Gobble Gobble!

Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays!

We started the week with my family in Springdale. For some reason, I didn't get any pics of all of my family at our family Thanksgiving :( But...here is Nana B and Papa Bo which Ella has renamed to "Bobo" at the time being. I think it's pretty cute!

Ella and Bobo!

Ella also learned to tell us that she's two!

We went to The Square with some family and family friends for our annual ornament exchange and to look at the lights. Ella and I took a camel ride...yes, that's right, a camel!! Ella thought it was a horse. We are still a little confused on some of our animals ;0

I just had to post this picture because I just think it is hilarious! The man looks about as amused as the camel! ha!

Ella petting the mini horse, which she thought was a puppy :)

a pony ride with Nana B...

Ella's special friend...Joshua

and she's going in for a hug!

We ended the night at Common Grounds (awesome coffee shop on Dickson Street) with our annual ornament exchange!

My little dancing queen dancing her heart out on Dickson Street :0) As we were leaving Common Grounds, the bar next door was blaring their music. Ella was "feeling groovy" so she stood outside dancing like the the wild woman she is!

Then we went to Van Buren for the Reading Thanksgiving feast!

The annual Reading weenie roast...

And on Thanksgiving Day, Mike's sister got engaged! Ella is going to have an Uncle Andrew!

My sweet niece Sophie and my baby Ella :0) Ella is such a little mommy and is fascinated with babies...especially her "soapy"!

This bathtime quickly turned sour following this photo...memories!

Ella and Mimi

Ella and Nanny Fine

Ella and Grandmama...one of her greats!

And I hosted a baby shower for my cousin Kimberly! Little Kennedy Jane will be here in just a few short weeks!

We won't be in Arkansas for Christmas Sunday so Ella got to wear the Christmas dress early...here is a little sneak peak! I just love it. I bought it for her when she was teeny tiny and couldn't even imagine it ever fitting her but I think it is the perfect dress for my sweet Ella. It seriously has her name written all over it :0)

And now we are settled back at home until Christmas!

Our Gingerbread House

The finished product!

Such a happy baby ella who is looking ever so much like her Daddy these days :)

and...yes, we are still sucking the thumb! That's ok though because I still think it is sweet for now :0)

And here are Daddy's contributions...

a peppermint baby Jesus in a gumdrop manger :0)

And a Santa Clause for the chimney!

ella bo bella

ella bo bella and all of her cuteness :0) I seriously can't get enough of this girl!

And yes, she is still striking poses for the camera! I can't wait to get her 2 year pics taken.

I think she could totally be a bread bag model...don't you?!?!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, at least it is in the Reading house :) Yes, that's right! We pulled down all of our boxes and decked the halls this weekend! Since I was still needing to rest and recover from being sick, we just took the weekend off and stayed cozy at home.

Here comes trouble!

Taking Broby for a ride and collecting treasures along the way.

We didn't go to our church this morning. We went to SMU's service b/c Mike was in charge of the benediction. Ella clapped her hands for the music, made funny faces to the people sitting around us, and was actually surprisingly good! She had a lot of fans before we left :)

Trick Or Treat!

Ella was quite a little treat this year, with only a few little tricks. Nana bought the tutu and we borrowed the skirt from a friend but other than that, I designed and made her costume...with LOVE! I've been a little under the weather with the flu and respiratory infection so here are our pictures of our fun filled halloween...better late than never!

We'll start with Ella's new favorite thing...starbucks. I am possibly to be blamed for this since I am in there all the time, but the sweet young lady who couldn't bare to see my daughter cry (even though she was throwing an all out tanturm on the floor) offered my sweet angel apple juice in a little mini starbucks cup! It only took one and now she's totally hooked :0)

So, now to our halloween fun! We started off the day by going to the grocery store to buy candy for the trick or treaters and groceries to make white chili and my fall special...apple dumplins!

We trick or treated with Mike, Elise, and baby Lucy! We made our first stop at Nit's house and then decided just to stay and trick or treat in that neighborhood since that is where all of the Lakeside kids live.

every witch needs a broom!

This festive family rented a bounce house for their trick or treaters! Luckily, having a little one, we were there early enough so that Ella got to bounce before the big kids invaded it. These Lakeside families know how to party right!

And here's Lucy, the tiniest trick or treater of all!

Ella had absolutely no problem going up to people's doors for candy. I always remember being so scared of that part! She gave them a good 3 seconds to get to the door or she went for the doorbell again so we had to watch her on that one. Then, she happily ate the pieces of candy she collected as she trotted to the next house!

This is one of my past students, Mirko. This kid is hysterical!

I woke up Sunday feeling crummy so I dressed Ella up for church and sent her on her way with Daddy. She was so proud of her new church bag because it is a backpack and she can carry it all by herself. She even modeled it for us and struck a few poses (her other new thing she is doing). Who can blame her though with a mama who is snapping pictures all of the time?!?

Work it girl!

Fall Festivities!

Nana came in town this weekend for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! This is something that I did as a kid and so we are carrying the tradition on with little Ella.

Ella's main focus was not finding the perfect pumpkin...it was the bounce house! In fact, we let her just pick any pumpkin she wanted, and THIS is what she chose...

This was Ella's very first "ride". Our little rebel LOVED it!!! She was having so much fun, she decided to kick her feet up (see below) and just sit back and relax.

This was just last year.....

and the year before that!!!

Today was our church's annual "Trunk or Treat"! There are lots of pics because we had such a great time! Ella is a witch for halloween this year :0)

Ella's pals...Jack and Lucy

witchie women ;)

Ella got to fish for candy!

Just enjoying some treats!

What trunk or treat would be complete without a petting zoo?!?! Ella seems to love animals. She pet everyone's dogs, she pet stuffed animals set up on people's decked out cars, she was all about the petting zoo, and she even tried to climb into the lama pen.

The lama is eyeing my daughter...not gonna lie, it made me a little nervous :0)

From the Suburbs to the City

Our trip to NYC was AMAZING!!! We walked ALL OVER Manhattan and visited many other areas. We got exactly what we went for which was a good feel of the city, insights to raising a family in the city, participating in the round table discussions with Trinity Grace, and having fun! This is a long post with lots of pics but what can I say...it's a big city!!!

Mike's first subway ride :0)

super star!

Settling in on our first day and ready to eat!

Beautiful. It amazes me that there are these buildings and churches with amazing architecture just stuck right in the middle of everything.

Empire State Building. We had some meetings in here.

Rockefeller Center

The first couple of nights, we stayed in Harlem in an apartment. We wanted to see what apartment life was like in the city. This particular apartment was right across the street from Central Park which was nice.

On the first night, we visited one of the missional communities in the upper East side of Manhattan. This is were they meet...right in the middle of a neighborhood there was this door, and you walk into this super old church...pretty awesome!

It was very cold and rainy for most of the trip but that didn't stop us from much!

We learned how to navigate through the subways and did surprisingly well...except for maybe that one time when we went all the way to Coney Island at midnight and then had to turn around and then get a taxi b/c they shut the subs down...oops :0) Anywho...there was also the closest thing to Michael Jackson I've ever seen and I have to say...my heart skipped a couple beats ;)

After we got a good feel of New York apartment life, we headed on down to our sweet hotel on Times Square! I took this picture from our window...can you believe it?

On the third day, we took a good look at Chelsea in Manhattan. It is the arts district and ti was so beautiful. These pictures are literally on top of buildings. The statue of liberty could also be seen from where we were. It was like a park in the sky...

Yep that's right...wooden lounge chairs that roll along a railroad track. On pretty days, people just come up here to read, lounge, and play.

We loved the Chelsea area because it had a good mix of homey feeling and city feeling.

After working up quite the appetite walking through Chelsea, we stopped at this quaint little cupcake shop...worth every calorie!

Like I said...so quaint and homey in the midst of big city.

Pumpkins for sale!

The next day we had a lot of meetings but managed to squeeze in a little trip to Serendipity. Next time I actually want to make reservations and eat! Nonetheless, I managed to spend a pretty good chunk of money just visiting :0)

We also visited Brooklyn and loved that part as well. It was a seemed like a great place to raise a family! This night, we went out to Public Assembly in Brooklyn for a concert...good times! We went to see Zack Williams. He is the worship leader for Trinity Grace Brooklyn and he writes amazing music...you can find him on Itunes if you wish!

We met up with some Park Cities friends from Texas. Ben goes to Princeton and his brother was in town visiting so they were able to meet up with us! We found this restaurant called Nolita. It was probably our favorite restaurant of the whole trip...great ambiance, food, and live music!