Wal-Mart = 4 hour trip

I took both kids with me to Wal-Mart this morning to get approximately 500 things because apparently I have lost my mind.  The little one - Miss Sassy Pants - feels the need to say "Hey!" (loudly) to every single person we pass, but if they dare to stop to talk to her, she gives them her trademark stink eye and/or ignores them completely.  In case you don't know what the stink eye looks like (obviously you've never met Ella, but anyway...) here is one such look.

And while the little one is busy giving out "the look" or ignoring them, the bigger one is ready and willing to chat with anyone who stops.  "Hi, I'm Cooper.  That's Ella.  How are you?  I'm doing great.  Are you buying grapes too?  I like the green ones best, don't you?" and on and on and on. 

I sure do love my babies, but sometimes I wonder how many gray hairs each grocery shopping trip with them gives me.  :P

Oh, how I love fall!

We had a lot of fall fun this weekend!  Last night we went to our friends Jami, Brandon, and Hunter's house to grill out, roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  The kids had the best time!  After supper and s'mores, the boys ran around the back yard and played on the swing set, while the grown ups stayed close to the fire and tried to keep the girls from falling into it!  Ella loved running after the bigger kids and pretending she was big like them.  :)

Emma and Ella holding hands... precious!

Cooper and Miller roasting marshmallows!

Miss Ella getting some help from Daddy to roast her marshmallow.

Today Chris and I took Cooper and Ella to the pumpkin patch.  They picked out their pumpkins, petted the animals, played on the neat playground, and tried to make getting a good picture of both of them together practically impossible.  :)  We had a lot of fun just being together as a family.  Cooper took the job of pumpkin-picker very seriously, and Ella tried her best, to no avail, to pick up every pumpkin in the patch. 

 

Then when we got home, we carved a jack-o-lantern.  After we took it outside and lit it up, Ella kept going, "Oooh.  Pump-tin.  Oooh.  Happy!"

The Fair!

This week we went to the fair, like we do every year.  We had so much fun!  Any time we take our kids somewhere, Chris and I always talk about how easy going they both are (usually!).  Cooper rode a lot of rides; he is not afraid of anything!  Miss Ella rode the merry go round and had a death grip on Chris the whole time.  :)  She is not a daredevil at all!  She still doesn't like to swing.  Poor baby.  She was such a trooper though.  She rode in her stroller most of the time, only fussing to get out when we stopped, and she wanted to watch Cooper on a ride.  Both kids loved looking at the animals.  We just had the best time being together and watching them enjoy themselves.

See the nervousness...

And the death grip?  :)

This picture makes me laugh.  Cooper's like, "Who are you?"

The stuffed animals they paid for won picking up ducks.

Ears, eyes... what's the difference?

Hello footy pajamas, I missed you!

These are her "duck ducks" that she LOVES!

She is such a climber!

And I blame him.  :)

She was born giving the stink eye.  ;)

I love this video of Cooper reading to Ella...

Messy Ella = No Love From Cooper

Tonight after an interesting supper of pizza and yogurt, Ella was a disgusting mess.  Clearly she has not yet mastered eating with a spoon.  :P  

So when Cooper walked by (note the pizza on his shirt as well), she tried to give him a hug.

 I like to mess with him, so I said, "Oh come on Cooper, give your sister a hug."  Note the terrified perma-smile on his face, and the slightly evil grin on hers.

Then, in usual Ella style, she decided to try force.  He managed to escape, but just barely.

Cooper goes back to school!

Cooper started back to preschool this Tuesday.  He is at the same preschool he went to last year, but this year he is in the four year class.  He is in the fortunate position of knowing most of the kids in his class already.  He was beyond thrilled to see his friends from last year, Miss Carly and Miss Janet from last year, and to get to know Miss Michelle and Miss Paulette!  I was so happy to see him excited about going back to school.  He walked right in, unpacked his book bag, found his name to put on the check-in chart, and headed over to his friend Abi to start playing.  He could hardly be bothered to tell us bye.  :)