Ella is 4 years old!!

Happy Birthday, Ella!! On Friday, she turned 4 years old. What a big day! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast then made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (per Ella's request......I think she shares Mommy's sweet tooth......) then we had friends over for a playdate and lunch. Big fun. Ella took a big afternoon nap......I think we had worn her out. Then when Daddy came home, we had her favorite dinner.....fishsticks and mac and cheese.......and then presents. Was there a fruit or vegetable consumed all day? I'm not sure but I do know she had big fun. We gave her several Barbies (2 were bought for me when I was little and were stashed in Grandma's basement for 30 years......still in boxes......Lenn thought maybe we should put them on E-bay!) and a double-seater swing for her babies. She also received sweet princess pajamas and a princess coloring book from our friends, the Waggoner family. Her favorite gift of the day was her Cinderella Barbie from her friend Jillian. Cinderella is sleeping with Ella and taking baths with Ella......she even went to the Nutcracker Ballet with Ella yesterday. Ella is definitely our girlie girl.

Visit with Yia Yia and Pappou

Ella and Pappou had a nice time discussing the names of the boys and girls in Ella's preschool class

Yia Yia and Nicholas

Papa Don reading to Mae (one of her favorites......her big animal picture book) with Niko posing in the background

Papa Don, Nicholas, Mae and Mommy (Ella was at preshool)

LOVING this picture......Nicholas James Demas and Nicholas James Detwiler

Yia Yia and Mae.......Mae and Yia Yia enjoyed looking at books together. At one point, I asked Mae to go get a book and take it to Yia Yia. Mae walked from the kitchen right out to the living room to the books basket, grabbed a book and took it to Yia Yia and handed it to her. So sweet!

We had a very special visit from my grandma (Yia Yia) and grandpa (Pappou) Demas yesterday. My parents drove GM and GP up from Columbus. GM is 93 and GP is 91 and it was such a blessing to have them visit us in our new home. We captured some really sweet moments on camera. These pictures are precious to me.

Disney Magic Show

On Sunday, November 7, friends of ours from church gave us tickets to the Disney Magic Show at Conseco Fieldhouse. There were 4 tickets so Lenn and I took the big kids and Meemaw and Papa stayed with Mae at our house. The show was big and bright and fun. Ella was absolutely mesmerized by the princesses. Nicholas was totally participating throughout the whole show.....they frequently asked us to say the magic word........but then after the show was over, Niko said it was boring. Go figure!

They wouldn't let us take pictures of the actual show......bummer.

It's always fun to get to do something cool downtown. Indianapolis has so much to offer.

GAG Night 2010

Nicholas (Spiderman) with Joshua (5) and Ben (2) Waggoner at GAG night. The entire Waggoner family dressed up as pirates......awesome. This picture is out of order.......long story.......

Ella as "Tinkerbell".......she's holding one of the princesses that Daddy brought her from his trip to Texas......cute!

Ella and Nicholas

Nicholas, Mae (Raggedy Ann) and Ella.....ready for GAG night!!

Mae trick-or-treating for the first time......at Miss Ann's house in our cul-de-sac

Mae Mae as "Raggedy Ann"........Mae left her wig on only about half of the time and she has a cold so getting the perfect picture was not easy.......we never could get her to smile!

Mae Mae and Ella playing the duck game

Ella playing ring toss while Mae watches closely

Will Hoerger (2 yr old friend from Bible Study, dressed as Woody from "Toy Story") with Nicholas and Ella (Ella is eating a pixie stick.....yum)

Tonight was our Great Alternative Gig (GAG) night at Chapel Rock. We got the kids all dressed up, made a quick trick-or-treastop at our neighbor Ann's house and then headed to church. The kids had a great time playing games and getting candy. Nicholas and Ella were very much into acquiring the most and best candies but Mae just wanted to wander around and take it all in. Lenn and I just looked at last year's blog and it is unbelievable how much these children have changed. Mae was just a few weeks old and I was wearing her in my sling. Ella had a pudgy little baby face and beautiful ringlet curls around her tiara. Niko looks like he's 6 inches taller this year (maybe I exaggerate......but he does look like a big kid!). My how time flies.

Waterman's Fall Festival

Ella and Daddy in the corn maze

So cute....."How tall this fall?"......Nicholas and Ella (below) are big kids!!

Nicholas posing in the corn maze

Niko speeding down the combine slide (the slide is attached to a combine.........clever!)

Ella on the combine slide

Nicholas racing against Mommy and Mae....I'm not sure who was having more fun!! Woo hoo!

Mae playing "peek-a-boo" from inside a tractor tire

We had the most fun last night at the Waterman's Fall Festival on the east side of Indianapolis. Waterman's is a pumpkin patch, farm, market, etc with lots of fall fun activities for families to enjoy. The kids played and played and then as we were preparing to leave, it was time to feed the dinosaur. They have this mechanical dinosaur who is probably 10 feet tall that growls rather loudly and eats pumpkins. It was great! Nicholas and Ella were mesmerized and Mae was slightly terrified.......she didn't totally melt down but she was shaking in Lenn's arms. What says fall like a pumpkin-eating dinosaur?

Jack-o-Lanterns!!!

"Ariel" and "Golf" jack-o-lanterns

Ella and Nicholas and their pumpkin creations

Nicholas and Daddy working hard on Niko's "golf" pattern

Ella concentrating on her "Ariel" carving

Ready to start carving!

We had a great time this afternoon carving our pumpkins for this year. We bought pumpkins last night, printed off patterns from the computer and got to work. Ella, of course, wanted to do a princess so she chose Ariel from "The Little Mermaid." Nicholas had a tough time deciding between baseball and golf but ended up with a very cool golf picture. (You can click on the jack-o-lanterns picture for a bigger image.) It felt a little strange to be carving pumpkins outside in our shorts and t-shirts. It was a beautiful day but it didn't feel much like fall.

Now we're going to roast up our pumpkin seeds.......yum!

Mae's Birthday Cupcake

I decided I should do a separate post about Mae eating her cupcake so that I can include lots of pictures. On Nicholas and Ella's first birthdays, there had been very few sweets prior to their parties. So when they were presented with their first cupcakes, they approached said cakes as though they were strange and forbidden. They were ever so cautious. Not my Mae Mae. She's had numerous encounters with sweets in the past few months so when it was cupcake time, it was game on. She grabbed that thing with both hands. She had two hands full of cupcake so she couldn't quite get herself a bite so Ella helped. Then Mae got it figured out. She seriously ate the entire cupcake except for the chunk that fell down beside her in the high chair. That's my girl!