Super fun day with friends

Shelly (left) and Cherise visiting with Mae

Ella helping Hope take off her shoes after playing outside. Then when the Hurleys were leaving and we couldn't find Hope's shoes, we realized that Ella had put them with all of our shoes in the shoe cubby. I love toddlers!! Sometimes they have such a sense of order.

Hope and Brock loving on Nala

Brock holding Mae

Cute girls holding hands

The whole gang.....you just know it's not possible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time!

On Sunday, November 15, our dear friends from college and their children came to visit us and to meet Baby Mae. Cherise and Brandon Hall with their boys Dylan, 7, and David, 5, drove from Romney (south of Lafayette) and Shelly and Mark Hurley with their children Claire, 8, Brock, 3 1/2, and Hope, 21 months drove from Rensselaer. We had such a great time and it was a housefull!!! All the kids did great together. Nicholas and Dylan and David were inseparable. I think they're friends for life even though Nicholas kept calling one of them "Daniel".....we're not exactly who he was referring to. Ella tried to take Hope under her wing but Hope was generally not interested. The kids were so cute and so busy. Mae coped well until around 8:00 when she had to meltdown for awhile. I can't say that I blame her. 8 kids is a lot of kids in one house!

Pilgrim Day!!

Today was pilgrim day in Ella's class at preschool. Ella walked out of class all decked out in her pilgrim collar and bonnet. She looked very cute. 3 weeks from today, she will turn 3 years old. Oh my. Where has the time gone?

Mae meets Yia-Yia and Pappou

Yia-Yia and Miss Mae meeting for the first time

Lovely ladies ages 6 weeks old to 92 years young

A picture says a thousand words

Niko and Pappou discussing history and world affairs

Ella playing Yia-Yia's piano

Ella and Pappou sharing a giggle

Mae with Mimi and Papa Don

On Saturday morning, we loaded up the troops and headed south to Columbus to visit with the Demas great-grandparents, affectionately called Yia-Yia and Pappou (Greek for Grandma and Grandpa). We had a wonderful visit at their home followed by lunch with Mimi and Papa Don and then a trip to a super fun park. It was a really great day. Mae and her siblings were in great spirits and I think it made Yia-Yia and Pappou's day to get to visit with our little people.

Dancing Flower

I love Miss Paula's preschool class. She does such creative things with these little people. In September, she dressed the kids up as little bakers. November is Thanksgiving month and today they learned about Indians. Ella and all her little classmates came marching out of class decked out in full Indian attire. Each child had an Indian name written on the back of his/her vest. Ella was "Dancing Flower." She was so proud of herself. She came walking out of class and loudly exclaimed,"Look Mommy! I'm a little Indian!" Oh my gosh......I love it!

Great Alternative Gig (Halloween 2009)

Knight Nicholas

Princess Ella (Sleeping Beauty)

What cute kiddos!!!

Ella playing basketball at GAG night

Ella and Nicholas playing the cotton ball game

Mae's First GAG Night!

GAG night is our church's alternative to trick-or-treating. CRCC (Chapel Rock Christian Church) holds this event in our Family Life Center. The place was packed. Our kiddos had a great time playing games in the preschool room and going through the maze. Another favorite activity was decorating pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies. Yum! The kids got enough candy to last us until next Halloween!!

Buddies

Nicholas and Ella having been really cute together lately. They've been playing a lot together and they enjoy sitting in the bug chair together. They've also been playing restaurant, doctor, babies, pretty school, running relays, dancing and doing exercises. Of course, things tend to get out of hand occasionally and someone ends up hurt and/or in tears but then we quickly get ourselves put back together and then they're joined at the hip all over again.

Freakishly Smart

Warning: Do not read any further if you are uncomfortable with me bragging on my son's smarts. I won't do this often but I feel the need to share today's revelations because sometimes a Mommy just has to immortalize the musings of her bright 5-yr-old. Having said that, let me share this......

Today at Ella's preschool, one of Niko's former teachers from the 3's class stopped to talk to us and asked if Niko is just reading everything these days. I said yes and that he's very much into presidents right now. Miss Nancy then asked him who the 16th president was and he replied,"Abraham Lincoln." O.k. Then he clammed up when I asked him a few more questions so we dropped the subject. I was telling Lenn about the conversation at dinner and we decided we'd just see if the boy had any more tricks up his sleeve. I said,"Nicholas, who was the 4th president?" Without hesitation he said,"James Madison." Then I asked him who the 10th president was and he said he didn't want to answer any more questions but that he did know the answer. I asked him if he knew how many children the 10th president had and he said "15." The only president to have 15 children was the 10th president, John Tyler. He's been reading/devouring/memorizing a book called "Wooden Teeth and Jelly Beans" about interesting presidential trivia. How can he pull facts from that book out of thin air when I'm asking him about his presidents placemat? As Lenn was putting Nicholas to bed, he asked him who the 7th president was and he replied,"Andrew Jackson" but he seemed kinda shy about answering Daddy. Lenn explained to him that Mommy and Daddy have to look up the answers to those questions and Nicholas then seemed to think that knowing the presidents inside and out is big stuff! Unbelievable.