October Update (Now into November!)

Again, it seems like time gets away from me so fast, but for the past month, it's not been for lack of chaos! My color guard team has been has several performances, mainly football games and I've been spending a lot of time with them. Mary has actually gone to a couple of the football games with me and really had fun. I think she liked spending time with Mama and she really loves the girls on the team. Well, that and everyone kept giving her candy and snacks!! It was actually cool having her there. She was pretty well behaved given the chaos that high school football games are! I think she will end up being a cheerleader (instead of color guard) though. She just seems to have "that attitude" that is perfect for being a cheerleader! Ha! Ella is going to be my color guard. She is fascinated with it. She also loves all the girls on the team and really enjoys going to practice.

I got to go to San Diego earlier this month and watch my eldest child graduate from Marine Boot Camp. Boy was that an experience. It's so weird seeing my "boy", now a man. When he came home on leave, Mary had no problem recognizing him (even though he looks and certainly ACTS different). Ella was quite confused though. Once Adam took his hat off and bent down, you could see the wheels turning in Ella's mind. She touched his face and stared deeply at him. It took a few days for her to really recognize that he was indeed her big brother. Here is a picture of them all the night Adam got home.


It was so good to have Adam home, although he just wasn't the same boy that left three long months ago. He had changed oh so much. His leave seemed to fly by and before I know it, he was gone again. Here are a couple more pictures I was able to snap off before he left.





And this one is my favorite! I call it "Her Hero".


Ella's speech has been taking off! She started preschool and she loves going. New sounds are coming out of her and it's truly amazing. She is making some great progress. She likes her teacher and she likes her new friends. She comes home and tells us all about it (and half the time we have NO IDEA what she's talking about)!

-Continued into November...
I've worked on this post several times, but never seem to get it finished and posted darn it!

The girls had a great time with Halloween. Ella was very confused on the whole pumpkin carving thing. Confusion rapidly turned into fascination though. Here is some of the pumpkin madness!



Here are the girls and their pumpkins!

And here is Ella, completely fascinated with her first pumpkin...


Ella got to wear Mary's old Chinese "Princess" outfit (that Mary outgrew) and I made a new outfit for Mary (a traditional Dong Festival Dress). The new dress made me curse (a lot) at my sewing machine but I think it (might) have been worth it! Both girls looked absolutely amazing! Mary really looked regal though in her festival dress! She got plenty of ooohs and aaaahs every where we went. Ella figured out real quick that if she smiled and held up her pumpkin, that people would say "oh how cute" and put candy in it! Didn't take her long to figure THAT one out! Here are a couple of pictures of the girls in their Halloween "Chinese Princess" dresses. Eat your heart out Cinderella, Snow White and all you other princesses!

Princess Mary


Princess Ella


Ready for Trick-or-Treating!