End of Summer and the Best Season of All - Fall!

So, I'm continuing the tradition of the three month catch-up! I left off in July and now it's the end of October. The rest of the summer was fairly uneventful. We spent lots of time in the water trying to beat the insane heat of the summer of 2009. We'll likely never forget it. I wasn't even pregnant and the heat was nearly unbearable. Needless to say, if we were outside, it was either to be in the water or to go from one air conditioned place to another. We celebrated Andrew's birthday in August with family - a much anticipated day by Hannah. She LOVES birthdays, even the ones that aren't for her.

Misc. Summer Pics

Catching an Astros game and a nap...ahhh, the life!
Why do the girls love thee game of baseball? Let me count the ways...Peanuts, cotton candy, cracker jacks, hot dogs, sodas...

The pool with Noni and Papa in San Antonio

Daddy with Benjamin and Ellie going down the famous whale slide at the Schaefer's beach house!

Hannah's turn!

The girls got to swim with cousin Katelyn early in the summer. What a cutie!

Ellie and cousin Peter having a moment.

The kids hanging with second cousin Joshua. So great to get to see him and his parents!!!

Girlfriend Emmy hanging out with Benjamin after Sunday brunch. He even let Emmy hold the toy remote!

Aunt Katie came to visit for several days. We love Aunt Katie!!!

Benjamin chillin' with Grandpa at Daddy's birthday party

Andrew has a little help blowing out his birthday candles

Hannah started pre-school this year (two days a week). I was surprised to be a little sadened by the event. Our girl is growing up! She was so excited to go the first day and her excitement hasn't waned. She loves everything about it; writing her letters and numbers, making new friends (William tells her she's pretty and London makes her laugh), learning new songs in music, and best of all she loves show and tell. She takes her "show and share box" once a week with an object that starts with the letter of the week. Meanwhile, Ellie and Benjamin are home with me and Ellie really likes the time to herself. These sisters love each other, but a break a couple days a week seems to agree with them.

The first day of school standing outside the building

Just outside her new classroom. Yes, I was that mother taking pictures of my baby in the middle of the hallway.

In September we made the big move. We sold our house on Bethan Glen and moved out to Katy. We are excited about our neighborhood, great neighbors and awesome schools to look forward to. The house is great, too. We have a bit more space, which has been wonderful, though I'm still trying to figure out how to keep it clean. Any suggestions?

Benjamin plays with a bowl and spoon while I try to get a few more boxes packed, which again begs the question...why do we bother with toys?

Last few pics taken at the old house.

Ellie showing off her late summer fashions. Thank you, Noni!

Look at those long legs! Hannah did a lot of growing over the summer!

Benjamin's pulling up on everything, including Mommy! And he's sooo proud of himself.
The new house. Our favorite part...the trees!!!

We gave the pool a shot after Andrew got the chemicals figured out. Too bad it was really COLD by then. Oh well, it was fun for a few minutes! Hannah got out pretty quickly (but not before her mother!).

Ellie, Daddy and Benjamin didn't seem to mind the cold as much.

Early in October, Kristen (the kids' adopted aunt) took the girls on a special birthday trip to the little girls' salon for manis, pedis and an up-do. I got to tag along to see all the girly fun. They had sooo much fun. We went for lunch and a photo shoot afterward. Thank you, Aunt Kristen!!

And the photo shoot....
I just have to note that this was by far the easiest picture taking session we have ever had. Ellie was an absolute ham!!! Hannah was so sweet and did exactly what the photographer told her. And Kristen and I did a lot of laughing!

With fall has come several stomach bugs already. We have a new name for the more grotesque part of these short but nasty illnesses. Hannah and Ellie have coined the term "allergies" for the runs. Sorry to be graphic, but it's too funny not to share. Hannah and Ellie were in the bathroom the other day when Ellie came running out to let me know that Hannah had "allergies". She did, indeed have the runs. Then just a few days later I was changing the girls' sheets when I hear a distressed Ellie shouting from the bathroom, "Oh, no! I have allergies!" She did, indeed. Fortunately, I have no pictures of this memory.

We just celebrated Hannah's and Ellie's birthdays. Hannah turned 5 on the 22nd. Can't believe she's 5...She's grown so much in the past year. Her legs are so long all of a sudden, she's become very social - able to make friends wherever we go and she's very interested in reading, always telling me what things say and even reading simple books to her siblings.

Blowing out her candles on her 5th birthday

We've done a few fun fall things. We went to the Katy Rice Harvest Festival which was fun as always. Here are a couple pictures of the girls posing with their favorite princesses who came to the festival too!

We also recently went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. We got some cute pictures...sadly Hannah wasn't quite as interested in making the memory last. So, I only got a couple shots of her before she ditched me to go find a pumpkin to take home.

Benjamin in a monkey suit! I couldn't resist!
Hannah's great friend Jacob...and that's Hannah in the background wondering when we're leaving.

Then we had the girls' joint birthday party. The theme: Princess Tea Party! They had lots of fun with a few of their friends. I don't think there was a place in all the world that was more girly than our house that day.

The boys at the party

We're celebrating Ellie's birthday this weekend. She turned 3 this morning at 7:27am. Again, hard to believe. At three years old, Ellie is a talker. She talks from the moment she wakes up ("Mommy, I'm hungry.") to the time she goes to sleep ("Mommy, I want a sip of water.") She is all girl and loves to pretend. She doesn't often allow us to call her Ellie. She prefers Ariel or Aladin most of the time. I'm often surprised to find out that I am no longer Mommy. Our conversations usually go something like this:
Me: "Ellie, it's time for lunch."
Ellie: "Call me Aladdin."
Me: "Okay, Aladdin, it's time for lunch."
Ellie (Aladdin): "Okay, Flounder. I'm coming!"
Me (Flounder): "Do you want milk or water with your lunch..."

Benjamin is currently 11 months old. He's still sweet as sugar. He has been on the move for the last couple months. He started out "swimming" across the floor. He would pull his body up to a push-up and drag his body across the floor. Seemed like a lot more work than just crawling, but to each his own! Just about a week ago he started crawling in earnest. He also started pulling up just a little after the swimming began. There's a lot more in reach now and he likes to put all things into his mouth. He loves to sing songs...all the lyrics go something like, "Da da da da da..." and he started waving hello and bye bye several weeks ago. He's very proud of himself when he claps and still enjoys pulling his sisters' hair more than just about anything. We'll be celebrating his birthday in just a few weeks!

Benjamin "swimming" across the floor

Ready for some Aggie football! Gig 'em!

More to come in later posts on Ellie's birthday and Halloween!!! (check back in three months)