TRICK OR TREAT

Party time at the park. Ella and a few of her friends had a playdate at the park and all the moms brought some food and treats. It was a good time. Helped wear them all out so they could have a great nap before HALLOWEEN night.

Ella got a new camera as an early Christmas present from Grandpa John and Grandma Rhondi. It was put to good use, she took pictures of everything. We are going to buy her a 1GB memory card so she can take up to 850 pictures. Hopefully that'll do it.

CANDY TIME

With much anticipation Halloween night finally arrived. Ella has been looking forward to this for weeks. She wanted Mommy to dress up and well I had to borrow from her dress up bin. So she is a butterfly - even though we bought her Cinderella and I am bunny. I guess since she was Cinderella yesterday she wanted to be something different.

Ella and her friend Kyle were already to go. They trick or treated together last year as well.

Here are the kids at the door getting candy, Jack was so excited and the lady was trying to give him some treats but it turns out all he wanted was to pet her dog. Better for his teeth I guess.

Here they are with full baskets but still wanting more. She had so much fun. She only liked the nice houses not the scary ones. Our neighbor went all out with scary music and a coffin, Ella didn't even want to be on the same street. We skipped the couple houses near it as well.

We let Spiderman 1 and 2 out and they thought that was great, for a bit then they were tired.

Ella at the end of a great day taking stock of all her loot.

John's parents are coming tonight so I pulled out the mattress topper to put on the pull out bed and well the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. They played and played. Actually when putting Jack's pajamas on(taking him away from the fun) he was so annoyed with me that he BIT me. Ouch. Hopefully its a one time offense. Christopher is the teacher of bad habits it appears.

Halloween Parade

The morning started a bit rough at 5am with Ella crying about not wanting to nap at school. She went on and on about how sad she was and how she was scared to sleep at school by herself and the tears just kept streaming, so like any exhausted mom I said FINE you don't have to nap at school and to my amazement the tears stopped and she was so excited to dress up and have a party. Spiderman 1 and Spiderman 2 also thought it was fun to go to school and see all the costumes and they got some candy too. It was a really fun parade. Here are some photos of Ella and the rest of the 3 year class showing off their costumes.

I guess Ella was line leader today. She thinks it a great job and takes it very seriously. She tells me "it's a lot of responsibility"

Here is Ella's best friend at school Sarah - AKA Alice in Wonderland

Ella's class with teachers Miss Danelle and Miss Melissa

Spiderman off to save the day!

ABC

Here is Ella being dramatic. This ABC song is expressive!

Surprise

I came home from a walk with the kids to find these flowers at my door. I was surprised and couldn't think of who would send them since its not a special occasion or anything. Well it was from Johns boss at work. I guess they know that a happy wife makes a happy husband and therefore a wonderful worker... Definitely wasn't expected but I do love them. What a great surprise.

Well I told you to stay tuned for the pumpkin and here it is painted and then lit up for the night. She did a great job and is thoroughly pleased with herself.

Tomorrow at school there is a Halloween party and here is Cinderella all ready for her ball - actually I think she is just going for the candy.

Ella and I carved pumpkins today. She drew a face on the pumpkin and I carved it. We roasted the seeds and made pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips - courtesy of Ella bakery. She adds chocolate chips to everything.

Here she is painting the pumpkin. She named the pumpkin Lovey. So she will be all lit up tonight and we will add that photo later so stay tuned.....

Jack

Jack is very verbal except when he wants something and then he has this screech. Its loud and whiny so I have been working on getting him to say more please. Nope no such luck. He has however taken to nodding his head yes. If you ask him do you want milk he nods, or if he wants to do something. Eventually he will learn some manners but as of now its the Jack NOD!

Family Fun

John's home and the kids couldn't be happier. Here they are playing enjoying his attention. He is a great dad and they really miss him. Ella told John that she didn't want him to go to Chicago anymore, a few minutes later came over to him and said Daddy its OK to go, they need you since you're such a good worker.

Three really cute kids!

So this weekend we went bike riding and Ella did terrific for being so little. She loves to ride bikes, but didn't want to get her picture taken. She was so tired today and actually asked me to go to bed at 6pm.

Jack is waving bye bye they love to say it. If you say good night they say bye bye and wave. They are starting to get more verbal. This is such a fun age.

John and I had a date night with Jennifer and James at Kirbys Steakhouse on Saturday. It was great and the creme brulee was the best I have had yet.

A nice day...

Friday is my favorite day of the work week. The weekend is my all time favorite but that goes without saying since Johns home then. Kind of quiet today, Peyton came to play and the girls had fun. After the Y we went for a bike ride. Ella thinks she will get rid of her training wheels when shes 4. Also she told John on the phone that she was praying for 2 dogs, that mommy, grandma Ruthie and Christopher won't be allergic to cats, a baby sister oh and some new pet shop animals. The Pet shop animal requested has already been answered - she just needs to wait till Christmas. We will have to see about the dog since that is the only other negotiable request at this point.

Johns coming home tonight but his plane is delayed. Oh well at least he will be here tomorrow, I told him to rest on the plane because as soon as the kids she him - its PLAY time for kids.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing today. It was a great day and they were lots of fun.

Christopher and Jack have learned to play peek a boo upside down. They think its hilarious. So do I actually.

Ella loves to pick berries from our bushes. She thinks it fun to collect things. She is a bit of a pack rat. Its even better for her when she has two little helpers. She keeps them pretty close to her. She is really good with them.

Out for a walk

Today was a nice quiet day. Ella had school and I took the boys to get some pants and long sleeve shirts for our cooler weather.
After naps we went for a walk to the park with Alexia and Katrina. Ella didn't want to ride her bike, she wanted to give her brothers a ride. Here she is doing just that.

Ella also got a pair of new black patent shoes for church which she likes so much she hasn't taken them off all day. She is currently sleeping in them!!! I would take a picture but the risk of waking her is too high.

The day would have been perfect if John was here. He is getting rave reviews as I would expect. The partner wrote John an email saying that he can have lots of vacation time when he gets back. I have a copy, so I plan to stick it to them.

Houston Zoo

We made our way to the zoo today with Luke, Logan and Shelley. As always we had so much fun with them. The boys did great, skipped their morning nap and lasted till 1.30. The weather was amazing - high 70's. In the sun it was actually hot. Not Texas hot but hot for this Canadian.

Since I have been taking all these pictures for the blog Ella has really gotten into the camera. She wants to take photos all the time. This picture of Luke, Ella took so it makes the blog! We also know what we are buying her for Christmas. A fisher price digital camera. So you'll see lots of pictures in the new year from Miss Ella Grace.

Ella loves to help her brothers. She wants to do everything with them, sometimes they think its great, other times not so much.

Jack wasn't so sure about walking around with the goats. He just squatted with his head down as he does when he is unsure of things. Christopher on the other hand (like Ella) couldn't get enough of them. I think I have a picture of him with every goat.

Katalina, Luke and Ella 2005

We have a picture of the 3 muskateers from 2 years ago, so this was fun for Shelley and I to see. We missed Katalina and Konrad though. So there will be another of these photos soon with our other zoo pals.

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Ella and Luke sitting in an Eagles nest. We tried all the kids but the babies just wouldn't cooperate.

Ella and Luke got to go on the train ride through Hermann Park. We normally are too tired but today was the day. They had fun, as you can see.

After we went to the Y we went to Burger King for dinner. It was a kids dream day! Here are the boys having some brotherly love in the slide. Too cute. I didn't get a video but trust me there was lots of laughing and no biting from Christopher so Jack was all smiles.

Oh I forgot!

I forgot to tell y'all the story. Erin and I were on the highway driving and this guy in a red truck kept creeping into my lane and as I was passing him since he was recklessly driving we noticed his eyes were closed. We were watching him in our rearview mirror and he was swerving lane to lane - he was sleeping. Brought back memories to my childhood MOM. Ha Ha

Today we went to the park. Here are some photos of them playing. Weather is still awesome, in the low 70's - tomorrow we are going to try to get to the zoo.

Just found out some exciting news Tooley had a baby girl. Samantha Joy 8lbs 7oz. Congratulations Erin!