Zoo with Ellie

I headed out to HEB to get things for tonight's dinner, but I'd been toying with the idea of being a bit spontaneous and taking Ellie to the zoo! The weather today was absolutely beautiful, and I just hated to waste it with the nundane, same 'ole, same 'ole. I also sometimes feel kind of guilty about Ellie being ignored as the 3rd child with so much attention given to Gracie & Katie so often.

So....I took Ellie to the zoo! It was fun to be there with just the 2 of us! There will be many pictures of just Ellie in this post! :)


Zoo Boo was going on, so she was able to choose a pumpkin.

She had fun getting up close to this little guy. It's hard to see, but it's like he was ignoring her. He has his face turned away from her and his head held up really high.

I love this sweet profile picture of her. Such a sweet little baby/toddler profile.

She liked getting out of the stroller and walking a bit.

We saw the sweetest little baby elephant! Before he stood up, his momma was covering him up with straw so gently. So sweet!

These were so pretty! I'm assuming they're jellyfish, but I'd never seen them in blue like this.

My parents gave us zoo membership passes which is so great because we were able to stay for just over an hour and leave when we felt like it without feeling like we had to stay long enough to get our money's worth out of our 1 day ticket. We've definitely used the passes enough times to be worth it, and today's weather was perfect for it!

Chris had gone in to work for a little bit even though it was his day off, but the meeting he'd gone in for had been rescheduled (of course) so he met us for lunch near work and then came home afterwards. We missed Gracie & Katie since they were at school, but it was also nice to have special time with just Ellie.

After Chris picked up the girls from school, I took them to meet our friends Kerri, Emily, & Krystal for ice cream so that was fun! Chris & Ellie stayed at the house and napped! :) I also took the girls to Kohl's, then we came home and Chris started the process of helping Gracie with her Halloween costume. It's going to be cute! :) I love Friday nights at home! We've got a couple of things going on tomorrow then Sunday will be a big day with a luncheon after church, Trunk or Treat, and Malachi's Monster Mash at Texas Children's! Fun, fun!

5 Stars

Last night, Gracie decided she wanted to do a "Food Network" night where she & Katie cook dinner and we rate them on it. Who am I to refuse someone else cooking for us?! I told them they had to look and see if there was anything they could actually cook mainly on their own. Breakfast for dinner won out! I still had to help some, but it was largely done by them. Well, by Gracie. Katie kind of got bored with it and thought she, the 'sous chef,' was getting a lot of the clean up duty, so she wandered away to play! :)

Gracie kind of thought she needed help reaching the bowl, but I told her Bobby Flay didn't help the people on his shows, did he? Of course, she said they were adults.

Of course, then Katie needed something up high, too.

She helped set the table.

Putting together a fruit salad.

About to scramble some eggs...

"Plating" our meal!

The final product! :)

She got "5 Stars!"
Here's our cute little helper!

I know my kitchen is sooo white (and I have grand plans for changing some of that) but taking pictures of it makes it seem tons more white. One day.......

Fun at the Pumpkin Farm!

Ellie & I had fun yesterday at Dewberry Farm with some other kids from church. Jennifer had gotten us a good deal as a group, and we had a great time.

We rode the cow train....


Ellie & Trey bonded.....

Ellie had a few meltdowns, unfortunately....

She also had fun, thankfully....


We watched singing chickens....

chose a pumpkin after a wagon ride.....

took lots of pictures....

made googly eyes at one of our favorite boys....

jumped on the fun jumpy pillow.....