Ella's early birthday celebration

The weekend before Ella's birthday Uncle Bob and Grandma came over for dinner and to give her birthday gifts. We had a nice dinner together and once Taylor saw how Uncle Bob was lifting Ella up in the air, Taylor walked right over to him and said "Up".

Kuipers Apple Orchard

Towards the end of September we headed over to Kuipers Apple Orchard to do some apple picking. It was a gorgeous day, a bit chilly but that was perfect apple picking weather! We got there just in time for snack, so we headed into the bakery area and had some delicious apple cider donuts. We then got in line to go on the tractor ride out to the apple orchards. They encourage people that are picking apples to try the different varieties as you pick so that you ensure you are getting an apple that you will enjoy. Taylor was very excited about this, and just kept saying "apple" over and over and wouldn't stop eating. We had a really good time and made an apple crisp with the apples that we got to pick.

Randall Oaks petting zoo

I know it's been a while since my last post, but things are super busy these days.

Back in September, we headed out to the park just down the street from our house with the girls. It was our first time visiting and I couldn't believe the treasure we had so close to home! It was a petting zoo with lots of animals (cows, sheep, peacocks, goats, horses, pigs) and there was a playground there too.

Ella's photo shoot

We decided to make a photo invitation for Ella's fourth birthday party, so we needed to do a photoshoot on a beautiful sunny day. It's much easier to work with a four year old than with a an 18 month old...that's for sure :)

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee

We came across this bumblebee costume that was given to us from Aunt Colette a while back and Taylor wanted it on...she still loves to play dress up! She put it on and didn't want to take it off the rest of the night.

A visit from The Great Pumpkin!

A few weeks ago we got a visit from The Great Pumpkin! While we were inside cleaning up and putting dishes away, we heard that a special visitor had left us a surprise on our front porch. Each girl got their own pumpkin, so stayed tuned for a later post in which we actually do some carving!

Lincoln park zoo and cupcakes too!!!

On Saturday September 11th, we packed up the girls and drove into the city for a visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We first went to Nick and Fisher's place to park our van, see their apartment and also let Ella and Taylor visit with Octavia. From their apartment, we all walked the mile to the Lincoln Park Zoo and saw all the animals. The morning started off a bit rainy, but quickly turned to a beautiful day with minimal crowds!

Thanks for being the photographer Fisher!!

After the zoo and a quick lunch, we needed to get the girls home for nap. But first we stopped at
Molly's Cupcakes in the city b/c of their awesome reviews and b/c one of the women that work there recently won a cupcake contest on the Food Network...so it had to be good! Good is an extreme understatement. The cupcakes were amazing and we all enjoyed after dinner that night.

One of the cupcakes didn't make it home...we had to eat it in the car :)