Colors of Fall

What a gorgeous time of year and the weather is making it even more wonderful!! The attached picture of the trees I took at the top of the Big hill in Elk Mound, what a peaceful site!! If you want to enlarge the photo just click on it.

We had a busy weekend starting with a 4-hour trip to the Pumpkin Patch, 2 b-day parties and a couple of room overhauls at our house. Griffin moved to his "Big Boy" bed which meant we had to get Carter's new (from a garage sale, but new to him) bunk beds fixed up and moved into his room. First we had to take down the crib and move Carter's old bed into Griffin's room. Ty worked really hard and got it all done in just a couple of short hours. Both of the boys were to excited for their new beds. Griffin had no trouble going to sleep in his new bed. I was a bit nervous about Carter up so high but he did just fine. The plan is for the boys to share Carter's room when we have to get Griffin's room ready to bring our daughter home. Wow, does that sound strange, our daughter! It is still going to be a while so we thought we would leave them in their own rooms for now. Notice the font color change, representative of the Fall colors. Dorky, I know but that's me. Our weekend ended with a visit from our dear friends the Woodman's on their way home from visiting family and a delicious turkey dinner at Grandma's last night, Yummy!! We have a very busy week ahead of us so check back next week for an update!

By the way check out my friend Karrin's new blog; http://www.beadedblog.blogspot.com/, she makes and sells some of the most beautiful items, perfect for the holidays!!

Happy Monday!!

Nap Time!!

I love naptime!! Not for me, I am not a napper but naptime for little kids and mom's of little kids is priceless. I love it even more this week because last week napping was nonexistent and I was afraid it was over. As you can see from the attached photo, naptime is in full swing at our house!! I really enjoy this quite time in the house all by myself, I am sipping on a warm cup of coffee with the smell of cookies baking and downey coming from the laundary room; life's simple pleasures!! Again. I am so thankful that I do not have to worry about work anymore and can take some time just for me.

The other picture is of Griffin and his new obession, his airplanes. Now we have countless cars, trains and airplanes taking over our house, HELP!!!

The Price of Groceries--UGGG!!!

Those if you who know me well will find this strange but I am actually going to try and bargain shop for groceries!! We do something interesting at our house every week to pay for "normal weekly expenses", we have separate envelops of cash for things such as groceries, sam's club, target, church, and fun! We put about the same amount in each week and it has worked very well for a couple of years now. We have had to make adjustments along the way but nothing like we have had to lately. It is a great system because we rarely spend more than the cash we have and we all know how a $50 trip to Target can get out of hand! I owe this budget strategy to Ty (his mom while raising him, she has envelops for her car payment and mortgage). It took me some time to get used to it but now it empowers me! Anyway, back to the point at hand; over the past month or so there has not been enough cash for groceries, by a long shot. It is true we eat at home a lot. Carter has to take a lunch to school every day and Griffin, Ty and I are home for lunch daily but that is not new. We eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies and I buy several organic products but again, that is not new. The point of this rambling is that I am going to try and buy some items at discount stores which I am not opposed to it just adds another trip to make every week. I know those of you that know me cannot believe I am saying this but the grocery bill is getting out of hand!! When Ty reads this he will be proud, he has been working on me with budgeting for years!!
If you feel my pain, know that you are not alone!!

Besides that problem, things are good. We are into a good school routine now and Carter is loving it. We have conferences this week so that should be interesting. I am happy to be back to my regular work out routine, I have even been able to fit in an extra work out of two a week. That always makes me feel good, I cannot believe I went for so long thinking about working out but not doing it because it is wonderful!! Griffin and I are having fun together and Ty is liking his new office.

Have a beautiful Fall Monday!!

Peaceful Morning

I am loving the mornings that I do not have to bring Carter to school. He does not ride the bus (he could, but I am not ready for that) so we carpool with our dear friends the Stabenow's because their son is in Carter's class. It is so nice not to have to go to school twice a day. Two mornings a week they bring the boys to school and one morning Ty brings them. Griffin is still a late sleeper if we let him so I usually get some time to myself after Ty and Carter leave and before Griffy gets up. I get a lot done in that time. I feel so fortunate that we are able to drive him to school so he does not have to ride the bus if that is what we choose. I LOVE being home every day when Carter gets home from school and spending time with Griffin alone has been so nice. I know I have said this many times but it still holds so true, I am so happy that we made the decision that I would stay home at least while the kids are little, although going back to work at any time does not appeal to me. I am sure as life changes my desire will change as well but for right now, God is really blessing our family every day!

Last week a friend and I brought our little kids to this beautiful place called the Gem Gardens. It is referred to as "Eau Claire's best kept secret" and it is. It is 25 acres of beautiful landscaping with tons of flowers and greenery and water and rock formations. Very peaceful and it is free. The kids spent 2 1/2 hours just exploring. They have raspberries and veggies to pick and everything is on an "honor system" there is just a box for the money, nobody working. Now that is not something you see. I recommend everybody checking it out, the website is http://www.gemgardens.com/. Attached is a picture from there, the picture does not do it justice at all. Also attached is a picture of Carter playing soccer. This is the second time he has played and the difference this season versus last is amazing. At least now they know which goal to try and get the ball in. I like sports so much when they are little because it is all about the fun and no competition. I know competition is good but for 5-year-old this works just fine. (Not sure what happened with the font but I am liking it).

Enjoy this summer weather!

Relaxing Weekend

This past weekend was very nice for me. I spent Friday night and Saturday scrapbooking with my sister-in-law, Julie. I am so happy that Ty's brother married such a wonderful women and I am very grateful for her friendship. We did not get as much done as we wanted (never do) but it was so nice to sit down for hours and do something that I enjoy with no interruptions. Ty planned on taking the boys to the air show on Saturday while I was gone but since the weather was so bad they did not go. He decided to take the on Sunday so surprisingly I had Sunday to myself as well. It was nice to run my errands and get things ready for the week. I have always known how important it is as a mother to take time for yourself and I am very fortunate that my husband agrees. Attached are a couple of layouts that I completed over the weekend.

Thomas School

Today Griffin started "Thomas School." He started a program called Camp Come and Play at Trinity Church. It is Wednesday mornings from 9:15-11:15 and no parents aloud!! He was so excited to go, last week when we started talking about him going to school he kept saying "Giffy go to Thomas School." Well today he went to Thomas School, he went back and forth between calling it that and "Percy School" (wonder what is always on his mind?) He did great, he had no problem when I left and talked all about it when I picked him up. It is amazing how fast 2 hours can go and how nice two hours can be spent alone!!

I am still amazed at how mellow he has become over the past week since Carter went to school, there are times when I hardly even know he is here. From one of the attached photos you can see what he spends much of his time doing.

Carter is still seeming to like school a lot, still coming home with lots of energy but so ready for bed by 7:30.

Ty has settled into his new office space downtown so he is now out of the house as well. It will be good for him to separate home and work a little but it is strange not having him here all the time.

As for me, I am back on track with my workouts at the Y, reading a lot and trying to catch up on some scrapbooking. It is really nice to be home and not have the stress of work on top of all of the home stuff!!

We also went to Como Zoo last weekend, the first time all year. When we left I told Ty that there will come a time when our kids will be too old for Como and his response was "When??!!"

Big Day!!

Today was a very big day at the Ellis household for two reasons:

Today was Carter's first day of "Big School." Of course he was very excited and he did very well. He could have cared less that I was leaving him for the ENTIRE day. What happened to half day kindergarten?? I am having a bit of a difficult time coming to terms with the idea of him being gone so much. The morning started out with a short time of worship for the students, staff and parents and I am usually a cryer during worship songs so that did not help the cause. I managed to hold myself together pretty well. The day seemed to go very fast and it was 3:00 before I knew it. When I saw Carter come bopping out of school with a huge smile and a backpack the size of him, I just smiled in delight!! It was nice to spend the day alone with Griffin, it is amazing how much more well behaved a child is when there is no brother to compete with or fight with. He is growing up fast as well, almost three years old already and he is a sponge, learning something new everyday.

The second reason why today was a big day is that we sent out our big packet for our adoption process (this is the picture posted of the envelop and papers). We have been working on the packet for the better part of 2 months now and today it was signed, sealed and delivered. It feels so good to finally have the process in full swing. I will keep posting as things progress.

The first picture is one of the boys at the river this weekend, we had a really nice weekend staying close to home.

Hope all of you parents out there are adjusting to the school year which is now in full swing!!