We are thankful

We are so thankful for so many things on this Thanksgiving! Our little girl, our families, our friends, our health and happiness and I could go on and on. And we were thankful to be with the Hennessy's in Pennsylvania at Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben's new house to spend the holiday. We also got to see Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tyler, Aunt Steph and Ella's cousins, Andrew and Connor. Yes, it was a very busy and loud house but full of fun! What do older boy cousins teach you right away?? To jump on the bed of course! And I think based on that big smile, she was having a blast jumping and falling over and over again.

Even falling down can be so much fun!

Then all three little monkeys fell down!

Ella was showing off all her new hair to her cousins and brushing her "bed head" away.

Aunt Kelly got some fun new toys and Ella had fun trying to color and play at the craft table.

Check out that expression! Not sure whose is more funny, Ella's or Ben's in the background?

We even tried putting all the kids in the bath tub together but Ella wasn't so sure about it.

How cute is this? Kelly and Ben reading all the kids bedtime stories. They were quite the hostess with the mostest! Kelly is a terrific cook and Thanksgiving dinner was so good! Unfortunately, Ella decided to have a meltdown during meal time so it was a little hectic and not the most relaxing meal but it sure was good and so were all the leftovers!

Once the kiddos were finally in bed and asleep, the adults had some fun! Tyler brought the new kinnect game, it is like the Wii but you don't need to hold a controller. We played lots of fun games but the favorite and most humorous by far was the dance central game. You basically mimic the dance moves from the videos. We all had some good laughs making complete fools of ourselves! Mike and Tyler had some brotherly competition with a dance battle. Advantage this time to Mike but since Tyler owns the game, I am sure he will be practicing up for a rematch!

I don't mean to brag (too much) but I did have the highest score of the night! I guess all that Zumba pays off!

The first 2 days were rainy and cloudy but on Saturday, the sun finally came out and we could go outside. It was FREEZING though! The wind was blowing hard and the temps were in the low 40's so it felt much colder. We all bundled up though to get some fresh air and play!

Grandma knitted all the kids these adorable Hokie color hats! We definitely needed them to keep our ears warm!

Connor and Ella hugging! I wish they got to see each other more often but Seattle and Charlotte aren't exactly right around the corner from each other.

Daddy and Ella all bundled up.

Grandpa teaching Andrew how to play football. Andrew and Connor love to play sports!

Grandma got all the kids these rudolph red noses also. Ella shockingly didn't keep her on too long but Connor sure loved it!

We all had so much fun jumping, coloring, dancing, playing and just being together. After a long afternoon of travel yesterday, we were happy to get home. Let's just say, traveling with a 15 month old who doesn't like to sit still is not the most relaxing flight but luckily it wasn't too long. It is funny because her first flight was a year ago when she was 3 months old and I was so worried how she would do and this year, I would have loved to fly with a 3 month old who would sleep anywhere and liked to be held! Oh well, hopefully by our next flight, she will be into watching cartoons and movies on the Iphone.

Grandma has a lot more photos and group shots on her camera so once I get those, I will post more then so this is only Part 1. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, can't believe it is already time to pull out all the Christmas decorations!

We were tickled pink...

and happy to say, Amy and Jason have a baby girl on the way!

I had a very busy weekend, traveling back to Richmond to "shower" Amy and Baby Girl Minton with all things baby and pink of course! Lynn, Ashley and I hosted the shower and we have all been friends since middle school and we got to catch up with lots of old neighbors and friends.
Amy is due in early February and looks great with that baby glow!

Ashley made this adorable baby cake!

I actually headed up to Richmond Friday afternoon and stayed with Lynn and her newly expanded family. She just had another little girl, Madelynn 5 weeks ago. But I spent lots of time with little Miss Caroline who is 18 months now and just so cute! She was giving me my Ella fill since I am missing my own little girl. Caroline and I had fun reading together and playing games, she is just too cute and check out all that hair, can you believe she is only 3 months older than Ella with all that hair???

This is our attempt to get a picture with the 3 of us but of course as 18 month olds are, they don't like to sit too long. Caroline was done with pictures and off to play.

Two sisters getting all bundled up for a morning walk!

I wish I could have brought Ella so she and Caroline could have played together because I know they would have had a great time but it was just too far in such a short amount of time. Plus, Ella and long car rides do not get along well. She actually stayed home and got to have lots of Daddy and Ella time.

And introducing the new Madelynn Ella Raye Booth, just 5 weeks old and so little and precious!

Had a great time with everyone and can't wait to meet the new Baby Girl Minton when she arrives in February! Another little girl to play with!

I did come back on Saturday afternoon so that Ella and I could go cheer on Mike in his soccer finals on Sunday. It was a close game but unfortunately they lost the game but second place is pretty good! I think Ella loved her special Daddy bonding time because each time Mike came off the field during the game, she would run up to him and give him a big hug. It was so sweet, she loves her Daddy and even though he didn't win, he did get a big hug after the game!

We are off to Pennsylvania this week for Thanksgiving, can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa Hennessy and Ella's aunts and uncles and cousins. Happy turkey day to all of you, we are so grateful for all of our family and friends!

She's a Big Star...

In case you missed it, our little peanut is famous!! After her themed "vineyard vines" birthday party in August, I emailed the pictures to the company thinking maybe we would get in the catalogue or something but never heard anything back so didn't think about it for awhile. But they emailed on Thursday and wanted to feature her on the blog! I think this is the start of a big modeling career ahead:) Check out our star in the making! http://www.vineyardvinesblog.com/

Best Friends Forever

This is how it usually starts, Ella spots one of Dakota's toys or tennis balls and runs to find her doggie. She then drops it to the dog and they start their own little game of Catch me if you can! Dakota will grab the toy and run around the house with Ella in close pursuit after her. Stop, wait for me!

Then, Ella follows her upstairs where they both take a little break, usually Ella will hug/tackle Dakota and they will start all over again!

(P.S.-Check out Ella's new "Ugg" boots for the winter and no they are not real, do you think I would really buy her real Ugg boots for Charlotte?? But she does look insanely cute in her new pink boots!)

There is a such a special bond between these two. I don't think Ella could love a "human sibling" anymore than she loves her "furry sister." Right when she wakes in the morning until she goes to sleep, she runs around looking for Dakota, says "doggie" 200 times a day, points out all the other doggies on a walk and feeds her lots of food.

She also loves to come up and hug Dakota but she hasn't quite mastered "gentle" yet so sometimes it is more like a tackle! Mike and I were just saying tonight that she never runs up to us to just give us a hug, only her best bud Dakota! And, Dakota will have her moments when she doesn't want Ella pulling her ears or fur but most of the time, she just endures it. I mean it's a pretty good trade off for all the extra food Dakota is getting these days and she is sure to sit right next to Ella during meal or snack time. I have the leash all ready, let's go for a walk!

Besides, hanging with her best doggie, we had such a fun and finally healthy week! Mike had off a couple days for Veteran's Day and the weather could not have been better so we took advantage of it and spent a lot of time outdoors.

One thing I love about Charlotte is all the parks and playgrounds that are so close to us. We went to a different park everyday and they are all so much fun!

Enjoying the sunshine and beautiful fall colors!

Picking leaves out of the tree with Daddy!

On Saturday afternoon, we got together with our neighbors to watch the VT/UNC game. Tracey went to UNC so it was a little bit divided but luckily VT pulled through with the victory! Ella was all decked out in her VT gear including socks but after the win, we put Allie's Rutgers jersey on and she looked so adorable, we had to post this picture. I think it is time for this one to get a Virginia Tech jersey of her own!

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play...today...

Saturday was a big day...

A monumental day. A day this Mama has been waiting almost 15 months for. The day this little bald baby can finally rock a bow in her hair!!!
I know, I know, she still barely has any hair and has to wear her bow towards the top of her head where she has the most hair but still, it's a bow.

Sure, she was more excited about the ice cream she was eating than a bow.

But, I think she is pretty happy about it so no more people will come up to us and say "how old is he?" or "what a cute little boy" and this is while she is wearing something pink or girlie. They won't be confused by a bow! Especially a pink one:)

So, aside from the bow, we had kind of a tough week. Our little pink bow girl was a sick little girl. 2 trips to the doctor and an ear infection, throwing up in the middle of the night, fever and rash later, she is finally on the mend and feeling much better. After being house bound most of the week, we finally got out and enjoyed some fresh, cold air at the park.

Ella's favorite was definitely the blue car. She loved climbing all over it, driving it and when she needed a break, just relaxing!

Uh oh, I guess we need to teach her some better driving skills, no standing and driving at the same time!

And of course, we brought our other crazy child who definitely needed fresh air and exercise also. And she even followed us up the jungle gym and went down the slide. Don't leave her out of anything!

Ok, enough with the slide, back to the car we go!

She didn't love the purple dinosaur as much as the car but she did stop and play with it for a little while.

So glad she is feeling better, it is awful when they are sick. We felt like we had a newborn again since we were up all night two nights in a row, we are definitely spoiled with Ella is such a good sleeper. Hopefully we stay sick free for a little while so we can have more fun days spent at the park.

Trick or Treat!!

Halloween is one of those funny holidays that I of course loved as a child getting all the free candy and even in college dressing up and going out but as I have gotten older haven't been as into dressing up. But now that we have a little one, it is so much fun again. Last year, we had a little pumpkin who slept through most of Halloween... But this year, the little pumpkin transformed into a butterfly!

We did a little dress rehearsal on Thursday night because I didn't know if she would keep on the costume, particularly the head piece but she didn't seem to mind it at all!

We have also really gotten into carving elaborate pumpkins and on Friday night, our neighbors Tracey and Adam came over and carved with us. We all had a blast carving and I think they turned out pretty well.

Mike got really into his Jolly Roger pirate pumpkin and he definitely won the top prize!

Saturday was a busy day for us! I got up early and ran a 5k race with my old friend from college and then Ella and Mike came up to see me finish. Unfortunately, Mike had his hands full with Ella so no pictures but then we raced home for our neighborhood's annual costume parade. We caught the tail end of it but our little butterfly had a blast checking out all the kids from her car.

Later that night, a bunch of our friends got together and had an 80's themed murder mystery party. More pics to come from that later but it was a wild and fun night!! This actually was not our pumpkin but I saw it yesterday in our neighborhood while we were out for a walk so I had to snap a quick pic. Maybe we will add that to our pumpkin collection in the future! I mean Ella has everything else with her name on it, why not a pumpkin??

Finally, Halloween! Our neighborhood friends had a party for everyone in the afternoon before trick or treating. It is amazing to see how many kids there are now and how it keeps growing and growing. Ella actually sat at the craft table and attempted to color for a little bit. Let's just say, we aren't quite sure she has the same artistic talents of her DeeDee just yet.

The little butterfly with her Daddy! She was attached to Mike most of the weekend. She definitely has her Dad wrapped around her tiny little finger!

And she has pretty closely wrapped around the other finger also. I mean how can resist her in that outfit??

All the cute kiddos in their costumes! The most popular costumer of the group was a dog, there were 4 or 5 kids dressed up as different dogs! Fortunately, the camera is no zoomed in because you would see Ella sitting in Kayla's lap screaming her head off! Oh yes, she was definitely that kid that didn't want to sit for the pictures. Oh well, I guess there is always one!

The adorable Fancy Nancy and blue with green spots dog that came trick or treating to our door!

Ella even got to do some trick or treating of her own. She wasn't sure if she should take some at first and looked back at me but then she dug right in! I think snickers are her favorite!

We finally came home and waited for some more trick or treaters at our house and Ella got into the action and even gave out the candy. At one point, she even tried to give Kayla and Allie the entire bowl of candy! I wished she had because we hardly had any trick or treaters and now I am left with tons of candy, uh oh.

What a busy but fun weekend. I am already excited thinking about next year when Ella will really be able to trick or treat! Our little butterfly sends lots of Halloween love to all of you!