October ended and the holidays are HERE!

So these pics are completely out of order, but I will just leave them this time...

Since the last post, Adam finished football season!, and Ella has been busy, busy with a variety of activities including a Halloween parade at her school (seen in the last pic) and the one above is from Trick-or-Treating (with buddies Mia and Desi)! 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  Filled with lots of food, family and preparations for the upcoming holidays...we got our Christmas tree - and Ella REALLY enjoyed picking it out this year!

 Around the house, we get into the face paint (above) and Ella and I carved our pumpkin.

 We also had a fluke snow storm, which left my flowers wondering what was happening!

 Here, Ella and I tie dyed a shirt!

And of course, Ella loved putting decorations and ornaments on the tree!!

 

 I hope not to be as behind from now on with posting...our computer was a little out of whack with the crazy October snow storm, which actually left us without power!  But all is going great for us...we are super busy getting ready for the Christmas musical at church (where Ella will be playing the part of Mary!), and of course the rest of the holiday season! 

More October Fun!

So our October keeps rolling along with fun activities each and EVERY weekend!  Two weekends ago, we decided, at the last minute, to head to West Virginia to do our apple picking/cider making before it was too late (and all the apples fell)!

 Here's Ella gathering the apples from the trees...

 Putting them into the machine...

 and the BEST part (her favorite), drinking the cider fresh from the press!

 It was a wonderful weekend - complete with a beautiful morning...Ella is wearing her new bathrobe - that she is SO proud of!...and I haven't taken the time yet to introduce our newest addition seen here on my lap - Zoey the Chiweenie!  Zoey entered our lives about a month or so ago, and has actually fit in quite nicely.  She is excellent company for Ella who LOVES to carry her around everywhere she goes (and when she's not holding her, Zoey is typically following her (or me :)) around!

 Then this past weekend, 'Nana' and Bob came to see us, and we took our yearly trip to Hess Corn Maze/Back Home on the Farm where we enjoyed pig races, the carousel, fun farm games, and of course a hay ride to the pumpkin patch!  I loved our family photos from the pumpkin patch!

 Then we came back to our house and had our Halloween party! (another annual event for the Conners)!!  It was a great time complete with pumpkin paiting, face painting, tye dye shirts, caramel apples, and even some eewy, gooey games!!

This weekend will be MORE fun Halloween with downtown Trick-or-Treating, the Harvest Festival at church, and of course actual Trick-or-Treat on Monday for Halloween!  Gotta love this time of year!

October/Fall is HERE!!

So the first two weekends of October already down!! I can't believe this upcoming week is mid-month already! Last weekend we enjoyed a beautiful Saturday at the pumpkin patch/apple orchard with our church friends! Then on Sunday Ella had a Halloween themed birthday party (the first of her many opportunities to dress up!) This weekend, I went to a Garlic/Wine festival with a wonderful group of ladies, while Adam and Ella enjoyed the Fall/Halloween themed King's Dominion! They came home with stories of decorating pumpkins, employees dressed as pirates, a hay maze, and of course (Ella's absolute FAVE) roller coasters!! Next weekend we are headed to the circus and hopefully Hess Corn Maze (one of our absolute favorite fall activities)! Let the good (fall) times roll!!

After we picked our apples - we came home peeled them, and made apple crisp!!  Our house even smelled like fall!!

I LOVE THESE PICS!

She is really sticking with the Rapunzel costume!  I wasn't sure what she was going to pick - but she is sticking with this one!!

End of September - WOW!

So the school year started and the Conners are back to busy life in full swing! We are having a wonderful time enjoying each other as a family (especially on the weekends)! Our calendar is completely full in October, with a fall/harvest/Halloween event every single weekend! This month we have enjoyed football, football, football! We go to Papa's games sometimes on Wednesdays or Fridays and we have been going to some college games as well! Ella has a blast!!

Of course the snow cones and snacks are a perk!!

We also made it to the Safari Park and Zoo in Lexington (http://www.lexingtonvirginia.com/attractionsb.asp?id=26) last weekend, which was an awesome day!! Nana and Bob met us, and we enjoyed ALL the animals!

When we told her about this trip - one of the things Ella talked about for DAYS was seeing Zebras! She not only got to see them, she fed them!

Ok you gotta love this next series of pics!!

Ewww - don't pick your nose - smile for the camera...

or not...

Ok - how about we all just pick our noses for the family photo!

The elephant ride was definitely the favorite!

I hope to post a few times in October, to share all the fall/Halloween fun we will be having!!

PRESCHOOL!!!

I must admit when I started this blog over 2 years ago, I never truly thought about all the 'milestones' that would be on here, but we had one this week, and that was Ella' first day of PRESCHOOL!! Look at what a 'big girl' we have now with her lunchbox, and backpack!! She was so excited and had a blast!

Her teacher seems so wonderful and even sent her a letter with a feather last week, to tell her how 'tickled' she is about this school year!

And what an awesome start to the school year we are having! Adam and I are loving our classrooms, and he is enjoying being a football coach! Since he is gone much more now with his added duties with his players, Ella and I have LOTS of girl time and are enjoying every moment. The pic above is from an impromptu make-believe birthday party, where we set the table, got her 'friends' (like Dora you can see sitting there), made a cake, and used old bags to wrap 'presents' (her toys)! It was awesome!

A few weeks ago, we used our practice skills to create a real SURPRISE birthday party for Papa when he got home from football!

Otherwise we are spending our time doing nails (full spa style with bubbly water to soak with first), painting and doing projects, having dance parties and tea parties, playing Barbie, going to church (for kids choir), and going to gymnastics!! All is certainly well for the Conners these days!

Fair Fun!

Here's just a quick post of pictures from our trip to the State Fair of West Virginia last weekend! We all had a wonderful time!! Ella was at the perfect age this year, and we were lucky to have some friends join her and they went very strong from one thing to another - and as you can see from the pics, the adults had fun as well!

Fall is beginning, so hopefully I'll be able to post about all the fun in the upcoming months!

Thoughts and prayers to everyone who is feeling the wrath of Storm Irene, especially since we all just experienced the East Coast earthquake!!