Gobble Gobble

I think I am officially stuffed! We had such a fun Thanksgiving, sooooo much yummy food and tons of leftovers over the past couple of days. DeeDee, Papa and Uncle Court braved the traffic on 85 from Atlanta to come spend Thanksgiving with us in Charlotte. This was one of the few times we have spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte and the weather didn't disappoint. Everyone arrived on Wednesday night and Ella was so excited when they arrived. She of course went into performance mode and put on a dance show for us. She needed a dance partner and Uncle Court couldn't turn her down.

Ella showing Uncle Court her sweet dance moves.
We spent Thanksgiving morning being lazy in our pjs, the best kind of mornings. Ella recruited Papa to read her the Tinkerbell book. Papa has learned more about Disney and princesses in the past 2 years than he probably ever thought possible!
And lots of cuddling with Uncle Court on the couch.
We heard there was a big Thanksgiving parade in Uptown and since Ella usually loves parades, we decided to check it out. It was pretty interesting to say the least and the music was really loud so Ella buried her head against Daddy. After the parade we asked if she had fun and she replied, No, it was too loud."
We escaped the crowd and walked around Charlotte and got to see the Christmas decorations. Ella was all about the reindeer, who are all named Rudolph incidentally.
While Mom and I stayed home to prepare the big feast, Daddy, Uncle Court and Papa enjoyed the gorgeous weather we had and took Ella for a walk to the park.

After a nap for Ella and cooking for us, dinner was almost ready. While we waited the last couple minutes, we took some pictures on the back deck. Our little turkey hamming it up for the camera!
Ella is obsessed with Uncle Court! She wanted to know where he was at all times and would request him to play with her all the time. At the park, she made him climb up and slide down with her over and over again.
She also loves her DeeDee and Papa. DeeDee would get her up in the morning and then take her in their bed and they would play together.
Family pic and yes, the bump is definitely popping out now at 28 weeks! Hard to believe in less than 3 months, we will be a family of four (plus Dakota!)
Our feast! Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of the turkey out of the oven but I wish we had because it was really pretty and tasted delicious. Like I said, I have been eating nonstop all weekend!
After dinner, the turkey was making us all tired (except for Ella who didn't touch the turkey!) so we decided to watch some Shrek and football.
On Friday, the guys golfed and the girls did some shopping. No crazy black friday sales or anything, just Marshalls which at 10:30 was not crowded at all. They all went home that night and Ella was very sad to see all her playmates go home. This weekend was pretty quiet and back to our usual routines, lots of walks and park trips. Today Ella discovered a dandelion for the first time and was trying so hard to blow it.
Tonight, we walked to the church up the street from us to see a live nativity. They had camels, cows, sheep and mini horses. They also had a short play with Baby Jesus, the wise man and angels. At first, Ella was terrified of the camel but after some time, she thought it was neat and kept going up to it's cage to get a closer look.
The weekend was perfect and we know we have so much to be thankful for. Amazing family, great friends, health and happiness. Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are in full on Christmas mode and I can't wait for it. Ella is obsessed with all things Christmas right now, Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, christmas trees, etc so I know this one is going to be extra special. Now, time to start decorating the house!

This and that

Even though this blog post has far fewer pictures than I normally post, I has taken me forever already to post because I am blogging from our new computer. Mike and I have needed a new laptop for home for a long time. Ours was old and slow and out of date and after debating which way to go, we finally got a new Mac Friday night. An early Christmas present to ourselves. If you would have asked me a couple years ago if I was a Mac person, I would have said no way but after first purchasing an iPod years ago when they came out and then having had 2 different iPhones and loving them, we decided it would be easier and more convenient to get a Mac and much more fun. However, with all new things comes frustration and as many cool features that this new computer has, it is much different from a PC and not having a right click button takes time to get used to. However, one of the best features by far is the iCloud, which allows every picture, video, song, etc you have on your phone to be automatically synched with your computer and vice versa. So, all the pictures we took on our iPhones at the park today, were automatically uploaded to our computer once we got home. Hopefully I will start to learn a lot more about this computer and if any of you have advice on cool things to do on the Mac and with blogs, please let me know.

Now, onto the rest of our week. After returning from Atlanta, we had a good and quiet week which was much needed. Ella and I made sugar cookies one day last week when it was raining. She was so excited to hold it up and proudly announce, she was eating a "Coo Coo."

She also had her Thanksgiving party at school on Thursday. They had cornucopias out of ice cream cones and filled them with goldfish, raisins, cereal and Ella's personal favorite, M&M's. Again, same pose as above, proudly holding up he cone to show me and saying "cheese" this time.
Then going in to inspect the goodies inside. Not so much interested in the raisins and cheerios, went straight for all the chocolate.
Yesterday was a quiet day, I ran errands and we pretty much hung out at home until the late afternoon when we went to watch Mike play in the semifinals for his soccer team. It was chilly at the end and unfortunately the team lost 1-0 but Ella had a blast watching Daddy play. There's always next season.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day here in Charlotte and so we spent most of the morning at the park. Here is Ella on her favorite, "twisty slide."
Getting ready to go and then she was off!
Hi Mom and Dad!
After she would slide down, instead of taking the ladder or stairs back up, she found a better way. Just climb back up the slide. Luckily the park wasn't too crowded and she had the slide to herself to slide down and walk back up time and time again.
After playing on the playground, we walked up to the soccer and baseball fields to let the dog run around. Ella thinks the bleachers are a pretty fun jungle gym as well.
Not sure we will get many more days this warm (except for tomorrow which is supposed to be warmer!) but we were loving the weather today. Short sleeves in late November, yes please!

And a very special congratulations! We got great news on Saturday morning that Mike's sister and bother in law or Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben as Ella calls them had two beautiful baby boys. Noah Jacob Kettlewell and Owen Hennessy Kettlewell arrived in dramatic fashion and a few weeks early but luckily Kelly and the babies are both doing great and hoping to come home on Tuesday. We are so excited for them and can't wait for Ella to meet her newest cousins soon.

How is it mid November already?

I feel like I start every blog post the same, "We are staying busy here" and the "Fall is just flying by" and I hate to sound cliche but the fact is that we are staying busy and having a really fun fall. Two weekends ago we had our annual neighborhood HOA party. This year, we rented a large smoker and the guys got up at 7am to put the pork and ribs on the smoker so they could cook all day. It turned out to be a big success and the food was great. We also rented a giant bounce house since there are so many kids in the neighborhood which was definitely the highlight for them.
It got a little cool once the sun went down, good thing I just got Ella a new winter hat. The kids weren't so interested in the pork but they thought the hot dogs and mac and cheese were yummy.

And a major benefit of having the party right outside your house is extra time in the bounce house. The company came out and set it up early on Saturday and didn't come back until Sunday afternoon so Ella was in heaven bouncing on the "trampoline" as she called it.

And her dad is a big kid also and had fun jumping around with Ella.

Last week we had some really warm days where temperatures reached the 70's and the weather was just perfect. One day after I picked Ella up from school, I decided instead of heading home and going right down for a nap like we usually do, we would make a pit stop at the park for some fresh air and play time.

We were the only ones there and Ella had a blast running from one thing to the other and of course showing off her favorite trick, swinging on the slide bar.

On Thursday, Mike and I picked Ella up from school and headed down to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech/ Virginia Tech game. My Dad got us amazing seats, 6 rows up and my aunt and uncle from DC (also VT alum) and my other uncle from Rochester all came down for the weekend so we had a blast. Ella stayed home with the babysitter so Mom and Dad and everyone else could go cheer on the Hokies. The game was close pretty much the entire time until the end and I am happy to say the Hokies won! Everyone was happy!

The game worked out perfectly that it was the day before Veterans Day so Mike had off work on Friday. We decided to go check out the Georgia Aquarium on Friday morning with the crew.

Ella loved getting all the extra attention all weekend. Both my aunts and uncles kids are older now so they loved playing with her and having a little one around again. Here is my Aunt Jeanne with Ella waiting in line for the Aquarium.

Once inside, we went to see an interactive dolphin show but cameras were restricted there so no pictures but it was very cool and the dolphins were amazing. Ella kept saying, "dolphins jump high" and they did. After that, we explored the rest of the aquarium.

(Side note, whenever the camera comes out, Ella says "Cheese" as hard as she can and shows all of her teeth.)

She was so excited to see all the fishies, especially the big ones like the sharks and sting rays. She loved that they were swimming above her also. She kept pointing every time time, saying there's a fishy and another one.

Ella also loved showing Uncle Court all the big fish, check out the shark swimming right behind them.

The aquarium is huge and I just loved how close you could get to the displays and tanks to see all the fish.

More "cheese" pictures, showing off her pearly whites again!

Ella and her crazy Uncle Court loved making fishy faces! Ella's is a hybrid between her fishy face and her monkey face so maybe she was acting out the monk fish's face!

Trying to look for Nemo in the tropical fish room, unfortunately, the nemo display was really small. Note to the aquarium, every kid loves Nemo, get some more clown fish!

Later that night, Ella introduced Uncle Al to one of her new favorite movies, The Cat in the Hat. She had a blast sitting with him telling him all about the movie and characters.

On Saturday, the girls went shopping and the guys played golf. When they returned, DeeDee and Papa took Ella for a ride in the golf cart and showed her a gift they had gotten for her before she was even born or knew she was a girl, a set of kids golf clubs! Papa showing her the proper way to hold a club!

(I have no idea why that grey line is on the side of the picture, weird!)

And then giving it a try all by herself. Of course she thought the most fun was picking them out of the bag and putting them back in so not sure she is sold on the sport yet but she does have a great pair of clubs!

Overall, it was such a fun weekend with lots of family that we don't get to see enough, watching the Hokies win and checking out the amazing aquarium. I can't believe it's already mid November and Thanksgiving is next week (and I am cooking, yikes!) Like I said in the beginning the fall is flying by! Have a good week!

Trick or Treat!!

Ella is at the peak of her love for all things Halloween. She loves pointing out every pumpkin and ghost we pass on our walks and has been perfecting her "trick or treat" for weeks now. So, we couldn't wait for a fun weekend filled with all things Halloween.

This year, Ella went as Virginia Tech's #1 cheerleader. Our friend got her this tutu back in Blacksburg earlier this year and she would wear it everyday if I let her so I decided we should incorporate it into her costume so since we had the shirt, poms poms, hokie socks and even the VT bows my mother in made for her, we went with it. Saturday morning our neighborhood had a costume parade followed by a trunk or trick at the local church. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera and this was only picture we got of her before we left for the parade. In case you can't tell, she is cheering "Go Hokies!"
Later that night, after the kiddos went to bed that night, the adults carved their pumpkins. This has turned into a big thing with Mike and I and now our neighbors as well. Mike chose to go with a grime reaper themed pumpkin.

And I went a little lighter with something I thought Ella would enjoy, a kitty bat.

Sunday morning was a gorgeous morning and we headed to one of our favorite parks. After swinging and sliding, we went down to run around on the soccer fields. I am in love with all the fall colors and leaves changing on the trees lately. Fall in Charlotte is definitely beautiful.

And some twirling in the air.

But yesterday was the big day! Halloween had finally arrived. To get Ella down for her nap, I promised her after she went to sleep, we could go to the party and trick or treating. As soon as she woke up, she said "I went night night, now trick or treat." Yes little cheerleader, we can go.

(I think she is saying Hokies are #1 in the picture above)

Our neighborhood had a big party in the afternoon with lots of fun games for the kids, yummy Halloween treats and some pizza to fill their bellies before all the candy. Ella was excited to see all her buddies dressed up.

Ella's favorite activity of the party was definitely the decorate your own cookie. Ella and Wesley loved spooning out the frosting and licking it off. Checking to make sure the frosting tastes good and then...

going in for the whole thing! Boy, does this girl love her sweets!

Daddy came to join in the fun also after work.

Most of the kiddos all dressed in their cute costumes.

And then it was finally time for trick or treating! These two best buddies were so cute, holding hands walking up to each house.

At first, she was a little unsure of what to do or if she should eat the candy right away. But she quickly got the hang of it to hand out your pumpkin bucket and they will drop yummy candy inside.

And once they discovered they could go from house to house and not just one, they started having the time of their lives. Saying trick or treat and thank you and watching as more and more candy was filled in the bucket.

Checking out the goods to make sure she got the best candy!

She was definitely a pro at the end and loved when she was first and could knock on the door herself.

After we visited the neighbors, we came home to hand out candy and I think Ella had as much fun going to other houses as she did when other kids came to our house. She would get excited each time the doorbell rang and say "more kids!" We had a a lot of trick or treaters this year and finally turned off the lights a little before 9 and went to bed with a sugar high for all! This morning when I woke her up for preschool, the first words out of her mouth were "go trick or treating now?" I had to laugh out loud and try to explain to her that we would have to wait another year for more trick or treating but she was just as happy when she came downstairs to find her big bucket of candy still there, until I told her we don't eat candy for breakfast (unless you are Mommy and pregnant.)

It was such a fun time and gets me so excited for Christmas this year since she is starting to understand holidays more and now knows who Santa Claus is. Happy November!