Weekending...

The Fall schedule will be in full swing this week!  Going to be a busy week leading into a trip to Worthington for Turkey Day celebrations this weekend!  (Note:  this will be our first trip out of the Metro since Christmas/New Years)  HELLO?!?!  We are DESPERATE to get out of town!  Worthington will have to do.  :)

Wondering what we did this weekend?
 

 Saturday, Ella made a football ring toss game at the Home Depot kid's project day!

 

 We shopped for some of these...I haven't made a purchase...yet! 

 And "Baby Harrison" came over for a sleepover! (Annie & Andrew's son Harrison, whom we have taken to calling 'Baby Harrison')  Can you tell how excited Ella was?!?  She LOVES babies, and had a fun time singing songs and playing with him.

 Sunday was Rally Sunday!  Ella's first day of Sunday School!  She had a great time, walked right in like a BOSS and started coloring.  Love it!  And, when I asked her what they talked about in class (subject this week was Adam & Eve), Ella said "God....and Jesus"  HA!  I wonder when she will actually start telling me what the subjects were...

 

We watched some of the Vikings game in the afternoon, but the team was losing so we headed outside for some time in the sandbox!  Ella rarely gets to play at the sand table because it's so hot in the backyard in the afternoon.  Thankfully on Sunday it was cooler and cloudy, a perfect day for playing outside!

Next Sunday we'll wear our Purple Pride clothes so maybe the Vikings will have a chance against the Bears!

This week will be Ella's first full week of Kinder Kollege and dance starts Wednesday night!  

Stay tuned for Ms. Ella in her little dance outfit!!

First Day of Kinder Kollege 2013

Today was Ella's first day of preschool as a 4 year old!  This year she is going to Kinder Kollege, a program offered by Anna's Bananas in Farmington.  She had a great first day and is SO excited to go back on Friday to see her friends.  Ella told me she wonders what her friends will wear on Friday - Hilarious!  I snapped a few pictures and not sure which is my favorite, so I'm just going to share them all!  

We are gearing up for a busy fall this year.  Ella will be attending preschool 3 times a week (last year she only went on Friday mornings).  She will start dance next week also, so we just got her fitted for ballet & tap shoes.  She's pumped!  It's only the beginning, right?!

Happy Anniversity!

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary!  Time flies!  It was a bit of a hectic night, and Ella was along for dinner, which in hindsight, we'll try to avoid in the future!  She was without a nap and showing it!  Awful.  Oh well.  She was pretty cute about continually saying happy anniversary to us, although, as you will hear in the video clip below, she has a *unique* way of saying it! 

So.....

Happy Hump Day People!  It's been a ride of a week.  Last Thursday, Paul & Jolyn (Jay's parents) were in the O.R. a good portion of that day for kidney transplant surgery.  Paul donating to Jolyn.  Both came out of surgery okay, however there have been a few bumps in the road to recovery for Jolyn.  Paul - he went home Sunday afternoon (what a show off!)  HA!  Jolyn is hanging in there, but we all know she is going crazy still in the hospital.  But, we want her to be in good health before she gets home.  Keep those prayers coming.  So, in light of Paul's early departure from the hospital, Jay & Ella took first shift for staying at their house to help out.  I've been a "single lady" (all the single ladies....all the single ladies....Beyonce anyone?) since Sunday afternoon. SO STRANGE!  Sunday was fine - had loads to keep me busy, but coming home Monday night to an empty house was nuts.  I was twiddling my thumbs by 7 p.m. wondering what to do with myself!  Tonight we'll all get back to normal though, as Jay & Ella should be heading home and transferring their duties.  I have a feeling it will be a rough transition for Ms. Ella tomorrow morning though, I think she likes hanging over at Papa's house.  :)

Here's a few things she's been doing over there:

 Sweeping the front walk - HA!

 Relaxing in the sprinklers after all her hard work!

And...talking on the phone.  :)

Weekending...

Another summer weekend is in the books folks, can you believe it?  We had family come up for a trip to the Dakota County Fair!  :)  Grandma Deb brought Chase along for the weekend, so Ella was SUPER excited. But, before they came into town, Ella & I made a preschool visit to Anna's Bananas, which is just down the street from us.  I was impressed with the set-up and also the curriculum component seems much more solid.  So, we plan to enroll her for this fall (nothing like last minute!) 

Here's some pictures of the weekend!

 Ella won a Hello Kitty decorated cupcake from the Sam's Club booth at the fair!

Ella's FAVORITE ride was this car one - she had the biggest smile the entire time!

 Checking out the fire trucks!

Modeling their fire hats from the firefighters at the fair!

Chase (5.5) and Ella (4)

My lunch date

Happy Tuesday!  Ella came downtown today for a lunch date.  :)  She came with Sara & the kids.  It was a quick lunch at Jimmy John's (how can you go wrong there with a bunch of kids right?) but, we all enjoyed seeing everyone and chatting away.  They rode down on the light rail train, which they all thought was cool too!

 (Not sure what's up with her expression here)  HA!

 

Waiting to board the train in her Nike shoes with ruffled socks - Ella loves her girly stuff!!

Weekending....

Another summer weekend is in the books.  Can you believe it's August already?  I feel like summer just started!  Ugh....I'm not looking forward to cooler temps yet!!!  

Our week / weekend was relatively busy.  Here goes!

Wednesday (the 31st) was Jay's birthday!  He worked, I worked, Ella was at Sara's, so most of the day was uneventful.  However, earlier in the week I attempted a new recipe for the birthday dessert.  Sort of a play on strawberry shortcake.  Okay, easy right?  Well, I had never before made an angel food cake.  I didn't think it would be a big deal.  Well....I was wrong!  Big time!  

As you can see, the cake flowed well over the loaf pan.  In my defense, the cake box stated you could use loaf pans (2 - 9 inch size) in place of an angel food cake pan (which I don't own).  So, my loaf pan is larger (technically, it would be a meat loaf pan) so I went with it, filling it probably 3/4 of the way full, as I would any other cake.  BIG MISTAKE!  That damn angel food cake likes to RISE!!  Big mess.  I spent that night cleaning the oven.  Our house smelled like a camp fire for 2 days.  Eww.  Lesson learned.  No more angel food cakes in our house until I own an angel food cake pan.  :)  I was able to salvage most of the cake (it just had to be cubed up to add to other ingredients for the dessert), so all was not lost.  :)

At Hoolihan's for birthday dinner!

 

Friday, Ella & I headed to the last puppet wagon  show of the summer (sigh).

 Then we spent some time at the park...

And got a hair cut! (complete with braid & glitter, of course!)

We also went to a story hour (no pics) and then to Annie's to see Grandma Jolyn, Baby Harrison and Keller!  After our busy morning, Ella zonked out on the car ride (less than 10 minutes) home! :) 

Saturday night Jay & I went to the Twins game versus the Houston Astros.  Kind of a boring game, but it was fun to get out for a date!  And of course we took our annual BBY sponsored pic in the photo booth! 

Ella had a sleepover at Annie's (thank you Annie!) with baby Harrison & Keller too.  They had a great time....

Let me tell you about this picture.  Ella insisted that her baby had to be in the swing, even though Annie needed to put Harrison in there.  So, Annie decided to put Harrison in there WITH Ella's baby.  HILARIOUS!  I'm sure Harrison was like, WHAT THE?!?!?

And, yesterday we finally got Ms. Ella a "big girl" bed.  We'd been holding off hoping we could wait until we move, but since we're not getting any news on it, we decided we better get it going.  Last night was the inaugural night in the new bed (and then it stormed and the power went out....so that was fun!)

 

 

Happy Monday!