Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but we are especially THANKFUL for our Lil Miss Estella!!! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Cutest lil turkey I've ever seen:)

outfit made by Gg:)

Now it's time for some black Friday/thurs shopping and decking our halls tomorrow...I can not wait:)

6 Months!!!

Holy smokes baby girl you are 6 months OLD!!! I can not believe it. You are 1/2 a year old already and once again I don't know where the last month went or the last 6??? Time has got to slow down a little. I just love this age, you have such a fun and strong lil personality, you definitely know what you want when you want it and aren't afraid to let us know;) You are a happy baby that loves to smile your big gummy smiles and chat up a storm! We had one awesome, fun and busy month lets see what you were up to!

Weight/ Length~ We will find out on Monday, but I'm guessing 17.5 lbs and 25 in
Update, we had your appointment this morning and I was so right
Weight~ 17.6 lbs 69%
Length~ 25 in 14%
Head~ 16 in 11%

Loves~ Anything mommy has you want too, Being held, Baths, loud music, dancing with mommy & daddy, stroller rides, grabbing for anything and everything, your dog Chloe or any dog, shopping with gg, making motor boat sounds with your lips/ spitting everywhere. You love to jump and dance (we say you have a lil jig dance because sometimes you only move one leg and it's hilarious). You've started to love being in your Johnny jump up now that you've got the hang of it! Playing with your toys, sucking on anything but you love love to suck on your sassy strawberry with ice in it! You also love when I read and sing to you, you like to turn the pages for me or take the whole book and chew on the corners:)

Eating~ You still eat around 4oz at a time! You also eat fruit and rice cereal in the morning and veggies/ fruit at dinner

Carrots anyone???

Sleeping~ You are a great sleeper at night! We usually start getting ready for your bath around 7 we give you a good massage with nighttime lotion, put on your pjs and sleep sack and your ready for your bedtime bottle! You sleep anywhere from 7:30/8pm- 6/7am sometimes you take a bottle and go back down for another hour but some days you are up for the day

Clothing~  Your clothes size is kind of all over the place some 3-6 still fit great other 6m are too small 9m fits great in the belly but pants and the onesie are too long same with 6-12m! We've moved you up to size 3 diapers they are a lil big yet but at night the 2's  didn't quite cut it!  Gg and I have been working on so many cute Holiday outfits for you I can't wait to share

Fun Facts~  You sit up all by yourself really good now, You always get the shivers, and you have a fake cough when you want attention but it's so cute....you stick you tongue out during the cough! You've lost a lot of your hair and it's growing back so light you are going to be a Blondie... not sure where that came from! Your furry sister Chloe is your bff she can make you smile anytime she walks by! You always try to pet/grab her fur and Chloe loves you just as much because all she wants to do is lick your face. Anytime you cry she goes running to you and barks at us to come.

Firsts~ You had your first Halloween, went to your first parade, first pumpkin patch, First time having a sippy cup, and we've tried lots of new foods. Green beans you did not like, but sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots, apple, pears, bananas, carrots you love. Dad also had you try and play drums for the first time, but you aren't too sure about them yet, the loud noise kind of scares you a little still.

All done you, you were over the pictures and wanted your sticker off

I know these next two months are going to fly by even faster with your first Holidays coming up...but I couldn't be more excited to start new family traditions with you! I have lots of exciting, fun things planned for us, & I can't wait! Estella you are such a blessing to us, and you have brought so much joy to our family! I can't even explain how amazing it is to watch you grow and change each month! Life is just so much sweeter with you baby girl, We love you more than anything!!!!

Love Always & Forever,

Mommy& Daddy

Hot Wine Cider Recipe

I had this hot wine cider at a party awhile back and I just couldn't get enough of it! I think this recipe is perfect for fall and through the Holiday's!

You will need ~
1/2 gal Apple cider
1 1/2 qts Cranberry juice

In the Basket of coffeemaker add
11/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 Whole Cloves
2-3 Cinnamon sticks

Perk until done
Add one quart Burgundy wine-  I use 2 bottles of a pinot noir it's more then what the recipe called for but I wanted to taste the wine more

optional add 1/4 cup brandy( I haven't tried it that way yet)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!!!

Estella's 1st Halloween... Yabba dabba doo!!!

We've always loved Halloween at our house, but having a little one puts it on a whole new level of FUN! We had a great first Halloween with Stella!  We started celebrating last weekend. Saturday afternoon we went to the Halloween capital of the world parade like we do every year! That night we had our party! We had such a great time, and I was thrilled that our Friends without kids still came before they went out to the tent party! On Wednesday I stopped at my cousins and then we came home to hand out candy and take a few pictures... at that point Stella was so over Halloween, she wanted out of her costume and was ready for bed;) 

Yabba dabba doo... I thought being the flinstones was perfect for our first Halloween as a family of 3! My mom and I whipped up the costumes the week before, they were super easy and very inexpensive!

Our good friends have Gavin who is 6 months older then Stella so they were the perfect family for the Rubble's!

Pebbles & Bam Bam!!! So hard to get them to both looking & smiles were to much to ask for;)

Had to get a close up of her ruffle butt and hair piece! Her Hair piece I just took a red extension and hot glued it to the bone I cut out of felt and glued them to a clip. It got a lil heavy so I was bummed you couldn't see the hair from the front. The ruffle butt was the only thing I ordered. I got it here 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/my2lilpixies it was only $8.95!

Stella's friend Savannah the lady bug 

I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of everyone but I tried. We had Mr.&Mrs potato head, sesame street characters, a bug catcher and his bug girls, a tooth and tooth fairy, Sandy, danny and frenchie the beauty school drop out, pirates and their parrot, clowns, witch, uncle eddie,  ring leader, harry potter, Sonny & Cher, cowboy and fifty shades of Dan he even had a contract I was signing haha 

Halloween decor and food! We had an adult witches brew/ wine cider it's so good! I will have a post with the recipe because it will be great for the holidays! I loved how the pumpkin cheese ball turned out and my sister's monster cake pops were a hit

Halloween night at my cousin Ashley's with Mr.Max and he was Max from where the wild thing are such a cute costume and we can't forget about my poor Chloe girl.. she was a bat 

Two pictures form the parade and the other two are from Halloween night!

I would say Estella's First Halloween was a success, better start planning for next year;)