Little Miss 2 Year Old

On 11-11-11 Ellie turned two years old. We did a family party as she is so young she has no idea what is happening :) Ben and I decorated the house when she went to bed with her birthday banner I made her and some streamers and balloons. I also made her cupcakes from my family's birthday cake recipe we had every year growing up and Ellie picked out the frosting she wanted earlier in the week, so that is what I put on them. My parents (Nana and PopPop) got her an easel for her birthday so Ben put it all together so she could see right when she came downstairs on her birthday. She LOVES her easel. She constantly wants to draw on it. I then made her french toast for breakfast on her birthday plate. For lunch we went on a family picnic and Ellie got to play on the playground for a long time, which is a favorite of hers. After naptime Ellie opened her few gifts from Nana and PopPop and her gift from us, which was a Little People's Bus. She loves buses. She loves to watch them out the window of our house and one has a stop right in front of our house for the elementary kids. We live right across from the school, so on our walks or drives around town she is always saying "bus". And she loves the bus we got her. She takes it around the house and up and down the stairs. Her gifts this year have definitely been a huge hit. After dinner Ellie got to have her cupcake. We lit her candle and sang to her, but as soon as the candle was lit, she screamed until we blew it out. Apparently, she does not like fire, which is a great thing :) She then ate some of her cupcake, but preferred to bend down to eat it so her hands would not get dirty :) After cupcake time, Ben read her the "Happy Birthday to You!" book by Dr. Seuss that his dad read to him every year growing up and Ben said she did much better than last year :) She had a wonderful birthday day and even gets to open a few more gifts when Geep and Gran come for Thanksgiving, so she has more to look forward to and doesn't even now it :)

We love our sweet Ellie or as we call her in our family, Elliebeans! We can't imagine a life without her and can not believe she is already 2! She is a joy to have in our home and brings us so many laughs and cuddles! She is so caring and is the smartest little girl! This year will be a big year for her as she learns to use many more words and becomes a big sister, we are excited to watch her grow and learn.

Sticker Fun

Gran put some stickers in Ellie's birthday card and our rule is she can stick them on herself, Ben or me and this is what she chose.

Fun At Home

Here are a few pictures form our fun around the house. Ellie loves wearing our shoes and she loves being a mommy. She takes great care of her baby even making sure to feed her. She also loves sharing her toys with Maggie, which Maggie is kind enough to tolerate.

Halloween and Pumpkin Carving 2011

This year Ellie was our little giraffe and after not wanting to wear the costume at first she did great. We wore the costume around the house for the week before to get used to it, but the real incentive was that once she put it on we told her she got to go see baby Seth as we like to trick or treat at his house first each year. Once she was told about seeing Seth we were set and she jumped in that costume :) Ellie did great. We went to about 6 or 7 houses and she did all the walking :) A few days before we had our annual pumpkin carving with our friends Andy and Katie. We have been doing this since the year we got married. We have grown from 4 people to know 5 with Ellie and next year we will be at 7 people as we are expecting another little one and Andy and Katie are expecting their first little one. It has been fun to do every year and to experience as our families grow. This year we even let Ellie stay up for the carving fun and she loved it!

Daddy Turms 31

Ben turned 31 on the 23rd of October. He had the middle school fall retreat that weekend, so Ellie and I made him a cheesecake and got him a couple gifts and took him out to dinner. His 30th year flew by but it was full of fun, lots of laughs and tons of love. He is an amazing husband and father and Ellie and I could not have asked for anything more in our lives. Ellie was not in to taking a picture with Daddy this year, so we got what we could :)

Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to a pumpkin patch that was full of activities for kids. Ellie was still a little young for a lot of it, but we are excited to take her next year when she will be able to enjoy more of the fun. This year Ellie played in the corn pit, went through the corn maze, played on the tractor playground, attempted to feed the animals in the petting zoo (we are having a phobia of animals right now, so it wasn't the favorite activity) and rode a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our family pumpkin. There is a recurring person in the pictures, it is baby. Ellie takes baby everywhere and baby experiences lots of family fun with us. When we were in the pumpkin patch we asked Ellie to sit with the pumpkins for a pictures and instead she posed baby for a picture like a good little Mommy. She wants to be a mommy so bad, we hope she treats her new little brother or sister with the same love she treats baby with :)

Visiting Nana and PopPop

In September we went to visit Nana and PopPop and much more family. We had a great time exploring the pumpkins at Nana and PopPop's garden center, visiting with PawPaw and Grandmary and going to play at Uncle Drew's and Ms. B's. We got to play in the creek (which we thought Ellie would not go in because it was so cold, but when it comes to water nothing deters her) and play with Xavier and Riley. We did lots of playing and visiting and eating. We also got a new 4th generation picture and got to tell Nana and PopPop that Ellie was going to be a big sister! Ellie had so much fun that she zonked out on the way home. We can't wait to go back!!

Discovery Place

Back in July we went to Discovery Place Kids when my mom was visiting. We took Seth along with us so his mommy could go to the doctor and Ellie and Seth both had a great time. She had been to a similar place in Raleigh and moving from station to station was a challenge as she never wanted to leave a station, this time she did great moving from place to place and enjoyed all the stations.