Fiesta Time!!

Ella turned 3 on November 14!!  

We had a swimming party, it is stressful with kids around water for me.  Luckily the kid to adult ratio was about 1:1.  

I planned this cake in my head for weeks.  I did research on the web and asked some friends many questions regarding cake recipes.  I used a cake recipe from my favorite recipe blog, buildabelly.blogspot.com (thanks Abby)!!  It was 5 layers didn't slip and slide like I expected it to.

Ella's special birthday outfit!  Favorite blue dress, 2 sizes too big, favorite pink trimmed shirt, a size to small, and some sandals for the 10 degree day.  Mother of the year!

How old are you today??

Sugar Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to trees dipped in sugar.  It was beautiful, but by the time I got around to going out to take pictures, all the snow had melted off the leaves.  Frosty trees and fences are so beautiful, but growing up with a lineman father means I hate to see it at the same time.  I know how much damage the heavy frost can cause for power lines.  Fortunately, this morning was just a mild frost so I could enjoy the beauty thoroughly.

I don't shovel the back steps, we never use them even when they aren't covered in snow.  If I did, the girls wouldn't have as much fun outside.
It's fun to throw snowballs off of.  The dogs jump and try to bite the snow falling through the air.
They make a somewhat bumpy and slow-going slide.


The dramatic spill at the end is the most fun.

Relaxing on a foot of snow.
My two younger girls love to eat snow.  I remind them frequently of the bathtub incident and the amount of dirt in that snow, but "it tate like i teem mama!"


The evergreen in the backyard with branches bent under the weight of the snow.
It makes a private and peaceful spot to eat their snowball "i teem."
We can't leave out the dogs.  Don't think I forgot about Eve, she was inside gaming with her dad.  This black lab mix beauty is Lola.  She has a sad sad story.  A man whose wife works with my sister Deidre found a box taped shut on the railroad tracks near where he works.  Inside he found four little black puppies.  When I heard the sad story I said, "I'll take two!!!"  Probably fortunately for me he easily found homes for all puppies and I only got one.  She's a sweet, loving and loyal dog.  She is never far away from the kids.  When we walk them to school and have to leave them there, she whines and cries and looks longingly over her shoulder the whole walk home.
This siberian greyhound beauty is Buttercup.  Affectionately called Butts or Buttsy, much to the dismay of Eve when I say it in public.  Many, many times Deid and I have walked around the neighborhood screaming "BUTTS" when she has run away.  She is also a rescue.  We also have two cats, Pippi Longstocking and Stellaluna (Pippi and Stella), and had a bird named Alex.  We found out the hard way not to have a bird dog and a bird share the same roof.  

Fall was beautiful this year!!  We had many days to walk to school and play on the playground, to go outside in the backyard and swing and slide, we even had a Halloween without snow!  Then we got hit with 14 inches of snow on Thursday night.  So now we're playing in the snow, and coming inside to warm up with hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows.  Boots and gloves are propped in front of the heat registers to dry and snowpants hang in the kitchen.  Here is a picture of Nadia and Ella enjoying the warm fall weather.

Our spindly little apple tree.  The two better producers were off this year, since they weren't pruned before we moved here 5 years ago, they only produce every other year.  This tree reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree now, with the snow weighing down it's branches.
Our pumpkin plant.  That's as big as it got, it didn't get started soon enough so we had to buy our pumpkins this year, hopefully for the last time!
The carrots did well, even with my haphazard thinning.
Travis supervising the pumpkin painting and carving.  Little girls with knives make him nervous.  This from the guy telling me today about shooting off roman candles under the bridge at his grandparents house, all alone, when he was 7 or 8.
Eve in her Halloween makeup.  As a pirate rock star.  
Princess Ella just had to pick one of her pretty dresses to wear.  She had two different ones on throughout Halloween day.

Nadia as Hello Kitty.  It was late in the evening after the games at a neighbor's party.  She is without her ears and most of her makeup whiskers.
Treat box came in the mail from grandparents in Colorado.
Pumpkin purse for a little pumpkin.
Kitty purse.
I had many more pictures that wouldn't upload.  I am frustrated and giving up for now!  Today we're going to enjoy the snow and play outside.

Back in the saddle

I have been uploading pictures to my mac.com photo blog for a while now.  I love it because it's so easy and fast.  I hate it because it costs $100.00 a year.  SO, back to the free blog that takes forever to upload onto.  I hate resizing each photo.  Today is a school free day due to teacher's convention, but we have sick kids so we'll be staying put.  I was going to visit my parents and see my cousin's new tiny baby-*sigh*- but don't want to get everyone sick.  So until I can find the time to resize more photos of the girls, here's one of me eating blue frosting while making Ella's first birthday cake.  An oldie but a goodie, thanks Deid.