Loving the Christmas Season!

I guess it's true that the third time is the charm because I've sat down 3 times(!) to do this post! Our Internet has been acting up and it's very frustrating!
BUT I am trying so hard to keep putting up all the pics from the fun Christmasy things going on in the Conner household! These pics are from last weekend and this weekend as well - we also took some this evening because we had Ella's Mamaw (as she calls her) Adams Mom over to celebrate her birthday! I'll TRY to get those up tomorrow!
SO - last weekend we were blessed with a BEAUTIFUL snow! The first one of the season for us and it ended up being like 6in or more! I LOVE snow - and was of course SO excited to take Ella out and play in it! (Emily Tulli if you are reading I hope you are rolling your eyes! - And for everyone else, the side joke is that I always tried to get all my roommates in college to go out to play in the snow with me!) This first picture really shows her reaction - she was so excited to see the snow and was amazed that it was falling on her! You also may notice her lip looking funny - that was because she had a 'fat lip' the entire day Saturday from falling off of one of her riding toys in the hallway - such is the life of a child, right?

And as I posted before, she LOVES snowmen - so we made her one of her very own!! It was the perfect size and so cute - I have this pic as proof that Papa hugs and kisses the snowmen on command!

After taking time to play in the snow - in spite of the weather - we headed to see Sesame Street Live in Roanoke!!! (http://sesamestreetlive.com/shows/elmos-green-thumb Click on this link to see a clip of the show we watched) It was SO much fun to see Ella loving every minute of the show! I don't usually put up pics that are blurry, but this one really shows the way she was the entire time - her eyes glued on the stage and wringing her hands with excitement!! This was an early Christmas present for her and worth every penny!

Here she is enjoying a snow cone - still with her eyes glued on the stage!

Afterward - since we were in Roanoke - we headed to Chuck-E-Cheese - she was tired after a full day, but had a great time as always!

Which brings us to this Saturday, and Ella was invited to a Gingerbread play date with her friends - she had a wonderful time - they did crafts, sang songs, made gingerbread men, and..

Santa Claus stopped by!!! Isn't this picture precious of all the kids lined up at the door looking for him!! (You can see Ella's little pig tail in the far right corner)

She wasn't quite sure of him at first, but then after seeing all the other kids sit on his lap (and of course after he gave everyone a bag of treats) she sat there with him all by herself!!

Today was the Cantata at our church - and Ella (well the whole thing actually) brought a tear to my eye (and I'm pretty sure I saw one from the man sitting behind us) because the choir (which was absolutely beautiful with an orchestra to accompany) sang the first song, and afterward the entire church was silent...except for Ella who was standing up on the pew in between Adam and I, clapping and yelling "YAY!!!" at the top of her lungs - I think it was one of those little Christmas moments with the church, the singing, the decorations, etc. that just made me think that children see things and react in the moment (with little to no restraint) - and where the rest of us probably wanted to do the same she went right ahead - sooo precious! I really want Ella to grow up knowing (along with all the other stuff) the true meaning of the season, and today I think she felt it!

And the Holidays Begin!!

WOW! It's been a long time since the last blog - I noticed it said 'Happy Halloween' - and here it is only 3 weeks until Christmas! TIME IS FLYING!! Ella is growing up so fast - talking like crazy, potty training(!), growing out of all of her clothes - I can't hardly keep up, but I absolutely love watching her grow and change!! Next time, I will post some videos of her talking and singing (she LOVES to sing)!

So much has happened since Halloween! But the highlights are a visit from 'auntie' Anna (one of my dearest friends from high school) - I knew she and Ella would get along great - which they did!

And of course Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful long weekend (our last day of school was Tuesday last week) and we enjoyed time with lots of family from both sides. We stayed here for actual Thanksgiving with Adam's side of the family, and then went to West Virginia for the weekend at Nana's! We are so blessed to have such wonderful families! We don't really have any pictures from the actual holiday, but while we were on break we decorated for Christmas (and have lots of pictures from that!) - also be sure to look at Ella's 'Picture of the week' because it is from Thanksgiving day last year - WOW she was just able to pull herself up and hold on to things!

Her absolute favorite decoration is this blow up snowman - that she named 'Snowy' - I showed her the Frosty the Snowman cartoon, and she is now obsessed with snowmen, and calls them all 'Snowy' - she loves him though, and the other day we all (including 'Papa') had to go out and give Snowy hugs and kisses (I often wonder what the neighbors think of us!)

Yesterday we went to pick out our Christmas tree - it was SO much fun watching Ella look for a tree! Of course her pick was one that was maybe about 4ft tall! She would say 'this one' and we would tell her to keep looking - then when we found one, we would ask her if she liked it, and she would make a face and say 'no like'!!

BUT, we all three finally agreed on one and it looks beautiful!!

As you can see - Ella was such a 'help' when it came to getting the tree up and decorated!

But she got the hang of it and finally put some ornaments on - after breaking a few and making sure the entire living room was covered in ornaments!

We have so much coming up, and I will hopefully have time to keep everyone updated on our Christmas preparations - I LOVE this time of year - even though it's always quite busy!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a wonderful start to the holiday season!

Happy Way Late Halloween!

So is this the cutest bumble bee you have ever seen?? WOW - things have been crazy for the Conners lately...let's see since last time, I was sick for 3 days with a virus (flu-like), Adam had full blown swine flu, Ella was taken in to get chest X-Rays to make sure she didn't have pneumonia, and Sully the cat was taken to the Emergency Vet!! So 'flu season' has been in full force for us!! I could go on and on about all the chaos - but I'll just focus on Ella's 2nd! Halloween!! She ended up having a very fun time! We went to the mall on Friday night, and then to downtown Staunton for trick-or-treating on Saturday morning!

She wasn't too sure Friday night...

but Saturday morning she was very comfortable in her costume, and loved it most when the people would let her get her own candy from a bowl (let's just say she would never take just one!)

Pretty much all the leaves have fallen from the trees close to our house, and all three of us (now that we are nice and healthy) have enjoyed playing in them! Last week, we worked on cleaning the yard, and Ella really had a blast!!

Here she is planning her next jump!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

So now that things are back to normal at the house - things are crazy at work! A water line busted which resulted in 6! feet! of water in the basement. We have been moved to an adult facility while it is getting fixed, and I'll just say that the classrooms we are in are less that adequate! Hopefully things will be restored soon, but the last we heard was March!! But we are all making the best of it!!

Another Fun Weekend for the Conners!

This weekend was Pumpkin Painting!! It was a very fun time! The weather was VERY cold here - but luckily the greenhouse/nursery ( http://www.viette.com/v.php?pg=262 ) did not cancel and they had it in a barn (with heat I might add)! As you can see, Ella really got into it and had such a look of concentration on her face the whole time she was painting.
Afterward they had refreshments and 'goodie bags' and Adam treated the kids to some wagon rides!

These last three pics are from a few weekends ago when we went to the Oktoberfest! These are only a few of the pics - we didn't get any of Ella riding a horse, but I think these capture the day quite well!

This picture is so cute of her friend Kinley helping her along the walking path!

One of the many activities was barrel rolling - a hit with all the kids!

And finally - something Ella REALLY loved about the day was getting to see Adam and Bailey's baby girl Follin (she's in that carrier where Ella is looking) - she LOVED her and talked about 'the baby' all day and all evening and even the next day! She loves babies and always wants to kiss them!

Sorry these updates are scattered - from this weekend and a few weekends ago - I'll do better keeping up so I don't have to do that!

Be sure to look at Ella's picture of the week - it is from when we went to the pumpkin patch last year!! So much has changed - she's a little girl now - I love every minute though and watching her grow and change has been so amazing!!

This weekend coming up should have some awesome pictures because we are hosting a 'Conner Halloween Party'! The kids are going to come in costume and we are going to have games, dancing, cupcake decorating, etc...can't wait!!

Fun Time in Fall Continues!!

WOW! Time has been flying, which is why I have been so negligent about blogging! Between getting out to see and experience everything possible at this time of year, to having a birthday, to Music class for Ella in the evenings (along with everyday things of course) the Conners have been booked! But having a blast of course! Ella is doing SO well - loving life and growing into a little girl! I can't believe all the things she is doing, and how she isn't too much of a baby anymore! Her language is exploding!!! She is talking so much (using real words for the most part, but also babbling and pointing to express herself)! I love to hear and watch her! We are finally happy with the daycare situation - Ella LOVES going and playing with her friends (her teachers were saying that she knows every child by name)!
The pics are from two weekends ago - when we went to an Oktoberfest (which I'll post pictures from later this evening) on Saturday, and then went back to the corn maze/farm festival with some of Ella's friends.

She and Kinley were so cute about getting their picture taken in this!!

And since Nana got to ride the cow train last time, I rode this time!

This was something Ella and I didn't get to do last time - they have a crazy long underground slide - Ella loved it!! My hair looks awesome too!

And since I rode the carousel with her last time, Poppa (as Ella says) rode this time! VERY FUN!

This past weekend was my birthday weekend and we went to West Virginia. Adam and I went on a very fun and very fancy date to the Greenbrier (http://www.greenbrier.com/site/) while Nana and Bob babysat! It was nice to dress up and be out and about after 7:00! I don't think we got home until 11 or so!!

This weekend coming up, we are supposed to go to another fun fall thing and paint pumpkins, but that's only if the weather holds out! The evenings are getting so cold, and the news this morning said we may even see a few snowflakes this weekend! WOW!

More FALL FUN!

Ok - so more with the tributes to fall! I just can't help it when the air is so crisp and the evenings are so beautiful with the cooler temps and falling leaves! LOVE IT!

This past weekend, though, was a total 'wash out' with rain - which I'm actually not complaining about because we desperately needed it! It rained from Friday morning until early Sunday morning, so we were stuck doing inside things - still fun (indoor playgrounds, etc.), but not as fun as last weekend, which is where all the pics are from for this post.

Last weekend the Conners were visited by Nana and Bob! We had a wonderful time! They showed us all of their pics from their honeymoon abroad, and then Saturday was full of fun activities. These first two pics are from Eli's Fun Center - a place around here which is filled full of inflatables for kids (ok, and adults too!) http://elisfuncenter.com/ - we ALL enjoyed our time there - jumping, going down slides, and challenging each other to the obstacle course. We have taken Ella before, but each time she enjoys it more and more!

Here she is playing ball - which she was actually really good at!

Then we headed to Harrisonburg to 'Back Home on the Farm' http://www.hesscornmaze.com/magnum.asp a fall/farm festival for kids (ok, and adults too!) There were so many activities and we all had a blast...here Ella is making a friend on her favorite thing in the world - the carousel (and her horse said Ella)!!

There was a 'cow train' which Ella loved...

and pig races which pretty much rivaled the carousel for Ella's favorite activity there. There were three races, and after each one she said "more, more, more" - when they were over, we had to quickly move to another activity to prevent any potential meltdowns!

Then we rode on a hayride -one of MY favorite things! I always love going on hayrides, and this one took us all around the farm and to...

the pumpkin patch! Where Ella picked her own pumpkins - actually she really got into it, so she picked two pumpkins (but they were really small). How fun!!

This coming weekend we are most likely going to an Oktoberfest here in Staunton (with lots of fun activities for children) and then we may be going back to this farm with some of Ella's friends - YAY FALL!!

Labor Day Weekend and More FALL FUN!!

I've loaded a bunch of pictures this time! I started with last weekend (Labor Day weekend) and actually even had some from today! We are taking a bunch of pics lately (I should say Adam is) because Adam got a new camera lense for his b-day and he is really enjoying learning all about it and practicing!
So the reason for the opening pic of the giraffe is that last weekend we met Nana (Fisk) at the zoo in Lexington (http://www.naturalbridgezoo.com/) for a day trip! We all had a great time - Ella loved it - animals are her fav!! This giraffe was so awesome (and eating out of our hands I might add!) - he/she had such kind eyes and was so gentle - they are a bit intimidating with their size but so sweet!

We were a little surprised that Ella was all about feeding any and all of the animals! She wasn't a bit afraid of them! When we saw the bears (which of course we couldn't feed), she wanted to get in their 'swimming pool'!!

Ella had a great time seeing her Nana...

who had just gotten back from a trip to Europe and brought her wooden shoes from Holland! Shoes are Ella's absolute favorite thing - perfect souvenir!!

After our day at the zoo, was church on Sunday, and Ella looked so cute in her little dress that we had to do a little photo shoot when we got home! I thought the one above of her and 'Papa' (as she calls him) was so precious!

She loves smelling flowers!!

Then on Monday we spent time with family and friends! Ella ALWAYS talks about her 'Pawpaw'

Our friends Adam and Bailey came over and Ella got to play with Kinley again!

I couldn't resist putting up this one of their new baby Follin! She's so beautiful!

After a long (and pretty hectic/crazy) week, we had a wonderful weekend this weekend as well! Yesterday, Adam got up REALLY early to go to Herndon to get a playhouse for Ella (from his aunt) - she LOVES it and has been playing in it non-stop since he brought it home! If you will notice in this photo Ella is in a coat and there is a little blanket at the bottom of the slide in the next one - that would be because she asked if we could go out and play starting at 7:30am! I made her wait at least until 8:45 before we were heading out for church!

After Ella and I went to breakfast with the 'gang' then Adam and I went to a UVA football game in the evening (Ella stayed with her grandmother and great-grandmother)! Our friend Adam's brother plays on the team, so it is very fun to watch the games and for me it is such a wonderful FALL activity! I love everything about going - from putting on the team 'gear', to tailgating, to watching all the pre-game stuff with the band/fireworks/the Cavalier on the horse, and then the evening when it starts getting chilly - LOVE it all!! (Ok so probably for the next few months I will be doing fall tributes :0)

Today was low key with church, grocery shopping, some chores around the house, and then a new sort of weekly 'tradition' we are starting (we've done it the past couple weekends), which is going to family swim at the YMCA - Ella loves it, and Adam and I take turns swimming laps - a great activity to end up the weekend and start up a new week!!