Weekend Recap

We had a fun-filled weekend.  Friday was Ellen's Fall Festival at school, Saturday was Savannah's birthday party and Sunday was Trunk or Treat at church.  I missed Savannah's actual party but stopped by after work for a few more hours of fun.  Phillip took a ton of pictures with his phone but most of them are blurry (wish he had brought the camera).  The after party was a party in and of itself... the new toys were opened and the kids had a blast playing with everything.  Ellen had a great time and still didn't want to leave after almost 8 hours of partying/playing.  She loves Cole and Savannah!

Justus, Hannah, Cole, Savannah and Ellen

Loving the Strawberry Shortcake bouncy house

These girls could swing forever

The Children's Academy Fall Festival

Activities included: hayride, maze, pumpkin rolling, tattoos, [paper] pumpkin painting, bouncy castle, Monkeynastics "obstacle" course (they offer weekly gymnastic classes at daycare), bean bag toss and a few other games.  Unfortunately it was cold and rainy and we only lasted about an hour.  I felt so bad for all of the teachers - you could tell they worked really hard to make this a special event for the kids.

Poor girl was shivering (we left right after this).  Check out those wet knees!

 

Today is Ellen's Halloween party at school.  She wanted be Cinderella again so Bat Girl only appeared 1 out of 3 possible times (I should have known!).  I wish we could go but I am sure she will tell us all about it.  I'm not above bribing her with candy if I have to... we have plenty of it! :)

Happy Halloween!

Trunk or Treat

Ellen McCullough disguised as Bat Girl

Ready to Trick or Treat

You can't see my full costume in this picture but I came as a pregnant girl with lousy health insurance (hardy har har).  Not even Bat Girl can right that wrong (but she sure can make me smile!).

As usual there where some great costumes at Trunk or Treat... White Trash, Nudist on Strike, Deviled Egg, Pablo from Backyardigans, Handy Manny, Cleopatra, Yoda, Shrek, a few Indians, Minnie Mouse, Smurfs, witches, lots of pretty princesses... we worship with a creative bunch.

Trunk or Treat Fail: we did not decorate our trunk or wash our car (and it really needed it) - the two things I really wanted to do, especially the decorating part.  Maybe next year?

Trick-or-Treating at the office? Yes, please!

Play-by-play of our day

Ellen and I had a good day together yesterday.  The original plan was to take her to school while I went to the doctor and then pick her up at lunch time, but I decided to risk it and bring her with me.  I knew it would take an hour or more to get to the doctor (with morning traffic) and not only did I not want to cart Ellen all the way downtown, I also worried that this appointment would be really long for some reason and I would be stuck trying to entertain her in an environment that isn't too kid friendly.  And there is always the concern that she will not behave just when I need her to the most.  She is usually good in public places, and good in general, but sometimes she surprises me, and not in a good way.  It just seemed easier to drop her off on my way to Nashville but I am pleased to report that she did great on the drive (she has been very antsy in the car lately) and was well behaved the entire time we were at Dr. Barnett's office.  Bonus: she got to meet the doctor that delivered her.  We stopped by work afterwards which she really enjoyed.  Ellen got to see Phillip and his new cubicle (he was recently moved to a different department).  She also sat at my desk for a few minutes - wrote on my calendar, drew on a post it, checked out the contents of my pen cup (loves the highlighters), fiddled with my head set... the usual.  Rita, one of the ladies I work with, gave her a dollar to spend in the vending machine (which Ellen calls the candy machine).  Ellen took that dollar as if people are always handing her money, which they aren't!  Made me laugh.  And of all things, she chose to get Cheetos.  I thought for sure she would go for something chocolate.  We stopped by Target and picked up candy for her upcoming Halloween party at school and then went to Chick-fil-A to eat lunch and play.  By the way, Target dollar spot has some great stocking stuffers if you know someone who likes princesses and/or Hello Kitty.  We had fun being out on the town and running errands but we were both ready to head home by 1:00.  Unfortunately Ellen did not take a nap (so I didn't get one either) but it worked out okay.  We created with play doh and I worked around the house while she watched a little TV.  I gave her an early bath before church.  Phillip came home as we were finishing up.  We always look forward to Daddy coming home!  Since I was going to be off, and therefore home in time for us to go, we signed up for the Wednesday night meal (I think this may have only been our second time to attend).  It was nice eating good food and having a relaxing meal.  Ellen had plenty of time to play and run around with her friends before church started and I am glad she was able to do so... I am sure that was the highlight of her day.

That was our day in a nutshell.  I like spending time with my little girl and I am thankful for every opportunity that allows us to be together (even if it means having to work some Saturdays).  She is growing up so fast.  I am trying to soak it all in before it's too late.

Only certain people can get away with calling me "puffy"

As we were laying in bed this afternoon... me trying desperately to get Ellen to take a nap

Ellen:  Mommy (for the thousandth time)

Me:  Mommy's not here

Ellen:  Yes you are (poking me in the side)

Me:  I'm Aunt Andrea

Ellen:  No you're not

Me:  I am Andrea Clauset and I live in North Carolina.  My husband is Caleb and I have 2 kids, Ashling and Cade.  I am a teacher...

Ellen:  No! (laughing)

Me:  I am Andrea.  I am tall and thin...

Ellen:  No you're not!  You're puffy and you're Alaina.

She never did go to sleep but we both had a good laugh and that is way more important than taking a nap :)

Make room for baby

These are the address labels (a picture of one at least) my sister and brother-in-law gave us for Christmas last year. 

I think they are so cute.  Andrea and Caleb spent a long time tweaking the images/hair colors to make them as accurate as possibe (wish I really looked like her!).  Hard to believe we will have another little one to add to our labels, and our lives, in less than 3 months.

Insert freak out here.

I know having two is going to be a challenge for me, especially when one of them is a newborn (the infant stage isn't my strength).  That being said, I am getting more and more excited with each passing day.  It's not going to be easy but I don't know that it's meant to be.  I am slowly coming to terms with that.

Here's hoping for an uneventful evening

Monday morning update:  Ellen slept all night (yay!) but not before throwing up several times (boo!).  Poor girl!  She seems to be feeling better after getting some rest and I think she will be back to her normal activities tomorrow.  [For my records, this was the first time Ellen threw up in the toilet - easiest clean up ever!]

Ellen seemed fine this morning although she randomly had an accident in the night (and we stopped using waterproof pads long ago - thankfully she has a thick mattress cover and there was no leakage).  She seemed fine at church too (looking back, she was a little too good) and then at Walmart afterwards... but who isn't in their happy place when at Walmart?  Besides Patrice? :)  Especially when you get to bring home a set of pom poms and you just happened to mention the day before that you wanted some (she wants to be a cheer girl).  She didn't eat much lunch but we weren't too concerned.  She eventually took a nap which we know she really needed (she didn't have one yesterday due to the picnic).  She seemed rather puny when she woke up.  She went straight to the couch and laid down - and that never happens.  She wouldn't speak, eat or drink.  She even refused her gummy vitamins.  She cuddled with me in bed while Phillip went to the grocery store (I was still waking up from my own nap at that point).  I decided to give her some Tylenol.  She perked up a little but was still unusually quiet.  She seems better now thanks in part to Nick Jr and some My Little Ponies Mindy dropped off earlier today.  We are taking it easy this evening.  I am preparing myself for a long night just in case.  Hopefully I am wrong and she sleeps soundly and wakes up feeling good as new.

In other news, we love our iPhones.  Instagram is my new best friend.  Phillip took this yesterday morning as Ellen was marking special events on our calender.

  

Yesterday we discovered Phillip's truck had a flat tire.  Fortunately we had a full size spare and Chris was able to come over this afternoon and help Phillip replace the flat.  Ellen and I were asleep so we missed out on all of the fun.  I totally would have taken pictures and Ellen would have enjoyed playing with Hannah and Justus.

Another random event... one of Ellen's bracelets was accidentally flushed down the toilet yesterday.  The funny things is we were all three in the bathroom at the time (our tiny downstairs bathroom).  It must have slipped off her wrist as she threw her toilet paper in the commode.  Right as she called out "My bracelet!", Phillip flushed the toilet (he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary in the water and neither of us saw it happen).  She was so upset.  Hope that is the first and last time anything like that happens.

This has been a weird weekend.

White chicken chili is bubbling on the stove and cornbread muffins just came out of the oven.  Time to eat dinner and get our little girl settled in for the night.  Wish us luck!