Ellie's 3!

We celebrated her birthday a week early because on her actually birthday she is going to be at her Dad's house.


Mandi bought her a "Birthday Girl" set that included a tiara, sash, clip-on earrings, and a wand.


Great-grandma made her some cupcakes and had some raspberry ice cream that was absolutely delicious. You can also see your pretty earrings that were pierced yesterday. She didn't even cry!


Ellie received nine ponies! She sure was excited.


This is one cool baby.... she licks an ice cream cone. Her little tongue sticks out... it is really cute.


You can't tell at all... but she liked the fairy dress that her aunt Mandi gave her.


Tea time with Papa..... well.... Ellie made coffee and it was REALLY hot so we had to blow on it before we could drink.


My little girl is growing up. I can't believe that she is 3-years-old. Time sure flies!


We ended the party with the Pony photo shoot. I have several group pictures and a lot of individuals in different positions. Ellie was very particular about the look that she wanted portrayed in the photos. What a diva!!!! hahaha.

Beautiful Morning

The morning ended with off three of us in my bed (before 6 am).... aahhhh.

Ellie was up about 5:30 and came crawled in bed and Hayden heard us talking and then came and joined us about 5:55 am. So we laid there singing songs like "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

It was a fabulous start to a Friday morning. :-)

Hayden's Basketball Game

Hayden had an awesome game today! I couldn't be more proud. Of course I didn't have my camera or my cell phone so I wasn't able to take pictures or video.

Their team (Cougars) were playing against a tough team and Hayden was excellent on defense and kept up with the kid that he was paired up with.

Hayden even made a basket and two rebounds! His whole cougars team did an exceptional job and not just one person shined but the whole team did their best. I am overflowing with joy. My bro, Hersh, said that Hayden would catch on like he did when Hersh first started playing basketball.... and Hayden is. He has definitely superseded my expectations already after four weeks.

I can't seem to wipe the smile off my face!!! :-)

Playing in the Snow

It was a crazy weekend of weather. Saturday it was freezing rain and Sunday it snowed from 5 am until about 7:30 pm. We received more than 8 inches of snow. Monday school was canceled for Hayden and I and it would only be fitting if we went out and played in it. :-)


Ellie was the first one to trample in the untouched snow in the yard and Hayden was chasing her and fell.

Poor baby...... hahaha... it was cold!



Ellie loved making boot prints in the snow. That is pure joy in her face.


You can't play in the snow without making a snow angel. Do you see Ellie on the side. She sees Hayden is in a weak position and is going in for the kill with that snowball. hehehe


She can't do just one. She is going to take advantage of the situation.


This is to show the hard work that I did shoveling the whole driveway myself. Talk about a workout.


This is our snowman. Well, I should say it is mine since the kids didn't want to help... they just wanted to play.


I wanted a picture of Ellie and Hayden next to the snowman but Hayden already went inside and took his wet clothes off. So, I made Ellie stand next the snowman and she was not happy. What a mean mother I am. ;-)

School = No Blogging

Well, I see there is a direct correlation between school starting up and the amount of blogs that are posted. hehehe. This quarter is going well. Organic chemistry doesn't seem like it is going to be too hard. A lot different then Inorganic. Anatomy and Physiology II is going pretty darn good. Had a test on Monday in which I had to write the pathways of Glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogenesis, glycogenolysis, Krebs, and lactate fermentation. Instructor gave us several blank pieces paper to draw them out. Luckily we didn't have to put the enzymes that were active for each step. We have a test tomorrow on metabolism and intercellular messengers. Oh how fun!

Hayden started basketball practice this past week. He is not a very coordinated boy but he sure was having fun. They were doing warm-up exercises and the other boys are grunting and complaining on hard it was.... Hayden has a grin my ear to ear. He thought it was great. By the second practice he was doing a better job at lay-ups. He wants to try every sport (except for tackle-football) but I worry about him being teased because he is not the best player. I am trying to make sure that this is a positive experience and not tell him what he did wrong. This is his first year playing basketball and I probably should have started him playing earlier so that he could learn the basics. Basketball ends in March and baseball starts in April. Boy does he sure love baseball! I can't wait.

Spoiled Rotten

We had a lovely Christmas holiday and some good Roast Beast that Aunt Leslie has ordered. It was melt in your mouth yummy. The kids were spoiled rotten again this year... just like every year. Ellie's favorite gift hands down was her walk-in kitchen. I am so glad that we (I, Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Leslie) went in together to get it. Here are some pictures:

She is cooking Hayden breakfast

Got to get the right utensil

Like any good chef one needs to taste to see if it needs more spices.

Last minute cooking in the microwave

I believe Hayden's favorite gift was Bop-it that Santa gave him because the toy isn't made anymore and the stores don't have it at all. Hayden says they have the toy in his classroom and he wanted one for home. Hayden also loved the $50 gift card from Aunt Carolyne.

He bought himself a Nintendo DS game and some odds and ends. He also realized that $50 goes REALLY fast.

My favorite gift was the sheet set, duvet, dust ruffle that Mandi and Michael bought for me. Now I can sleep in a beautiful bed and have wonderful dreams. hehehe. I also love my pajamas from Mom and my tennis shoes from Grandma and I am getting great ideas for taking fantastic digital pictures from the book that Jessica and Matthew bought me. It is so hard when you get such great gifts.

Hayden and Ellie have yet to play with all their toys but we are sure working on it. Now.... where to put all their toys at....hmmmm

3 More Days to Christmas

The kids and I went around and looked at Christmas lights. There is a Lawn and Tree Care business that does a really good job decorating and this year the lights were in synch to the music on a local radio station. It was pretty cool.

Our next stop was at Caroler's Lane. It consists of three streets and each have a carol and beautifully decorated houses. They swap carols every year so that they don't have the same one. We drove through the streets with our car but one could take a hayride that drives pass the houses. It was too cold and we were not dressed for a hayride.

Our last stop was a house that was featured on the news. They have beautiful lights and they wanted to do more than offer pretty lights so they are collecting can foods for the local food harvest. Santa was there and I took a picture of the kids with him.

Ellie kept telling me, "I'm scared momma." Look at that little face. aaaahhhh

Here is part of the lights on "Santa's house"

We had fun with making holiday ornaments.

I did the painting and the glueing of the frame and the kids did the decorating. Hayden's star fell off.... going to have to re-glue it back on.

This next one is Ellie's and is a shooting star. She helped with with the glue and she sprinkled the goody stuff on it.

Both kids did a candy cane. I did the antlers and they each glued on the eyes and ears.

The Christmas tree was Ellie's craft and she helped with the glueing and the sprinkling of the paper ornaments. Doesn't it look beautiful.

We also did an edible christmas tree. We took one of the sugar cone ice cream cones and turned it upside down and frosted it with green frosting and sprinkled it with lots of sprinkles. I didn't get a picture of them before they were consumed. hehehe

The next two crafts are what Hayden did at school. They are spectacular.

The snowman lost part of his smile... I can see it in the bottom right hand side of picture. hahaha. Oooppss. I guess that means there is going to be more gluing. Hot glue is my friend. ;-)