Ice Capades

Today was a very fun day for the Doolin girls and some friends, because Mama took us all to Des Moines to the Ice Capades. Gracie had been very excited about going to see the Disney Princesses on Ice.

Mama let the girls buy a treat, so they shared a snowcone in a special cup and bought this Cinderella wand that lights up and spins around. Ella was obviously intrigued.

Snow White is one of Ella's favorite princesses since she loves the dwarfs, so she was very excited during this scene.

This was a great scene at the end. The castle was behind all the princesses and they were all on the ice together. Gracie loved it, obviously!

The Genie on ice.

It was hard to get good pictures, but you'll have to trust me that everything was beautiful.

Kalyn enjoyed the show, too! She liked Ariel the best, I think. Thank you Mama for such a fun and memorable day. The kids will never forget the Disney Princesses and I will never forget driving through Des Moines lost! :-) Ah, memories.

(I took a lot more pictures, but during my hiatus from blogging, something has happened to my pictures that I stored on the computer. A ton of them have disappeared totally and some of the rest are now unable to be edited, and as dark as it was there, they need edited a little.)

Thanksgiving Day

We were supposed to be in Unionville for Thanksgiving this year, but Janice made a sacrifice and decided to have us come over the weekend instead. That meant we headed to Moberly for Thanksgiving. We always end up playing some kind of game, which I love since I don't get to play many adult games at our house these days.

Brent, Uncle Tommy and Teguh chose to eat in the living room. Can you imagine why? I'm sure it had nothing to do with the football game on TV at that moment.

Grandma Kaser and Teguh were watching the parade on TV for a while.

Gracie got out the art kit that my parents have with approximately 10,000 pieces. If she didn't love it so much they might be tempted to throw it away! What a mess. She has made many lovely creations with it though.

Ella spent part of her day entertaining us on the piano.

We gave the girls a bath before we left that night. Ella enjoyed squirreling around in her pj's with daddy.

I thought about making this our Christmas card this year! Suffice it to say, it's not too flattering, but here we are hanging out on the floor watching yet another game.

Too Many Babies!!!

Ella has been staying very busy these days caring for all the baby dolls in our house. She loves to get in her crib and lay them all down with blankies, bottles and pacifiers.

It kind of makes for a full bed by the time she puts them all to sleep.

Once she has them all laid out, she decides she is a baby too and I have to put her to bed. All of this occurred before 9 a.m. this morning! Whew! She's a busy momma!

Braids

Gracie and Ella got a surprise today when Grandpa and Nana stopped by for a little bit. Gracie wanted Nana to braid her hair, so Nana got to work. It looked very cute. Ella decided she wanted her hair braided also. Since they both have curly hair, it was a little tricky I think, but it turned out cute. I am all thumbs when it comes to braiding. I keep trying, but so far it is not my talent. We will have to rely on Nana who used to braid my hair almost daily when I was little.

Ella Helping Around the House

Ella is a big fan of vacuuming. She will be thrilled when Christmas finally arrives and she gets the vacuum my brother got for her. Hopefully she will still like to use the real deal once in a while to give me a hand!

Raking Leaves

Tonight we raked and burned some leaves. Gracie and Ella wanted to roast marshmallows, but all we had were mini marshmallows. Ella still enjoyed them, not roasted!

We raked in the dark since that seems to be the only time we are home these days. Gracie thought it was funny that we were raking in the dark. Our neighbors probably thought we were crazy!

The piles of leaves were too tempting for these little girls. They ended up making snow angels in the leaves for a while.

Did we have some leaves, or what?!

A Fairy Birthday Party

Gracie and Ella were invited to a birthday party with a fairy theme. Gracie was excited the whole week before the party. These are the girl's friends Savannah (left) and Madison (behind Ella).

This was the only picture I got of Gracie and Madison and Gracie's eyes are closed. Oh, well. It's still cute.

Ella snuck off during the party and sat under some tables that were pushed to the side of the room. It must have felt like a tent.

Tissue paper became a wonderful toy after Madison opened her presents. The girls threw it into the air and tried to catch it as it floated to the ground. It doesn't take much to entertain them at this age.

Our New Friend

We were in Moberly today after church to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Ella loves to play Grandpa's organ, and we have a picture of Gracie doing this same thing when she was Ella's age, so I tried to get a few shots today. It's always fun to lay them side by side and see how similar the girls look at certain stages.

This is the newest addition to our family. My mom bought a new fall scarecrow for us to put outside. The girls loved him very much. He is sturdy and won't blow away. We have one that Ray and Mikie bought us when we lived in Kahoka and it is Gracie's, so maybe this one will be Ella's. We are busy raking leaves right now at our house. I guess that's one thing my dad passed on to me. I can't stand seeing our yard full of leaves. Maybe if they didn't turn yucky after the rain and snow hit I wouldn't care, but they just get to be a yucky mess. Happy Fall!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U

Brent and I headed to Columbia today to watch the Missouri Tigers get defeated by Baylor. It was a very disappointing game, but it's always fun to be a part of the atmosphere you see at a MU game. It was a gorgeous day, and we even got hot. Strange for November, huh?!