October 2010

The kids had mother's night at school but I was out of town for work so Cecil had to go for me. Our nanny Heather still got them all dressed and ready and got these pictures before they left.

Giving Helen a kiss

Alex in his pirate underwear (he does not like to wear pants because then he cannot see his underwear) and Ella in her princess skirt playing with the trains

Helen playing with Baby Hunter

Helen looking cool in her sunglasses drinking her smoothie

Alex's Buzz Lightyear sunglasses

Ella with upside down sunglasses

We headed to another wedding and on the way the kids got to watch movies in the car. Here's Alex enthralled with whatever he is watching

Helen at the wedding rocking in the rocking chair

Helen and Alex playing on the hay bales

Ella on the hay bales (it was an outdoor cowboy wedding so Ella had to wear her pink boots)

Eating snacks at the table

Alex gets his own bottle of water

Helen with a mouthful of crackers

The girls playing in the grass

Ella busy coloring while we wait for them to cut the cake

One of our favorite restaurants serves ice cream. Here we are on a Sunday night enjoying some post dinner ice cream. Always a messy endeavor.

Ella eating her chocolate ice cream

Helen does not want to miss one drop

Ella has cleaned out her bowl!

The kids playing at a birthday party

Helen in the ball pit

Ella in the ball pit

Alex in the ball pit

Patiently waiting for the pirate cake

September 2010

Alex decided months before Halloween that he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. So I found a used costume for him to wear so he could be Buzz for more than just one night.

Buzz in all of his glory (he wears this thing a lot so it is definitely getting some good use. He even insists that I call him Buzz instead of Alex when he is wearing it)

The girls help feed Cheerios to Baby Hunter

Grandma came for a visit and got one last picture with Bo

Our Ohio cousins (Caroline, Andrew, Matthew, and Colin) send get well presents for everyone after Ella's surgery. Here they are opening the package and enjoying all of the goodies.

Ella goes straight for the princess jewelry and candy

Alex goes straight for the candy too

Alex and Hunter play with the big bouncy ball

Ella snuggles up with Daddy because she is cold

Goodbye Tonsils!

The Goodbye Tonsils cake - Ella wanted a Toy Story cake with Buzz Lightyear and Woody

Alex and Helen got a real windfall when Ella got her tonsils out - a party, cake, balloons, and ice cream for them too!

In September, Ella had to get her tonsils out. We have been regular visitors to the doctor all year with strep throat and ear infections. We call Ella the vector because she kept getting sick and passing it along to Alex and Helen. This summer, the doctor said the tonsils were infected and that the best way to stop the strep throat was for the tonsils to come out. So I bought books on getting tonsils out and talked up all the ice cream and popsicles she would get to eat. I still don't think she quite knew what was coming. In anticipation of the tonsils, Grandma sent cards with stickers (of course she had to send some to everyone). Here's Helen putting princess stickers all over herself.

Ella covers her arms with princess stickers too

Daddy and Ella eating popsicles after surgery. Ella did great. Thank goodness she was too young to really understand what was coming. Just in case, we gave her some happy juice right before they took her back so that she would not be upset when she left us. The whole procedure took about 30 minutes and then we spent the rest of the day in recovery with her.

She ate 3 popsicles and two cups of ice cream that day. The nurses were impressed with how much she ate. Even today when I mention a hospital she says that's the place where you get ice cream and popsicles.

Unfortunately, she was not as good of an ice cream eater when we got home. For the next week, all she wanted to eat were Cheerios - the one thing the doctor said she could not have. Her brother and sister really enjoyed all of the ice cream they got to eat, but stubborn Ella did not want it.

Before the tonsils came out, we had a goodbye tonsils party. Here they are playing with their balloons.

Alex got a Toy Story balloon to match his shirt (I have no idea where his pants are)

Helen got a princess balloon

Ella recovering in mommy's bed after surgery (she had to stay home for a week) watching movies

It was a rough detox for her when she had to go back to school and could not eat whatever she wanted and watch movies all day

Happy Summer - August 2010

We got new bath towels for the kids, and Alex wanted to be Lightning McQueen

We also got a new dog - Beau. Beau is a 10 month old black Lab puppy. Lots of energy and loves to chew. Here is Beau and his new master.

Ella pulls Helen in the wagon down the driveway

Ella giving her best picture smile

Daddy sitting in the wagon with the camera taking a picture of the girls trying to pull him (he's a little too heavy for them)

Helen found a leaf

Eating breakfast

Ella enjoys her muffin

Sweet Alex

Helen enjoying her yogurt

Everyone holding hands

Hands up in the air

Hands over our ears for when there is a loud noise

Beau - good bye Beau! Beau lasted about three months. He was not happy being alone when we left during the day, and he would express his sadness by destroying a multitude of things when he was able to. I lost count of how many princess dolls were decapitated by him, how much food he got off of the counter, how many times he ripped open bags of garbagee and dragged the garbage all over our yard, and how many hundreds of dollars worth of stuff he destroyed. We finally decided that it was not working out and two weeks ago he went back to the people who gave him to us. When I told the kids that Beau was going bye bye, Alex asked if Indi was coming back :(, Helen said she wanted another doggy with no tongue so that he could not lick her, and Ella said she wanted a sweet doggy. I told them we were not getting another dog until they were bigger. The next day Helen asked me if she was bigger yet. I told her not big enough!

Cecil and me at one of the several military formals that we have been going to lately