Our Little Gymnast

The other day, we were surprised to find that Ella can now reach the rings on her swingset and pull herself up on them.

Congrats to the Grad!

Jeff finished his final class in his Master's Program! Ella and I surprised him with an upcoming weekend trip to New York to visit his best friend Steve and attend a New York Jets game. We are so proud of the hard work and dedication he put into it, despite all the stuff we've had going on in our lives over the last couple years.

Weekend trip to Green Bay

We had a short weekend trip to Green Bay since Jeff and I had tickets for the Packers-Cowboys game at Lambeau field. I know there were many of you in Green Bay that we didn't get to see...I'm sorry, we just had such a busy couple of days! Here are a few pictures of our trip, we'll have to post more later of our visit with Ella's Grandma and Grandpa Vand of our tailgate party. Even though the Packers stunk, we had a good time!

Nicole, Ella and Great Grandma B

Ella with Grandpa and Grandma B

Ella with Great Uncle Dave & Great Aunt Jill

Ella playing with Uncle Adam

Lunch with Uncle Greg & Aunt Ashley

Fall is Here!

We are excited to see our first season change in Minnesota...and fall is definitely here! A couple of the trees in our backyard have already started changing colors. Ella has also started "school" at the Eden Prairie Early Childhood Family Education Center (ECFE). Its a weekly program that I attend with her. We do a lot of playing, artwork, singing songs and the mommies break away for part of the time for adult socialization. The pregnancy is progressing quickly...we are now 31 weeks along. Everything was perfectly healthy at our doctor appointment yesterday and we are planning on scheduling the c-section in early November. And of course, fall brings the start of the NFL football season which, as anyone who knows Jeff will agree, is a major holiday in our house. We are happy to say our Packers are 2-0 so far! Luckily, we have some fellow Packer fans in our neighborhood to watch games with and we went to our first Packer party this weekend.

On a more serious note, we are continuing to think of our dear friends in the Houston area, as the cleanup from Hurricane Ike begins. We are so thankful to report that everyone we have talked to is safe and only had very minor damage to their homes and yards. Thanks to those who have called or emailed us with concern for our friends down there...we appreciate you all keeping them in your prayers.

Enjoying the fall colors from our deck

Ella's first day of ECFE school

Our little Packer cheerleader

Back on the saddle again!

Ella is now back to her old self...and boy, has all the energy returned! She has now been fever-free since Saturday afternoon and her cold is slowly getting better. And we are all getting more sleep, which makes Mommy & Daddy very happy too!

Here she is riding her elephant rocker that Grandpa Dick made her. She loves to climb on and off it and has gotten quite good at rocking back and forth on it. The wooden cradle below was a built by Ella's Great Grandpa Jerry as gift for Mommy when she little. Ella enjoys climbing inside it with her stuffed animals.

A few exciting things to mention...today is "Papa" Randy's birthday- Happy Birthday! And congrats to Uncle Adam who is in the process of buying his first home- we can't wait to visit!

Sleepless nights

Ella caught a cold this week so things have been a little dishevelled around here. We unfortunately had to cancel our much anticipated trip to Madison this weekend, as she was running a fever and hasn't been sleeping well. I think things are slowly on the upswing but its so sad to see her sick! I know any of you with kids can probably relate...I wish I could be sick instead of her. Here's a few pictures of her from earlier in the week playing with her toys.

Happy Birthday Grandma Jane!

Ella's Grandpa & Grandma B came to visit this weekend and we were able to celebrate Grandma Jane's birthday! We had a lot of fun and also got a lot of work done on the house over the weekend. We'll have to post some pictures soon of all the rooms we now have decorated!