All Ready for Christmas!

The past couple of years, Bill and I have started getting the house decorated immediately after Thanksgiving.  Since it takes so long to get everything out of the attic and decorated, you might as well enjoy it the entire month.  This year, Bill and I decided to take the plunge and get an artificial tree. It was a lot easier to put up (after our second trip to Sear's because the first tree was broken) and much less of a mess.  Plus, we won't have to worry about a dead tree in our house at the end of December.  This is the first year Madelyn enjoyed decorating the tree.  She put all of her ornaments in one spot at the bottom of the tree.  Once she was done, I not only found ornaments but boxes, ornament hooks, and a stuffed animal.  Her favorite ornament to hang was a princess tiera that was given to her last year for Christmas.  She hung that ornament with a HUGE smile on her face.  She keeps telling us how much she loves her Christmas tree.  Ellie slept during most of the tree decorating but loves looking at the ornaments and all the lights.  After we got everything decorated yesterday, Bill and I sat down for a nice glass of wine and relaxed.  We are ready for the the holidays to begin!

Madelyn checking out our new artificial tree!

Madelyn insisted on wearing her tutu while decorating the tree.  She also wore her stocking like a sock. She had some pretty interesting attire going on!

Some of Madelyn's ornaments all hung in the same general area!

Ellie checking out the tree after her nap!

Ellie following our rule to touch with one finger!

Happy Little Ellie

Madelyn showing Ellie all her ornaments!

Ellie eyeing one of the balls!

Madelyn telling Ellie not to touch the ornaments!

The finished product!

Now that we have Ellie and Fenway's new stocking (I broke down and bought Fenway a matching stocking because his old stocking hung the wrong way), our mantel is pretty full this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We spent Thanksgiving in Richmond this year and headed over to Nana and Pop's house for a delicious lunch of turkey, sweet potatoe casserole, corn pudding, stuffing and pies.  It was very yummy!  Bill and I have so much to be thankful for this year, especially our wonderful family and friends!  Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving:

Ellie chilling while we eat our Thanksgiving lunch.  She had already had her lunch of applesauce and sweet potatoe puffs!  Poor little Ellie has her first cold ever so felt a little under the weather today.

Madelyn decided she wanted to sit in the highchair during lunch. Sometimes she decides she wants to be a baby again.  At least it kept her contained!

A very tired Mommy with her two girls!

Uncle Sam reading the cousins a book!

Getting ready to gobble up some yummy food!

Madelyn and Ellie laughing at Nana!



Little Ellie playing in Nana and Pop's sunroom.  The cousins loves all the Pound Puppies and My Little Ponies that Nana has kept from when Amy and I were little!



Sweet Sisters

Nana and Pop with their girls...So proud! 



Proud Pop with his girls!



Cousins

Madelyn and Ellie absolutely LOVE their cousins!  We had a fun weekend despite the fact that Bill has been out of town for over a week.  Aunt Kristen, Uncle Mark, Cousin Carey and Jack drove down from CT to go to a Dave Mathew's concert and visit.  The girls had so much fun playing with Jack.  Madelyn and Jack are partners in crime and love to giggle and run around all day.  They were really into pretend play this trip which was hilarious to watch!  Madelyn and Ellie can't wait to spend a week with Jack over Christmas!  We have lots of fun things planned.

On Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Pop's side of the family in Goochland.  We always get together with this side of the family the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun to spend time with Cora, Eli and Luca.  The food was delicious and Madelyn and Cora loved looking at the cows and playing outside.

Here are some pictures of our weekend. I wish I had more pictures of Jack's visit but time got away from me being a single parent this week!

Jack, Ellie and Madelyn at Silver Diner eating brunch!

Ellie looked like such a big girl eating her puffs next to Cora

Madelyn, Cora, Luca, Ellie and Eli at the Pryor Thanksgiving lunch!

Getting ready to head to the Pryor Thanksgiving and snapped this picture of Madelyn and Ellie holding hands.. It just melts my heart!

Ellie is 8 months old!

I know I say this every month but time is going by way too fast with Ellie's first year of life.  I'm enjoying every minute of the baby phase and really don't want it to end.  This is one of my favorite stages because Ellie sits and plays with her toys and doesn't move an inch. She's also easy to entertain at dinner with puffs.   She is very good at putting them in her mouth and could eat them forever.   I love it!  At 8 months, Ellie:

• Weights about 15.5 pounds
• Sits independently and love to play with her box of toys
• Sleeps about 12 hours at night and is still waking up once in the middle of the night.  Now that she is putting on some weight, I'm going to stop feeding her during the night.
• Naps twice a day in the morning and afternoon
• Eats oatmeal and prunes for breakfast, fruit for lunch and two vegetables for dinner.  Her favorite foods are puffs, sweet potatoes, and all fruits!
• Nurses about 6 times a day
• Tries to clap, wave, motions for "more" in sign language.  She hasn't perfected these but she does pretty well for her age. 
• Loves to smile and laugh at Madelyn and Fenway.  When Ellie and I pick up Madelyn from preschool, her legs just start kicking because she is so excited to see her Big Sister.
• Is extremely curious and has her hands in everything.  She loves to grab and puts everything in her mouth!  She's accidently had icing and cake on several occastions!

Here are some pictures of Ellie at 8 months:

 

So sweet!

Celebrating her Big Sister's 3rd birthday!

Getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Pryor side of the family!

Madelyn is 3!

We can't believe that our Madelyn is 3 years old.  It's amazing how much she has changed in a year and has grown up to be such a calm, sweet, and funny little girl.   She is extremely loving and helpful.  She's always wanting to make the bed, fold laundry and help me take care of Ellie.  She's going to be a great Mommy one day. She's also very silly and makes us laugh constantly!  We visited Dr. Goradia today for her 3 year check-up and Madelyn:

• Weighted 28 pounds (21%)
• Is 35 inches tall (9%) - She was 36 inches at her ENT appointment and Busch Gardens the other month so I think they measured her wrong today.  The Dr. thinks she will be short like her Daddy!
• Has started dressing herself and is really good at picking out clothes that match.  She says she wants to be a Fashion Designer when she grows up.
• LOVES to pretend play and dress-up.  She has an extremely active imagination and plays house and go on adventures like Dora the Explorer
• Is really into princesses and mermaids.  Her new favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast and could watch it all day if allowed.
• Is a very picky eater and her favorite food at the moment is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• Does not take a nap very often.  She has quiet time and maybe falls asleep 3 times a week, but she can really use a nap most days!
• Goes to preschool 2 days a week from 8 - 12 and absolutely loves it.  Her teachers are Ms. Sarah and Ms. Anna.
• Loves art and is very good at coloring in the lines.  She can color for hours which is great!
• Like to play outside on her bikes and her new swing set.  She now swings on the big girl swing and can almost pump her legs.  She's still a little scared of the slide but getting better!
• Is a very slow eater and the Dr. says we need to put a timer on during her meals.  She's so laid back I'm not even sure a timer will do the trick!
• Is potty trained during the day but still wearing a pull-up during her nap and at night
• Loves playing with her little sister and cousins Cora and Jack.  She gets super giddy around her cousins and thinks they are hilarious!

Here is Madelyn's Fall preschool picture.  She looks like such a big girl!

Madelyn's 3rd Birthday Celebration

On Friday, we celebrated Madelyn's 3rd birthday at Romp N' Roll. Madelyn's actual birthday is on Tuesday but we decided to have her party a couple of days early.  We had around 18 kids at the party and everything went really well.  It got a little chaotic at times but the instructors were great so it was more like organized chaos.  Bill and I didn't have to lift a finger which was even better!  We felt like we were able to enjoy ourselves and loved watching Madelyn have such an awesome time at her party.  She loved running around on all the equipment, dancing to the music, blowing out her candles, eating her Dora the Explorer cupcake, the parachute and the bubbles.  She says her favorite part was popping popcorn on the parachute!  Below are some pictures and a couple of videos from the big celebration:

Getting ready to head out for the Big Party!

Greeting all her guests!

The party started out with everyone meeting Rompy the Dog!

Liam had an awesome time at the party! 

Miss Isabella is cute as ever!

Kingston looked so handsome at the party. 

Lainey was all over the games since she was one of the oldest kids!

Lissie and Ellie!

Judah loved playing basketball and scored in this picture!

Madelyn taking it all in!

Love this picture of Madelyn and John Grayson

Happy Birthday Girl

Greeting Uncle Sam

Pop and Miss Ellie!

Delia and Liam loved the trampoline!

Madelyn eyeing her Dora cupcake!

Playing the musical instruments



Madelyn always picks the cymbals



I did the best I could with the Dora cupcakes.  I'm definitely not a baker!

One of the best family pics we've had in a while!



Cora loved Aunt K K's cupcake!




It's impossible to get 18 kids together for a group photo.  We are only missing a couple kids and only 2 fell off in the process!



Madelyn's favorite part, the parachute!

Popping popcorn on the parachute, Madelyn's favorite part!






The birthday girl got to go on a ride!



Madelyn loves Aiden.  He's in her preschool class and always talks about him!

The group riding on the parachute

Bubbles, another favorite!

Eating pizza after the party.  Notice that the new Barbie dolls are eating as well!

Madelyn loved opening all her great gifts.  We have lots to do this winter!