Merry Christmas

all hallow's eve

i've been sick for a couple days and i'll be honest, i'm not really in the mood to caption all of our halloween pics. so i'm just going to upload them all. the girls went as ladybugs this year. and just know that the first pictures are from the friday before halloween at our church's trunk or treat. and the second half are from actual halloween. we went over to our friends the loveridges and went trick or treating in their neighborhood along with some other friends of ours, the edwards. we had a great time! the girls were a little weary of all the stranger danger involved with going up to peoples doors but they warmed up by the end of the night. 

{Ward Trunk or Treat}

{Halloween}

 Super cute twin boys of our friends the edwards!

look a like

has anyone ever said that you have a famous look-a-like?

for instance... people tell my mom that she looks like jamie lee curtis, my dad looks like mario (not lopez, mario as in mario bros.), i've gotten eva longoria (which i've never understood. don't get me wrong, i'd love to look like her but i just don't see it), and austin apparently looked like macaulay culkin when he was 12.

and apparently ella already has a look-a-like at 15 months. or so i've been hearing when we are out and about lately, well actually only 3 times. but it was 3 times within 1 week, so that's kind of a lot, right?

so who's her look a like... shiloh jolie pitt

here are some pics that i pulled off the internet for comparison. i think they definitely have some similarities but aren't identical by any means.

 

when i told austin about this, his response was, "well i do look just like brad pitt, so i guess that makes sense." i had quite a chuckle.

so who do YOU look like?

can you hear me now? good.

i recently acquired this beauty...

i've had an iphone for a while and have never felt the need to have a case, but for some reason i am extremely protective of my new one. it probably has something to do with the fact that the girls are obsessed with it and want to play with it every chance they get.

so i've been on the hunt for a case that that will protect it but won't look all manly and drab at the same time. 

here's what i've found, but i love them all and can't decide. that's where you come in. opinions please!

 {1}

{2}

{3}

{4}

{5}

{6}

aren't they all gorgeous! see why i'm having a hard time making a decision?

as american as apple pie

our two bags of apples, from our apple picking trip, finally got put to good use a few days ago. my friend andrea came over and we made 4 large mason jars of applesauce and 6 apple pies. whew! it was a lot of cooking but we had a blast. 

boiled apples that are just dying to be turned into yummy applesauce!

 mashing the apples using the most amazing contraption that we borrowed from a friend

(thanks amy!)

 mmm... good!

 reese joining in on all the fun

andrea rolling out her apple pie dough

 all ready for the filling

and did i take a picture of our finished product? of course not! that would be way too silly and logical of me! actually, i was a little distracted by the cloud of smoke we had in our kitchen due to all the juice that dripped out of the pies while they were cooking. it was a huge sticky, burnt, yucky mess! but oh did those pies taste SO good! 

andrea and i did the math and discovered that one large mason jar of applesauce cost us roughly $7 a piece. that's some expensive applesauce. so maybe this wasn't necessarily a money saving endeavor, but it sure was fun.

an apple a day

this past weekend we went to afton apple, a local apple and pumpkin orchard, with our good friends the livingstons. i had a feeling the girls were going to love it and boy did they. they were in heaven. 

 had to get a few photo ops with this honkin thing. definitely the largest rocking chair i have ever seen! 

 loving on her sissy. i am obsessed with the fact that they can give each other hugs and kisses on demand now. it melts my heart!

"afton apple rocks" - hilarious!

 taking advantage of the fun play area while waiting for the hayride

 andrea, ella, me, and reese, taking the hayride over to the apple orchards. loved the smell of fresh apples that was in the air.

 one of reese's famous inquisitive looks!

 frolicking through the orchard. and yes, i just used the word frolicking. 

once this girl got her hands on this apple she never let it go. by the time we left, she had gnawed halfway through it!

 this is by far my favorite picture of the day. thanks brett! miss ella is definitely a wanderer.

 putting her apple in and out of the apple bag

 the pumpkin orchard was pretty picked through, but luckily we were only in the market for apples that day

ok, maybe THIS is my favorite picture of the day! i can't decide!

looking pretty cute even though he's wearing women's glasses

 the cute livingston family. a special thanks to brett for taking the majority of our awesome pics that day!

 we went back to the play area after we were done picking so the girls could get a little more playtime in. 

 i'm not sure why reese looks so terrified in this picture, she loves the slide. maybe its the fact that she realizes somebody is about to touch her other than mom or dad. she's weird that way.

 feeding the goats. i was surprised how unafraid the girls were of them. i think i was more scared than they were.

the beautiful sunset we captured as we were leaving. it was the perfect ending to a perfect evening. we had the best time! 

now all i have to do is make about 3 apple pies and can a whole bunch of applesauce and the trip will be a true success!