Nell's 3

Nell had a great birthday.
We woke up early and made birthday pancakes.

Nell opened presents and got a birthday hug from Zaven.


Nell enjoyed birthday calls and messages from her friends and grandparents.


Nell went off to school. Then later in the day we all went to Nell's school and had a little birthday celebration.

Then we all went to Providence to the Build a Bear workshop. Nell made a little grey cat that she named Peanut. Zaven made an owl he named hoothoot.

Nell's birthday Party

We had a fun party today for Nell's 3rd birthday.
We were lucky all of our invited guests came and they were very cute.
There was not a lot of sitting at the table for tea, but they did eat some of the finger sandwiches, vegetables and enjoyed playing with the balloons and playing pin the clothes on the dolly.

When the word cupcakes came into play, the children quickly sat down and enjoyed.
Here are some photos, they were on the move quite a bit, so we mostly have shots of Nell.

warm for november

we had a good weekend.
friday night was pretty low key.
saturday it was rainy, but we had a nice time being around the house in the morning, then we counted out some change and decided to take it and go buy a board game, zaven has decided that saturday night is game night.
we got sorry sliders.
we played after lunch. then we went to providence and did around, got some dinner.
sunday we had a nice time at church, when we got home we made lunch and zaven was invited to a playdate. swimming at the health club and then playing.
when nell got up from her nap she wanted to go to the beach, so we headed up the street to third beach. we had a good time playing in the sand. from there we went to the playground before going to pick up zaven at grace's.
when we got home we made a buttermilk pie, practice for te upcoming pie sale at church and then zaven made us pizza for dinner.
here are some photos.

busy Halloween

Well, Halloween started well enough. We got up and worked on Nell's costume.


The kids got in the crafting mood and worked on some projects too.


Then it was off to Zaven's soccer game. He had a great game. Scored three goals!
It was really windy and Nell was very whiny- perhaps the first indication that she was not feeling well.


As the day went on it became clear that Nell was feeling bad, but she wanted to put on her costume so we did, although she would not use the face.
Nell was Curious George and Zaven was a Vampire.
We have all gotten sick since then but here are the Halloween pictures.

Playdoh Cookies

On Saturday the kids got the playdoh out and had a great time.
They made long worms, shapes and then rolled it out and made "cookies"


We are looking forward to seeing family in Chattanooga this weekend.

a fun and full day.

after a great trip to d.c. for the weekend i was glad to have the day at home before going back to work.
we certainly made the most of it too.
we went pumpkin picking at sweet berry farm.

there were lots to choose from, but there were also a couple of tractors the kids could sit on.
nell loves sitting on a tractor:




after that we got some wheel barrows and headed to the fields


we tried out a lot of pumpkins before deciding on just the right one for each of us.


then it was back to the tractor for a little while longer,

then we came home and carved our pumpkins. nell liked scooping the gook out of it. nell kept calling the white pumpkin she chose "the skinny one".


after that we toasted some pumpkin seeds and nell had a nap.
then we played some tennis in the driveway and went to the grocery store

zaven has been wanting to make pizza for a couple of weeks so today we bought some dough in a bag and zaven made dinner.

his pizza turned out great. he rolled the dough. chose the toppings. it was delicious. when i told him it looked great he said "todd taught me how at woody's" so cute.
after dinner, i gave zaven a much needed haircut (see above), pictures to follow- I am still fine tuning it.

then we made cupcakes so that I can return someone's cupcake carrier tomorrow without returning it empty. and yeah we each ate one too!

the kids are asleep.
they both sleep in zaven's room these days.
nell gave up her crib and then decided she did not want to sleep alone.
we also stopped at a yard sale today and got a doll size set of bunk beds and the kids have all their babies in them asleep next to them.
nell is pretty well out of diapers at this point. it all seemed to come together for her rather quickly, which is great. we are proud of her.

back to work tomorrow.
le

Vacation

We had a great vacation.
There were some long parts in the drive, but all in all we had a fun time and loved traveling and seeing family etc.
Here are some quick photos and stories.
After our 24 hour drive from RI to Florida we were ready for break. Being in St. George with the Eppersons was just the thing. Floating in the pool, reading, running eating, playing etc was super fun and relaxing.
One evening after dinner we took to the beach for some photos, Chris got some great ones.
Sweet Nell

Zaven and Nell have their moments- the sweet ones like this are pretty regular and we are so happy that they love each other so much.

The sky was amazing.


After a great time in Florida, it was on to the mountain for some time with the Burbanks.
We got to meet sweet baby Beatrix.
Upon meeting her and getting to hold her, Nell announced "i'm going to keep her"


The fountains at the park were a big hit


Zaven decided that he wanted to do the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment and Uncle Brice was happy to oblige- it was a great time


From there it was onto DC for some site seeing.
I am pretty sure that Nell could be President if she set her mind to it- she might be thinking the same thing.


We did not get to tour the White House, but luckily we ran into President Obama on the street ;)


We are home now and getting into full Fall swing.
Zaven starts 1st grade tomorrow and Nell started her new class at preschool today.
LE