Halloween Through The Years

Adrienne did a post a couple of weeks ago in which she posted pictures from Halloween's past. I wasn't really ever one to dress up for Halloween but I did have one picture from when I was in college and dressed up. The rest are all of the kids. I started when Abbey was a baby taking them to JC Penney's and getting a professional picture in their costume and haven't missed a year since. I know this is kind of late for a Halloween post but I wanted to wait until I had this year's photo back.

Also, I have to apologize profusely to those of you with blogs for being so flaky in my commenting lately. I have been diligently reading them all but seem to always be in too much of a hurry to write a comment or at a loss for words. Just please know that you are never far from my thoughts :)

Denise - 1990

I am the church lady from SNL

Abbey - 1999

Abbey - 2000
(Emma was born but only a week old
when pic was taken)


Abbey and Emma - 2001

Abbey and Emma - 2002

Abbey and Emma - 2003

(This was the start of the Princess phase)

Abbey and Emma - 2004

(The Princess phase continues)

Abbey and Emma - 2005

(Abbey is moving on from being a Princess)

Abbey and Emma - 2006

Abbey and Emma - 2007

(Abbey is Hannah Montana and Emma

is reusing a costume finally)

Abbey, Emma and Ella - 2008

Ella's first Halloween

Abbey, Emma and Ella - 2009

Probably my favorite picture yet!!

Wordless Wednesday (a little late)

Halloween 2009

Halloween day started early for us as both Abbey and Emma had 8am soccer games which meant being there by 7:30. Since we were done with sports by 9:30, we basically had the whole day to do Halloween things. We had one more pumpkin patch in town to go to and had decided to save this one for today. It has a really big corn maze to go through so we thought it would be a fun family thing to do. Of course there were plenty of other attractions as well. Ella got to have her second pony ride of the season, there was a big dried corn kernel pit to play in (I have never seen one of these before and all of the kids loved it) and then face painting as well. The maze was fun and of course I got NO pictures of it. I really regretted not having brought the jogger stroller as it was pretty rough terrain for the regular stroller. Abbey and my nephew Ethan got separated from us (we told them not to run ahead) but I wasn't too worried as there were people stationed throughout the maze to help you get out if needed. Emma was our navigator and was working along with a couple of high school girls to find our way. I think it took us 30-45 minutes but we did eventually make it out. Followed shortly by Ethan and then Abbey (they had gotten separated too). Then we went home to do chores, yard work and some last minute decorating of the front porch. The kids (and daddy) then carved their pumpkins and I am so bummed that I didn't get any pics of that either!! Finally it was time to trick or treat. I just took Ella out to a few houses on our street. She kept getting mad every time we would leave someone's front door. I couldn't figure out why. Then she just was done!! So I brought her home and daddy and Auntie took the big kids back out. Ella finally settled back down and thoroughly enjoyed helping the big kids go through and trade their candy.

Ma and Pa Vollmer

Ella and daddy on the pony


Emma, Abbey and Ethan in the corn pit

Ella trying to figure the corn pit out

Three sisters (Abbey is wearing paint and makeup

that her soccer team decided to do together)

Auntie decided to play with Ella in the

corn pit

Ethan's ghoulish face

Emma's pirate face that will go with her

Pink Pirate costume

Abbey got a blue spider web face so it would match

her blue costume

We now know that Ella does not like clowns!!!

The big kids ready to trick or treat

I don't think Ella wanted to be held at this moment

Better now that she is in her stroller

Candy anyone???

Helping Abbey with her candy

Emma quietly guarding her stash!

Ds Halloween Party

Friday night we went to a Halloween party for a group here in town. It isn't specifically a Down syndrome group....it is a group for any kind of disability but it just so happened that the people who were there this time, were all Ds families. It was originially planned for a park but they decided to move it to someone's home as they were worried the weather might be too cool. We were quite late and it was pretty crowded so it was hard for me to get any photos of all of the older kids but after most everyone left, I was finally able to get pics of the 3 little ones in the group. These are the kiddos that I have recently met and Ella has had playdates with. We all went to the party together and this was the first time that we have gotten them all 3 together at once. As you can tell, I wasn't able to get any "great" pics but at least I got something!!

Ella and Hannah at my house waiting for Haden to arrive

(Hannah's ghost onesie was Ella's last year)

The only picture I got of Ella, Haden and Hannah together.

Not a chance at getting them all 3 to smile at the same time.

Ella got tic-tac-toe!!

Look at those big kids standing!!

Wordless Wednesday

Where's Your Boobies???

I hope no one finds this post offensive, but to us, this is the funniest thing ever!! A week or so ago after giving Ella a bath, I had her sitting facing the mirror and was holding her hands and saying "where's your head", "where's your nose", "where's your mouth" etc. etc. and at the same time placing her hands in the appropriate spot. Out of the blue, I said "where's your boobies?" and put her hands on her chest and she started cracking up. Now, it is the only thing she will do correctly when we ask her "where's your.....". She thinks it is a funny as we do. As you can also see from the other videos, she loves to go REALLY fast on her little car. She has completely gotten the hang of putting her feet up so they don't drag on the floor. My poor sister, Ella kept throwing a fit every time she would try to stop going back and forth across the kitchen.

Another Pumpkin Patch

We went to another pumpkin patch last night. This was the kind that I don't like as much. You know the ones that cost lots of money for all the silly little slides and rides. But the kids decided that they wanted to go and use their own money so off we went. Of course there aren't really any rides that Ella can go on so she just spent her time being a model for mommy :) We still had lots of fun. I think it is always fun to be at a pumpkin patch. There is just something about the fall atmosphere that I just love!!