Fall - Loving it!

Now that fall is really here, we are loving it. It has been fun so far and the great weather has been nice. We have been trying to take in all the fun of fall and Halloween. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Harvest Days. Harvest days is a weekend at the zoo where there are activities centered around fall and farming. They have all the festivities out at the farm part of the Zoo and there were lots of things for the kids to do. They also have a pumpkin patch where the kids can each pick out their own pumpkin to bring home. We had a lot of fun and Ella really enjoyed seeing all the pumpkins and getting to pick one out herself.

Picking out her pumpkin

Here's a good one!

Decorating her pumpkin

We even made her a mask

Daddy and Ella looking at the cows

Ella and I have taken advantage of the nice weather lately and headed the park a couple of afternoons. When we don't have time for the park we'll go for a walk around the block. She probably has just as much fun and she can actually walk the whole way instead of having to ride in the stroller. The other day we were out and she was very interested in the leaves that were on the ground. Living right in the city we don't have a ton of leaves to play in, but there is a couple of big trees that line our street that have dropped some leaves. Ella really wanted to play in them, so I thought it would be a good time to grab some pictures.

Yea, leaves!

Look what I found, a "big stick"

Cheese

Last weekend we carved our pumpkins. I know it's kind of early, but it was nice out and we were all here, so we thought we would just do it. Plus, Ella isn't going to know if they last until Halloween or not :) It was fun carving the pumpkins, but Ella wasn't really in to it. She was actually a little scared of the inside of the pumpkins. So, Marc and I each carved one and Ella just played on the deck with Mona (our cat).

So, like I said we have been enjoying fall and I'm looking forward to Halloween fun too. We are going to Lincoln Park Zoo for Spooky Zoo this weekend and then Ella has a Halloween party at the gym daycare on Halloween, so lots of fun coming up. It is fun this year, because she actually knows what she is going to be. If you ask her what she is going to be for Halloween, she promptly responds, "a zeba" (zebra).

Guess Who's Two

That's right Ella turned 2 on Saturday and is now officially in her terrible two's! Actually, I think she hit those at about 18months, although she isn't very bad at all. Her birthday celebrations actually started while we were in MN where we had a birthday party for her on September 17th. We wanted to have a birthday party for her in MN so that her cousins would be able to come and celebrate with her. She is definitely starting to understand the whole birthday thing. She kept asking for a "happy itday cake". For her birthday party I made her an Elmo cake.

Pretty good, huh?!

This was actually her first birthday party she's had. For her first birthday we never had an actual party, so it was fun to have something for her. She enjoyed playing with her cousins and having balloons in the house. We let the kids play outside for awhile and then brought everyone in to eat. After everyone was done eating we opened presents to keep the kids roped in for awhile longer before cake. Ella was so cute opening the presents. She would open one and then just want to play with it, she didn't understand that she had more than one to open.

Pushing her new mega blocks wagon

She received great presents from my family and our friends. She got some new clothes, books, dress up clothes, mega blocks and weebles. I think her favorite present was the My first leapfrog book reader from my brother. He got her that and a Dora book to go with it, she plays with it at least once a day. After presents we had the Elmo cake. Since I used a lot of food coloring in decorating the cake I recommended that all the kids take off their shirts to have cake. I didn't want to risk any stains on behalf of Elmo! Here are pictures from cake eating.

Cheese! Good cake, it doesn't even need a plate

Who needs hands?!?

All the kids had a great time and I'm so glad that we were able to celebrate with family and friends. I don't know how people throw big parties for kids though. It was stressful enough with only about 10 people, I can't imagine a bigger party.

Then Saturday was her real birthday so we had a little celebration again for her. John, my brother-in-law, Katie and Johnathon came out for the day. Marc, Ella and I started out the day with a birthday breakfast of pancakes.

Birthday Pancakes for breakfast

Ella and Johnathon played all day together (except for when she had to nap). I got her a couple of balloons while at the grocery store so we had a couple of decorations. We grilled out for dinner and our neighbors, Jamie and April came up for dinner. We all had a good dinner and then had cupcakes for Ella's birthday cake this time. I made cupcakes and decorated them with chocolate frosting and M&M's. Ella even blew out her own candle this time! She got to open presents again, this time from Uncle John and Katie and from Jamie and April. She got another new Dora book and a princess book as well as more blocks (which she loves). It was a very fun day and Ella wasn't ready for it to end, she fought to the end to go to bed! Here are pictures from that day:

Birthday Princess

Opening presents

Blowing out the candle

Playing with Johnathon, making silly faces

This lucky girl actually gets one more birthday celebration, I know, crazy. We are going to Ohio next weekend for my sister-in-laws baby shower and we will celebrate Ella's birthday again with Marc's mom and stepdad.

I can't believe my little girl is two already. I love her so much and I am really loving the girl she is turning into. She is very sweet and loving, but independent at the same time. She is growing so fast and learning new things everyday.

What a big girl!

3Day Walk

Most of you know that I participated in the Susan G. Koman 3Day Walk for breast cancer. The walk was the main reason why I was in MN. My mom, sister, Alicia, and I walked in the Twin Cities walk on Sept 19-21st, and it was an amazing experience. For anyone that doesn't really know what it is all about her is a little summary. They have the 3Day walk in 15 different cities around the country and you can walk as an individual or in teams and it is a 60 mile walk over 3 days. You have to raise at least $2200 to participate in the walk and all the money goes to the Susan G. Koman Foundation which uses the money for a number of things, but mainly for breast cancer research. My sister Alicia is the one who wanted to do the walk and wanted us to participate with her. Her daughter's paternal grandma died from breast cancer years ago and Kaia will never get to know her. That was the motivation behind the whole idea. We walked as a team with two other great ladies and our team name was, For Our Daughters. We started out at the State Fair grounds on Friday morning and ended up at the State Capital on Sunday afternoon. There were lots of places in between and it was a trying experience. I've done 4 triathlons in the past and this was harder than that in a lot of ways. It is the same movement over and over again for 20 miles for 3 days in a row. I don't think sleeping on the ground helped any either. That's right, we camped each night at an amazing camp site that was set up just for us. There were about 3000 walkers and almost 300 volunteer crew members to help us along our way. Like I said before it was an amazing experience and definitely something I will do again. People were so grateful that we were walking and took the time to raise the money and train for the walk. Along the route they set up cheering stations where friends, family and anyone else can come out and cheer us on and that in itself was great. There were a lot of breast cancer survivors that would come out and just say thank you, sometimes it made you cry, but also feel blessed that you are able to do something to help. Marc came to MN a couple of days before the walk so that he could take care of Ella. Marc and my dad came out to cheering stations a couple of times and brought Ella and Kaia with them. On the last day, Sara came with her kids as well and they were all there at the same time. So, besides having a pain in my leg for a few days and some sore, stiff muscles, it was completely worth the effort to participate in this event. Here are some pictures from the walk.

At opening ceremonies

"Titty Town"- One of the pit stops along the route

A local fire station showing their support

All the grandkids at one of the cheering stations

Yea, we did it! Our team at the end of the route

Thank you to everyone who supported me in both thoughts and prayers and with donations.

Our time in MN

As I mentioned in the last post Ella and I were in MN for just over two weeks, spending time with my family. I was mostly just time spent with family and hanging out. Ella got to hang out with her cousins and play. She was so happy to be with them, especially Kaia (Alicia's daughter). Kaia and Ella are only 8 months apart from each other and they play together very well. Kaia and Alicia are living with my parents right now, so the girls were together all the time.

"Not quite twins"

Trying out papa's motorcycle

I was even able to have a few friends over for dinner one night. My friends Renee, Rosie and Terry came over one night for pizza. Renee has a daughter, Natalie, that will be one in October, so it was really fun to see her. I've literally seen Natalie twice since she was born, so I love it when I get the chance to spend time with her. Here is a picture of her and Ella while they where over.
Another event while we were in MN was that Ella got her first "real" haircut. What I mean by that is this haircut actually changed her hair style. She has had two haircuts before this, but they were just very small trims. Here are her before and after shots:

Before

After

I was very happy to be able to spend so much time in MN and just hang out with my family. It was nice to be away from my normal day to day life and throw in some different things. Ella and I made a trip to the MN zoo one day as well. I took along my oldest niece and nephew and we had a good time. The new Grizzly Bear exhibit was really cool and the animals were so close to you. The kids had a good time and I got them to pose for a couple of pictures.

Amelia, Joseph and Ella posing for pictures

After being away from home for 3 weeks I was ready to come home, but I am always sad to leave my family. I felt bad for Ella too, she has been asking "Kai too?" all the time. She misses her cousins and I wish we could see them more.

Trip to the Dells

We spent the week after Labor Day with my family in Wisconsin Dells. We had a really good time and it was really our first vacation as a family. It was the first time that we went somewhere that wasn't one our parents house! The first two days that we were there we spent at Mt. Olympus water/theme park. Everyone had such a good time there. They had so much stuff for the kids as well as for the adults. Here are a few pictures from our two days at the park.

Ella playing in the kiddie pool

Mommy and Ella

Joseph swimming

Amelia giving Ella a lift

The kids had such a great time playing together. It's so fun to see all of them interact. There are 5 grandkids, ages 4, 3, 2, 2, and 1. Plus, since Ella doesn't get to see them as often they all love to play with her. The resort that we stayed at had a lot of activities to do right on site. We were able to try out the paddle boats one day and saw the animals that they brought in for a little petting zoo. We also spent an evening in the indoor pool.

Grandma, Ella and Kaia on the paddle boat.
They got to ride while the mommies did the paddling!

Ella and Kaia with the pot belly pig (they were feeding it apples)

Ella at the indoor pool

Alicia and Kaia going down the water slide

It was a great vacation overall and really nice to just get away. Ella and I were able to stay there for a whole week, Marc stayed for a few days, but then had to get back to work. After our week in the Dells, Ella and I went to MN with my parents. I'll post more about our trip in MN tomorrow. Here are just a couple more cute pics from the Dells.

Ella and Daddy on the Wisconsin Ducks

Ella and me at a restaurant

Ella and Kaia looking down from the loft
They were always together, Ella wouldn't leave her alone!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Brash

This past weekend Marc's dad and stepmom were here for a visit. Ella has enjoyed having all these visitors this summer, and last weekend was no different. We spent Saturday just hanging around the house and grilled out for dinner. Marc's brother, John, along with Katie and Johnathon were also here for the day. It was good food and just a nice day to hang out. Then on Sunday everyone, except me, went to the Air and Water Show. I had to go to work. They had a lot of fun at the show and Ella kept telling me that she saw "arpains", aka, airplanes. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Ella and Johnathon having some ice cream

Cheese!

Grandma and Grandpa Brash with the kids

Ella and Daddy at dinner

Then on Monday Marc and his dad were able to get in a round of golf while Susan, Ella and I headed to the mall. Susan wanted to get Ella a couple of things for her birthday while she was here. We got her the cutest Minnie Mouse sweatshirt for this fall and some pants and a shirt to match. We had dinner out that night and then Eric and Susan headed out early on Tuesday morning for the long drive back to AZ.

They were our last house guests for the summer, and we are welcoming a weekend by ourselves for a change. Although, we just get the one weekend and then it's up to Wisconsin Dells for labor day with my family. After that Ella and I are heading back to MN with my parents and staying there for almost three weeks. I am looking forward to having time in MN and being able to reconnect with everyone. I'm going to miss Marc, but I'm sure the time will fly by and he'll be up there before I know it. We are staying in MN until the weekend of the 19-21st, which is the weekend of the Breast Cancer 3Day walk that I'm doing with my mom and sister. I'm sure I'll have lots to share after all that time in MN and the walk.

Cute Pictures

I have some cute pictures of Ella from the last couple of weeks that I just have to post. Here are a few from the other night after she had a popciscle. Marc told her that she had a purple tongue and she wanted to show it to us.

Then a big cheesy smile!

Here are some other cute pictures. She is such a character lately!

A bucket head

Riding with big and little bear