Ells Fam: November 2011

4 Months

Dear Ben Jammin,

This month you really started smiling and laughing!!! Your new nickname is Mr. Smiley! You rolled over for the first time! You were 3.5 months old! It was so cute too. Halle and I love to come get you in the mornings while you're still cooing. After we change your diaper and get you dressed we usually hang out in your room playing for a while. We were all on the floor reading books and I could tell you were going to do it any minute so I got out my phone to video it. Halle and I were coaching you along and Halle lays down and said all excited, "Look I can do it too". She was so proud of herself! Haha! She started getting frustrated that you weren't doing it and she grabbed your feet while you were on your belly and flipped you right over! You don't seem to mind her messing with you and have gotten pretty used to it. A few minutes later I got you rolling over on video. You banged your head on the carpet and were pretty upset about it and it took you a while to try again. You are such a happy little guy and have brought so much joy into our lives!!! Love you!!

Halloween Time

Halloween is my favorite holiday! There's no stress, no commitments, free candy, good food, and good times to be had! This year we hosted our first neighborhood Halloween party, went to Denver Downs Farm, and trick or treated with friends.

This year we carved a Clemson tiger paw. Go tigers!

Halle was a cowgirl with pink hair for the party.

Here are all of our party guests. We played a skeleton hunt, wrap the mummy, made caramel pops, oreo pumpkin pops, and had mummy drink with mummy hot dogs. It was a blast!

Denver Downs is a big farm with so many fun activities! The corn maize was really low due to the drought but Halle was pretending to be Dora and had her map and everything. It was too cute!!!

Donna joined us after work and we went on a hayride to find the most perfect pumpkin in the patch. They also had rope swings in the barn that Halle loved going on all by herself. You are quite the daredevil!

What a cutie! This is the dress I made for you last year. Glad it still fit.

Halle you crack us up! # weeks before Halloween you were trying to decide what you wanted to be. Fro about a week you were torn between a kitchen and a sock. Then you were set on being a sock. Miss. Molly had a huge Christmas stocking that I was going to use as a pattern. I had no idea on how I was going to do it but if that's what you wanted to be then I was going to make your wish come true. Hahahaha!!! You were telling everyone that's what you were going to be and they thought it was hilarious! Then you changed your mind and were set on being your daddy!! Aww that just melted his heart!!!! Everyone you told said it was the cutest thing ever!!! You love your daddy!!! You have the cutest little personality!

We went with the Woods' in their neighborhood and they hooked a trailer to the back of their golf cart and we got to trick or treat in style!!! It was a blast and you got lots of candy!!!

Camping

Near the end of August the weather was getting just right for camping and we were getting excited to get away into the great outdoors for a few days. I got a little over zealous and decided to go all out. When I was a little girl I remember camping with my family in Helen, Georgia so I wanted to recreate that for us. It was beautiful and fun but we decided that while ya'll are still so little we will stick close to home because it was a lot of work! But oh so worth it! We loaded up the trailer and brought everything but the kitchen sink. To some it may not be camping but when you have little kids this is roughing it. Ha! We bought Halle her first fishing pole and picked a campsite right by the pond. We didn't catch anything but you got really good at casting it! You were all about it and it was the first thing you wanted to do when you woke up.

Finally getting to relax and enjoy some hot dogs.

Morning walk to the bathroom and had to stop to catch some fish

Mmm pancakes for breakfast

Ben napping in the hammock. You were in heaven being able to be outside all day!

Painting rocks and leaves with your new glitter glue.

Nursing Ben while Halle gives me a beautiful pedicure.

Pretty toes.

Daddy showing you how it's done! He did manage to catch a tree and almost fell in trying to free it!

I love you little man!

Enjoying camp life!

We went into Helen and enjoyed the cold river, ate some dinner, shopped and got to pet the horses.

Enjoying the German feeling of Helen.

This is all he did...Smile!!! So happy!!

Roasting ginormous marshmallows!!

Reading Bailey Goes Camping to my sweet Halle Bird.

Mike and I stayed up and were very fortunate to witness a cicada metamorphasize! We were mesmorized! We had a lot of fun with this.

We brought his changing pad for him to sleep on and he woke up at 5am crying because he had wiggled his head right off the edge. Poor little guy.

Morning walk around camp. Riley had a blast swimming in the pond!!

These pictures are of our second camping trip. We learned to keep it simple with little kids and spur of the moment planned it. We went to Oconee Point on Lake Hartwell in Seneca. It was five minutes from his parents house and they joined us but didn't stay the night.