1st Day of School

Ella and Cole both are attending Geist Christian Church Weekday Ministries this year!!! We all couldn't be more excited!! Cole is in Ms Trisha's child's day out class. He was a little nervous, but with his new back-pack in tow, he was ok with it. His teacher said that he had one little melt down about 10 minutes after I dropped him off, but it was snack time, and that did the trick! He was pretty happy to see me when I went to pick him up...but you could tell he had a fun day.

Ella is in Ms Becky's, cheerful cheetahs, preschool class. A few of her friends from her CDO class last year are in her new class, and she couldn't have been more excited. She walked into class like an old pro and had to be asked multiple times to give her mom a hug before I left!! Her teacher said she did great and is quite a talker!! Funny how she figured that out so quick!!!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO.....

DADDY!!

We are so happy to celebrate this day with you!!! We love you so much and are thankful everyday that we have you as a daddy!!!

A Trip to Florida!!

We were so thankful that we got the opportunity to go to Florida to visit the fam. Scott, my bro, was graduating from the Florida Police Academy. What a perfect excuse!!! It was again, hotter than snot, so we did very little other than run through neighbors sprinklers while we were on walks, hit the backyard pool, and one afternoon at the beach. Pretty good for a quick 4 day trip!!!

Hughes Wedding

We traveled to Wisconsin for Scott's cousin, Brad's, Wedding. It was supposed to be a 5 1/2 hour drive that turned into a 7 hour drive. Gotta love 65N and Chicago traffic on a Friday afternoon!! Thankfully, the kids did really well. We are again singing the praises of the DVD player!!!!! We were really hoping that being that far north would have given us some relief from the heat...but no such luck!!! HOT HOT HOT!!! We stayed at a golf resort, so the boys had fun playing a round, while the kids, nana, grandma Hughes, Aunt Sally and I enjoyed the park and then a dip in the pool. The wedding was held on the golf course, under 2 big weeping willows, next to a pond. It was beautiful. The bride and groom had lots of special, personalized touches. After the ceremony, I had to take the opportunity to take some pictures of the kids in the "wedding-best" on the course!

Holiday World

In keeping with a tradition we started last year, we planned another weekend trip with our friends from Butler, the Antcliffs. This year we decided to head to Holiday World to enjoy the water park and rides. The kids had a blast! Ella decided to follow suite with dare devil Miss Claudia and went on a ton of rides, and loved the octupus the best! She was still a little hesitant of the water slides, but loved the lazy river and wave pool. Cole had a great time playing in the wave pool as well as a "kiddie" area where he could ride all of the rides. Every one of them he would ride with his arms up in the air the entire time. It was hysterical! We stayed in adjoining hotel rooms and the girls, with Cole tagging along, played and played. They all got along so well!! Sadly, my camera hiatis lingered and this is the only picture I have of the whole weekend. Check facebook because, thank goodness, the Antcliffs were better at picture taking than I was! (on a side note, I am feeling pretty guilty about not having more pictures so expect many more to come!)

We enjoyed Holiday Worlds fireworks from our car in the parking lot, which was a great idea...we avoided the huge crowds and traffic getting out of the park...and Ella thought "they were so magical!" Super dramatic as always!! 

If anyone is looking for an easy something to do...it only took us about 3 hours and the place was really pretty nice. If you can get past the cliental of a mix between Indiana State Fair and Jerry Springer! It was clean, free drinks, sunscreen stations, and lots for little ones to do...its great!

Ella and Claudia in the stars and stripes! Cole was refusing to have his picture taken!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!

To all of the wonderful daddy's out there! We are sure that we have the best of the bunch...but I am sure that we know some that can rival our best of the best!!!

I have been terrible about taking pictures this summer....between feeling very large and running after two toddlers, carrying the camera has taken a back seat! So these are all of the pictures that I have from the day.

Our daddy got to play golf with papa and uncles Chad and Chris on Saturday. Sunday we went swimming at our neighborhood pool and then over to Nana and Papas for dinner and celebrating all of the daddies! 

Medical News

Some of you may have known about our latest medical drama, but for those that didn't here it is...in a nut shell.

Ella has been having days where she is really tired, laying around, not wanting to play since around Christmas. We chalked it up to a bunch of different things including her just being drama, growing, not sleeping well, bordum, etc. Our babysitter finally said she was noticing it a lot and was concerned. That prompted us to talk to the doctor. After the doctor confirming our concerns that she was pale and had dark circles under her eyes, swollen lymph nodes and had dropped growth percentiles again...off to get some blood work! There were some of her tests that came back abnormal, nothing specific, but concerned our doctor. They scheduled us an appointment with Riley Cardiology to rule out a missed congenital defect or infection in her heart, and ordered more labs to rule out a blood issue. Needless to say, we were a little concerned. The results of the second set of labs gave a little more clarity. They finally diagnosed her with Mono and cancelled her Cardiology appointment! Yea!!!! We are relieved that there is a reason she has been tired and one that is not very serious. So...thats it...in a nutshell!!!

Chip

So...I have a TON to update on here but this one just sort of sums up what has been going on around here it feels like!

Ella and Cole were in the shower and apparently Cole threw a baby brush at her and hit her in just the right way and...

CHIPPED HER TOOTH!!!

Thank goodness it isn't that bad, I guess, and we have a dentist appointment on monday to even it up. 

Seriously though...who gets a tooth chipped from their little brother and a baby brush!!

Oh, well!!!

COLE IS 2!!!!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY COLE!!!!!!

I can't believe that he is two already! He still seems like my little baby. Well, maybe not so little!!! He is just the best little guy! 

Cole's Loves...

-His mommy (a total momma's boy!)

-Balls...any/all of them

-Bulldogs

-Jumping

-Piggy back rides

-Bubbles

-Balloons

He is talking more and more everyday. I couldn't possibly count his words, but his favorites are mine, me, no, ball, big...go figure! He is still a super picky eater, very cuddly, slow to warm up to new things and new people, in love with all things sports! 

His stats:

Weight: 28lbs (50%)

Height: 34in (36%)

In comparison Ella at 2 years old:

Weight: 24lbs (14%)

Height: 32 3/4in (18%)

Ella at 3 years old:

Weight: 27lbs (12%)

Height: 35.5in (10%)

We had a small family birthday party at our house. Cole's favorite part was opening gifts, which surprised us because it would usually be eating cake. (The next day he had a fever and was diagnosed with Hand, Foot, and Mouth-that probably had something to do with not being super into his cake!)