A Girl and Her Dog

Brenna is a HUGE animal lover. We got Polly about a year ago, and she is Brenna's playmate on many of the days that Brenna doesn't have school. Today, Polly played the role of baby.

It's a good thing she's a very patient dog.

Daddy, Daughter Dance

Our church hosted a Daddy, Daughter Dance at the end of October. My parents were already planning on coming that weekend, so Ella called Papa to invite him to come to the dance with Scott and the girls. Everyone was so excited. The girls got to wear pretty dresses, and we curled their hair. Their dates dressed up in their nice ties and dressy clothes. The girls had a wonderful time. Ella spent the evening dancing with Daddy. Brenna spent the evening sitting at the table with Papa gorging herself on all the desserts the church provided. Both girls were happy as a pig in a poke. :)

Here's a picture of everyone dressed up in their finery:

Halloween

I was so excited this Halloween to have a Princess-free costume buying experience. Brenna chose to be Jessie from Toy Story, and Ella chose to be Hannah Montana. Ella really just wanted a wig to wear. :) The girls had a blast Trick-or-Treating and have been gorging themselves on candy every afternoon for a week now.

I made Brenna's Jessie wig from instructions that I found at Family Fun magazine. It was incredibly easy for those of you who might want to do something like that in the future!

My little Hannah Montana even has some sass to those hips. Goodness!

Thank goodness all this candy is almost gone! I guess Brenna was just exhausted by this point. She looks furious to be surrounded by her yummy goodness.

Back Again

I have a wonderful sister-in-law, who along with my brother has created the cutest nephew a girl could ask for. My sister-in-law, Casey, is fantastically creative! And what better for a fantastically creative new mom to do than start her own blog. Which led to an admonishment from a proud Papa! Said admonishment was given to yours truly for not keeping up with my own blogging.


Apparently, all the updated pictures of my adorable nephew have left the grandparents in need of more pictures of their adorable (if I do say so myself) granddaughters. If nothing else, I feel very loved by the fact that my dad specifically asked me to update my blog so he could see pictures of the girls. Thank you, Casey, for giving me a reason to put up a blog post. :) It also gives me a reason to upload the more than THREE HUNDRED (yes that is correct 300+) pictures that have been hanging out on my digital camera for over EIGHT MONTHS. YIKES! Apparently, I've fallen down on more than one computer task.

So, without further ado...the girls

Proud Moment

Ella had a friend over today,and they were making chocolate milk. I told them to not use too much chocolate syrup. Ella's friend said, "My mom always says the same thing! But then, when she's not looking I'm like..." And she pantomimed squirting the bottle really hard and for a long time.

Ella responded, "Oh, we're not allowed to do that. If we get caught doing something my mom has already told us not to do, then we get in even bigger trouble because I already KNOW it is wrong." I think a little sun beam shone down on her head at that moment. She does listen and choose to obey...at least some of the time. I've always known she wasn't a kid who hides things, but to hear her articulate her understanding of how sneaky behavior gets you in bigger trouble made me really proud of her. It's good to know that at least one of the lessons we are trying to teach her is sticking.