Clicking the ruby red shoes...

If only it was that easy to get to Kansas...Dorthy really doesn't know how good she had it. We all headed for Kansas on Tuesday to see family, celebrate Thanksgiving, and hang out with friends. It is actually Amy and Ella's first Thanksgiving in Kansas and Jason's first in 8 years. It should be a lot of fun. But...since we don't have ruby red shoes we had to take the next best thing, Southwest Airlines.

Ella did great on the flight. She actually made friends with everyone seated around us. We even got an entire row to ourselves. I guess that is what happens when you have a baby that is coughing and sneezing as people board the plane....we paid Ella to do it.. 8 )



Ella's first task on the farm was to make sure everything was still in order. Papa volunteered to show her around for her "inspection". First stop was to check out the calves.
Next of course she needed to checkout the farm equipment, so Papa agreed (we had to really twist his arm) to give her a ride in the tractor. It was actually Ella's first ride. She wasn't sure what to think about it at first, but loved it by the end.

After all of that work she needed to kick back and relax a little bit with Papa in his chair.

Also a little time to cuddle and play with Grandma Great and the cousins...
Ella has also found her favorite two new things. Her uncle Mark, who she reaches for whenever she sees him (picture to come in future posts) and her red basket. She loves to sit in this basket for hours. The cousins improved on the new toy by pulling her around Nana's house while she was in the basket.

And finally, two of the most beautiful things in Kansas are the clear blue sky and the amazing sunsets...
More to come as Ella's Land of Oz adventure continues!

November

Well, it's been a busy month so far, and we've still got a trip to Kansas....leaving tomorrow.

Here's the quick re-cap of November thus far....

Ella had her first real cold. The kind of cold where snot pours, and humidifiers are used. Every day we walked around with snot covered clothes and carried our 23lb baby everywhere becuase she cried if she wasn't being held. She needed extra attention for sure, but still seemed pretty sweet. She is such a wonderful baby!!! Ella's snot face is pictured below.... she also learned to say "up" recently, so she would say that to us all the time.

Along with the cold came difficulties nursing (due to not being able to breathe through her nose), and teething! This resulted in biting....ouch! I spent a lot of time with the breast pump. :) And this is probably one of the first times I've ever personally given Ella a bottle.... she can hold it and take it in and out of her mouth all by herself, and that impressed me.

Here is Ella showing off her first upper tooth, which came in the day we had Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. Ok, you can't really see the tooth but it's there.....

Jason and his scruffy face. :) He loves his wife so much that he's kept this for me regardless of the fact the Ella no longer will kiss him on the face with it. It's pretty hillarious when she goes in for a kiss and quickly turnes away when the scruff hits the lips. She now gives him kisses on the forehead.



Look at all these kiddos!....

Oh, and here is Amber and Charlie and Ella....this picture makes me smile for several reasons.

But mainly, I love Amber and Charlie and they both love Ella, AND Amber had stopped by to deliver a peppermint mocah from Starbucks.

Cute kids playing. Before we know it we'll have to start disciplining while they play and steal each other's toys. :)

Also, this month my Grandma Fran passed away. I called her Granny Franny, or just Granny. She was such a cool lady, and I'm not joking when I say that I would like to be even a quarter as wonderful as she was. She aged gracefully, never was bitter or had a bad attitude, she loved people, loved the Lord, had a wonderful sense of humor, wasn't focused on material things, was grateful for what she had in life, and gave generously. The funeral was a beautiful celebration of her. I'm going to miss her dearly, along with the rest of the family, but am so thankful for her example to me of a life well lived....nothing extravagant, and yet her influences went deep and are now reaching far.

Here are Courtney, Evan, Kelly, and Sarah with their niece Ella!

Dad and Ella

Jay and Deedee were able to fly out from Ohio for the funeral, and cousin Ben and Ella got to have a bath together at the hotel....they were DARLING.

Pajama time!! Love these footie PJ's....

Holding hands with Benjamin at the breakfast buffet....

And lastly, here is Carolyn feeding Ella a bottle (yes, a bit more teething and biting yesterday).



And more to come soon from our Kansas Thanksgiving adventures....

Halloween

Ok, I took these pictures of Halloween straight off of Amber's blog. Thanks, Amber!! :)

I never did post any pictures from the actual day of Halloween....so here are two. Ella had two costumes for the occasion (both handed down), and we went with the Turtle costume for pre-Halloween festivities at Jason's office, and then the Ladybug for Halloween day. The turtle wins in cuteness and comfort in my opinion, but here is our little ladybug with Charlie the three eyed monster.

And here is Ella with Gavin the dog, Miriel the cat, and Charlie. I LOVED this little photo shoot. The kids were just unbearably cute!

A few of Ella's tricks

This video may be boring to the masses, but I just love it. Maybe it's because she's saying Mama, or maybe it's because these are my two favorite people on the planet.....but this video makes me happy.

October happenings

Jason has been building lots of fires lately. Ella was mezmerized by the first one, documented here. She cuddled up in a blanket and sat with us and stared. Fun family moment. Our best attempt at getting a pumpkin patch photo....pumpkins are obviously too interesting to look up from.

The following pictures are a few shots from a trip to Seattle that Ella and I made recently. It was my first time headed out of town with Ella all by myself! The drive up was wonderful, the drive back was a bit tricky, and the time in-between was really fun and seemed incredibly short.

Swinging on the swing with Ella....she LOVED this.

Alison, Anya, Amy....and Ella....

Haley and Ella chewing on things they like....

Ella and I took a visit to my mom's new office. She has a really pretty view from her window. We even go to go to the top of the tower (Columbia tower) to view the entire city. A perfectly clear day in Seattle....all mountains visible, ferry boats coming in, mercer Island....you could see it all.

A view from the top with Mom

Jaden and Ella!

Trip to Richland

What a wonderful trip last weekend to Richland, WA! We got to see my beloved Grandma Fran. She is such a wonderful woman, strong in the Lord, witty and sharp in humor, strong in spirit, and survived raising three boys!! The first two were 15 months apart, and the 2nd and 3rd were 12 monts apart. Courage! She is dearly loved by many, and very very special to me. Some of my favoite memories of her are growing up and coming to visit her, looking for agates in her gravel driveway, her road trips to Linfield College each year with Loreen to spoil me for a weekend, her support of my travel, her visit out to Boston to see me graduate with my Masters degree.....I could go on...anyways, I love her.

These two were inseperable....


Granny sharing her basket of stuffed animals with Ella....

Ella loved to shake Granny's pills like little rattles. Ok, and put the bottles in her mouth, as she likes to do with everything right now... Ella and my Dad.... Granny getting her toes painted BRIGHT berry red. She was a trooper and let me pick the color.

Cousin Sarah got a lot of laughs from Ella, and this is a funny mix of a yawn/laugh. She had so much fun!

Ella with Aunt Fran and cousin Sarah...


Cousin Becky and Cousin Sarah lovin on Ella...

Generations of Henniger women....

Just a few sweet pictures

I just thought these pictures of Karen and Ella were too cute! They're here, just chilling...

And this is Aunt Kelly with Ella! Ella had just woke up from her nap here, and has crazy hair....I love that.