November 2015 Randoms

We had a full, fun month- and it flew by! Here are some moments from the month!

The boys got a new Storm Trooper mask (post-Halloween deal) ... it's a hit around here! The Batman mask has competition!

Dinner at Fudruckers - and our happy Ellie Grace.. 

It's finally getting cold enough for jackets... I still have little-to-no-say in what they wear, but I do love seeing what they pick out! I can't get Evan to wear pants, so our compromise has been long socks! And they both love hoods!! 

Tramp time.. Ellie is getting braver on this thing - she is all over the place (don't know if that's good or bad!). 

She's growing out of all her headbands and pulls them off very quickly now, so I have to get pictures when I can :)

We had our friends Chasity, Justin, and their precious 6 month old girl Scotty Grace stay with us the weekend of Nov 6! Friends!! 

Absolute Daddy's Girl!

Vivo - first time Ellie and her cousin MacKenzie have really seen each other. Ellie was excited to sit next to her! 

Boys have been playing lots of soccer with Dad! They're getting much better! 

Ellie has 4 cabinets in the kitchen that she empties out about 8 times each every day (that is 32 times a day I have to put everything back into these cabinets- I do it in my free time!!)! 

I am trying to figure out how to do her hair... it's a work in progress!!! 

I have officially stopped giving her the option to have a morning nap in her crib so that she would take an uninterrupted (would have to wake her to go pick up boys from school) afternoon nap.  So now she often falls asleep while we are driving around in the morning. I have to keep it short so she will fall back asleep with Evan in the afternoon, but I love looking at that sweet sleeping face! 

Met up with Sang and Charley for a smoothy, and both girls happened to be wearing their jean jackets... how precious are they!!!! 

Ellie loves her smoothy! 

Barrett and LJ reading to Ellie...

Two weeks into November, and she has been crawling and walking equal amounts... But THIS week (Thursday Nov 12), Ellie learned how to stand up by herself in the middle of the room (versus pulling up on things). This took several face plants, but she finally got it! Picture below is one of her last mostly-crawling days! Now (end of November) she is a full-time walker!!! 

Bella playing fetch... 

A girl and her dad -in their shades! So cute! 

Ellie and Kate wearing matching white furry vests... love them!!

LJ's friend, Will's, birthday party at Champions! Evan got to go too- they were so excited! 

Evan making a very weird smiling face!

Getting ready for Ben's birthday party... I got pigtails in Ellie's hair - SO cute! 

Cousins... 

Saying bye to the birthday boy... we love you so much Ben!!!

Needed another shot of this whole outfit... Every part of it was a gift, and I absolutely love every part!! We are so blessed!

Photo credit: LJ 

Evan is really protesting wearing pants. He is the MOST opinionated dresser! I would almost go so far as to say his biggest tantrums have to do with clothes lately. I have tried to let him wear what he wants most days, but he is refusing pants (only wants to wear shorts! This reminds me of my dad who only wanted to wear his swim trunks around our house!).  But now it's getting cold, so we have compromised with long socks and shorts. Oh Evan! 

And as mentioned in another post, this boy is potty trained!! 

This creative little monkey asked for orange juice one day, and when I said we didn't have any, he decided to make his own! A straw in a Halo orange! 

He was pretty proud of himself!!! So cute!

She is cracking herself up! Haha! 

Batman with a chocolate mustache from an ice cream cone ...

A walking girl = DRESSES!!! And she has new black boots... not much I can stand about this outfit either!

Gigi's 1st (of 2) very quick trip in November! Thanks so MUCH for coming!!! We love our Gigi visits SO MUCH! 

Fuzzy selfie... 

Gigi and her boys!

The Benzons always gifts such wonderful gifts. LJ got a new bug catcher and holding case for his birthday this year. He has brought me many fun bugs to look at (although they are often not alive!). I can't say I love when he shows me his newest capture on the kitchen table, but I do love how excited he is about it!

Leaving Vivo... This is the only picture you will see of Ellie in these jeans as her tummy is really way to big for them- couldn't get them buttoned  :) But she sure looked cute! Haha!

Most afternoons I make LJ work on his writing, reading, spelling, etc before he gets any iPad time or time to watch a show (which he LOVES). He is doing so well with all his work! We often do birthday/ thank you/ other cards for people, or figure out something fun to work on. So proud of him! 

Thanksgiving week! The boys did not have school all week so we had lots of fun!  

Good morning from Ellie- I like her hair today!

The day we took pictures with Santa, we promised the boys they could ride the train afterwards- but then realized they only took cash (and we had none!). So I brought the boys back to the mall to ride the train (and pick out our Angels to get gifts for from the tree)! 

Got their tickets and excited to go!

Ellie was entertained by all the hustle and bustle going on too! 

They're off- Yay!

Found great smoothies at the mall! 

We even had time to hit the toy store! And Ellie found the girl toys! How cute! 

LJ found the Spiderman mask and a sword, of course!

We had  to go back to the pediatrician for Ellie's second Flu shot (it takes two shots a month apart for babies)... We snuck in the shot while she was drinking her bottle. She cried for about 5 seconds and then forgave us... such an angel child!

LJ kept himself busy taking pictures with my phone! 

And selfies!! He loves taking pictures!

Then I let LJ work on a card with his markers while we drove to the park. When I got him out of the car, he informed me that he had, "Made himself a mask to show his friends." OMG! 

Ellie loves swinging! 

Evan usually swings in the bigger swings, but he wanted in the little ones after he saw Ellie! 

LJ took some selfies of himself at the park! Pretty impressive work on his mask actually! I would have been nervous to let him draw so close to his eyes, but he actually did a 'good' job! This was NOT easy to get off by the way... took about 3 days / bathes- and he did this 2 days before Thanksgiving! 

Thursday right after naps we headed to Grandad and Queenie's house for our delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I zoned and didn't take any pictures :(  Love the few Queenie got - thank you Q! As always, the table was beautiful, food was delicious, and we had a wonderful time. Uncle Joe was able to join us too! 

Ellie is the 7th grandchild to LOVE this kitchen!! 

The big Christmas tree I was so excited to buy last year is buried under furniture in our Pod :( 

So we decided to get a very small tree this year and make due! LJ and I ran into Big Lots and found this cute little pre-lit tree, small ornaments, and a star for on top! He picked it all out, and it was so inexpensive! It may just have to be enough for this year! The boys had fun decorating it... 

LJ putting the star on top! 

Done!! 

I feel like anytime I am in a hurry at HEB, one of the boys gets 'Instant Winner'! Evan was SO excited though!!! We had to get home because we had company coming... Capi and Gigi!!! 

Yay!!! Ellie and her Gigi playing... 

Selfie time!! Joe made it over for dinner again, too! Heaven! I loved this night of being together... needed it as I was really missing these people!

LJ snuck downstairs after bath time and practiced using my selfie stick... I found these later!

This one is my favorite! Haha! 

Sunday we did a little shopping at the mall, and then had lunch at the new Cheesecake Factory in the mall. More Uncle Joe time... LJ is one happy camper!!!

And Joe wins another one over! Ellie refused to hold my hand - she only wanted to Uncle Joe!!! She was walking around just smiling so big! Precious!

And Pinkberry yogurts for dessert... what a special afternoon!! 

Silly selfies! 

Nose kisses... 

And one more attempt of the group before Capi and Gigi head home! I left too many in because LJ and Evan made me laugh... what are they doing over there!

OK- that was too crazy! Let's try for Ellie and her grandparents... precious! 

Then LJ wanted in! 

And after naps, we got another very special visit!!!! My Aunt Sandy, Uncle Albert, and cousins AJ and Alexa came by for a while! I don't think LJ had even met Ellie! (although she was not feeling great and was uncharacteristically fussy! We need another visit AJ!). 

 We had a nice time catching up and so loved the time together! So blessed and thankful for all the time with precious family! 

Monday-the last day of the month! Boys were so happy to go back to school!! I am so happy they love school so much (and hope it stays that way at their new school!). Evan is finally agreeing to wear pants! yay! And today he also found his super cool pilot jacket! Love it!

And I took Ellie back to the doctor since she had been fighting a fever of 99 for a couple days. Turned out she had the beginning of an ear infection... hopefully she will be back to her self soon!!!  

OK December- I can't believe you are here!! But we are ready and excited!!!