Big Sister Class

The three of us went to Women's Hospital to participate in the Big Brother/Big Sister Class. Ellison brought along her baby to practice with, and it was the sweetest thing to watch. :-) The siblings-to-be practiced changing a diaper (which Ellison has been becoming a pro at lately) and swaddling their babies. They learned about how families care for babies and what to expect. Ellison had been looking very forward to her class...

(There's our little mother on the left.)

After the hands-on training, we all took a tour of the waiting room to peak in the nursery, where the kids were so excited to see a real newborn. Then we toured the delivery room, too, which was good for us since this will be a new experience for us in Greensboro. It made us both miss the luxury of Longmont United Hospital back in Colorado where Ellison was born. Ellison proudly carried her baby throughout the hospital, until we finally ended back up in the classroom where the youngsters got a snack and juice during a story.

I was glad we did the class, as Ellison has always been one to do better with expectations and being warned ahead of time. She made the comment to us, "But I don't want you guys to go into the hospital..." with such a sappy face later that day. I'm already feeling complete dread at leaving my firstborn to go to the hospital to rock her world as she knows it. Her saying that definitely tugged at my heart. We are SO praying that the timing of it all goes so smoothly.

[October 10, 2010]

Fall Festival

I was looking so forward to the Fall Festival at Bur-Mil this year. We missed last year somehow, and loved the prior year, so I marked it on our calendar early this time. It was a bit too hot outside - as is our theme this year in Greensboro - but we had a great day.

First stop of the day was the face painting station...

...where Ellison chose a heart. OK, the girl pretty much prompted Ellison to pick a heart, but whatever. It looked more like an apple, but bygones... It was free, it was a sweet young girl doing the painting, E was happy.

Daddy helping her pick out the perfect pumpkin to decorate with markers.

And Little Miss Thang striking quite a pose.

It's hard to see, because the features are so tiny, but she made a cute little happy face on her chosen pumpkin - complete with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and cheeks.

We went inside for a bit to peruse the vendors, and stumbled upon a mobile planetarium that Ellison and Jon went into. I was glad I decided it wouldn't be a good idea for me to be in a tightly enclosed place - it looked like they crammed about 50 people through that enclosed bubble that looked to be about 10 feet in diameter.

After eating lunch, we, of course, could not pass up the opportunity to be photographed with Cinderella.

Then we took a nice little hayride through the trails in the park.

And of all the stickers Ellison had collected that morning to adorn her shirt, she chose THIS particular one to remove from her shirt and place it in just the right spot on a pregnant mommy. For the record, it stayed on long enough for giggles from several passengers and a photo, and that was it.

Ellison has always loved coloring, but she wants to color all the time right now. I thought she'd start the picture, then finish it later, but we sat there all clamoring for the little spot of shade under the tent while she completed the whole thing, background and all.

We ran into several of our friends there throughout the day. Laila and Mason Grant joined in for the coloring.

Then it was off to try out a very small kayak ride with Papi! Ell was so excited!

Some cotton candy to finish off the long day.

[October 9, 2010]

Thursday Playdates

Every other Thursday (for the most part) we have a playgroup that we enjoy that is hosted by our friends, the Spences. It's good for Ellison, because there are lots of boys for her to play around (which translates to lots of boy toys -- the toys, not the kids!). Anyway, Becky was/is a teacher, and this past playdate she had a little music class for the kids to participate in, which was very cute. Ellison really enjoyed it, and was such a good listener.

[October 7, 2010]

It's unfortunate that I don't have more pics from our playdates, since they are a part of our lives at this stage. We also have a "Lunch Bunch" playgroup every Monday after school, where a bunch of us get together for lunch & some playtime after school or various activities. We love us some friends!

New Ride

My incredible girlfriends (Mollie, Megan, Stacy, Rebecca, Alisha, Morgan, Nicole, and Cameron) gave me the HUGEST surprise at our book club - they presented me/us with the Sit 'N Stand stroller we've been eyeing!!! I was completely speechless - I still can't get over their generosity. Not that it's surprising for them to be generous - they're all incredible - but we are just so thankful and thrilled! Thank you SO MUCH, girls!!! Y'all are the best!!!

Well, Mookie felt like she hit the jackpot, too! As soon as Daddy got it set up, she insisted on having her evening snack in it while watching TV. She must've felt like she was at the drive-in. She is in love with her stroller, and so are we! We can't wait to put both spots to use! ;-)

[October 6, 2010]

Ready for the Farm

We headed to the Natural Science Center for an afternoon out. It was such a perfect day to go - there was almost no one there! When we went into the Animal Discovery area, I think there was literally one other family wandering through the area. It was like the place was open just for me and Mookie. And the weather was gorgeous to boot.

Ellison usually isn't real keen on petting animals, only looking at them from a safe distance. But this girl just keeps coming out of her shell, I tell ya. I'm still amazed at how much more social she is this year, and how much more she's willing to try things. Now, if we could just get that to translate over to the area of food! Getting back on track, though, Ellison was actually willing to pet the miniature horses.

The fave part of the afternoon? Ellison got to feed the goats and sheep some hay for their snack time! Again, I was surprised she was willing to, but she loved it! She followed the lady's instructions so well, despite the peer pressure from the twin girls that were not listening so well.

She stayed put until every last bit of hay was fed to the animals.

[October 5, 2010]

Mom's Not Cool Already

(Sigh)... I really didn't think the time would come until she was at least in late elementary school or middle school. But I'm sad to say that my daughter already doesn't want to be seen with me. Okay, so I know it's really just her becoming independent, but Ellison has recently started BEGGING me to not walk with her into school when I drop her off! I couldn't believe it when I heard it the first time: "Mom, stay back. I want to walk to my class all by myself. I can do it, Mom! Mom, pleeeaaaase! Mo-om, I don't want you to walk me in! Stay here. I want to find my room by myself."

We've had this conversation on a couple of occasions now, but I'm bigger, so I win out. :-) I know she has seen that the kids that are dropped off in the carpool line get to walk to their classroom by themselves, and she thinks that's cool. But I LOVE walking her to her classroom everyday and seeing her off. I keep telling her I'll let her do the carpool line for drop-offs after Christmas break (after the baby is here, and it'll be easier to not get a newborn out of the car!). I still don't like the thought, though... I'm going to be one of those parents....

Nature Walk

After picking up Ellison from school one afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful cooler weather and go for a nature walk at the Guilford military park. Ellison chose which paths we would take, and we just had a lovely time chatting away, bringing in the month of October.

At one point, she suddenly hollared, "A deer!". And sure enough, there was a fawn SO close to us! We held still for a while and whispered, and the fawn would take turns looking back at us and perusing the the ground. It was even closer than this, but I had to take my time digging for my camera in my purse. It was a fun nature moment for us.

When I told her I wanted to take her picture, she put her hand across her chest and said, "Mom, I'm going to hold my hand like 'pledge allegiance'." She's becoming a little patriotic lately - always excitedly pointing out the American flag when we see one, and likes me to say the "Pledge of Allegiance".

[October 1, 2010]

Caroline's Party

OK, so that's not Caroline's party... but it IS my 23 week belly from Ellison's perspective, just before going. Our girl still loves taking her own pics and looking back through them all by herself. You never know what you're gonna find on our camera.

So now THIS is sweet Caroline's 4th birthday party that we got to attend at Art Quest. It was such fun - we had never been, but had heard great things about it. First stop was where our little biscuits channeled their inner Picassos.

I don't know the 2 girls in between, but there's the birthday girl on the left, and Ellison on the right.

As often happens at the tail end of Ellison's painting times, she paints her hands all up.

Decorating their own tiaras.

This was moments after we had yet another earring incident with poor Mookie. Mama wasn't paying attention and just pulled the apron over her head, causing her little body to shudder as the earrings ripped out of her little lobes. Makes me nauseous thinking about it. Later that evening, we had to put them back in, and the one was a very bad experience since I had to work through a hole with dried blood. Our little trooper let the tears flow down her face as she cried out, but held very still and took it. :-( I have to say, she doesn't want to change her earrings often anymore. She's a little scarred. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I am VERY careful now.

Working with clay

Little Maggie, and Mookie playing with the puppets. She's always liked puppets.

Happy Birthday, Caroline!!!

[September 26, 2010]