Baby Swap

This past weekend (yes, I do realize it is already Thursday) was a bit of a change for us.  I had a good friend's baby's 1st birthday party to attend.  There was stuff to get done around the house, so Paul was going to stay in town (the party was out of town).  Since it was a 1st birthday party, I decided to take the twins with me instead of my usual partner in crime, Ella.  I was going to my parent's house for the night after the party, so H&H would get a lot of one on one time with my mom and I which does not happen...ever.

Paul and Ella had LOTS planned here in town too!  Friday evening Paul took her to get her nails done.  Yep, you heard it...he really is the best dad ever ;)  Then they went to Ella's friend's house and hung out with her and her daddy (and little brother) for the evening.  Then on Saturday Paul and Ella met up with some more friends that we hadn't seen in a long time.  They had such a great time together!  I was SO happy that Ella never cried for me and barely even asked for me!  She has been a daddy's girl ever since!  Although their daddy/daughter weekend was much needed, it does make me somewhat sad that she is clearly favoring her daddy ever since the weekend!

Hailee, Hannah, and I had a great time away!  The birthday party was so much fun!  I saw great friends that I don't see often and H&H were on their best behavior (which is rare).  Then we went back to my parents house and my mom and I went to a late showing of Safe Haven.  The movie was great, as was the time spent with my mom.  Then on Saturday morning we went to the outlets and got a good start (and maybe finish) on all of the girl's summer wardrobes!

Sunday, all together again, we spent the day as a family at church and then at the park and out for ice cream.  What a perfect day!  Enjoy these photos from our weekend adventures!

This is the sweet and smiley face I left on Friday afternoon.  I knew I would miss my girl and I was right!

Some friends of 10+ years!  Love getting together with these ladies!

Hailee, Hannah, and grandpa on Saturday morning.  We all spent extra time snuggling these sweeties!

Beautiful day for shopping, and snacking, at the outlets!  My dad pushed the girls around all morning for me so I could shop with my mom and sister.  How nice!  He couldn't believe how many "twin comments" these girls got from people.  Yep, that's definitely the norm!

Ella and her friend Morgan at Ella's favorite restaurant...Chick-Fil-A!  These two have been friends since they were about 2 months old, when I started babysitting Morgan every day during the week.  I watched Morgan until the day I went on bed rest with H&H.  These two definitely have a special bond!

The photo I woke up to on Saturday morning from Paul.  Coloring while she was eating breakfast..she sure got spoiled by daddy!  No wonder she had such a great time!

Hailee at the park on Sunday!

Ella!

Hannah and Ella!  The girls were SO much fun at the park on Sunday.  We really did have the best time with them.  I am so excited for this summer and all the fun things we have planned!

Hailee

Hannah.  Hannah is our little dare devil.  She was going down the big, swirly slides as Hailee and Ella stayed on the little tiny ones.  Hannah really has no fear.  She was so funny and cute all afternoon.

This was just yesterday.  They were on their way to dad's night at Ella's preschool.

Daddy and Ella had such a great time!  They had pizza and dessert and Ella's class sang songs for all of the dads.  She brought home these activities that they did while there.  Notice her name at the top of the sun paper...she is getting so good at writing it!  I love the things she said about Paul on the blue paper too!

Disney on Ice

We went to Disney on Ice over the weekend.  Ella and I went with a couple of her preschool friends and their moms.  We had the best time!  When we got the tickets, we splurged and got great seats.  It was SO worth it!  The girls could all see everything perfectly.  We were only 3 rows up from the rink and it was so awesome! 

My little Cinderella ready for the show!

Friends!

Awesome seats!

Ella and Ella

"Cheese!"

The Ella's again!

Addy, Emmy (Addy's sister), Ella, and Ella

Ella and mommy

Ella and her $15 snow cone (yeah, that's not a joke)

What a fun evening!  I love that we have found such great friends in Ella's class this year.  Addy, Ella, and Ella will all be in the same class again next year too.  How exciting!

Christmas Preparation

Whew, it's been a while since I have blogged!  We have been so busy with getting ready for the holidays, events, parties, etc that I have had no time for anything lately!  I am happy to say that after this weekend things should slow down for us through the holidays.  I am so looking forward to Paul having some time off work to spend with us doing fun family things!

I really don't have anything to blog about, so figured I would post some photos for your enjoyment :)

A certain someone (Hannah) was not happy that I took her paci for the photo...

still not happy...

until I gave it back!  Ugh, daddy thinks we will be paci-free in this house come the New Year.  We will see about that!

One important thing for me during the holiday season is to get a *decent* photo of our girls for our Christmas card.  I knew this year would be tough, given their ages.  A couple weeks ago the weather was unseasonably warm on a Monday evening.  We took the girls out, and after about 300 shots, and still having to Photoshop Hailee into the photo I can say I am very pleased with our card photo for this year!  Cards are going out today, so those of you seeing this early get a little sneak peek!

Our card photo.  Love this.  I will be getting a print made for the house too.  Love that we went with not-so-Christmasy outfits, but still festive attire!

Love this smile!

And this one (Hannah)!

And this one (Hailee)!

We went to a breakfast with Santa with the twin club this past Saturday morning.  It was SO much fun!  I pretty much figured our photo would go something like this:

Hailee's face is just priceless!  Ella is also terrified.  Hannah seems indifferent.

I figured I would share some phone photos too!

H&H sit next to each other, in front of doors all the time.  They read together, snack together, and of course pick on each other.  So cute!

Ella's friend Ella from preschool came over the other day to play.  The girls had a tea party and were SO cute together! My grandma gave Ella this real little tea set and it is just adorable.

Ella says every day that she played with "two Ella's (she is one of the Ella's) and one Addy".  Addy came over that day too, but had to leave early.  I am so happy Ella has made such good friends with some of her preschool classmates!

We had a baking day at my aunt and uncle's house the other weekend.  We literally baked from 10:00am-8:00pm.  It was crazy!  Aunt Leah made this gingerbread house with Ella. 

One of my recipes was these reindeer cookies.  They turned out adorable!  Another successful idea from Pinterest!

My friend Kristen came along for the baking day too!  Her and Ella (well, maybe just Ella) had fun taste testing the finished products!

Erika and Leah, busy baking away!

Hailee and Hannah now know how to take one piece outfits off.  I literally re-dressed them 10 times the day they wore these one pieces last week.  They love taking off their jammies once they are in bed too.  Oh, and Hailee likes to take off her own diaper and throw it on the floor.  That has been just lovely!

Happy little Hannah!

A friend came to play with H&H (and Ella) one day last week while her mommy was at work.  We had so much fun all day!  I love the chance to spend time with my friend's kids!

This past Sunday Ella and I went to a tea party for brunch and then to a Christmas Play with some friends.  This is the second time we have had a mommy-daughter day or evening with these girls and it is always so much fun!

This photo is from today.  This is the first day in literally weeks that we have nothing to do and it is so great!  We were invited to a play date and I had to decline.  We needed this day at home.  I told Ella she can stay in her jammies all day and she is pretty excited!  This was craft time at the table before 9:00am.  By about noon I'm sure I'll be singing another tune and wishing we had got out for a bit!

I should have some cute photos coming up in the next few days!  Ella's preschool play is tomorrow and we (and especially she) is SO excited for it!  She will be an angel in the Christmas Story.  I can't wait!!

Halloween Fun

This Halloween was celebrated all week long!  First, we had planned to go to Boo at the Zoo last weekend and that plan was changed based on the weather.  Instead, we stayed in and painted pumpkins.  I bought some finger paint, glitter, and brushes and we let the girls go at it!  They all had so much fun! 

Just getting started..

Yes, they were in their jammies all day.  Isn't that what rainy days are for?

Ella loved the glitter!  Notice the blob of green paint and mound of white glitter.  We called it her "snow covered pumpkin".

Hannah having fun decorating!

And Hailee too!

Daddy showing off some of his artistic ability too.

Hailee making Hannah's pumpkin snow covered too.

Loving family fun!

Ella making daddy's head snow covered too ;)

Our finished products!

On Monday evening a friend invited us to Trunk or Treat at her church.  We decided to go based on the fact that I was pretty sure Trick or Treating would not happen on Wednesday.  We were so glad we went!  It was perfect for the kids.  All of the candy was real low to the ground so they could help themselves.  Each room had a different theme and different decor.  They were all really creative and cute!

Our Ariel and her fish before we headed out for the evening!

Waiting to start trunk-or-treating!

See, how kid friendly is this?!

They loved it!

The themes were great!

Hannah at a coloring station.  They had things besides candy too, like coloring, games, and

even face painting!  I was actually surprised Ella wanted to get her face painted.  She loved it!

Ella's preschool had a little parade and sang some songs for the parents on Wednesday morning.  I figured I'd dress Hannah and Hailee up for the event too.  It was so cute and we had so much fun!

Hannah and Hailee with their friend Parker waiting for their sister's parade to start!

Here they come! 

Ella!  She had her hand out waving to everyone the whole time.  Too cute!

Then we all went into their classroom and they sang a couple songs for us.

This was "Five Little Pumpkins" :)

Ella and her favorite preschool friends:  Addy and Ella!  Every day Ella tells me that "Two Ella's and one Addy played together".  :)

We did take Ella out to some houses for Trick-or-Treating last night, but not for long.  It was so cold and rainy.  Hannah and Hailee stayed at the house with Uncle Ryan and passed out candy.  They had fun eating their first ever suckers and Nerds.  I didn't get any photos, as you couldn't even tell what Ella was with her hat and big puffy coat on!

I took these couple photos before church last Sunday.  My parents got H&H these dresses and headbands for Christmas last year and they just now fit in to them.  These headbands are so over the top but just hilarious and so cute!  And what do you know?  They LOVE wearing them!  Ella even wanted one! 

How funny!

And cute!

I think Hailee looks so old here :(  My babies are getting so big too quick!  Big sad face mommy here!