Lainey's First Haircut

After an offhand comment this week from PopPop Skeet with the word mullet in it (and the knowledge that Christmas pictures were coming up), we decided it was time to take Lainey in for her first haircut.  I guess we had been avoiding it because of the memory of Ellie's first...she screamed and squirmed the whole time.  Guess we shouldn't have put it off so long, because Lainey actually seemed to enjoy it!

   

The before...

...the during...

...and the after!  So pretty!

Girls Rock!

Ritter Girls Rock!

Ellie and Lainey LOVE Guitar hero almost as much as their Daddy! 

Such concentration...

Trick-or-Treat

Last night was trick-or-treat at the Ritter household!  Excitement was high!  Ellie dressed as a bride and Lainey a cat.  It was nice to be able to start the night in the light since the fall time change hadn't happened yet.  We have a neighbor who has kids the same age as Ellie and Lainey so they were all able to go together.  We pulled the younger ones in the wagon and hit every third or fourth house while Zach and Ellie ran ahead being sure not to miss a house.  I think a fun time was had by all!

Fall Photo Shoot?!

It was such a beautiful and sunny fall day today that I thought I'd take the girls outside for some photos in the leaves.  Ellie had already picked out matching shirts and jeans for them to wear today, so all I needed to do was brush their hair.  Easy enough?!  We found the perfect spot and were ready to shoot, but Lainey had other plans.  This was the best one I got of her.  All she wanted to do was run across the street and knock on Melanie's door to see if she could come out and play!  :) 

Ellie, as usual, was more than willing to have her picture taken!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night was Dad's Carving Night at Ellie's preschool.  The dads bring the kids in costume with pumpkins scooped out, drawn on, and ready to go.  Then they spend an hour or so carving and singing pumpkin songs.  

Here is a sneak peek of Ellie's 2008 costume--A Beautiful Bride!

You'll have to wait until the 31st to see Lainey's!

Checking out the size of her new rock!

Matt said his goal for the night was to make all the other little girls jealous with his (oops, I mean Ellie's) pumpkin.  What 4 year old girl wouldn't be envious of this Cinderella pumpkin!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip-10/15/08

Last Wednesday Ellie's preschool class went on a field trip to Iron's Farm in Lebanon.  It was a beautiful day...about 80 and sunny.  Not really your typical pumpkin patch weather.  We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, picked our own pumpkins right off the vine, and ate homemade apple donuts--yum!  

It was lots of fun!

Ellie and Mommy on the hayride.

Ellie with her pumpkin.  Isn't it a beauty!!

Ellie with some of her classmates--Halle, Kirsten, Brianna, Ellie, & Grace.

Seacrest Beach, FL

The last week in September we headed to Florida for our annual Ritter Family vacation.  As always, we had a blast.  In the past we had gone to Charelston, SC because Katie and Ted were already there.  This year since they had moved to Nashville we decided to try some place different.  We ended up at Secreast Beach, FL halfway between Panama City and Destin.  It was beautiful.  It was great to have the whole family together and really fun to watch Ellie, Lainey, and Garrett together now that they are old enough to interact.  

Here is the yearly family photo with matching attire chosen by Namaw!

Ellie and Lainey both love the water and enjoyed their time at the beach and the pool.  There was a little jellyfish problem because of the hurricanes that had hit the Gulf shore.  We were able to dip our toes and spent most of our mornings playing in the sand.  After lunch we hit the pool and the moms enjoyed the fact that the baby monitors were still in range poolside! 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the girls from the trip.

Can't wait 'til next year!!  :)

School's In!

Yesterday was Ellie's first day of her second year of preschool.  She is in the Star class at Lakeview Preschool.  She has been waiting all summer for school to resume!  She loves it!!  And, she especially loves her teacher this year...her Great Auntie Deb!  :)  (Even though she gave her two homework assignments on the very first day!)

She escapes!

Lainey finally made the great escape this week.  She climbed out of her crib at 16 1/2 months.  One week later than her sister Ellie did.  It's been a rough couple of nights transitioning to a big girl bed...which right now is just a twin mattress on the floor.  She's only taken one nap this week and it was on the floor right inside the gate that's blocking her door.  Which I have to tell you I had to replace with a seamless model because she figured out how to scale the old gate as well.  

We definitely have a climber on our hands!

Here is a picture of Ellie on the first night trying to show Lainey what to do!  This was after they spent a good half an hour using the mattress as a trampoline!

Doesn't she look so sleepy and ready for bed?!

This picture was taken at about 11:30pm!

Play-Doh

On Monday of this week Lainey had her first Play-Doh experience.

The concentration!

The joy!

Go Bucks!

Saturdays these days we don our Buckeye gear.  

Here are a few pictures of the girls from last weekend.

Touchdown Buckeyes!

Buddies

Ellie woke up with bad allergies this morning and wasn't feeling very well.  After eating some breakfast, she made herself a floor bed with the princess couch.  Lainey jumped in with her and snuggled right up.  I had to grab the camera!

Ellie drools?!

Girls rule...boys drool!!  That has been Ellie's motto for the last few months.  Much to Matt's delight he caught Ellie in the act last week when she fell asleep on the couch watching the Olympics.

The proof is in the picture...Ellie definitely drools!!

Fudgsicle

Usually each night after dinner the girls have a popsicle--most of the time they eat it in the bathtub so there's no mess.  Last night Ellie spotted some fudgsicles that I had in the freezer and decided they looked better than the sugar free popsicles they usually have.  I didn't think a fudgsicle would taste too good after being dipped in bath water so they ate them at the table.  

Lainey truly enjoyed hers!! 

Ellie finished hers in no time so Lainey graciously offered to share!

A chocolate popsicle...that was awesome!!

New Bike

As most of you know, Ellie got a new bike for her birthday this summer.  What many of you don't know is that after everyone left the party that day and after only one or two loops around the circle on our street, she took a little spill.  For more than a month she was unwilling to get back on.  All of a sudden last week she decided she was ready to give it another try.  Now she's an expert having mastered both the pedal and hand brakes.  

Here are a couple of photos of her showing off her skills!

Lainey didn't want to miss out on the fun.  She loves to ride in the seat on the back of Matt's bike.  Here is a picture of Daddy and his girls biking together.

First Date

Last Wednesday night we had planned to go out to dinner, but because Lainey was so cranky we didn't get to go.  Ellie was very disappointed.  I promised her we would go on a lunch date the next day and Daddy would stay home with Lainey.  First thing Thursday morning Ellie jumped out of bed and dressed herself--complete with jewels, sparkly purse, makeup and heels.  When I asked her why she was so dressed up she looked at me rolled her eyes and said, "Duh Mommy, because we're going on a date!" 

Machir Family Reunion

July 12th was the Machir Family reunion.  We spent the day at Aunt Chloris' house.  It was about 95 degrees that afternoon so we spent a lot of our time in the pool.  Here is a picture of Ellie and Lainey on a giant floating spider!

For a few weeks leading up to the event we worked to psych Ellie up to jump off the diving board.  She had never done this before.  At first Daddy had to be right underneath to make sure she didn't go under. 

After only a few leaps to Daddy she was ready to do it on her own.  She spent the rest of the day jumping off and swimming to the side on her own.  I know she jumped well over a hundred times.

Lainey had a fun time in the pool too.  Especially when she was playing with PopPop!

Thanks to Chloris and Lu for having us all to your house.  I know it's a lot of work.  We appreciate you being willing to host!

The Littlest Artist

One of the presents Ellie received for her birthday was an art easel.  She has been making good use of it for sure.  Today we got out the real paint to use--water colors weren't cutting it on this big paper!  I'm pretty sure we're going to have to start buying the rolls of art paper by the case!

Her first masterpiece..."Mommy, Ellie, Daddy & Lainey"!  

I'm sure it will be worth millions one day!

Ellie's Birthday

As all of you know, July 4th is Ellie's birthday.  She decided to celebrate her 4th birthday with a Princess Party.  As you can see she looked the part.  She dressed as Cinderella, had a fancy hairdo, and wore lots of jewels!  All the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles were in attendance...Shane and Maria even joined in via webcam for a while! 

Yummy, this icing is fit for a Princess!!

After much deliberation the week before the party Ellie decided she wanted a pink princess castle cake.  She and I spent the afternoon of her birthday eve baking and decorating it together.

Ellie received lots of great gifts!  Thank you everyone!  Here is the Princess on her new Disney Princess bike!