November

Here is some highlights from November...

My dear friend and freshman roommate at Calvin, Erin, came over to show me her new little bundle of joy - Nahla.  She was such a doll and smiled constantly - I hope my baby boy is that happy and content:)

Our small group (not so small:) at church spent a cold morning at an older couple's house from our church that needed help with their yard work.  It was fun seeing all the kids out there amongst the adults helping out and enjoying the fact that they were serving others.  We are blessed to be apart of this group and to be welcomed into the home of such a special family.  I wasn't able to help a whole lot with the manual labor but it was a fun morning to be apart of and to witness people loving others. 

Uh oh - a chocolate lover just like Mommy:)  I will have someone to fight now for the spoon when I bake:)

"Ring Around the Rosies" - a favorite activity when Miss Lily comes over to play:)

On a gorgeous morning in early November Ella and I paid a visit to the Critter Barn.  Because of her love for farm animals I thought it would make for a fun girls morning out.  There were no other visitors while we were there and it was like almost 70 out so it was a perfect day to be outside.  We both had a great time! 

Cows seem to be the #1 animal she always wants to see no matter where we are:)

She thought the ducks swimming around in the pool there was hilarious:)

 One of her favorite songs is "Baa Baa Black Sheep" so she thought seeing one in person was pretty cool!

She was terribly scared of this goat...I couldn't get over its curly horns.

She couldn't wait to pet the donkeys...I think she feels so comfortable around them because of the ones down the street we visit.

 She just plain giggled at the sight of all the chickens - she was just cracking up for some reason

She bent down and talked to the pinks and was "oinking" at them.  She thought it was bizarre that they laid in the mud and then peed wherever they wanted - that quite intrigued her.

The cats were by the far the biggest hit...she stood there by the fence for like 20 minutes and just wanted to pet the kitties and kept saying - "they so cuuuute!"  She thought it was so funny when they licked her fingers...we may not get a dog anytime soon, but maybe a cat will be in our future after all.

She just stood by the horse and stared at it:)

It turned out to be a great Mommy/Daughter morning!

Lately Ella has been really into her "hair ties" and bows and headbands and clips.  She wants me to put them all in her hair at once all the time.  She also is obsessed with her 2 play necklaces pictured below - she wants them on at all times.  I didn't peg her to be such a girly girl but I guess she is:)

My parents asked me to take a picture of them for their Christmas card this year while we were downtown Zeeland and I just wanted to post it because it isn't too often that I have one of just them - what a great looking couple!

Although I am not a big fan of this picture - hate to display me looking chubby and tired - I wanted to be able to post a 34 week picture.  Lately I have been experiencing quite a bit of pain and discomfort so the Dr. checked me at my 34 week appointment.  Apparently I was at 1 cm and 30% effaced.  I guess it is nothing to worry about but my Dr. wanted me to have a week or two of "low activity" to ensure that I at least don't continue to progress and have the baby too early.  He still anticipates that I will need to be induced in the end but for now he wants me to be cautious.  I can't wait to meet my little man but I don't want to meet him too soon - my bun needs to stay in the oven:)

At the end of November we headed to an old barn to do a little photo shoot for Brad's upcoming CD/website that will be coming out in December.  Ella wanted to get in on the fun too:)

Later that night Ella went to Aunt Betsy and Uncle Jake's house while we were at small group to play with Lily.  Ella got to experience what it was like to go in a hot tub for the first time (don't worry - they had the temperature a lot lower than normal so the girls could go in.)  Ella wasn't too sure that she liked it...

 She had a lot more fun playing in the bath tub afterwards!

Trying to look like Mommy again:)

One day Brad stayed home with Ella while I was at work and here is a couple of pics Daddy took while they were together. 

The weekend after Thanksgiving we made our annual trek to Bosch's to get a Christmas tree.  We used to cut down our own when it was just us two but now we like to just go into their barn and pick one that is already cut.  It sounds corny to go all the way out there to get one that is already pre-cut but we like the atmosphere and goodies:)  The bummer is that when we got there a Santa Claus was sitting right inside the barn and it totally freaked out Ella.  She cried and screamed the whole time so it wasn't such a magical experience like we had hoped.  We did end up getting a good looking tree and had fun outside the barn- away from Santa- eating popcorn, sitting by the fire, and taking a horse ride through the fields:)

Later that afternoon I heard something at the front door and found Ella sneaking out of the house to look at the Christmas lights that Brad had just put out on the trees outside...she wasn't really in the appropriate attire - about half way there:)

That night we decided to trim the tree and hang our ornaments.  I wasn't sure how Ella would do with it all but she had a great time hanging all the ornaments on the tree - hopefully they all stay there:)

When she saw the pacifier ornament from her 1st Christmas, she couldn't resist:)

She found an angel and halo in our Christmas bin that belonged to me when I was little - just thought it was a sweet picture

My friend Jenn took care of Ella while I was at work one day at the end of the month and she got a couple of really sweet pictures of Ella with her son Cam.  They are so cute together!