2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits a dollar...

Our spunky, little girl is wild about cheerleading, cartwheels, and toe-touches these days. She spends hours trying to perfect her moves and she's getting awfully good! She asked me to do toe-touches with her the other day, and instead of pulling a leg muscle (!!), I pulled out my high school cheer album and we went through it together. It was kind of a proud mommy moment for me. =) After seeing pictures of me jumping, she wanted me to try to capture her toe-touches on camera. Check her out! Isn't she awesome?! She liked the first one, but said, "I'm supposed to be smiling! Take another one and I'll smile this time!" haha! Here's her "smiling" toe-touch...

Keep up the good work, E!!

Pumpkin cookies

Ella would rather work in the kitchen than do just about anything else these days, so we decided to make some sugar cookies this morning. Ella was in charge of stirring them up... Rolling out the dough...

And cutting out the pumpkins.

Cade was in charge of oohing and aahing as he watched them bake. =)

Are they ready yet??

Mmmm... Who wants to wait for icing when the plain cookies are so good?

On to decorating. Ella's favorite part- adding sprinkles!The proud baker and her finished product. Beautiful work, Ella!

What do you think of Ella's cookies, Cade?I think the grin and the icing all over his mouth speak for themselves!

Pumkin painting

Pumpkin painting is very serious business and requires the utmost concentration. Just look at that face!On Ella's face, too!

Uh-oh, Cade's spotted the paint on his fingers and arm. He absolutely can't stand it...
This could get ugly...
Aww, don't cry, Buddy! It'll wash off!! haha!
Sis just kept right on painting. Nice pumkin, E!

Happy Birthday, Papaw!

Happy 39th Birthday, Papaw! Thanks for being so great to all of us. We love you and hope you had a terrific weekend!!

Trip to the farm

We made our 3rd annual trip to Niederman Farm last night in search of some fun and, of course, the perfect pumpkin. We were lucky to have Papaw and Mamaw here to go with us this year. It was later than normal when we headed out, but it was kind of neat to explore the farm at night. Ella couldn't wait to get there and was so very excited... She hopped up on Daddy's shoulders to scope things out.

Cade and Papaw were excited, too. Cade wasn't sure what we were doing, but he knew it was going to be something fun!

Me and my special, little gal waiting in line for a ride on the horse wagon...

On the way to the pumpkin patch. Who's ready to pick the perfect pumpkin??!

We are!! Seriously, it will be a miracle if we can ever get Cade to look at the camera!

Cade wasted no time finding his "pum-um"!!

We've never picked pumpkins at night before, but it was a lot of fun. There was a huge spotlight lighting the pumpkin patch and Chris had a flashlight to help out, too. Now Cade's eyeing Sissy's pumpkin, thinking he might like hers better! haha!

After the pumpkin patch, Ella took a ride on a huge pipe swing.

And Cade fed the goats...

(Ella fed the goats, too, but had her finger nibbled a bit. She has since decided she never wants to feed the goats again! haha!)
No way could we walk by the farm sign and not have our picture made!

Taking a break for some cider and hot chocolate...

And kettle corn! This boy sure loves his snacks!

Ella wanted to see how she measured up. Yep, looks like a big mouth to me!! haha!

One last stop by the pumpkins...

Time to head home...

What a great way to spend the evening! I love making special memories with our family!

The best part of my day...

...is coming home to this! My beautiful, bright-eyed babies all sweet and snuggly in their cozy PJ's...Thanking God for my many blessings today.
My cup runneth over. ♥

Costume sneak peek

Ella and Cade to the RESCUE!!

We can't wait! Halloween is going to be SUPER!!

My little buddy

A conversation as Ella and I were playing cards last night-
Ella: Hey, Mom, I need to tell you something. It's real important.
Me: You do? What is it?
Ella: You are my very best friend in the whole world.
=)

Random pics from the week

Popcorn is a favorite snack in our house. Cade couldn't be more excited to have his very own bowl! Yum!! Thanks, Brian- we have all loved it!! =)

The kiddos were more than happy to have a surprise visitor this week! Thanks for coming to see us, Pap!

Sound asleep on Daddy's pillow...

Our big girl loves helping in the kitchen. Here she is fixing her favorite- spaghetti! She was having so much fun and kept saying, "This is the best day ever, Mommy! And this is the best dinner. Daddy is just going to love it!"

Cade came running over to get in on the action, too. Little did he know a bear hug was coming!! =)