Holiday time!

After shopping for our tree last week we started decorating the house. Emolyn found Maurice's (RIP) antlers and said she was a moose. Then I got out ornaments for her to put on the tree. With no direction she did this:

 All at 2 year old eye level. Hilarious.

Then on to gingerbread house creation. Note Emolyn's outfits, her favorite thing to wear lately is pajamas and swimsuits. Frequently together. Anyway we got our gingerbread house through Bountiful Baskets and got everything all ready to decorate only to find out you had to put the house together and wait 24 hours before decorating, bummer. oh and you had to have 2 pounds of powdered sugar on hand for making the "glue". Are you serious? Who has 2 pounds of powdered sugar laying around? Well lucky for us I had 1 and turns out that was more than enough (so why tell me to make it with 2?). So with much frustration and some supports the house went up.

 Elsie enjoyed the whole experience.

But today Emolyn and I got a chance to decorate. We were hoping to do it with friends but they got sick :(

 Emolyn ever-so-gently placed each nerd and mini chocolate chip in the frosting. Also we used starburst, lifesaver mints, tic-tacs, an Oreo and a york peppermint patty. Emolyn picket out all the candy for the house. great job I think. Here is the final product. I did the front of the house :)

She was very pleased with herself but sad that we have to wait until daddy gets home to eat it . And with him working long hours it feels like an eternity!
Elsie update: She is sleeping awesome through the night, only waking up once to eat. She loves to be close to me all day in the wrap but this week she has been having fun in alone time. Laying in her play yard or in the swing. She has started cooing and smiling, she has the biggest grin its adorable. Trying to capture a picture of her smiling but I haven't been fast enough yet. I love these girls!

faces of Elsie

This is what I found on the camera after a little photo shoot in the girls room on the ground. Photos were either taken by him:

or her:

Emolyns first dentist appointment

Emolyn went for a cleaning today with Dr Aaron Verbarg. She had a fantastic time! She was so great sitting in the big chair with her mouth wide open. They said her teeth looked great and that mom could help her brush even though she said she could do it herself! When Aaron asked her what was her favorite thing to do she said "Brush my teeth". Good answer! Way to know your audience!

Catch up Halloween Time

Getting ready for Halloween was a little rushed this year, as I sort of feel it is every year I guess, but I love letting Emolyn get the seeds out of the pumpkin for me to roast. The cleanest way to do that was in her undies :) By the way these gerber undies are my favorite. We even bought her the "boy" ones because she wanted blue so bad. But hey we are potty trained! My mom stopped by on her way home fro work to bring me coffee for the party just in time to help Emolyn with the pumpkin.

Then it was time for our annual Halloween party. Our 7th year! We had a ton of tasty treats. Seeing as we had 3 Halloween activities I let Emolyn pick out a different costume for each using her dress-up clothes. At the party she was a ballerina fairy princess. it was sort of a combo of those three :) And she wore my Barbie shoes until I realized she might break her neck, but she wears them well.

Shawn and I were Ken and Barbie circa The Love Boat era Elsie had plenty of arms to keep her content all evening. She was "mommas little pumpkin"

Saturday evening we went to the fall festival at church which Jessica Meredith and I headed up. It turned out great! We had like 300 people show up and ended up with plenty of candy for the little ones. We had Taylor Sprague there to photography the kiddos and their families at a little hay/straw photo booth. This was Emolyns first time holding Elsie without an adult touching her. I was petrified. You can see Elsie reaching for me, poor girl. Emolyn was so focused on looking good for her picture that she was like a mannequin. We had to move her arms to put Elsie there. It was hilarious. She didn't look at Elsie once, just at the camera. But alas, Little Bo Peep found her sheep.

Linda made Emolyns adorable costume with so many fun layers and lace, she loved it! Her Elmo candy bucket didn't really match but she didn't care.

Halloween night we spent at the Schanens handing out candy. Shawn and Emolyn went trick-or-treating. Emolyn had a rough time waking up from her nap and picking out a costume was disasterous. She wanted to wear this pink summer dress, so I just put a couple more pink things on her and she was the color pink for Halloween. By the third costume dressing up gets a little old. But she and her daddy had a great time and her candy was delicious :)

This weekend is going to be awesome!

Here are some updated pictures. Can I just start off with I love being home! Even with all the poop and the crying and the clean up the days fly by and I am totally ok with not leaving the house! All though I have left and some times were better than others :) 2 is definitely more than twice as much work :)
We are learning more about Elsie everyday. She is pretty laid back like Emolyn but really enjoys eating, and would eat all day if I let her. Its the only thing she cries about. She did gain 12 oz in 10 days! She loves the swing we are borrowing from the Youngs (thanks). And she is a total mommas girl. Shawn cant quite make her as happy as I can but its not for lack of trying!
Emolyn and I baked cookies today and they are cooling while she "naps" which is pretty much her singing and reading out loud for an hour, at least, and then (if I am lucky) falling asleep or having an accident or needing to "tell you something" or needing to "see baby sister".
Emolyn is doing great transitioning to being a big sister but does seem disappointed that baby sister has so many rules and places you cant touch (eyes mostly) and you aren't aloud to kiss her with food in your mouth. But she has been doing really well considering. And she loves to help! she cleans, she attempts to cook, she puts away her laundry, she gets things for me, she puts away her clean dishes. Its fantastic! She has also been pushing the envelope with her fashion sense. Its been intense.
We are looking forward to a fun-filled holiday weekend and what looks to be the start of the Holiday season, not that you would know it by the 90 degree weather! Pictures of this weekend to come soon and look for more Elsie newborn pics soon too!

My Elsie Lane...

Well we brought home Elsie Lane Thompson last thursday. She came into the world on Oct 5th at 7:50 am weighing 6 lbs 5 oz (I was shocked she was so big!) and 20 inches long. She is too big for most of little sisters preemie clothes and is a totally silent sleeper! Unfortunately no time to write more now. Maybe when we figure out which is day and which is night and how not to fall asleep only 5 minutes into nursing I will write more :)

Enjoy our excellent photos taken just this last sunday by Tracey at En Love Photography!

Shawn's pick for outfit!

My favorite!