We Elfed Ourselves!

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boo!

some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch:


ralph and his brothers were all coaching football on halloween night, so we did halloween in several "rounds"...



here are "dorothy" and "the lollipop munchkin" dressed for round 1 when ralph's parents & uncle joe visited our house last week:

here is elli dressed up for round 2: her preschool program and dress-up party:


here they are dressed up for round 3: visiting granny's house...
and here we are dressed for round 4: halloween night!

gram and the munchkin:

and here they are by the bonfire after too much candy!

prowlin' around...

a night out prowlin' around with grandma g in the shirts gram made...

fun in the fall

a couple of weekends ago my mom and the kids and i camped out at my parents' house...my dad was out of town and ralph had something going on with some friends, so we set up the tent, had a bonfire, ate hotdogs and s'mores and camped out...we lasted till about 1 am in the tent...at that point ralphy was the only one asleep and mom and i could hear music and "hootin' and hollerin'" from somewhere over the hills and then elli announced that she had to go potty (again)...so we all went in...and then it took ralphy 2 HOURS to go back to sleep....crazy kids...but it was fun...the next morning we stoked up the fire again...the kids bobbed for apples and mom raked up piles of leaves for them to jump in...we all got a turn to be buried in the leaves, too...it was a really good time...

rocks and bridges

Ralphy Turns Two!

our little guy turned two...amazing how fast they grow up... ralphy is hilarious and he's talking more and more everyday...we understand so much of what he says now and he's determined to make us understand what we don't catch at first! while elli focused a great deal on the social/verbal side of life at this age, ralphy seems to enjoy the physical side of life more! he's been running around for what seems like forever....he throws and catches a ball really well and he has been pedalling the bike with training wheels all summer...he tackles, body-slams, jumps and does somersaults....sometimes we think he's outta control! he keeps us all laughing....and he loves his big sister....and football...don't get him started talking about daddy, nick and joe and football...it's a conversation that may last hours...i guess he fits right in...
Untitled from Jen G on Vimeo. on his "birthday eve" ralphy started running a fever and then threw up throughout the night, so his birthday got off to a rough start...but he seems to be feeling fine, so he'll be able to open those presents he's been waiting so long for....the first thing he saw this morning was the huge ride-on john deere tractor that aunt tina (tee-nahhh, as ralphy says) and uncle bob sent from nawff carolina... here are some pictures of the gift opening and cupcake eating: and i'll post the "ralphy's rocks" pictures just as soon as we take them!

the birthdays begin...

over the weekend we had another great party at the park, this time celebrate TWO birthdays: elliana turning 4 and ralphy turning 2! we had a great time with wonderful family members, great food, gifts and weather that was not too terribly hot...the kids were perfect and they had a great time...but they were worn out by the time we got home!

elli officially turned 4 on tuesday and had her first day of preschool! all went well and she enjoyed sharing birthday treats with her new friends and teachers...after dinner she opened more presents and ate more treats! we can't believe that she is already four...when she woke up on her birthday, she said, "will you call me 'elliana...birthday girl elliana?'"! i guess now that she's four she's going by her full, grown-up name! ralphy was confused as to why they both got to open presents at the party, but only elli got presents on monday (from grandma & grandpa g & uncle joe) and on tuesday (from gram & papa & us)...he'll have to wait 2 weeks for his fun!

elli dressed up in her dorothy costume from her new wizard of oz dress up trunk

the first day of preschool!

more presents!

we took the first round of birthday pictures at "elli's waterfall"...we'll wait for another cool, overcast day to do "ralphy's rocks" pictures...

i thought i'd better post some pictures from the last month since we'll soon have lots of birthday pictures to share! these two are getting big in a hurry...elli starts preschool next week! i can't believe how fast the time flies...