nothing better than peewee basketball!

Ellie's first day of peewee basketball! She really wasn't sure if she'd like it but think she had a real good time! Only 2 girls on her team and one on the other. Had a few minor malfunctions. Doesn't like stuff in her hair so out came the ponytail holder half through the game. When she doesn't have pockets, she stuffs it in her waistband, however halfway down the court it's falling down her pants. Ran it over to Mom and back in the game!
For never had dribbled or thrown a basketball, I thought she did awesome.

Halloween preschool Parade

Had a wonderful time at the preschool Halloween parade at the YMCA. Ellie was Tinkerbell and Ethan tagged along as a penguin. The preschoolers sang some songs and everybody was as cute as they could be.





Ethan the penguin just going with the flow ...



OK .. maybe that hat was getting a little warm



Ellie will love that I got this picture since she
thinks this boy (I think I have the right one) is so dreamy.



So many cute and creative costumes!

Miss Theresa the lady bug!

Miss Wendy was Minnie Mouse!

Ethan's first trip to Mimi's house

Here's a shot of Ethan on his first trip to my house! Did not realize until they left that I didn't get a picture of his Mom. Will do better next time!

Since I haven't posted official stats on my blog here is our big news:

Ethan James-Perry Carpenter,
was welcomed into the world
on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009,
weighing 7'11.9" and 19 3/4" long.

He looks even more like his Daddy than Ellie does, if that is humanly possible. The Carpenter's definitely carried the dominant gene in this family!! Lucky for us they are cute people!!

Ellie loves her little brother. She's a very good helper to her Mama.

We are very blessed!

The Art of TROUT FISHING

(This is my last blog that never made it to press)

Actually, the title is misleading since I really have know idea how to catch a Trout. I see all the flies, nymphs, salmon eggs, etc.. and think at this point of the learning process we're basically just throwing $ at all the needs of trout fishing person. I'm just not good enough to think like a trout and decide whether I want a mosquito or a fly for dinner.

We practiced with our new fly fishing rods & reels. A whole new way of casting and I thought it always looked pretty tricky, I found that it really is fun to throw.

Not sure why trout fishermen do so much walking down streams, but my muscles in my calves all the way up were talking to me the next day from all the water resistant exercise we got. Oh.. and I fell down once on slippery rocks, rod flew out of my hands as I went straight down and then got splashed in the face. Perry was right in front of me and missed the whole event.

We haven't had the priviledge of catching trout but at least are getting casting practice and I'm sure that we'll have a nice stringer full real soon.

UPDATE

Friday we headed back to our "spot" and I decided that I didn't want to do all that walking, since the dog had taken me for a walk the day before and my back wasn't back to normal yet.

About 15 casts later, low and behold, I caught my first trout! Perry was no where to be seen so had to hold my big surprise until he came back and got to see my trophy on the stringer.

Poor Perry, still fishless, so I decided to share my expertise with him. He soon got antsie and just couldn't seem to stand in one spot and headed down the other way just when I hooked another one! I screamed, "PERRY!!!!!!" because I wanted a picture of me yanking him in, but Perry couldn't hear me because of all the water noise and down the river he went.

The good news! We got to go home, stick our heads to the computer to watch a youtube demonstration on how to clean a trout. Very easy too I might add! The next night, the gourmet dinner... yum yum.

Perry probably won't take me again.....he really needs to learn how to catch fish :)))

Ellie & her new Pillowcase Dress

When Ellie got to my house today, she was sporting her new pillowcase dress that her Mama had been the winner of. Although I'm not a professional, like some people around me, I just had to take her picture and she is always more than happy to pose. I'm sure Mom or Dad will do better but Ellie & I were happy with these.

Thanks so much Mandy! The dress is as cute as can be and my goodness, even I could make it!

Anyone that is not familiar with the magnificent mom that made this, and many other things... you need to check out her blog, or I should say blogs ... and here they are http://mandybeez.blogspot.com & http://craftedition.blogspot.com/. It is definitely worth you time in browsing.