A Little Behind

So we are over a month behind on posts-SORRY! The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always so busy and this year has been no different than in the past.  In fact, we even added to the madness by redoing our kitchen-not sure what we were thinking but we LOVE how everything turned out so it has been worth it!  I'll post pictures of the remodel in another post.  This one is dedicated to Thanksgiving!  We had a wonderful time with my family up at the lake this year.  I went up about a week early with the girls (they were starting our kitchen and I didn't want to be kitchenless with 2 small kids).  We enjoyed helping Mimi cook and get ready for the holiday.  We also got to go swimming at the indoor pool, walk through a corn maze and bake our first batch of Christmas cookies!  It was a nice relaxing week leading up to Thanksgiving.

Turns out that was needed since Thanksgiving evening Joselynn started getting sick.  Poor thing had a high fever, was throwing up and had too many diapers to count.  She was miserable and it lasted for well over a week.  After two trips to the doctors we're still not 100% sure what she had.  They mentioned Rotavirus but she's had 3 vaccines so we aren't completely convinced that's what really made her sick.  Regardless we're glad she's better now!  In fact, this is the second year in a row that we've had issues with the kids over Thanksgiving!  Last year we had Juliann's finger incident and this year was Josie's turn! 

After a great Thanksgiving meal we did a little Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon.  Then Saturday we headed to Blacksburg for the Tech-UVa game.  David subjected himself to the frigid temperatures and attended the game with my family while I headed to Macados with Mimi and the girls.  Although the Hoos lost we had a great time!

I've got lots of pictures from the holiday so bare with me!  I hope you all enjoyed your time with your families!  We certainly have lots to be thankful for in our house!

 Jules running through a maze

 Josie at the maze

 Our girls

 They play surprisingly well together!

 Josie feeding herself some oatmeal cereal

 Jules helped Mimi make sugar cookies

 Our first attempt at a family picture-check out Juliann's face

 Much better!

 Uncle Ry Ry is such a good sport!

 Jules was trying to make Ryan "pretty"

 Josie cracking up the night before she got sick

No one was safe from Jules-even Sugars got stickered!

Crawling

Just about a month ago, Joselynn learned a new trick-how to crawl!  A week or two before she turned 7 months, she started rolling and sliding across the floor to get to Juliann's toys.  This quickly progressed to army crawling and before we knew it you'd put her down, turn your back, and she'd be half way across the room!  Although our house is already baby proofed, we have grown a little lax on a few things like locking the gate to the stairs and shutting the bathroom door.  Now we're vacuuming almost daily and barely let her out of our sight because she's in to EVERYTHING!  She just turned 8 months old and is also trying to pull up on things.  She's growing up so quickly, I just know she'll be walking before we turn around.  I find it absolutely crazy that she's going to be a year old in only 4 more months.  Where has the time gone?!?  Here's a video I took a week ago of her showing off her new trick-enjoy!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year!  The weekend before Halloween we carved our pumpkins and Jules LOVED pulling out the "guts."  She told David she wanted a happy face so he gave her jack-o-lantern a big smile with three teeth.  :)  We went to a kids party that same weekend and Jules enjoyed dressing in her costume and playing games.  She got to help wrap Daddy up as a "mummy" using toilet paper and she thought it was hilarious!  We had a party here on Halloween with our play group friends.  The kids played "ghost" doughnut, decorated pumpkins, enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs, and went trick-or-treating.  They were all pros this year at giving megawatt smiles while saying, "trick-or-treat!" Jules came back with a bucket full of candy-half of it she doesn't even like!  Afterwards, we headed out back to make smores over the bonfire. I'm thinking this was the start of a fun Halloween tradition!  It was pretty clear by the end of the night that the kids (and adults) had a great Halloween! 

 Jules picking out the seeds

 

 Josie kept trying to eat the stem

finished products

 starting to wrap up Daddy

the final product

 my sweet little pumpkin

 what a cute frog!

 ghost doughnuts

 Jules trying to eat her doughnut with no hands

 friends

 Happy Halloween!

 ready to go trick-or-treating

 Jules happy after getting some candy

enjoying her first Smores!

Fall Fun

Hello Fall!  I love this time of year, when the leaves are changing color and the air is crisp.  Fall means football games and pumpkin picking.  Fall is also my birthday and this year we went pumpkin picking as a family.  We headed to the Ashland Berry Farm again this year with our friends, the Ayers family.  The girls had a wonderful time and we came home with some great pumpkins.  We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and we got a daddy, mommy, Jules and Josie pumpkin.  We had a picnic lunch, ate the delicious apple donuts and Jules also enjoyed running through the hay maze with Kendri.  It was a wonderful day and a great start to our fall!

 BFFS

 on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch

 searching for the perfect pumpkin

 Aw man!  The pumpkin she liked had a bad side!

 with my girls

 family pic

 Kendri and Jules in the hay maze

 Faster Jules!

 Josie kept trying to eat the hay!

 happy girl!

 These two are too cute!

 sisters

 Josie playing in the corn pit

 Josie and Rylin

We've also been to a few UVa football games with the girls this year.  David took Jules to an evening game and she had a great time!  All she talked about for the next two days was the WaHoos and the Cavilers!  The following weekend we took both girls back to Charlottesville and watched the Cavs beat Miami.  It was an exciting game and we enjoyed watching the Hoos win a conference game against a ranked team.  The girls were also both big hits with the fans sitting around us!

 Jules dancing to the marching band

having a great time with daddy

 Josie and Mommy

 sporting a UVa paci

 family pic

 goofing around with Patrick

Catching Up-September

We were so busy at the end of September and beginning of October that I never posted the blogs I started about Labor Day and Colorado.  Now that I'm back at work I'm even more behind on blogging!  So...here are both blogs in 1!  Its kind of long and picture heavy but I didn't want to leave anything out!

Labor Day 2010
This year over the Labor Day Holiday weekend we headed to Lexington to spend some time with David's family and see some very special visitors from Germany!  When the Ellington's lived in Germany, they rented an apartment  from the Bauer family in a little town outside of Wurzburg called Uettingen.  They were there for 3 years before coming back to the states.  David and I made a trip over to visit them for a week in December of 2002 and had a wonderful experience!  So we were very excited when they decided to make a trip to the United States.  It was a packed but fun-filled few days!  They took a tour of Monticello, walked around UVa, tailgated and attended a VMI football game, and toured Natural Bridge all in just 3 days!   

 Walking down the Lawn at UVa

 group shot

 Uta and Josie

 Martina and Jules

Colorado, September 2010

At the end of September we headed back out to Denver for conference for David's dad.  We flew out on Sunday and spent a few days in Denver before heading out to Breckenridge for the remainder of the week.  While in Denver we went to an Oktoberfest, visited the Denver Zoo, walked around on the 16th street mall, and had dinner at a really neat restaurant called the Buckhorn Exchange.  

 underneath the giant blue bear in Denver

 the blue bear peering into the convention center-Jules LOVED it!

 Jules and David

poor Josie was so exhausted from our trip out!

 Momma Tiger

 Giving Mimi the Elephant a treat!

 Uncle Peter and Josie

How Far Can You Jump?

 Peter

 David

 Anne

 Meg

Jules

 my favorite part of the zoo!

 Jules loved the lion! He is actually yawning in this pic and Jules loves to imitate him!

 action shot!

family pic before leaving the Denver Zoo

a few of the mounted animals at the Buckhorn Exchange-the restaurant was unbelievable!

On Wednesday afternoon we made the drive out to Breck through Loveland Pass.  We have never been in Colorado in the fall and were excited to see the Aspens changing!  We also made a stop at Swan Mountain, which overlooks Lake Dillon.  Juliann had a ball feeding the chipmunks and the view was spectacular!  Since we were only in Breck for a few days so we tried to cram a bunch of hiking and into 3 short days.  In addition to Loveland Pass, we also visited 2 other spots on the Continental Divide: Hoosier Pass and Boreas Pass.  The weather was absolutely beautiful (similar to what we experience during the summers except it was VERY cold at night!) and the Aspens were a gorgeous shade of gold.  As much as I love Breck in the summer, it was just as much fun in the fall! 

 Heading to Breckenridge over Loveland Pass

 Jules feeding the chipmunks on Swan Mountain overlooking Lake Dillon

 David and Josie on Swan Mountain

 Jules and me overlooking Lake Dillon

 Gorgeous Aspens

 the girls on a hike

family pic at Hoosier pass

 Daddy and his girls

 I LOVE these two!

 She is always happy!

 family picture at Boreas Pass

 Jules and David next to the train

 silly girl!

 Some of the slopes at Breck

 The aspens at Grand Timber Lodge

 Lake Dillon the morning we left

Saying bye to the lake on our way out