Pneumonia, Potty Training, and a Birthday

 So life the last month has been chaos!! My poor sweet little Ella has had this relentless ear infection that just wouldn't go away! So after going through 2 full antibiotics and still having high fevers, I once again took her back into the Dr only to find out my sweet girl had pneumonia...boo!!! I can't say I was super surprised since Shawn has had a wicked Bronchitis, Jaden has had a sinus infection and then Ella...we have been a sickly sight! I think I went a month without going to church because Shawn had to be there and I had sick kiddos! So luckily my boss at the preschool is phenomenal, and let me take almost 2 weeks off to let Ella recover! Thanksgiving break break fit it nicely as well! 

Ella actually rebounded quickly enough that I decided since we were out of school I would give potty training a shot! I was a little apprehensive but she has done fantastic, dont get me wrong, she has had her fair share of accidents, but for as young as she is I mist say I am impressed!

Ella's birthday was last monday, I can't believe my little baby is 2!!

 For her birthday she got her very first doll house!

She has absolutely LOVED playing with it and it is so fun for me to watch her!

 

 For the birthday girl's special day we went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden! Ella and Jaden absolutely love it there, so I thought it would be a fun way to spend our day!

 

The Saturday before Ella's birthday we had Shawn's famioly up for family pictures! 

We hadn't had one taken since our wedding with his side of the family so we decided that it was about time!

Since they were already coming up we decided to celebrate Ella's birthday that day too! Nothing fancy, just some fun family time! My mom and my sister Amy and her family came up as well! Ella got spoiled rotten ate way too much candy and LOVED every minute of it...except for the family pictures that is....

She loved opening presents...

Then she finished her cupcake and wanted some real sugar, thats my girl!

 

 All in all it was a fantastic day and a great way to celebrate the end of being sick!

Here are a few fun things about my Ella bug...

She LOVES pancakes, on her actual birthday I asked her if she wanted a cake and she requested pancakes instead (those pictures are on shawns camera..ooops)

She also LOVES candy, a favorite right now is starbursts, which she gets way too many of with potty training, she will go any time anywhere for a starburst!

She is very stubborn but also as sweet as they come! She loves her morning snuggles and is always very concerned about her big brother when he is sad, but she's not afraid to bonk him on the head if she feels she is being treated unjustly :0)

She is super tough which is good because she is also super clumsy :) she randomly falls over all the time but can stand up and brush it off with the best of them!

She thinks she's a teenager and is very independent anything that anyone else can do she can do, and do it better! 

She loves nursery and preschool and is learning so much! She loves to say prayers by helself and knows the majority of her colors! She loves to count things!

He favorite color is pink! She wants to eat out of pink bowls or pink plates with pink silverware!

She has just started getting into dressing up and its hysterical, I love it!

Her giggle is still the cutest thing you will ever hear!

She loves to read books and is starting to enjoy coloring too!

Her favorite things to watch on tv are Minnie Mouse, Word World and lately Sophia the Princess

Ella is such a joy in our little family and we are SO blessed to have her! I can't imagine life without my little ray of sunshine! Happy Birthday Ella Bug!

School Pictures

 I got the kids school pictures back and thought they were pretty cute, so I decided to share :)

Cute little Ella Bug

 Ms Breanne's Class

The J man! I can't believe how big this cute little boy is getting!!

 Ms. Kellie's Class

Both kids are LOVING school and I am so glad! They have great teachers and I love being there with them!

Trick or Treat!!

 I love Halloween! I think it is such a fun holiday, and this year was no exception!! Jaden thought dressing up was awesome and Ella, she was all about the candy! We had a lot of festivities this past week, here are some pictures!

Annual Halloween party at Grandma and Grandpa Clegg's

 Decorating cookies!

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Then it was a night of carving pumpkins at home for family home evening!

I was surprised how into it Ella got! She loved the pumpkins (and the hot cocoa and doughnuts)

 

Jaden was a little excited too :)

 

Working hard!!

  

 The young men and women and young men in our ward ado a Halloween Carnival and as always it was a blast!! The kids loved the doughnuts on a string the best! Ella actually ate her doughnut with a sucker still in her mouth...ya

At the preschool we had a little parade...Ella wanted to be the star!

 

 Jaden showing off his muscles!

 First house of the night...

 Candy makes everyone smile!!

 Out little Ella Kate the Butterfly/fairy

 Jaden the knight!

 I coulnt get a smiling picture of the two of them...

 They bring out the sillies in each other!

and I LOVE that!

Hope your Halloween was a great one too!

Fall Leaves Fall

  It is days like this that make me love fall and
my little family SO MUCH!!!
Jaden has been begging to rake leaves for a week now, so yesterday, that is just what we did!
He loves to work in the yard with his daddy, and Ella loves to be right in the middle of everything going on, no matter what it is!! 

Earning their keep :)

My hard little worker!!!

Work is done...time for play!!!

        The best part of raking leaves!!

 A popsicle to end a wonderful day!

I love that it is still warm enough in the afternoon for popsicles, but I'm sure it won't last long, so I will enjoy it while I can!!

Playing Catch Up!

I was doing so well at keeping my blog current...and then school started...... Normally

this wouldnt be a big deal seeing as how I was planning on just teaching 2 days a week....but life has a way of changing plans :)  Due to some unexpected circumstances at the preschool, they approached me and asked me to teach five days a wee, just in the morning from 9-12. At first I was very hesitant, I knew Jaden would love going every day but I wasn't sure about Ella, she's little! Well, after a lot of thinking, talking to Shawn about it and prayer, we decided to go ahead and do it. So far its proven to be great! Jaden adores his teacher his friends and his class, he thrives on what he is learning and Ella seems to be loving it as well! She is talking a ton more and getting so much more comfortable seeing me at school, but not needing me to hold her when she does! I am very proud of both of my kids!!  As for me, at the start of the school year I was doubting myself and my abilities as a teacher, it has been 6 years since I taught and I was feeling rusty, but things are settling in and I love it!

Here are my cute kids on the first day of school!!

 This last month has been an especially busy one for me because I have been training to run my first half marathon! It all started when my sister in law convinced me to run a 10k with her. I was very nervous about it...I'm not a runner! So I started training pretty hard for it and started really enjoying it! I kept seeing a girl in my ward running about the same time I always was and we started running together. She told me about a half marathon that was only 3 weeks after the 10k. At first it sounded really daunting but I decided I was going to give it a try! Holy cow what a time commitment! I don't know how people find the time to train for actual marathons!!! Having someone to run with made it a lot more fun though! We recruited another friend in the ward and on Saturday we went for it! Luckily my friend Carlee was great at setting a pace in the beginning! It was because of her we finished so strong! My goal was to finish under a 2:15 and I came in at a 2:04! I was pretty sore the next day but it was so much fun to do and I was kind of proud of myself! We are already talking about running it again next year with a few more neighborhood recruits! It was beautiful scenery and I ran it with great friends, what could be better! Here is a picture of Jaden with my medal from the 10 k a few weeks earlier. It was in price so we got to spend the weekend away and we even saw a real fossilized dinosaur footprint and some hieroglyphs Jaden thought were awesome! That was a lot of fun! My sister and I enjoyed running it together, it was something we will for sure do again! I actually dont have any pictures from the day of the half marathon, I'm a slacker I know, but they had a photographer at the race so maybe I will order one of those!

 We have been spending a lot of time with Shawns family going to BYU games so the other Sunday we drove down to spend some low key time with my family! Jaden loves his cousins and calls them his best friends!

Nana got some rockin new dress up

 I love what great friends my two kiddos are! We hit the park while we were at Nana and Papas and I captured this cute little moment! They get on each others nerves sometimes don't get me wrong but Jaden is a rockin big brother, Ella wants to do everything her big brother can and he is always willing to help her try!

I love my kiddos so much and am so grateful for what happy healthy helpful kids they are! 

I am also grateful for my amazing husband who regularly watched the kids, dropped me off in random places and left water bottles on the way home to help me achieve my goal! He's the greatest and I think I have him talked into doing a triathalon with me next year! Whahoo!!!

ROAR!!!!

I cant believe summer is over!!!! School starts for Jaden and Ella this Thursday! I had no intentions of sending Ella to school this year because so is so young, but when Jaden's preschool approached me and asked me to be one of their teachers on just the days and just during the times Jaden is in school, and that they would have a 2 year old class Ella could attend for free, I couldn't resist! I must say I am VERY excited! I have really missed teaching and its so great that this works out so well! I feel very blessed!! We ended up deciding to send Jaden Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays and then I will teach just Tuesdays and Thursdays! This ended up being a great blessing to allow Ella and I to still have one day together while Jaden will still be in school.

I told Jaden he could pick any one thing to do before school started up this week and he picked the Dinosaur Park! He absolutely loves dinosaurs and loves going, so we called up some friends and off we went!

Jaden and Connor are best buddies and thought these were hilarious!

 Jaden loved this visit to the dinosaur park more than I can ever remember! He took his dinosaur encyclopedia with him and just kept saying "mom that dinosaur is here in my book" after EVERY dinosaur! :) He also wanted me to read the plaque about every dinosaur and tell him "where they lived and everything about them"

 

It was a great activity to end the summer! Jaden couldn't be more excited to start school, and like I said, I am too! I am sure Ella is going to love having so many friends to play with too! The other day I had to go in to work on my classroom and so I brought the kids along too! There was this cute little girl named Geraty there and she and Ella will be in the same class. They are already little buddies and Geraty just loves saying "Bye Lela" over and over and over :) The kids have great teachers this year and the curriculum rocks! I can't wait to see how much they learn and grow!

Splishin and a Splashin

The other day I was talking to my sister Rachel and she asked me how I often I go to the splash pad in Ogden.....

How did I have NO idea Ogden had a rockin splash pad!?!? 

Needless today the next time it was time to run some errands in Ogden I grabbed the kids swim suits and we found it! I wish we would have known about this at the beginning of the summer! The kids had a BLAST!!

Here is Ella getting used to the water!

 I love this picture because Ella is running right next to the NO RUNNING sign...haha

 Jaden has really come to love swimming this summer, he had so much fun!

 Say Cheese

 Now back to the fun

I don't think I'll be feeling to guilty the rest of the summer on the days I have to drag the kids down to Ogden to run errands, as long as we hit the splash pad at some point, I think they will be happy little campers!