November Catch-up

Trick-or-Treating!

Ellie Mae was very excited to be a princess for Hume's trick-or-treating day this year, and even more excited to find out that two of her little friends were princesses, too! Hannah (left) was Cinderella and Ellie Ferreira (right) was a fairy princess. The girls had so much fun together as we drove around to different neighborhoods and walked door to door. The candy collecting was great, but riding on the back bench seat together was definitely the most exciting part for these little 2 year olds...they were absolutely delighted to be together! Our favorite part as moms was watching them climb into the car at each stop!

Rainy Day Snuggling!
I love it when Ellie wants to curl up on the couch together! She'll often bring her crayons and coloring book with her so that we can color together. We usually start each morning snuggling this way. :)

"Baking" with Mommy
Ellie loves to help Mommy bake...sometimes she is interested in helping to pour ingredients in the bowl, but mainly she wants a taste of every ingredient. I recently let her taste unsweetened baking cocoa thinking that she would never want it again, but as it turns out, there is little that Ellie doesn't like in the food category, especially when it comes from Mommy, and she actually asked for more! In these pictures, we made a birthday cake for one of our Joshua pause family kids and Ellie's contribution was licking the beater. The amazing thing was how much chocolate cake batter landed on her face, hands and clothes compared with how much she actually ate -- not much at all made it as far as her tongue, but she was thoroughly pleased! There's nothing quite like cake batter and whole wheat toast for breakfast! :)

Tea Party
Ellie was invited to a two-year-old tea party last week at the home of Michelle West, a mom on the hill of older kids with a heart to get to know the little ones (she is also hosting a three-year-old tea, a four-year-old tea and a boys tea!). Hannah Gerber and Ellie Ferreira were at the party, and the three girls had a terrific time! They started the morning on the giant trampoline outside, and had fun bouncing with each other and lots of little rubber balls. Ellie is still talking about going "bouncy bouncy" every day! After jumping up an appetite, they went inside for apple juice "tea," cheese, fruit and little cookies that they were able to decorate with frosting and lots of fun colored sprinkles all set out with beautiful dishes (Michelle really set a lovely table, complete with place settings for each mommy and bracelets for the girls!). Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the actual tea. The girls also played with fun toys and playdough. They ended the party with another round of jumping on the trampoline. Peter Carey joined in the fun on his way home from a walk --he is just 16 months old, but had a blast being bounced by the girls while sitting down! What a fun party!

Friends!
We've had two fantastic weekends in a row with lots of former Hume visitors! We had so much fun that we forgot to get the camera out! We did manage to snap a few pictures of Ellie and Kiefer Watson as they enjoyed a late morning snack...Kiefer is four now. Ellie had a wonderful time playing with Kiefer and Cooper, Kiefer's 15 month old brother, last weekend while the Watsons were here at Hume! The Watsons were here from Arizona for a three day weekend, along with the Sees, now in Fresno. Beth Mlakar also stayed with us for the weekend while they were up (Beth is teaching in San Jose now)...Ellie Mae loves her Cool Aunt Beth, or "Cool Beth" as Ellie calls her! The weekend before we had the Downs family at our house, and had such a terrific time catching up with them and spending quality time! Ellie really enjoyed playing with everyone, kids and adults alike, and particularly warmed up to Yvonne (we knew she had taken to Yvonne when she was willing to cuddle with her right after her nap on the last day -- this time is usually reserved strictly for Mommy until she wakes up fully!). We love our friends! :)