HallowThanksBirthmas...and a Happy New Year!

Ok...totally made up holiday, but this post is jamming Ella Mae's Halloween Bday, Thanksgiving, Ruby Doobs Third Bday Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, actual Christmas...and I may as well jam New Year's in there too.  I mean..why not?  I have got nothin' but time on my hands...ha!  Did ya hear that sarcasm?  Life is great over in these here parts...but super busy...lots to catch up on!

First I will start with a few quick pics from this years Buddy Walk ( yes...that's right..I am jammin one more  event into this post...but whose counting?)...it was a super mellow one but still lots of fun.  We actually carried one of Ruby's friends banners this year who couldn't be there due to Leukemia.  I am SOOOO happy to report though that he is in remission and doing well!!  Woot woot!! I am also happy to report that I actually made  it through the walk this year.  Last year we had to run outta there before the walk even started cuz some stomach bug hit me like a Mack Truck. I was literally laid out in the grass moaning like I was about to give birth. This year was much more pleasant.  It is always nice to be surrounded by peeps and families that have a common bond.  99% of them are strangers, but we are all connected by that one tiny little extra chromosome...either having one or loving someone rockin' one.  Here is Ella Mae huggin' two of her favorite 'extra chromosomers'...

Could they be any cuter??

  and you can't tell in this pic but Ruby and her Grandmother are rockin' matching pig tails, "dog ears" as she calls them. They don't look like they have much together...

Ok...moving on to Halloween...AKA Ella Mae's FIFTH birthday...un-freakin'-believable.  I just can't believe it has been five years since I gave birth (26 hours of natural birth...but whose counting?) to that lil' nugget of love.  And she is truly a nugget of love...she is about the sweetest big sister on the planet...

not to mention thoughtful and caring....loves princesses but is not afraid of digging for grub worms or crop-dusting me while I am laying on the couch.  I will call that last one payback. She is a daredevil and will be the first to try any new activity, like riding a bike, diving to the bottom of an 8 foot pool, or leaping from furniture like superman (or I guess I should say Wonder-Woman) flying between tall buildings.  Fearless I tell ya. I will also call that last one payback.  I see so much of both my husband and I in her...but most of the time I just see her. Ella Mae. This perfect lil' nugget of love with a mind of her own...discovering herself and the world around her...and I love love love being in the front row to watch it all go down...

So we did what we normally do on Halloween...got together with the Culde Crew and hit up some houses for some candy...

Ella Mae was going to go as a Wonder Woman "twin" with Doobs, but she had a last minute wardrobe change (wish me luck in teen years..gah!) and went with Snow White.  She really can't go wrong in anything she wears though...

I mean seriously...how cute are they??

I had a last minute wardrobe change as well and decided to throw on one of Ella Mae's wigs.  I had no intention of really being anyone...but three different people asked me if I was going as my mom...ha!!!

Tim was going as...Brett Micheals with a beard? 

Here is a photo for comparison...I think they were right on the money...minus a few hot pink highlights...what do you think?

Moving on Folks...got alot of ground to cover here.  I will post a separate post about Ella's actual sleepover bday party at a later date (maybe :)).  Several people asked me if I traveled for Thanksgiving this year.  I told them if you consider walking across the culde-sac traveling...then yep. We traveled.  We spent a wonderful mellow day with our neighbors again this year...and it was fabulous.  Bryan deep fried a turkey...and seriously...who doesn't love them some deep fried turkey??

and who doesn't love them a man in overalls...seriously.

Doreen and I shared some "not three dollar" bottle of wine with dinner...

and of course we had our one pm Thanksgiving lunch right on time at 5pm...(but whose counting?)  The kiddie table was bumpin' this year again.  And yes...mine are the naked one at the table and the one still in her PJ's at 5pm....that makes for an awesome day to give thanks...right??

And thankful we are...for so many things and for so many reasons.  Thankful for my perfectly awesome lil' ladies, for so much love and support from family and friends, for having such a wonderful crew of neighbors...this list could go on and on and on...that's how lucky and thankful we are!!  My hubby was not so thankful, however, for my love of the Christmas tunes a week before Thanksgiving...

So forging on through this celebrating and reminiscing of the holiday season...the hubby and I are trying to simplify life, shed things we don't need, not buy things we "think" we need but really don't.  Which is pretty much everything...am I right?  I mean...minus food, shelter and what-not of course.  The truth is...we don't really really need much.  I've got my beautiful lil' ladies...my hunky hubby...life is good...so we made the decision to cancel cable and move the gino Armour the TV was in out of the living area and into 'the garoom'.  We still have family movie night and stream "Castle" (that was one of my main concerns with cancelling cable...how on earth will we watch Castle??), but for the most part we don't even think about it...and it completely opened up the living space, bringing in more light...more room to play, read books...it just feels better.  Another great BIG plus was we brought out the record player and rediscovered our love affair with playing records....

Tim and I used to spend hours digging through old records at the record store.  It was a cheap date (although I have always been a pretty cheap date, I think that is why the hubby married me) and so much fun discovering old tunes you forgot you loved....like this beauty....

Why, I do love a rainy night Mr. Rabbit...

 All I gotta say is jams....serious jams. It makes family dance party alot more fun too (as if that were possible!).  We had lots of fun putting the Christmas tree up this year...it's nice to have lil' helpers.  Well...it actually took about five times longer...but it was way more fun :)

We also added a new addition to our "spirit of Christmas" family....meet Jimmy.  Ella Mae named him and I am not quite sure where it came from...but he is pretty cute and waves at Santa, Frosty, Tree, Mickey, and Shivering Polar Bear across the culde sac...

So this is the Santa at the Down Syndrome Association Christmas party...I am thinking I am goin to have to hire him for Doobs party next year because Dakus in a Target Santa suit just ain't cuttin' it anymore...

There was a big line waiting for picutres with "Target" Santa at Ruby's Third Bday party and all you could hear was "Is that really Santa?"..."I can see his strap!"....and my favorite from Ella Mae  "Whose in there mommy??".  I gave the typical "It's the spirit of Santa...blah blah blah" theory...but next year we have to take it up a notch. I would hate for peeps not to come to her party for fear of ruining "the spirit of Santa"...ha!!  Maybe Tim could grow a long beard?

ok...maybe his beard was a little crooked...

  Anywho...there was a little more competition this year for the coveted trophy for the ugliest Christmas sweater...I mean who wouldn't wanna have this bad boy on their mantle...seriously.

So my cuz Courtney really went all out again this year...and yes.. there is a person hiding in that tree!!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner....

It was a perfect day for me because I got to hang out with these ladies...and got to hang out in my flannel doggy Christmas jammies all day....

Seriously...it doesn't get any more fun than this...the uglier the sweater the better.

The main thing is that Ruby had fun....

mission accomplished.

One of our bestest families oldest daughter turned fifteen.  Just. cant. believe. it.  They had a Quincenera for her and it was one of the funnest events of the holidays for us cuz we saw so many old school friends coming together to celebrate her.  The dance floor was bumpin...but Ruby Doobs captured the attention of quite a few of the gentlemen...

and then more came...

Honestly...it was so great to see high school kids being so sweet and attentive with her. Although she does draw you in like a moth to a flame!  We added a new addition to our family...can you feel the hubby eye roll from there?  Introducing....Colonel Hedgie Hogermeister....

He is actually very easy to care for but he is just a little prickly.  My thought process was that he needs to be able to defend himself from all our other fur babies in the house, but I didn't take into account there would be no "snuggle" factor.  Ella asked me if next time we could get something a little more "cuddly"..ha!

So Christmas was wonderful and uneventful...just the way we like it!  My brother and his family came and we just hung around, played games and caught up on life.  Our tree once again was packed with lots of goodness....

And these ladies were so much fun....

Whew!!  I am done for now.  Next post I will update on how Ruby Doobs is doing in her new PPCD classroom.  She started a program at her local elementary school that focuses on speech and language. She marches her lil' booty right on in there and with the big kids like she owns the place.  Watch out for this one peeps!

Happy HallowThanksBirthmus peeps....and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hopefully it won't take me this long for my next post...but whose counting??