Happy 5th Birthday Miss Elena!!

Five years ago today I was meeting my little girl for the first time.. This has really flown by. We celebrated her b-day with her first big party. We went to a local hotel and everyone swam for a few hours then had pizza and cake and she opened all her presents. Her theme was My little pony. She loves ponies!!

Altogether there was 18 kids at the party and lots of excitement. I was glad we were in this large meeting room instead of all crammed into my house, that could of gotten a little crazy.
The kids loved swimming. Esp since it is getting so cold outside, it was nice to do something different this time of year. The pool was nice and shallow, but they especially loved the whirlpool. They couldn't get enough of the bubbles! Our family stayed the night at the hotel and I took the kids down swimming again after everyone left. They thought that was awesome that they were swimming when it was time for bed. She ripped through her presents - which was a lot - lets just say I don't think there is anything she could want for Christmas, she got everything she wanted for her birthday!!
I was anxious to give her our present. She loves horses, but she also loves Deer. A few years ago for Christmas all she wanted was a girl deer. Do you think there was one to be found anywhere? So this year Build a Bear came out with the Rudolph and friends. So the first day they were available online, I got one for her. I think she likes it because she has thanked me at least 100 times for it:)All in all I think it was a success. One of the smoothest parties I have ever put together. YAY!

She said to me last night. I am five now. So do I go to kindergarten next week? Slow down, baby. You still have to finish preschool. She is old enough to have her own library card now. She is counting down the days until we go there.

Going on a Leaf Hunt...

We finally had a chance with some nice weather to go out to our reservoir and enjoy some of the fall splendor. We are so lucky to have this place so close to our home. It is one of my fave places to get out and walk the trails and this time of year to soak up some of God's beautiful workmanship. Our original plan was to go on a leaf hunt, but we pretty much missed peak and most of the leaves have already fallen, but it was so nice and peaceful out there. Lots of people out walking dogs and playing at the park. We did find a few pretty leaves still lingering. It was a nice afternoon.

Pumpkin Carving

This year was an unusual one. With it being so warm we bought our pumpkins a bit too early. They turned to mush a few weeks back. So that meant another exciting trip out to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to carve. Oh what fun! So the kids were all geared up, had their faces planned out and set to work. Ethan completely did his on his own. I helped him just a bit with cutting the lid off. He did a great job! Miss Elena entertained us the whole time by imitating Linus from the peanuts Great Pumpkin by saying over and over. "You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it, aaawwwww" Pretty funny.
Natalie wasn't too sure and wouldn't touch anything at first, but once grandma started helping her she enjoyed checking for seeds. She kept peeking inside and saying "seed!" and Grandma would get it out. Funny. We washed up and baked the seeds and ended the night watching home videos. It was great! Love to go back over those. There are a few of Elena that I soo need to send into Funniest Videos. Prize winners for sure.

Trick or Treat night the kids got to help pass out candy so they posed with their pumpkin masterpieces. And here is the scary result...oooooohhhhhh spooky!