Trick or Treat

Early Friday afternoon I started looking for a new disk for the video camera and came across a short clip of Halloween 2007. Wow, what a difference a year makes. Halloween this year was so different than last year. Ellie wasn’t sure what was going on last year plus she had just started walking. I don’t think she even got to eat a single piece of candy last year. Ellie was all about Halloween this year. We had our neighbors over and ordered in for pizza. The kids played for a little while and went fishing for goodies in their very own “fishing pond”. The small refrigerator box I decorated with blue plastic table cloth and fish and the simple fishing pole with at pumpkin at the end was a hit. The kids were so good about taking turns “fishing” and would get so excited to see what they had “caught”. Chris did a great job helping give out the goodies in the fish pond. What a trooper!
Then it was time to head out and get loads of sugar..YUMMY from our friendly neighbors! Since we wouldn’t be home to give out candy we left our a huge bucket full of candy. I made a little sign that asked all of the trick or treaters to only take 1 piece and share with the rest of the neighbors. HA! What was I thinking? We hadn’t even gotten to the end of the driveway before a few older kids grabbed a hand full of candy. I guess they didn’t see my sign. I’m sure their parents would be proud! Anyway, back to our family… it only took one house for Ellie to figure out the rules of “trick or treating”. From then on she needed no help. She knew that if she said the magical “trick or treat” she would get a shinny wrapper filled with SUGAR!!! You see, I knew she was a quick learner. I was so proud because she even said “thank you” most of the time. I think she figured that if she said “thank you” the next house was sure to give her more candy. Hey, whatever works. About half way down our street I got a bright idea…errrr not so bright. I asked Chris to get the wagon so that it would be easier (and faster) to get around. WRONG! Now Ellie refused to walk anywhere and would only get out to trick or treat. Not so bad you think? Well, she didn’t want to share her wagon with her friends either. Oh well, it turned out okay after all but this will be the last time we take the wagon out for a night of trick or treating.
All in all it was a great Halloween night. All of the neighbors came back to our house, polished off the cold pizza, shared some adult beverages and let the kids eat way too much candy and stay up past their bedtime. Good times!!!

XOXO

Michelle

"I suck mommy..."

Ellie has been saying this for the past week or so. At first Chris and I were like “did she just say that?” We could not believe what we had heard and did everything we could to not burst out and laugh. We are too scared o the consequences of us laughing at her every time she says it. Well, it turns out that she is saying “I’m stuck mommy/daddy”. What a relief to know that our daughter isn’t being too hard on herself and doesn’t think she sucks. We all know she doesn’t. Love you Ellie!

XOXO
Michelle

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Have I told you that I just love where we live? Usually I am not a fan of HOA’s but our HOA is pretty good. They’re always having something fun for our little community. It was no surprise that once again they would be hosting something for fall. Chris, Ellie and I headed down to the park and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon as a family. Ellie found the “puckin” she wanted to decorate and we shared some peach cobbler. There was a few horse drawn carriages that were offering rides but it was a popular ride so we just hung out by the playground and played. I wonder if these are the little things they say our kids will remember when they get older? I hope so!

Carrie & Payton's Halloween Party

My friend Carrie had a group of kids over to her house for a “fantastic” Halloween party. I still can’t figure out how she manages to work a full-time job and be a great mom that can organize such fun parties. Anyway, all of the kids dressed up in their costumes and they had a great time. Carrie set up different little stations for the kids to play. She had everything from bobbing for apples, duck pond and a fish pond. The kids won lots of prizes and had a blast playing in all of the games. The mommies had lots of fun sharing some candy with the kids as they had an indoor mini trick or treat. It was so cute to see all of the different costumes that the kids were wearing. They were all so cute!
We’ve all kind of seen our kids grow up together so it’s great to share lots of memories of how much the kiddos have grown in the last year. Last year Ellie was just walking and this year she’s running around and is actually really enjoying Halloween.
Thanks Carrie for inviting us over to your Halloween party…we had a blast!

XOXO

Michelle

Our Little Genie

Grandma Donna did it again. She made Ellie the most amazing genie costume for Halloween. I’m telling you, the detail on this costume is unreal. Ellie looks adorable in her genie costume. I considered having a professional photographer take some pictures of Ellie in her costume but then decided to take a stab at it myself. We spent Friday morning taking some fun pictures of Ellie in her costume. She did such a good job modeling her new costume so we got great shots. I made a little video of some of our favorite pictures.

XOXO
Michelle

Neighborhood Playdate

The weather this week has been absolutely beautiful so we decided to have a neighborhood playdate at Frisco Commons Park which has a really big playground for the kids and a ton of picnic tables.

As we drive up for our fun filled playdate, we were greeted by two big bright yellow FISD school buses! Yes, there were about 100 other kids playing at the park too. YIKES!!

I guess we weren’t the only ones who wanted to enjoy the nice weather. Thankfully there was a teacher blocking the older kids from coming into the toddler area.

We had a great time playing in the playground and eating our sack lunches. Even our newest neighbor (Baby Kerr) to our neighborhood enjoyed the beautiful day at the park. It is so nice to have such great neighbors that enjoy spending time together. Foxcreek Dr. is the best street at The Trails!

Carving Our First Pumpkin

With Halloween creeping up soon, we thought it would be a great family activity to carve a pumpkin. This was such a cool thing to do as a family! Even though Ellie was over the family activity after about 10 minutes into it, Chris and I finished the project together.

We opted for a traditional pumpkin design although Chris wanted to attempt something a little more challenging. I figured since it was our first shot at doing this we stay with an easy design. Now all I have to do is bake the pumpkin seeds. Maybe tomorrow??

Here is our masterpiece.

Let’s Go to the Arboretum

Every year the Dallas Arboretum brings in thousands of pumpkins, mazes for the kids and great places to take pictures. They also have special events like Mommy & Me days with live music for the kids and other fun stuff. Since the day was a little cloudy and not too hot I thought it would be fun for Ellie and me to go down there and enjoy the activities. Truth be told, I wanted to go down there and take tons of pictures. Because there was too much activity going on that day I gave up the fight and put the camera away. Instead Ellie and I had a great time running around the park. We even went on a really cool wagon ride which I think was Ellie’s favorite. Somehow I still managed to get a couple of really cute pictures. Ellie and I had a great time and know I will always treasure these mommy & me days.




























BTW, the little dots on Ellie’s face are mosquito bites. She spent a couple of days with my sister in McKinney and got bitten…poor thing.

Come Back to Texas....

Think Bowling for Soup…hmmm. Give up?? Here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45DFVyriVI0

It was great to get away for a couple of days but even better to come home to an amazing family and incredible friends. Instead of watching the Cowboys loose to the Cardinal’s, we went over to Carrie’s for a football watching party. Her husband Nick was nice enough to set up the bounce house which is always a hit with Ellie. Even though the Cowboy’s lost the game we had a great time. Thanks Sham family for having us over to play!

An Afternoon in Old Town

It’s days like this that I really miss DC. My girlfriend Luz and I spent Sunday afternoon in Old Town Alexandria.. The weather was PERFECT and the view was awesome. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and orange right now and everyone was out and about enjoying the day.

We had lunch at this amazing bakery called Le Pain Quotidienon on the famous King Street. I had an amazing prosciutto & mozzarella, sun-dried tomato & pesto sandwich….YUMMY!!

We even caught a glimpse of a bride & her wedding party crossing the street.
It was so nice to hang out with Luz and catch up. Thanks girlie!

Mommy’s Weekend in DC

So it’s not every day that you get to go to the White House for a private event. I hadn’t planned on taking a trip to DC but when I received an invitation to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House I jumped on the opportunity. Although I have been to the White House many times, it just never gets old. It is truly a privilege to listen to the President speak (regardless of your political affiliation).

The first few minutes of his speech he attempted to do in Spanish which was pretty funny. Emilio Estefan brought a really cool Colombian band to perform which was pretty fun too.

During my visit I also got to go to the Latino Coalition Reception. It was awesome to work along with other incredible professional’s in the Bush Administration and so much fun to catch up with everyone. I have made some life long friends because of this opportunity and have so many memories.

WHAT NOT TO WEAR

To the White House….So, I shopped for a couple of days to find the perfect new suit for this event. I didn’t really “need” a new suit but did need a reason to shop. Anyway, I couldn’t resist and felt that it was my patriotic duty to share with you what one should NOT wear to the White House! I mean, really…is this the best they could do?? YIKES!!

Yes, this girl thought it was a good idea to take off her jacked and expose her fuschia pink bra. It was a bit warm that day but if she wasn’t wearing a good bra then I think the jacket should have stayed on. Sorry hermanita (sista)! This lady decided to wear leather pants and a floral print leather jacket. What? Why? Like I said earlier, it was pretty warm that day too. Anyway, one of my girlfriends had the pleasure of having to see this women’s butt crack for an hour. Nice, huh?

I’m sorry to say Latinos but it’s because of dumb stuff like this that we sometimes get the reputation that we do. Let’s try and have a little more class!

Ellie's Attempt at Getting Dressed

We were getting dressed today because we wanted to have an early dinner before Chris left for his business trip to Brussels. I told Ellie that we had to get her dressed to go out for dinner. Next thing I know Chris tells me “Look at Ellie…”. There she was wearing my purple bra!!! We laughed so hard. I guess she was getting dressed to go to dinner. The joys of having a toddler.

XOXO
Michelle