Frozen On Ice

I took Ella and my mom to Frozen on Ice last Friday and they both loved it. I think it's safe to say that it was Ella's most favorite thing. Ever. 

School Days

 The school that Ella attends and where I teach is kind of awesome. Well, not kind of, actually really awesome. I love it, I love all the opportunities Ella has to grow in her faith...through mass, apostolic works, daily prayer, and special events like the Living Rosary. 

The photo above is a large balloon Rosary that the whole school prayed together and then sent up to heaven with all of our prayer petitions attached to it. I couldn't help but notice the moon peaking out at us from behind the clouds at noon that day when it was drifting up. I smiled because it was then that I knew Nicholas was there with us. My heart was so happy. 

This is our girls' adorable Pre-K4 photo. She didn't wear the headband I sent her to school in that day, but she's still as cute as can be. 

Jeff's Home! {For a Few Days}

Jeff was home for a few days recently and we tried to cram in as much fun into four days as possible. We started with our neices' thirteenth birthday party and Jeff was happy to see his side of the family. 

 Later that evening we joined Jeff's sisters and their husbands for a few drinks. 

 We had family photos one evening and thankfully the rain held off for a few hours for those.

 We carved and decorated pumpkins...Ella did this one all by herself.

We cuddled with Moco...he loves Jeff the most. 

 Can't wait until he's officially back home!!

Little Dancing Girl

Ella started taking a tap/ballet class again and she LOVES it! Her teacher is awesome and she's got a great little group of girls to dance with. 

Jog-A-Thon

Each year PCA has a Jog-A-Thon fundraiser to raise money for the school. Ella ran an impressive 17 laps and raised a couple hundred dollars with the generous donations of friends and family members. Best of all, she had a blast!

The preschool students ran around the field, then the older kids walked to Doc Harris stadium and ran on the track. 

My little kinders did great! One ran 24 laps!!

Pumpkin Picking

A couple weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch with Ella's preschool class and my kindergartners. The farm had so much to offer other than just picking a pumpkin. 

The kids enjoyed a hay maze complete with a tunnel to crawl through...

Lots of animals to greet and feed...

 a huge hay pyramid to climb...

a hay ride to pick a pumpkin...

and this cute scarecrow ruler...four feet at age five, holy cow!

We even got a small pumpkin for Nicholas. We miss him constantly, but so much this time of year as Halloween was his favorite holiday. He loved to dress in a costume, say "trick or treat," and suck on the dum-dums our neighbor always saved just for him. 

A couple of weeks later, we went to the Gesler's patch and got another (Pink!) pumpkin. Ella had a blast with her buddy, Dash, and she loved meeting a bunch of new friends. 

Nikki hired a professional balloon maker to create amazing balloons for all the kiddos. Ella got a pink unicorn and later she ended up wearing Nikki's black cat & pumpkin headband. 

 What a great start to autumn!