It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

We started decorating today! I love the holidays and decorating too! Last year I didn't decorate like I wanted to. I think being pregnant had something to do with that. So this year I pulled everything out and purchased a few new items too! Hopefully we'll get our tree tomorrow then I'll be finished with the decorating. Ella really loves the lights in our house, it gives her something new to look at! I have a feeling she will love the tree too! I know the majority of the decorations she probably won't even notice or care about but I do!!! Plus I'm all about traditions and growing up we always decorated the house on Thanksgiving weekend and mom always had all sorts of fun Christmas things around the house! I snapped a couple shots of our decorations today, a big thank you to Dave for putting the outside ones up for me!!! At least it was fairly warm today! So, I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for the holiday season!!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday. We started off the day by having breakfast at Karla and Joel's then we headed to Dave's Aunt and Uncle's for Dave's side of the family. I've always loved Thanksgiving, for as long as I can remember we've done Thanksgiving breakfast... it's one of my favorite traditions. It was great to spend time with family and realize how truly blessed we are... here are a few pictures from the day!

Adorable!

Sunday we took some pictures of Ella in her Christmas outfit and I think she looks adorable. Krista took them and they turned out pretty cute! We tried to take pictures of all 5 of the cousins together in their matching outfits but with hungry, sleep deprived children it can be difficult! (We tried it after the day of canning beef) Anyway, Krista hasn't sent me the pictures of all 5 yet and I was too busy trying to entertain the kids and get smiles to take any of my own. So for now, here are the pictures of Ella!

Canning!

Sunday was a fun filled day of canning 150 pounds of beef! Oh yes, my family still cans everything and in mass quantities. I'm not really complaining I actually enjoy using it throughout the year! I really do enjoy the canning experience it gives us time to sit and catch up and spend some quality time together. So Sunday Grandma, Mom, Krista, Grandpa Gene, Karla, Uncle Jake, Steph and I all spent the day trimming, cutting and stuffing jars of beef! (Grandpa Larry came down occasionally to check in on us... or read us something) Of course there were plenty of children running around enjoying the canning experience too! I got several pictures of Emily, Ella and Ava playing together! It definitely was an eventful day and I think we all had a pretty good time! Like I said I really do enjoy these days, I only hope that my sisters and I will continue these traditions with our families in the future!

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Tailgating!

Dave, Ella and I headed to West Lafayette today to watch the Boilers smash the Hoosiers!!! Well, Ella and I at least attended the tailgate, I thought it was a bit too cold to go to the stadium for the game. Luckily dad had a tent with a small heater for us so it kept Ella pretty toasty, plus I had her all bundled up. But don't worry we only stayed for a little while before heading to Super Target (my favorite store!!) and then to my friend Faith's house. While at the tailgate I took a few pictures. My friends Faith and Joe stopped by with their little guy David, he's almost 9 months old. It was pretty cute to see them both in their little snowsuits unable to really move around. I was pretty surprised by how Ella just sat there with a pacifier in her mouth... that's not normal for her! Maybe it was the cool weather and just having so much to check out. We had a full tent, Jordan and some of his friends stopped by and Uncle Jake and Steph! After the tailgate I did take Ella back to Faith and Joe's house to stretch out, relax and play. It was great to see them and catch up and watch David and Ella play! I got a glimpse of how Ella will be moving around in just a couple of months! I did get a pretty cute picture of the two of them just before we left... again I forgot to take pictures until right before I left so I missed out on some pretty cute moments!

Dinner with the Family!

Friday night we went to dinner with Dave's side of the family for his grandma's birthday. It was great to see everyone. Ella and her little cousin Brayden (they were born less than a month apart... Ella's just 3 weeks older) had a chance to interact. They were very gentle and trying to touch each other, I was kind of surprised. They even grabbed hands for a few seconds, too cute! They also had a "playdate" on Wednesday but I forgot to take pictures so I snapped a couple on Friday night. She also got to see her Aunt Renee, Aunt Beth, Uncle Matt and Grandma and Grandpa and she met Dave's Grandma Robinson for the first time. So here are a few pictures from the night.

What a Big Girl!

Ella at the doctor loving the paper.

In the high chair for the first time, yes that's her hair growing in and I know there is no bow in her hair, very out of the ordinary!

At home with her toys!

Such a happy girl!

Overwhelmed by toys!

In the car at the dentist's office!

Well, Ella is growing like crazy. We went to the doctor today... she's been pretty congested and coughing and sneezing so me being a first time mommy I thought I should take her in. I figured they would just tell me she's teething and it's a cold, but I thought better safe than sorry. Of course he said it's viral an upper respiratory infection and it would run it's course so happy waiting I guess. Anyway, she weighed 17 pounds 8 ounces and is 25 3/4 inches long. Like I said she's growing like crazy! She did find a new favorite toy at the doctor's office... the paper on the exam table, who would've guessed! So that's the update on Ella! We've tried to stay home more this week so I've been able to take a few pictures of her sitting up and playing with her toys. You'll notice the boppy and the pillows just in case. She does pretty good but sometimes gets tired and decides to just flop over! We did go with Dave to a dentist appointment then to visit his parents this week so I took a few pictures of Ella and I "patiently" waiting in the car! We also went to dinner tonight with Aunt Karla, Riley, Hudson and Grandma Sally and Ella sat in the high chair for the first time at a restaurant, I know not a huge deal but she thought she was pretty big stuff. So that's our week! I've attached a few pictures of the week, enjoy!

"Brothers" & Sisters!

Dave's company gave him 4 tickets for a local hockey game and I decided to take advantage of those! For those of you that don't know, Joel and Dave were in the same fraternity in college, therefore they are brothers! (That's where the title of the post comes from!) So when Dave called on Wednesday and said he had four tickets I immediately called Karla to see if we could do a couple night... no kids! We don't all get to hang out very often anymore so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity! Luckily Karla's mother-in-law watched the boys and mom and dad came over and watched Ella so we could all go out for a funfilled evening. Now I'm sure most couples would prefer a nice sit down dinner (ex- Red Lobster... okay that was my first pick I guess Dave will have to take me there some other time!) but due to time constraints and not wanting to wait forever to get a table we ended up at Hooters! Who can resist Buffalo Shrimp, Wings and Curly Fries? So after an enjoyable dinner at Hooters we headed to the Coliseum for an eventful hockey game. Even though we missed most of the first period it was still an enjoyable game, several fights... that's why I like to watch hockey! I captured the nights events with several photos, so enjoy! It was great to go out just the four of us, it's been a while, I guess we'll have to plan these outings more often!

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Our Texas Trip!

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We're back! Dave, Ella, Mom, Dad and I went for a long weekend to Austin Texas! My cousin Kurt got married so we all decided to be a part of their special day. We flew out on Saturday... it was Ella's first flight, and let me just say that she was awesome. We were supposed to have a direct flight but that got changed so we flew into Memphis and then to Austin, but no fear she did awesome on both flights! I think the only time she cried a little bit was when the flight attendant came over the loud speaker to prepare us for landing and it woke her up so she let out a few mini cries! Anyway, Saturday night we had a small dinner with the family and out of state guests. Ella got to meet some extended family that she hadn't got to meet yet. Then Sunday we found the outlet mall... go figure Grandma Sally and Mommy shopping! Then we headed to the small outdoor wedding. It was beautiful. There's just something about a small Texas wedding, I've seen them on tv before but never actually attended one! The reception was in a pavilion and the weather was perfect. We were in the mid-80's the whole time we were there so of course it was just a little bit cooler in the evening. Overall, it was fun... Ella was still trying to adjust to the time change and the different time in Texas! So Dave and I took off a little bit early to head back to the hotel and put her to bed but we still enjoyed visiting with everyone at the wedding. Let me just say the food was awesome at the wedding- of course some good old Texas BBQ but also a quesadilla making station (pick your ingredients and they do it for you) and a pasta making station (same concept as the quesadillas) and a sundae making station (again someone makes it for you) I do have to admit that I missed out on the ice cream and was a bit disappointed- we left to take Ella to the hotel. Anyway, it was a really neat experience attending a Texan wedding! (You'll notice some western attire in the pictures!) Monday was our sight seeing day, we started the day out by venturing out to Inner Space Caverns. I have been to other caverns before growing up but of course Ella has never been to one and Dave also has never been so we decided it would be neat to see. It was really neat, Ella seemed to think it was pretty cool at the beginning then apparently got bored with it and fell asleep for the remainder of the tour! Let's just say I got my workout from carrying her for over an hour in thye 72 degree 98% humidity cave! Not to mention me looking for bats and trying not to fall! Then we headed to downtown Austin to meet one of mom's past managers from Cargill. We tried out Chuy's a mexican restaurant that was recommended to us... not too bad! Then Greg took us to the Iron Cactus- a pretty cool restaurant/bar and we sat on the rooftop deck overlooking Austin. Tuesday we flew back home, Ella fell asleep before we got on the plane and slept the entire 2 1/2 hour flight- I think that's a record for her! She woke up when we landed, I sure am thankful that she takes a pacifier otherwise I was afraid her ears would hurt. I think that was basically our trip. We had a great time but I'm glad to be home and get back into our routine! Now if I could only get my house cleaned and laundry done that would be amazing!