HW Halloween Weekend and the apple festival

 Back in March we planned a trip to Disney for Ella's fall break (last week) since this could be the only time Ella gets a full week for fall break, and October is supposed to be a great time to go to Disney. I never in a million years thought there would be a hurricane warning for Orlando a couple days before we were supposed to leave. I was glued to the weather channel for days trying to figure out what we were going to do. Friday morning (the day before we were supposed to leave) Ella woke up with a horrible virus. We knew what we needed to do so I got on the phone and rescheduled our trip. Although it was a bummer, it ended up being a blessing that we rescheduled. Ella was sick for days and exhausted. She would have never made it through the trip. 
Since we were at home we did a few fun things like Holiday World, the pumpkin patch, and the apple festival in Owensboro. It was kind of a rough week. Ella was having stomach aches off and on and in a horrible mood. She wasn't the only one.;) 
Against our better judgement we went to Holiday World. Ella was feeling a tad better but was still very tired. She was determined to go so we went, but we had to leave after a few hours. 
This was the first time Paige was big enough to ride the little rides. She did ok on the fishy ride. I don't think she had quite figured out what was going on yet. 

She gave Kitty Claws a five but was terrified of Holidog. 

And was totally not fond of the canoes which is probably the slowest ride at Holiday World;) 

Ella and Adam rode the swings and played a ton of games which is Ella's favorite thing. She was not in the mood for pictures so this is all I have of her. Poor girl!

Paige played a game and won her first stuffed animal. I hope she doesn't like stuffed animals as much as her sister does. 

Our last picture at Holiday World of the season. We only made it a few times this year which is not much for us but hopefully we will get back to it in a couple of years when it's easier for me to take Ella and Paige by myself. 

This past Saturday my mom graciously volunteered to go to the apple festival with us. Ella was feeling much better and pretty much back to her cheerful self. She made me get on all the spinning rides with her, which made me feel sick. I am getting way too old for spinning rides, but she loves them. We also played games and went to the petting zoo. It ended up being a hot day, but we had fun!

Pumpkin patch 2016

Every fall I look forward to going to the pumpkin patch. We have been doing this since Ella was two and now Paige is along for the fun as well. This was her first trip to the patch. While she is still too young to do most of the activities there, she still had a great time. 
Ella has been on fall break all week (and since we had to postpone our Disney trip by a couple of weeks) we decided to go on a weekday afternoon. Adam was able to take off early and go with us. It was just how we like it. Not too hot and not too crowded. 
Ella is a pro at the pumpkin patch and did all the activities they had to offer. 

While Paige ran around like a maniac....

I always have to get this picture. It's fun to see how they grow each year. 

We took a wagon ride back to the pumpkin patch and got a glimpse of what Paige will be like sitting on my lap on the airplane next weekend. This wagon ride was probably 10 minutes, and she could not sit still. She kept trying to slide off my lap. God help us all!

Adam and Ella went off to search for the biggest pumpkin they could find. While Paige and I stayed back. 

Paige found a pumpkin that was perfect for sitting. 

After a ride on the zipline and a trip down the slide we called it a day.

It was another great time at the pumpkin patch. Can't wait for next year!

Paige || 16 months

Paige turned 16 months last week. I can sum up Paige in one word...BUSY! Paige is constantly on the move. Constantly running, constantly climbing, and constantly getting into anything and everything she shouldn't be. Life with Paige is nothing short of exhausting but so much fun!

She is still our happy, sweet girl and we love her so!

So what's new:

• Paige can climb the stairs from the bottom to the top all by herself and likes to give us a heart attack sometimes when she does it when we are not watching. Thank goodness for the stair barrier we just put up. 
• Paige is saying all kinds of new words. She can even put two words together.
• Paige officially outgrew the sink and is taking baths in a blow up duck bath in the actual bath tub. Paige is still not a fan of the bath tub for some reason. 
• Paiges loves to be outside and especially loves to run down the sidewalk unassisted. 
• Paige started mom's morning out. So far, it has not gone well. She has terrible separation anxiety so I'm not sure how long that is going to last. 
• Paige is down to one afternoon nap. It was a little rough at first, but she is now down to one nap a day. She can usually make it to 1:00, and then she is out for a few hours. 

Sleep:

Paige is still a great sleeper. I was just thinking back to last year at this time. I was exhausted all the time. By the time I could rest it would be time to pick up Ella from school, and the day would start all over. Paige woke up every single night for about the first 10 months of her life. I didn't think I would see a full nights sleep again, but thankfully once she started sleeping all night she never looked back. It nice to feel "normal" again. Paige goes to bed at 6:30/7ish and sleeps until around 7:15/7:30. Like I said above, she is down to one good nap a day from 1:00-4:00 usually. She is a great sleeper, and I hope she stays that way. I do love my sleep!

Eating:

Paige is a great eater. She loves just about anything I put in front of her. When she is hungry she says "num num". She loves snacks and gets here fair share throughout the day. If I leave our pantry open on accident she always helps herself to whatever she can find. It's so nice to have a child that isn't picky. She is the total opposite of her sister. 

Play:

Paige loves to be outside. She loves going for walks (long or short). She loves running around in the driveway/sidewalk. She also loves to swing. She loves to do what Ella is doing. They both really enjoying putting babies on the fan and watching them fly off when the fan is on. She loves to slide and has learned to climb up and go down all by herself. She has gotten pretty good at stacking rings. She loves books and is able to name some of the things in her first word book. She loves baby dolls and pushing them around in her stroller. 

Things I want to remember about Paige at 16 months:

Paige is so sweet and loving. I didn't think she could be as attached to me as Ella was, but she is! She constantly says "mama". Sometimes when I pick her up she will pat me on the back and look at me and say "mama". She is such a mama's girl. 

Paige loves Ella. She knows when she wakes up from her nap Ella is home from school. She starts saying her name as soon as she wakes up. Paige loves to watch Ella and learns quite a few things just from watching her. Ella is still super quiet around her but is definitely ok with Paige being around. Ella is my second set of eyes and lets me know when Paige is doing things that could hurt her. We call Ella "safety patrol jr.", because she is always on the look out. We know she loves her sister but just hasn't quite figured out what to say to her yet. 

When my parents come over Paige starts saying "go go go" (once she is done saying "mamma") when she sees my dad. My dad likes watching horse racing when he is at our house and apparently Paige does as well. 

I always take Ella to school while Adam stays at home with Paige. After I drop Ella off and pull in our subdivision I can see Paige running around the driveway waiting for me. She always gets so excited and smiles so big when she sees me. 

Grandparents Day Celebration 2016

Ella's school had their grandparent's day program yesterday. Ella was SO excited for this day. She said she had trouble sleeping and didn't go to sleep until 4am. She loves having us at school, but I think she loves shopping at the book fair the most. 
Paige was so excited to go see her sissy at school. I was a little nervous about how she would do during the program, but she made it. 

The program was so cute. This was our third year so we pretty much know the drill. I think it's the same every year but always cute! Ella spoke on the microphone again, and I am so proud of her for doing so. 

After the program we headed up to Ella's classroom for snacks. I hadn't been in Ella's classroom yet but still couldn't tell you what it looked like. I spent quite of bit of time chasing Paige around the hallway. Ella had fun visiting with her grandparents and shopping at the book fair so it was worth it. 

This program always takes me back to Ella's kindergarten year. At her first program I had just found out I was pregnant and was on the verge of bursting into tears the entire time. Now look at us! 

Ella is so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents. 

Ella and her best school friend, Jossalyn. They are a cute pair! 

Life Lately- August edition

This is life via the camera roll....

Paige turned 15 months on 8.11.16. I had good intentions to do a post all about her at 15 months, but it just hasn't happened yet. 

It's hard to get a decent picture of Paige these days since she is seriously RUNNING everywhere. The only way to get her to sit still is to strap her in a seat or put her to bed. Sometimes I go run errands just so I can sit (in my car) for awhile. :) 

Paige loves cups with a straw so every time we go somewhere she has to have water in a straw cup. 

Her hair is getting so long so she is sporting this hair do most days. Try putting a busy one year old's hair in a pony. It's not easy! 

I took this picture and afterwards realized how big she is looking. She is seriously growing up so fast, although there are days where it doesn't seem like it! 

Paige finally figured out she could climb the steps. She likes to get about midway and start whining until someone comes to get her. 

We had the lower level of our house and hallway upstairs painted last week, and it looks so much better! It just seems lighter and brighter. 

Paige was obviously freaked out by the drop cloth. She would not walk on it and was not happy when I was standing on it. Oh the drama! 

I painted Ella's room on my own. It took me about four days to get it done, which is why we hired a company to do the rest of the house. I'm glad it's done though! Ella really loves her room so I was happy to paint it for her! 

We have spent a lot of time enjoying our pool since we moved in. I absolutely love having a pool, and since it's salt water there hasn't been much maintenance. It was closed as of today, and I already am looking forward to next summer. 

Ella's bff from school lives super close so she has come home with us after school a couple of days. They have the best time together. I'm thankful Ella has such a sweet best friend at school. 

Ella had a lower tooth that was hanging by a thread. She DID NOT want that tooth to come out even though it was making her absolutely miserable. Everyone at school knew about it. It was making us all crazy. We were even an hour late for school one morning, because it was bleeding.  One day after school Adam and I were determined that tooth was going to come out. I found myself at 8:00 at night at CVS buying anbesol in hopes of getting that tooth out. She would not let anyone touch it so she finally pulled it around 9:45pm. There is never a dull moment 

Last week I had to take Elliott to the vet. I ended up taking Paige with me as well. It was a fiasco. We got a new vet that took forever, and Paige was running around the room trying to get into everything. I was so happy to get out of there. Poor Elliott has/had a double ear infection so it's a good thing that we went. 

So that's life lately. Our life is always busy, crazy, messy, and exhausting but I can't imagine it any other way!