Story Time

Uncle Robbie and Ben came over for a visit tonight. Grace asked Ben to read a book, and he was kind enough to do read to her. They looked so cute sitting next to each other reading a book. These are memories they will both have for a lifetime. Gabriel and Grace worship the ground Bobby and Ben walk on. I love how sweet Bobby and Ben can be with them.

Our President

The other day Gabriel, Grace, and I were having a discussion in the car about the White House and who lives in it. I asked the question, "Do you know the name of our president?" Grace piped up quickly with "Rock-a-bye Bama!" It cracks me up EVERY TIME she says it!

Ready for Shopping

Daddy and Grace went to the grocery store together this afternoon. Grace was too much, wearing her cute little pigtails and her backpack. I was told that she tried to "pay" for the groceries with an expired card I gave her. Haha!

Christmas Cuteness

Don't think that because we were out of town I didn't shop on Black Friday! Like I said before Gallipolis has lots of little antique shops, consignment shops, and boutiques. The best thing is that they are NOT busy on Black Friday. Yes, I went shopping on Black Friday and did NOT have to fight ANY crowds or wait in any lines!! I found this awesome little dress for Grace in a consignment shop for $7. It is a 4T so I thought it would be perfect for next year. However, when I unpacked it this morning, I decided that maybe she should try it on. Holy Cow! It fits perfectly right now! She's going to be pretty as a picture at Christmas!

More Pool Fun

Friday morning after breakfast, we decided to squeeze in one more hour of fun in the pool before we had to check out of the hotel.
I think this picture of Gabriel is the cutest!

Daddy enjoyed a few more minutes in the hot tub.
It is so fun to be able to go swimming when it it cold outside. The kids LOVE to swim!

Post-Turkey Fun

We spent an hour or so of our evening swimming in the hotel pool. Daddy preferred the hot tub to the pool.
Grace thinks she's a little fish.
We all had fun working off a little turkey and playing.
Gabriel needed to brush up on his swimming skills. He was not doing as well tonight as he did this summer.

*** Our pool fun ended when Gabriel slipped and fell on the concrete floor next to the pool. The poor kid landed nose the ground. He had a bloody nose and a cut on the inside of his lip from the fall. Once the bloody nose stopped, the end of his nose and above his lip were red and skinned looking. ***
So we headed back to the room for baths, pj's, and a movie. It was a nice way to round out Thanksgiving Day.

Turkey Time

It was a nice change to spend Thanksgiving at Aunt Barbara's house.
She prepared an amazing feast of turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, cucumber salad, ambrosia salad, cranberry relish, and rolls. HOLY COW! I seriously ate until I was miserable!
Dom and Michael . . . they are such a cute couple.

Gallipolis

Aunt Barbara moved to Gallipolis, OH this summer. It is a quaint little town right outside of Huntington, WV. This afternoon Dan, Dad, Grace, Gabriel, and I took a walk around town to see some site. There are numerous little plaques to read and old buildings to see.
The town sits right on the Ohio River. There is a beautiful park right across the street.
There is a war memorial in the park and a beautiful gazebo. It was a nice walk.
In one of the store fronts were Civil War artifacts. We stopped to check it out. Gallipolis is such a neat little town. I can't wait to come back some time and shop in the little thrift stores and consignment shops.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Ellnor Family!

On Our Way

to the Buckeye State! We left Wednesday afternoon on a 4 hour trip to Ohio so we could spent Thanksgiving with Aunt Barbara, Michael, and Dominique.
The computers kept the kids fairly well occupied for a good part of the trip. Thank goodness!

Birthday Dinner

We went to Wick's Pizza in New Albany last night to celebrate Erin, Grandma, and Mommy's birthdays. Grace brought a flashlight in her purse and entertained herself by making shadows on the wall. Of course, she asked everyone to participate in the making shadows with her. How could we say no?
Gabriel got a little bored, so Erin let him play games on her phone. He could have been there all night.
Yummy pizza! Erin is always the favorite person with the kids. Gabriel and Grace always want to sit with her. Good thing she's a good sport about it!
Here we are . . . the birthday gals!

Raking Leaves

This picture is a little blurry, but I love it.
Sunday afternoon, Daddy asked Bobby and Ben to come over and help get the yard cleaned up. There were plenty of leaves to rake, the lawn furniture to store, and the camper to winterize. Gabriel could not wait to get outside and help the "big boys" rake leaves.
He was a hard little worker too. He moved quite a few leaves.

Feeling Crafty

Since Gabriel was an only child today (Grace chose to spend the night at Grandma and Papaw's last night), I decided to take him to Bass Pro to do the holiday craft. It was a nice way to spend some one-on-one time with him. I also anticipated it being pretty crowded, and he is much easier to keep track of in a crowd than his sister.
He made a mitten ornament and decorated it with a Christmas tree. It was a very cute craft and very age-appropriate for Gabriel.
As we wandered through the store, a man was giving a fishing demonstration at the big fish tank. It was kind of interesting to hear him talk about the different fish in the tank. He was going to feed the fish at the end of his demo, but Gabriel didn't want to stay that long.

I love this kid and the young man his is turning into.

Thanksgiving Sunday

Great Gramma invited us to church with her this morning and to the church's Thanksgiving dinner afterward. Gabriel chose to sit next to Uncle Robbie for dinner, and Uncle Robbie let him eat his dessert before his dinner. It was alright though, because Gabriel still ate well.
We are thankful that Gramma invited us to spend the morning worshiping with her and sharing a meal as a family.

Lights Under Louisville

The kids & I and Grandma & Papaw went to the Louisville Megacavern last night to see the Lights Under Louisville. Before we left --- as usual --- Grace had to "pack" her purse. She also had to find her hat. When I asked her to be still for a picture, she struck a pose. She is a riot sometimes!
It is so cool to drive into this giant cave and see all of the lights and hear the Christmas music.
I didn't tell the kids where we were going. When we pulled in to the entrance of the Megacavern, Gabriel said, "Hey! I know where we are! We're at that Santa cave! Yippee!"
Grace seemed to remember it from last year too. She said, "Yeah, we've been here before! We get to see lights!" Needless to say, they were in awe. Gabriel kept telling me, "I love this place, Mom. This was a great surprise."

This is certainly a new Christmas tradition. It's so much fun to see the kids so excited.

The Strangest Thing . . .

is happening right now in my kitchen. The kids are playing a game together independently. **Gasp!** They are helping each other and using their manners with each other.
I don't really recognize these children, but I like them, and I think they're keepers.
**Smile**

Me and My Big Ideas

So . . . for about a week now I've been hearing advertisements on the radio for Story Time with Santa at the Greentree Mall. There would be FREE crafts for kids, FREE cookies and milk, a pajama parade from one end of the mall to the other, FREE 5x7 photos with Santa, and then a bedtime story read by Santa. I thought, "Wow! That sounds like a ton of fun! We'll have to check it out!" Apparently, a few hundred other people had the same thought I did. Why did I think that it would be a low key event where we would get all this great FREE stuff with very little hassle? I don't know . . . I'm a dork sometimes.

The event started at 7:00 p.m. We showed up about 7:15. The craft supplies were in short supply. There were people EVERYWHERE. The line for Santa pictures was forever long. There was not clear communication about where to get the free cookies and milk. Santa sat in this tiny corner of the children's play area to read the book and only about 10 kids could actually hear him reading. The kids and I were tired and aggravated at the entire situation. We did a craft for about 10 minutes, grabbed our free cookies and milk (Thanks to the Hoylands for actually knowing where to get them), and we left. **Sigh**
It was a treat to run into Abby and her parents. We don't get to see them very often, but Grace loves Abby and talks about her all the time. Evidently, the Hoylands had more patience than I did and more realistic expectations.
This is Grace eating her FREE cookie (I have to say, it was yummy.) and asking, "Where's Santa? I can't see him! I can't hear him!"

So much for my attempt at getting in the holiday spirit. This kind of event is what turns people into Scrooges.

Ain't It the Truth . . . .

In case you can't read it, Grace's shirt says, "Santa's Got Nothin' on Grandma." I couldn't resist.

Grace's interpretation of it was "Santa's Got Nothin' to Give Grandma." Poor Grandma. Haha!

Kitchen Helpers

This afternoon Gabriel and I started fixing a casserole for dinner and a pot of soup for another night this week. It wasn't long before Grace was finished napping and ready to join us. Grace washed potatoes.
Gabriel mixed the beef mixture for the casserole.
Then, Gabriel used the slicer to slice the potatoes. It took some muscles.
Finally, Grace picked grapes off the stems so we can eat them for breakfast in the morning.

The kids love helping in the kitchen, and I love spending time with them. Hopefully, they are learning some skills they can use for the rest of their lives too.