Halloween and other happenings!

Excuse me, how is it mid-November already?!  A few items of note from our past few weeks and what is planned ahead:

I made the annual apple pie a LONG while ago now, but since it was so delicious I thought I'd save a spot for it here on the blog.  It may be my favorite dessert for fall.

Jay and I went to the MN Gopher vs. Nebraska football game!  It was super fun - probably the most fun I've had at a sporting event!  And now Jerrysota is no more.  Sad!  I hope the tradition he was building will continue.  

Jay was out of town the entire week following the game for a work trip, so it was just Ella and I.  Ella got to spend the weekend with Grandma Jolyn and Grandpa Paul though!  She had a good time with cousin Harrison at Sever's Corn Maze!

 She did get sick though on Sunday night - we all decided it was a case of homesickness!  Poor thing!
She was just missing us I guess!

We started the giant job of raking leaves!  But we took time to play in the big piles too!  

We painted our pumpkins too!  

This year, my pumpkin is Nemo ala Finding Nemo.  Isn't he cute?!

Ella wanted to paint her pumpkin to be a Minion!!

And Jay decided his was going to be a donut.  So...there you go!

One of those weekends in October was Confirmation Sunday and we celebrated with our nephew Kylen.  Ms. Ella got all fancied up and insisted on wearing multiple necklaces throughout the day!

She also insisted on bringing her puppy purse named Rose along for the day!

We dressed up quite a bit in October!  Tuesday night at dance, the girls wore costumes. 

Her 2 besties Julia and Emily and Ms. Ella!

There was a Harvest Party for the first graders at Meadowview!  It was a short and sweet party in the morning - a bit odd, but it worked out okay.  Ella wore her real Halloween costume - Anna (from Frozen). She decided that since she was Elsa last year it would only be fair to be Anna this year.  Pretty sweet logic for a 6 year old.  She is a kind hearted girl that's for sure!  I was working one of the event booths, so I didn't get time to take many pictures, but I did snap this one with Ella and Julia just as the kids were heading back to class.

Ella was really excited for the Trick-Or-Treating and all the fun of seeing the kids and costumes!  

A few pictures from our Happy Halloween!!

 There was a booth set up at the Middle School for Friday night's trick-or-treating event and 

Anna and Elsa were there - Ella was so excited.  :)

 

 

 I am pretty sure she had a fun time!!

Weekending in early October....

Well, I haven't been able to keep up with the blog posts like I had hoped to do.  Some updates of our October 2015 so far....

Ella participated in a dance clinic with the Farmington High School Fall Dance Team on Saturday the 3rd.  She had such a good time dancing the morning away with her two BFFs Julia and Emily!  And, the dance was choreographed to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift - Ella's favorite tune!  They performed the dance for parents after the session was over, and then they got to perform at last Friday night's high school football game!!  It was VERY exciting.  :)

The three girls are in the front doing a pig-tail pose (apparently this is cool to 6 year olds!) 

 After the dance clinic, we headed to lunch - can you tell she was still so pumped from her fun morning?!

Ella and her BFF Julia.

 They thought it was VERY cool to be hanging out at the high school.  :)

We also made a trip to the apple orchard that afternoon!
Ella took a ride on a mini-wagon ride.  HA!  We didn't end up buying any apples though.
They were out of the kind I was hoping to get.  Boo.

We took a fall walk on our neighborhood trail system which was a good time.  Ella was thugging it in her pink heart glasses and hoodie!  Love her!

This past Friday the girls danced at the high school football game.  It turned out to be a good night weather wise, so it was fun to be out!  The dancers did great and the girls had a BLAST!

I can't believe it's almost mid-October already!  Ella had conferences last week and she is doing great in her first grade class so far this year!  They have placed her in a Gifted Excelled Learner program that meets each Tuesday in the 5th grade pod.  I guess she tested well for reading and math so they wanted to include more challenge for her (and other first graders that are joining her).  Good for her! We're excited for her!  She loves school and thinks homework is super fun.  Let's hope that continues!! 

It's MEA this week, so we've lined up a few doctor and dentist appointments to fill the time, but hoping to enjoy some time outside (maybe?!) and get some fall baking done!  Happy Fall!

Our Star of The Week

Ella was the Star of the Week this week for her class!

She had to talk about herself to her class and she did a great job!  The above poster I had to pull together last Friday and it was a total crazy day trying to get pictures printed!!  I wanted to highlight her answers to a few questions:

When I grow up I want to be:  a doctor
My favorite thing to do is:  Play
If I had one wish, I would wish for:  a baby sister (seriously....she continues to talk about this!!)

I met her at school on Friday for lunch and she was sporting this sweet Star Student Hat!!

And it was homecoming, so she was wearing her Tiger Orange and Black!!

Love it!  She was so pumped to be Star of The Week!

Turkey Day 2015

We had another great time in Worthington this past weekend for King Turkey Day 2015!  Some pictures to recap our time....

Waiting to watch the Turkey Race (Paycheck of Worthington vs. Ruby Begonia of Cuero, TX)

 Entertainment from fake Paycheck...

And here comes real Paycheck - BIG WINNER THIS YEAR!!

Then it was time for the Grand Parade - Chase, Lexi, Carter & Ella had a blast getting loads of candy that none of them will probably even eat!

 Go Trojans!

Giant Turkey took part in the parade this year - HUGE!

Weekending...

We are all trying to get into the swing of this new school year! It might take us a few weeks to get back into the routine, but Ella is having a great time in 1st grade!!  I am hoping to keep the blog more up to date in a timely manner! 

A few weekends ago, we took a short drive down Highway 3 to Northfield to take part in the Defeat of Jesse James celebration and also to visit with my dad!!  He took his Corvette to the car show that was taking place as part of the celebration.  Ella was SO pumped to hang out with Papa Gary!!

In other random news, I made the most delicious dessert I ever did have.  :)  I don't know what it's called, but it is so amazing.  Layers of deliciousness including crushed butterfinger bars.  OMG.  I suck at taking pictures of food, but I had to include something to document this amazing dessert

It was picture day at school!  Ms. Ella wanted me to curl her hair, so we kept it down and curly this year. However, the weather was super humid and rainy on picture day, so I don't know if her hair (below) stayed as cute as it was in the morning!

Another update on the way to recap Turkey Day 2015!!

First Day of FIRST GRADE!

I don't know how this happened, but Ms. Ella is six and has started first grade.  Where does the time go?  Seriously?!?  She was so pumped to head back to school though, which I think is great.  She loves school!  We started the day with a pancake breakfast because Ella is still on the soft food diet for this week.  Then, we all walked to school because of the road construction in our area!!  It was a nice morning, so that was a bonus!  First day of school pictures....

After school, we (and the rest of Farmington/Lakeville) headed to Cherry Berry for some Froyo.  It was delicious but it was so busy!!  Ella was very happy to enjoy some nice cold frozen yogurt to soothe her throat. 

Isn't her dress the cutest?  My favorite right now. 

Here's to a great school year!

Summer Recap - August (part 2)

Mid-August we headed on a short vacation to Wisconsin Dells.  This is a repeat of vacation we took last summer - Ella was SO excited to go to the Dells!!

 "Baby" came along with us on a trip exploring downtown Wisconsin Dells on our first day there

Of course we needed to get ice cream!

and of course we enjoyed Dunkin' Donuts each morning of our stay!!

The weather for our trip was not that great, especially for a trip to the water park capital of the world!! We spent some time at the indoor water park almost each day, but it was tough to be outside due to chilly weather!!  

 We spent a short amount of time at the wave pool one of the warm-ish days.  It was still chilly!!

 Indoor lazy river time!

One afternoon we spent some time at the arcade!!

 Ella worked on her skeeball skills!

Then, all the craziness happened.  I hurt my back bending over to scan the game card at the arcade, Ella spiked a fever and it was pretty low-key after that for the remainder of the trip!!  We did manage to get in a round of mini golfing though!  Ella's first time.  Ella's first hole - HOLE IN ONE!!  It was awesome!!

After we got back from vacation, it was a short return to normal at our house.  On the 28th, Ella had her tonsils and adenoids removed.  It was a long day, and a long week after surgery for recovery.  Thankfully we had grandmas able to come over and help us take care of Ms. Ella!!  It was nice to have them over to keep us all sane.  :)  Leading up to surgery Ella did so great!  She did a princess wave on her ride to the OR.  She giggled like crazy while the sleepy gas kicked in.  After she came out of the recovery room - BOOM.  Reality.

She had lots of drama.  The nurse mentioned that about 90% of girls are full of drama and cry for nothing after surgery.  Ella fit that category that's for sure!! Here she is a little while after being in her room.  She struggled to get comfortable and fought the sleepiness all day.  Stinker.  She did have her cuddle friend Bella with her the whole time though - precious!!

 She was feeling more like herself by the end of Recovery Week 1, so we headed out to run a few errands, including a trip to the car wash (waiting in the waiting area above!) And, yes, she insisted that "Baby" join us!

Each day her throat is feeling a little better and as you can see, it's not bothering her as much!!