Life With Our Little Ladies: October Snapshots

On Mondays, after Ella's dance class and during Abby's, Ella and Daddy go on a weekly Stewart's date. It's a special chance for Ella to have quality time with her daddy. She gets to bring an activity (she usually chooses a coloring book) and pick a snack to share, then she gets her daddy face to face for 45 minutes. Last week, she looked up at Joe toward the end of their time and said, "So, Daddy....what do you want to chat about?"

Abby loves art and we can rarely satisfy her inner craft master. She is always thinking about how she can create something out of nothing. She is currently collecting tissue boxes for a homemade dollhouse she wants to design. We can clean the whole playroom and within an hour Abby is back at it working on a new idea (which means lots of paper and scraps). There are paper trails everywhere!
I'm learning to embrace the mess and enjoy the art! Just the other day, Ella and I went looking for the crayons, so we could color a picture together, but found that Abby had glued all of the crayons together to build a very successful pyramid. Last week, Abby went downstairs after school and created a craft for each person in her class to complete and brought it in as a gift. I didn't even have a chance to see it before she took it to school and handed them out, but she told me her teacher took time out of their schedule to allow the kids to complete their craft. :) One Sunday, she made a picture at church and then she came home and decided to make it into a crown.

Sweet Oliver is always keeping his girls company.

Six years ago, a friend gave Abby a mini Vera Bradley bag. Now Juliet is enjoying the stylish gift!

There is one thing Ella wanted all day: snuggle time with her daddy. Thankful for this guy who eats his lunch quickly and spends the rest of his break right here. When he sat down with her, she couldn't stop kissing his cheek. At dinner tonight, when we asked Ella what part of her day brought her joy, she smiled at Joe and said, "When I spent time with my daddy!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OjOLviYhzs

On Wednesday mornings, I help in the school library. The girls and I have dance parties in the car on the way to school and I get to see them in the library during each of their classes. It's safe to say Wednesday mornings are one of my happy places.

Joe was out of town for an overnight ministry trip and this little cutie decided mommy needed company, so she woke up for the morning at 5 am. I was exhausted. Juliet thought it was hilarious! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKfJlSaPOps

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Juliet loves to play fetch with her buddy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4T7bmWndoo

Ella likes to take her mornings off nice and slow.

Abby started attending Pioneer Girls twice a month after school. She loves her time spent with friends crafting, snacking and learning about Jesus. After their first meeting, she came home with this puppet of herself that included the words she would use to describe herself. I love seeing the way Abby sees herself.

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Abby Em- you are all these things and so much more. We love you! :)

I was in charge of making the carnival game for the Ella's class at our school's fall craft fair/festival. The girls got a kick out of the paper airplane booth making process!

Abby read over fifty five books this summer and was entered into her school library's summer reading prize drawing! She was excited to win her very first easy bake oven. The girls had fun with the process, but I'm pretty sure they were surprised by the results. They have been baking with me for real since they were two, so six cookies the size of a quarter were a little disappointing.

Abby went on a field trip to a local farm with her daddy as a chaperone. Her class spent the day enjoying all kinds of fall activities, including a hay ride, pumpkin picking, a giant slide and a trampoline.

And then one day they came out of their room looking like mini teenagers...

Date night with my two guys. We loved our first datebox complete with an "escape room" game, apple cider and make your own caramel apples and kettlecorn. It was a perfect solution to some much needed, intentional (and creative) time together without even leaving home (or paying for a babysitter)! P.S. We even solved all the clues and escaped before the timer ran out.

I loved the morning I spent with my middle girl! Ella chose the recipe she wanted to make, so homemade mac and cheese it was. She even did the work on the stove (safely with mommy nearby). We cooked, listened to music and played magnet dolls...all while staying in our pajamas!