Let's Dance!

Hey Everybody!  Ellen Here!

Mama and Daddy decided to sign Linden and Me up for dance and I couldn't be more excited!!!!!!

The first night there I found out that my best friend from Preschool is in my dance class too!  Willow and I play together all day at preschool, and then we got to hang out at dance too!

Dance is a blast, it is full of twirling, and jumping, and spinning, and leaping, and all sorts of other fun things!!!!

 And best of all, it is full of friends!

Linden (in the red leo with the black skirt in the back) took things a bit more seriously.  She still got to have a fun time, but she was much more interested in learning all of the ballet positions, and certainly did a lot better job at listening!

Either way, we all ended up at recital night!

And we all looked pretty fantastic!

The recital was a ton of fun, but the lights were VERY bright and I had a hard time dancing because they were always shining in my eyes...

Linden didn't seem to mind.  She was pretty proud that she got picked for a solo part at the beginning of one of her dances where she got to be VERY sassy!

What a great night!
Ellen

Annual Leaf Date

Yesterday we had a playdate planned with our good friend Kaiya for our annual leaf jumping party!

Kaiya and I have been doing this for a very long time, and we were happy to let Ellen and Maren in on the fun!  (Look how tiny we were!!)

Kaiya's new house has some amazing trees and we had an EPIC leaf pile to jump in!

It was so big the Dads were throwing us in the air into the pile!!

Maren wasn't so sure about it, but she is always happy if Mama is nearby!

After we were done with the leaves the moms said that they had a fun game for us to play...they sent us out to the front door and this is what we found...

Check back tomorrow to see what it was!

Linden

A Maze'n Farmyard

The fall family fun just keeps on coming! 

This weekend we went up north and stayed at a cabin with Grandma Carolyn, Papa Tim, Megan, Mackenzie, and Maverick!  We did all sorts of fun things like magic shows, a giant puzzle, play in the leaves, and swim, but the highlight was going to the A Maze'n Farmyard.

Now, there was a LOT of things to do here too - there were giant slides, bounce house, pony ride, tractor ride, and animals - but the BEST part was the parakeet house!

We clearly didn't know what we were getting ourselves into!!!!!!

The little girls REFUSED to come in...

Which is crazy, because even Maverick thought the birds were pretty neat...

But in their defense, the birds were a little aggressive for food, and they were EVERYWHERE!!!! Well kinda, they were all wherever the food was.  It was pretty neat, you could buy Popsicle sticks that were covered in bird seed and then the birds would fly over and eat while you held it.

I think everybody had a pretty great time.

Mama and I did attempt to do the maze.  It was pretty fun, you got a card and then had to find 8 towers and get your card stamped.  We were only able to find 7 of the towers and then we decided to move on, but we didn't get lost!!!

I think we will have to check that place out again next year,
Linden

First Snow!!

Guess What!?!?!

It SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!

The first snowfall of the season is just the best, and we couldn't wait to get outside!  

Maren was just a tiny baby last year so she doesn't remember snow - I insisted that she needed to come out to play for a bit, but all she did was sit there.

No matter how cute she is, I just don't have time for that, so Ellen and I set off to go make a snowman!

It was a LOT of work, but Mama was so impressed when she looked out the window and we had a really great snowman!!!  We didn't have our snowman kit out yet, so we raided Mama's buttons in order to make a cute face, but we did use a baby carrot for the nose.

I guess there isn't time for apple baking today, but that's okay.
Linden

Apple Season

Another year, and another trip to the Apple Orchard in Afton.  We have been coming here ever since I can remember.  It is a bit of a drive, but it is so much fun!!  

Our favorite part is all of the climbing and sliding you get to do - there are slides everywhere!!

Even Mama got in on the slide action!

Though, Maren mostly stayed in her stroller. I was a pretty chilly day, but with her stroller blanket it wasn't a problem at all.

Outside of all of the playing, the next best part is getting to go on a wagon ride to pick apples.

We found a new type of apple and they were amazing!!  Even Maren was loving them.

Afterwards, we decided to go watch how they press their apple cider.  It was a pretty great demonstration, and at the end we got to sample some!

Before we leave we have a tradition where we go inside to warm up and get some delicious apple treats. 

Everybody's favorite is the Apple Cider Doughnuts!!!!!

We love apple season, now off to bed so we can bake some yummy apple treats!!
Linden

Fall Family Fun

What a fantastic weekend!  We made a trip to Alexandria to see family and while there we got to visit Cherry Blossom Farm!  It is a super fun place full of all sorts of places to play, run around, and have a great time!

One of our favorite places to play is in the GIANT corn pit!  I don't know why a giant corn pit is so much fun, but it was great.  That being said, Maren didn't get to play in in very long because all she wanted to do was eat it...

But that didn't stop Ellen and me from having a great time!

Papa had a ton of fun burying us in the corn...

and we all had a great time running, jumping, and digging.

They also have a really fun race track with giant trikes that even Mama and Daddy got to ride on.

Ellen really liked doing the boat races with the water pumps...

and Maren had a blast crawling through the tubes and tunnels.

I think my favorite was getting to jump on the giant blob!

It was a super fun day, but the best part was getting to take the boat out for one last ride to officially end the lake season.  

And now the count down begins until spring when we can pull the boat out again!

Linden

Finger Painting with the Big Girls

 Hey Everybody!  Ellen Here!

One of our FAVORITE things to do it finger paint in the bath tub, and today Mama decided to let Maren join us and give it a try!

Maren wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but it didn't take long before she was having a great time.

She never figured out that she was supposed to paint on the walls, but she had a great time painting her fingers and legs.

It wasn't long before she decided to eat the paint, and then it was off to the sink for a bath while Linden and I finished decorating the walls.

Have a great night!
Ellen

Crazy Cat Ladies

This summer Daddy did an amazing job putting in new landscaping in our backyard and we got to plant milkweed to attract butterflies!  Our milkweed was a little more successful than Mama expected and we have had a LOT of them!

It has been such a fun summer getting to see the tiny eggs hatch and watch the caterpillars grow.

My favorite part is getting to release the butterflies when it is time for them to continue on their journey.

I love how soft and delicate they are, but they are also strong and resistant.  Not to mention, they are smart enough to know that wintering in Mexico just makes sense!!

This has been such a fun summer getting to take care of these creatures. 
Linden