Tag: Ellie

Christmas Time Performances

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Christmas break is about to begin! But before school breaks for a few weeks, each class performed a few songs and poems for parents and family. It was very cute and I love the reindeer hate that Abby made. Ellie was a tad shy, but that’s ok. She still looked adorable and had a fun time. 
Listening to the Nativity Story. One of their guest teachers had a great book for young children that teaches all about the Nativity.
That’s one cute little reindeer!
Ellie sitting so quietly and patiently during the Nativity story.
The performance is done! Now its time for cookies and hot chocolate. Maybe even a present from her teachers too!

Little Love Bug

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Ellie only goes to school twice a week, so there are two days that Ellie and I have together in the morning. Its just the two of us for a few hours. I love having time together with my little love bug.  This morning we got to school a little early, so we waited in the car for a bit before going in to pick up Abby. This little girl sat up in the front seat with me and we giggled and sang songs until it was time to go. I love the fun little memories that I share with this girl.

Santa Makes A Stop In Port Gamble

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I think that it has become very apparent that one of our favorite places to go is Port Gamble. Its small, charming and has a great sense of community. So when we discovered that Santa would be visiting Port Gamble and there would be some fun festivities to go along with it, we were there! We spent the afternoon in the shops, visiting Santa’s workshop and taking part in the tree lighting ceremony and fireworks. It was a great afternoon and evening. Another fun Wharton Adventure in the history books!
Walking the road, singing her own Christmas songs.
Enjoying a stroll with daddy, talking about Santa and his reindeer.
Ellie was so excited to see Santa, I thought she might explode.
At first Ellie was a little shy but then she had plenty to say to Santa. There was a huge line behind us but Santa let her talk and tell her stories. So sweet!
Big smiles with Santa
So happy to see Santa and tell him all their hopes for Christmas, like Abby’s Barbie Dreamhouse.
Making their own Christmas cookies.
Ellie went all out with the cinnamon dots.
Abby loved the cinnamon dots too as well as all the red and green sprinkles that she could handle.
Abby’s finished cookie product. Yummy!
Ellie’s finished cookie product. Yummy!
We closed down Santa’s workshop and stopped for one last picture before we left. I wonder where Santa is off to now?
What a fun afternoon with Santa. Don’t fret though, there is still more to come!
We decided to take a little walk around  town to kill some time before the tree lighting. Ellie kept looking for Santa too. I don’t think he is here though.
Two little monkey’s in a tree!
Look who we found again! Santa was visiting the kids near the little garden and light display.
Abby and Ellie were so excited to see Santa, yet again!
A cold and gloomy night in Port Gamble. Lucky for us the rain stayed away!
The sun is setting and Puget Sound looks beautiful in the stormy, waning light.
Hot chocolate and magic candy canes make the wait for the tree lighting very easy.
Snuggling up until tree lighting time.
Santa counted down, the tree was lit and the fireworks began. What a beautiful sight to see.
Port Gamble might be a small town, but the fireworks were beautiful and very well done.
The Grand Finale!
The tree is lit and now its time to go home!

Shaun’s 36th Birthday

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Happy 36th Birthday Shaun! Happy Birthday to the best husband, father and friend anyone could ask for. We certainly hope that you enjoyed your day and evening out with the cutest girls on earth. Love you very much and again… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Dinner out at Azteca with endless coloring for Ellie.
Ready for tacos at Azteca! Abby’s favorite!
Oh that little head and that rug burn. Its a goof thing she has a cup of lemonade to make life better.
WAIT… THE CAKE IS ON FIRE!
Goofy Daddy surrounded by his super silly girls. Love the hat Shaun!
Silly Daddy… thats not how you put the candles out!
Silly Abby… that’s not how you wear your hat!
Cake mouth!
MMMMMMMMMM CAKE!

Winter Wonderland

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Another round of low temps at night (in the high teens) allowed for another morning filled with frost covered everything. This morning the frost was very heavy and the lawn at their preschool looked like it had a light layer of snow on it. It was beautiful. It looked like a beautiful winter wonderland.

The Mini Tree

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This year Shaun thought it would be fun for the girls to have their own little tree to decorate and enjoy. We have a big window seat and window on the landing heading upstairs that is perfect for such things. It looks right out onto the street and sits above our front door which means everyone can see something that is displayed in it.
So we headed out to Target, found a little artificial tree and let the girls pick out some ornaments and decorations for it. It was a very exciting even for them and I could tell that they couldn’t wait to decorate the tree. I love that Shaun thinks of these things for them. Such an amazing daddy!

Prepping the ornaments to put them on the tree.
Ellie is excited to decorate the tree, can you tell?!
Its a tree just their size with their very own ornaments.
Abby the elf putting the pink ornaments that she picked out on her own onto the tree.
Taking a good look at their hand work and decorating skills.
All lit up and ready for Christmas!

Tricks, Treats and Lots of Fun!

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Happy Halloween! What a fun filled day we had today. All I can say is that it sure is fun to be a kid. For Abby and Ellie the fun began at school. We lucked out that Halloween fell on a Thursday this year, which allowed for both Abby and Ellie to celebrate the day at school together. 
All classes were encouraged to dress up and the girls gladly did just that. As a compromise, they wore costumes that were different from the ones they planned to wear Trick Or Treating, that way nothing was ripped, torn or damaged before the night time festivities began.
Abby and Ellie all dressed up for their school Halloween parties! Ellie was Rapunzel and Abby was Merida.

Abby’s teacher made these awesome monster faces with petri dishes and jello for the kids. Such an awesome idea!

Slimy guts and brains! (Spaghetti for those without an imagination)

Ready for some Halloween artwork.

Halloween cookie time for Abby and her classmates.

One of Abby’s cookie creations.

Happy preschoolers with Halloween cookies.

Merida and a Ninja Turtle having a chat. 🙂

Ellie had the chance to make Halloween cookies too, she was very focused on the decorating part.

Super cute Rapunzel, if you ask me.

Love thier little class and all of Ellie’s friends. They get along so well and seem to have a great time together.

One of Ellie’s cookie creations. She ate the other one before I could get a picture of it. No shock there.

 After school we came home and attempted a nap, but I think the excitement of their time at school plus the anticipation of the night made sleeping just a tad difficult. As the witching hour grew near, we started costume prep and then waited for daddy to come home from work before out night time festivities began. As soon as he walked through the door, Abby and Ellie were off to the races.

Our porch with our cute and creative Jack O’ Lanterns.

Jasmine and Izzy reporting for Trick Or Treating duty!

Our funny faced little girls. Super cute if you ask me!

Pumpkins!

The weekend before Halloween we drove around town scoping out neighborhoods to go to. Being that we live in a town home community, we knew that the girls might be a tad limited to what they could do. So we found a few places that had some great decorations and headed that way. It was well worth it and the girls had a great time collecting their “loot” and enjoying some of the very creative decorations. Several of the homes took a lot of courage for the girls to explore but they did it and had a blast scaring themselves in the process. Ah, to be a kid!

Walking door to door through our chosen neighborhood.

This house had quite the setup with mannequins, antique cars, lighting effects and great sound effects too. Abby and Ellie weren’t too thrilled about some of it but we sure enjoyed it.

Spooky, creepy and just the right amount of Halloween fun!

Abby did not like this part but once mommy walked through, unharmed, she was ok.

We certainly missed our favorite spots back in California to Trick Or Treat and we especially missed going with friends but we found something new and fun. I am sure the more we become settled into life here in Seattle and make more friends things will change but for being new to the area again, we managed to find some fun and excitement. After a night of begging people for candy we headed to Red Robin for dinner and then it was back home yo put two tired little monkeys to bed. The car ride home was silent, so you know a good time was had by all. Until next year!

Jack O Lantern Central

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Tonight our house turned into pumpkin carving central. Halloween is nearly here and the girls are definitely ready to add their own personal touch! That and there is something super cool about playing around with the “pumpkin guts”. So our little surgeons got to work and and turned those pumpkins into their own masterpieces! As always we had a fun time with plenty of giggles and lots of smiles.
An Ellie before picture with the perfect pumpkin picked out at the farm!

An Abby before picture with the perfect pumpkin picked out at the farm!

Choosing the correct tools is serious business.

Faces are drawn and Ellie has a little sass to share with us!

Its my pumpkins nose!

All of the pieces have been removed from Ellie’s pumpkin and now its time to remove the “guts”!

Daddy is helping Abby get the pumpkin pieces out. Their pumpkins were super ripe and juicy which made cutting the pumpkins a bit tough for small hands.

Pumpkin brains!

Pumpkin brains for Abby too!

Scooping out the guts and having a blast!

EWWWWW, that feels slimy.

Pumpkin seeds for everyone.

My cutie and her finished Jack O’ Lantern. She was so proud of it!

My big girl and her adorable Jack O’ Lantern! She had a blast creating it with daddy and couldn’t wait to put it on the porch for Halloween.

We cant believe Halloween is only a few days away but we didn’t let it sneak up on us too fast this year. We made sure that we had some beautiful pumpkins to decorate our porch with. So much fun with these kiddos!

Leavenworth in the Fall = Gorgeous!

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The end of September brought the official start to fall and with it came the clouds and rain. This is Seattle after all. After nearly a week and a half of gloom and drizzle, we made the choice to take a trip and find sunshine! Impossible you say? You would have to go too far to see the sun again, wouldn’t you? Nope! All it took was an hour and a half drive into the Cascades to do it.

We had the whole day and decided to take a drive into the mountain to a beautiful Bavarian town called Leavenworth. Leavenworth sits on the eastern side og the Cascades. This might not mean much at first thought, but it means a lot when it comes to weather. While Seattle might be covered in clouds and rain, the passes and eastern side of the Cascades often boast sunshine and clear skies. Today didn’t disappoint. As we started to climb up to Steven’s Pass, the clouds quickly disappeared and pretty soon we saw the sun!

The drive through the pass and into Leavenworth was beautiful. The leaves were changing and the colors were amazing. Once we arrived immediately started exploring the area and of course we had to find something to eat.

We’re here and ready to explore!
Exploring the streets… You truly feel like you are in the Alps when you are here. I can only imagine how beautiful this place is in the winter.

We had lunch at the Baren Haus, which was delicious! I splurged a bit, but it was worth it. We also planned to do a lot of walking afterwards, so I didn’t feel too bad! After lunch we continued on our way to look at te shops, bakeries and other fun places. We found THE BEST Christmas shop, full of amazing ornaments and decorations. I really didn’t want to leave but the girls were getting antsy.

Inside Baren Haus. This place was truly charming and you could hear the band playing in the town square from here.

Sister… AKA Partners in Crime

Looking out towards the cascades. The trees and their colors were amazing to see!

Abby said walking through Leavenworth was like being in Disneyland again.

A picture with the bear was too cute to resist. They loved this guy!

Big Ellie Bear Hugs

Big Abby Bear Hugs

Streets filled with changing leaves and plenty of piles to play around in.

Our beautiful girl enjoying the sunshine and leaves.

Its raining leaves!

I love the fall and the amazing colors it brings!

Fall Sunshine and Mountain Tops

The loves of my life… and boy are they silly!

Rolling down the hills into piles of leaves. The joys of being a kid!

As we explored the streets, the girls took interest in the horse-drawn carriage they kept seeing. Ellie was completely in awe over it and kept beggining us to go for a ride. We held off until after lunch and some sightseeing and then went on a hunt for the carriage. After asking around, we learned that she would pick up at the maypole near town square (how adorable is that?). It was getting late though, and everyone was pretty unsure as to how long carriage rides lasted. We waited and waited some more and still no sign of the carriage. Just as we were about to leave with one broken hearted and crying Ellie, the carriage came around the corner. Talk about luck!

Very excited for a carriage ride around town.

The Wharton’s out on the town… Old Timey Style!

The ride was fun and we had the chance to talk with a very nice woman. Her little dog rides up front with her which is completely adorable. The poor little guy is blind and partially deaf but the cutest thing you have ever seen. A mutt that whimpers every time he smells another dog and is happiest when he is up riding with her. The girls giggled each time he moved and had a great time.

The carriage ride capped off a day of fun and afterwards we headed to the car and went home. The girls fell asleep almost instantly so the ride home was relaxing and quiet. I know that both Shaun and myself cannot wait to come back here again. What a great little escape. Until next time Leavenworth!