Happy Fall

Well as I imagined once school started I got so busy I have had a hard time keeping the blog up to date. I am back this year teaching 3rd grade again and Ella is enjoying her 3 yr old preschool class at school. I am constantly amazed with all the new things she learns and love that she is old enough now when I pick her up to tell me about her day. It makes for an interesting car ride home! For fall this year we did quite a few things....We took a trip to Verhage to the apple orchard where we enjoyed cider, doughnuts, and a hayride. We went to the Zoo Boo at Binder Park Zoo where Ella liked the trick or treating, the train ride, and of course all the animals. And of course what fall is complete without a trip to see Gene the Pumpkin Man! We went just before Halloween and let Ella pick out a few pumpkins that we carved the next day. This year I was also able to go to Ella's Halloween party at school. It was fun watching her play with her friends and I loved the impromptu performance of songs, too cute! After her school party her class came over to my school to participate in trunk or treat, which of course she loved. Finally we took Ella trick or treating on Halloween. She liked going up to all the houses, but was a bit to shy to say trick or treat, maybe next year! Everything was fun and we enjoyed celebrating Halloween but I am ready to move on to Christmas. I can't wait to put out all our Christmas decorations!

27 weeks and counting....

Well I am now about 27 weeks along and definitely feeling and looking very pregnant! I am tired ALL the time and it doesn't help that this summer has been SO hot. I still get occasional morning and evening sickness, yea... and have been having some cramps/pains from what I am sure is my uterus stretching. This little one is VERY active, he moves and kicks constantly. Ella was a lot quieter than this little boy. As for Ella she is very excited for her brother to come. She has helped us with the baby's room by making some paintings and often will kiss and hug my belly. This week we brought the swing out of storage and when she saw it she said "when my baby brother comes out of your belly can I rock him in this?". I hope she ends up being the great helper I am imagining her to be.

Florida Vacation

The first week in August Ella and I went to visit my family in Florida for a week. Ella did great on the plane. This was her fifth time flying and she is really starting to understand everything. She pulls her own carry on bag and even knows to take her shoes off at security. She understands the seatbelt stays on till we are "high in the sky" and that when we land the plane has wheels and can "drive us to the building". On the trip down she even got compliments from the people around us on how well behaved she was. That really got the trip off to a good start. Being pregnant I was a bit worried about the heat, but since my parents have a pool it was fine (no swollen ankles the whole trip!). Everyday the weather was pretty much the same around 95-98 degrees, with about 80 humidity, with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The weather forecast doesn't vary much this time of year. So needless to say I am so glad we had a pool. I'm not sure how you would survive living there without one! We spent A LOT of our time in the pool and Ella is turning into a very confident swimmer. She is very close to swimming on her own! She loved the water and spent hours each day in the pool. While we were there we also visited a state wildlife park called Homosassa Springs, where we saw all kinds of neat animals, a hippo, lots of alligators, manatees, flamingos, etc. It was neat for Ella to see in person all these animals we don't get to see around Michigan. We even got to watch them feed the hippo. I had never seen a hippo in person myself and was surprised how huge it was! The day we were at the park it was VERY hot, well every day was hot, but this day we were actually walking around. A lot of the park was shaded so that helped but to get there you have to take a boat ride in which is slow and places you in direct sun. I thought I might die at one point, luckily the boat ride was only 20 minutes! We also went to play mini golf at a place called Congo River, which has live fish and alligators. I also saw my sister and her husband and we all had a cookout on our last night there. Beth is definitely starting to look pregnant and we found out she is having a boy too. It was a fun week! Hopefully we can go back after our little one is born and Beth has her baby, I can't wait for them to meet!

July in review...

This summer is going by WAY to fast, I can't believe it's already the middle of August! Despite how fast it's gone we have had a lot of fun. Shortly after the fourth of July my sister Beth came to visit from Florida for a week. It was fun to see her and her growing belly, since we are due only about 6 weeks apart. We went to the zoo, chuck e cheese, gymboree....we had a lot of fun. The week after Beth left Ella and I went to my hometown to spend the day with my dad who was also visiting from Florida. Ella even went on her first ever boat ride. We also managed a few trips to South Haven in July and I found out this year that Ella LOVES the water! We spent most of our time at the beach in the water. All in all July was a fun month, but it went by way too fast!

Gymboree!!

This is our second summer taking Gymboree classes and Ella loves it! We do both a play and learn class and an art class. We also stop by often for their open gym times. She loves all the fun equipment there and it's great because it's all age appropriate. Here are some pics from our latest trip there.

More interesting words from my curly headed beauty!

I think perhaps she is watching too much TV with me....the day after watching a "toddlers and tiaras" episode with me (Yes, I know it's a stupid show, I like it anyway)....as we were walking down the bread aisle at Walmart Ella looks at me and exclaims "You rock it out mom!"....good times.

Today at Babies R Us, she wasn't listening to me and I told her to come stand by me...she said "Now don't do anything radical mom"...seriously where does she get this stuff ?!

ELLA'S DICTIONARY......

cumbrella = umbrella

canola bar = granola bar

bessert = dessert

sumpersault = summersault

strawberry lemonade = Hi-C Orange drink at McDonalds

My own McDonalds = The McDonalds at Crossroads Mall

The castle = Menards

ba-mato = tomato

pammers = hit ( I have NO clue where this came from!)

Swimming like a fish

Well we recently finished our most recent round of swimming lessons and Ella had a great time and also made a lot of progress in the water. She is a lot more confident and seems to really enjoy being in the water. With a float block on her back she can kick and paddle by herself back and forth around the pool. She is always exclaiming "I'm an awesome swimmer!". I think according to her skill she is ready for independent classes, but since she is still pretty shy I'm not so sure she will get into the pool without me. We'll keep practicing our skills at home though. :)