Halloween!!

We had a very fun, very busy Halloween. We started the morning off by going to a play date with 9 or 10 other kids and let me tell you...they were wired already for Halloween!! It  was insane, fun, but insane! 

This year I asked Ella what she wanted to be and she went with Rapunzel. Sticking with the theme of princesses, Layla got to be Ariel. 

After the play date I drove to a local park, hopped out and took some pics of the girls. Taking pictures of a 3-1/2 year old and a 17 month old is NOT EASY! I mean, people pay me to do it for their families and I have no problem doing that at all...in fact I do a pretty darn good job of getting their attention. Well not mine! This time did go a little better though.

My beautiful girl! 

Usually when Ella gives Layla a hug she screams and gets mad, but I was happy to see her smile. 

This little one is full of personality. I told her to smile and this is what I got. I have another one with her finger all the way up her hose with the biggest smile. Not very lady like!

We went home, took naps, I cooked empanadas for a friend's party and then we were off to eat dinner at her house and go trick or treating. Ella was Merida from the movie Brave that night. I LOVED this dress, she looks so pretty. I bought some spray to spray her hair red, but luckily I tested it on a Barbie's hair first. It was horrible!

I loved seeing how may little girls we could get at a little table. The other girls were 1st graders, so Ella thought she was so cool getting to hang out with the bigger kids. Honestly though I don't think she knows she is younger. She is just about as big if not bigger than most of them and has an amazing vocabulary.

She LOVES her Melody! She just lights up when she sees her and I love that!

All the big girls and little girls ready to go.

Daddy got off work to takes his girls trick or treating. We took turns carrying Layla and chasing after Ella.

This is what it looked like most of the night. Ella just ran her little heart out. After every door she would yell "Momma I got a treat!! Momma I said Thank you!".

About half way through the girls slowed down. I think they ran themselves to death. Layla had countless suckers, but did wonderful. She didn't say trick or treat, but she did say thank you every time. That makes me much more happy!

My Girls

 

Oh my girls, I don't even know where to start! I feel like time is just flying when I look back at pictures. We were in the car earlier and Ella said "Layla is getting so big". Even she is noticing!

 

These girls are my joy and my headache! Trying to get a picture of the two of them together is alost impossible. I can NOT believe I have a photo where they are both looking and neither is crying!

 

 

They can fight and make each other cry, but they are fiercely protective of one another. Layla is a hitter and a bitter! She is 100% ornery. She does not like Ella to sit in my lap and tries to claim her territory (me). If you take a toy away from her she screams. She is quite a spitfire!

 

Ella is very sensitive and has a sweet heart. She is so ornery too though. She is more sneaky, not like Layla who will hit right in front of me, or even try to hit me. When Ella was little I could give her a stern NO and she would cry. If I do the exact same thing to Layla she looks at me like "Come and get me bc I am going to do it anyways!". Ella is incredibly helpful and still full of hugs and kisses. We were in the store the other day and Ella said "Mommy" and I answered yes, and she said "I love you Mommy" and a group of women heard her say this without any prompting and just died over how cute it was. 

 

When they are being sweet though they play so well together. Layla just cackles at Ella and Ella loves to entertain Layla. Ella is very concerned if we are out somewhere are Layla gets more than a foot away. Which is a little frustrating when you are chasing a roaming toddler and you have a three year old crying saying "Get Layla, Momma, get her!!".

I could use a little less drama, but I am sure the older they get the more drama will come.

Building A House

We looked at a lot of houses in person and a ton online before deciding to build a house. I still think it was the best decision, but after two months in an apartment and about a  month and a half left  to go I am going a little crazy!!

This is what it looked like when we purchased it...dirt.

We went to the design gallery and pick out our selections. This is our carpet, tile on the first floor (kitchen, breakfast, powder room, utility, and master bath) our granite, cabinet finish (very scratched and dinged up sample, but you get it!) and the decorative metal accent that will be in our backsplash.

I received this photo from our builder while we were in Colorado on vacation. Finally framing!

Once they started it went pretty quickly. This was taken three days after the previous photo. (Yes, I stay in my car and take the pics bc I always have the girls with me!)

I am going to see what we can do about keeping that port-a-potty directly in front of the house, it just looks so good there!

They finished HVAC, plumbing, and electrical and we are supposed to get insulation soon. It has been fun to watch it go up, but I am so ready for it to be finished!! Living in a two bedroom apartment with two little ones has not been easy! 

Meet the Teacher

On Thursday Ella, Layla and I went to school to meet Ella's teacher. The wonderful part about First Baptist is that a lot of the teachers that work at weekday school also work at MOPS. Ella's teacher for weekday school watched Layla in the nursery last year in MOPS, so Layla and I already know her.

Ella is in the older three year old classroom. Almost all of her friends from her class last year are in the middle threes. I was a little sad about that at first, but she will just get to meet even more friends. Plus most of the kids from her class last year are still in her Sunday school. She loves  going to school, so I am pretty sure she doesn't care what class she is in and I do kind of prefer her to be in the oldest classroom.

So I weighed and measured her this morning so we would know her official going back to school size! She weighs 41.4 pounds and is 43-1/2" tall. She wears a size 5/6 clothes and wears a size 12 shoe. I did buy her a pair at Crazy 8 that were size 13, they must run a little small. She is so tall, most people this she is 5!! Plus she acts like she is 16.

Layla was not in a picture mood! I am glad she is not old enough to go to school! I will hate having both of my girls gone next year. 

Trying to get a picture of these two together now is almost impossible!

And usually this is what happens!

I am excited for Ella. I honestly would prefer for her to stay at home, but I know how much she loves going. I miss her when she is gone!

Emptied Out

On Friday, August 3, at 2:30 our house was officially sold. I went to the house two days before, after the girls had gone to bed, around 9 to do a final cleaning. I knew it would be so much easier without them there. I cleaned for about two hours and made sure we had gotten everything. I took one final walk around the house just to take it all in, to remember how it looked with all of our stuff gone. I had been so busy for a month packing, moving, and cleaning out that the whole idea of leaving this house had not had a chance to sink in. Well, that night it sunk in and the tears started falling. 

We purchased this house, our very first home, on May 20, 2008. The day before we signed the papers I found out I was pregnant with Ella. It was such a blessing that the Lord had provided the perfect house for us to bring our first baby home to in January of 2009. We welcomed our second sweet girl, Layla, into our home in May 2011.  This house is filled with memories of my girls. 

It will always be where Ella ran and ran, it had the perfect track around the living room, into the kitchen and through the hallway. Where we played in the living room floor every morning and every night. 

This will always be Ella's first room. This is also the smallest bedroom. Why I put my first baby in the smallest bedroom when there were two others available I will never know! 

This is my sweet Layla's room. It was occupied the shortest amount of time, but gosh I loved this room. So many mornings I would wake up to hear Ella in Layla's room laughing and jumping in her crib. Of course I would then have to get on to Ella for waking Layla up, but it was precious! 

Our master bedroom. Honestly, when I think of this room I think of Trey and Ella watching Monday night wrestling on our bed and wrestling! She loves it when he does wrestling moves on her and throws her on the bed. We loved having the girls watch cartoons with us in bed on Saturday mornings.

Our bathroom quickly became the family bathroom. It is nice and big and the girls loved taking baths in the big tub. They took their first bath together in that tub, and yes I have pictures! 

This is the room that brought me to tears though. This is Ella's room. This is where I rocked my baby, read to my toddler, and sang to my big girl. I painted those dots on her wall when she was just over a year old. She wanted so badly to help me, but no way was I letting her near the wall! I have spent countless hours in this room with my sweet girl. This has so many special memories for me.

As I was reminiscing and crying I sat down in the empty living room on the floor. I thanked God for blessing me with an amazing husband who encouraged me to quit working and stay home with my baby girl and took on the sole responsibility of paying for this house. I thanked him for the awesome opportunity to bring two healthy babies home and to spend all my time with them. I thanked him for blessing us with a new home. 

While I emptied this house of all of our possessions, it will never be empty for me and I thank God for that. 

BIG Changes!

Trey and I have known for a while that we wanted to move, but it is such a big decision! We pray about it, talked about it, and finally we did it...we put our house up for sale! I LOVE our house. I LOVE our neighborhood. We have lived here for four years. We have brought two precious baby girls home to this house. This has been the perfect house for us these past four years. However, we want to be in a different school district and we thought it would be nice to have a playroom for the girls so we are not completely overwhelmed by the toys. 

Sooo, here is our house! I took these pictures off of our realtor's website. It has been for sale for two weeks, we have had 11 or 12 showings and one offer (which we did not accept). 

Our living room looking into our kitchen. 

Living Room.

Breakfast Area.

Kitchen. 

Dining Room. 

Master bedroom. 

Master Bathroom. 

Ella's Room.

Layla's Room. 

Guest Bedroom. 

Backyard.

It has not been fun having our house on the market with two small kids. Yes, one time someone just showed up and I was so caught off guard I let them in only to realize Ella had gone pee pee in her bathroom and had not flushed! I was SO embarrassed! Yesterday I had one hour to get the girls dressed, fed, vacuum, wipe down the tables, do the dishes and make two beds. When I left I was covered in sweat! I pray it is not on the market long because my sweet husband might kill me because I obsess over the tiniest of messes. We have gotten some great feedback and have two couples very interested so I pray it sells soon.

We are building a new home and it won't be ready until October, so that will be a whole new adventure of probably living in an apartment until it is finished!