down the pole.


Showing us how they put on all that gear.


Getting to sit in the firetruck. Ella said this was her favorite part.




I'll let you know here that once again I forgot my camera and had to take all of these pics with my phone. So the quality is horrible. Especially this picture, but I wanted to show how the tires of the fire truck are as big as Ella.








It was so fun that they let them spray water out of the hose. One of the kids almost soaked a man and his dog that came around the corner and didn't see them spraying the water.










The ambulance and one of the fire trucks got called out while we were there. It was very exciting. I think the adults were more excited than the kids! It was pretty funny because our tour guide was the ambulance driver and when the call came in, without hesitation he was in the ambulance and gone. Practically mid sentence, he turned around, hopped in the ambulance and took off. So another fireman had to take over.


It was a great bday party. I recommend this for a party if you are trying to think of a fun thing to do for your kiddos.

Pumpkin Patch

We love this little pumpkin patch farm that is close by our house. It's family owned and operated and so quant and wonderful. It's become one of our family traditions over the past few years.

This year the Murrells & the Lewises joined us!

The first thing we did when we got there was have a picnic dinner.


My sweet, sweet girl!




Ella could barely get her food down fast enough before she was off and running with Joshua.


After the hay maze, they took off for the tractors.








A quick break for some kettle corn! I LOVE that stuff!!!


A cute picture with Laney in the hay house!




Family picture time.




We always let Ella pick out her own pumpkin. Thankfully she always goes for a little one or as she likes to call it, "A punkin size pumpkin."




The "perfect" pumpkin!


Group picture of all the kids! Sam, Miles, Laney, Joshua, Gabe & Ella. As you can imagine, I took about 25 shots of this and it was quite an experience, but we got them all.