Happy Halloween!

Wow- Halloween is a whole other ballgame when you have a child. I have a feeling it only gets bigger each year. Until now we got by with a cute cuddly outfit and a couple visits with friends and family. No longer the case. I now have a "Halloween" box for all the paraphernalia we got into. Ella was Princess Presto this year and enjoyed the whole night:

Steve came over as a crocodile and Ella put a spell on him:

We practiced how actual trick-or-treating goes:








Then we hit the neighborhood with our neighbors:



We then took Ella over to her teacher's house and came home for our neighborhood party. Ella was very insistent on the party and ran up to everyone and yelled, "HEY GUYS!" The funniest part of the entire night.

Best Laid Plans...

Being a parent can really make you realize you can not plan everything. And we all know I love a plan. It wasn't until late in life I learned what the saying "The best-laid plans..." actually means. Having Ella brings it home weekly, if not daily.

Tonight was one of those nights. As you all know, Wes is the lucky current pneumonia recipient in our house. We were hoping to carve pumpkins Saturday night but we felt too tired/rotten. Sunday was worse, Monday not even an option, Tuesday we were feeling better but Wes was still rotten. I was beginning to reason that Ella won't remember this anyway (love that one, huh?). Finally tonight we felt like we could (maybe) pull it off- with the help of Steve.

Okay then, here we go... I had the pumpkins, chili in the crock-pot, and of course wine. Picture perfect if you ask me. I walk into the family room and Ella is asleep on the sofa. Are you kidding me? She has never, (let me repeat that), NEVER fallen asleep on the sofa. I am caught between the bliss of a bit of quiet in the house and the disappointment of, well, the best laid plans....

So we carved pumpkins...

And Ella slept...

Steve and I finished the little ones:

The heart is for B, a friend of ours from MCC (Medical Center Computing- which is now HSCS but to most who read this blog it will always be MCC). The other is clearly for Ella. This is her pumpkin she picked in Rock Hall. Thanks Poppy and Nonna!

And Ella slept...

We had dinner, Wes finished his pumpkin (can you believe he carved that cat?!), and then Ella woke up. We still had one pumpkin left. Could it be my plan is actually going to work out? Of course not- she wanted nothing to do with a pumpkin. Oh well, at least she had the option. Thank you Wes for cleaning out the pumpkin and Stevie for carving the picture I wanted- a happy, smiling, pumpkin. Yea! And so here we all are smiling with our masterpieces:

After cleaning up Ella joined me in sorting through the seeds to clean them for baking. I'm beginning to think the "often go awry" portion of that quote may just be the best part (or to be official: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”) Amazing what you can learn from a two-year old.

And finally, a video of Ella wishing everyone a Happy Halloween:

Go Ella Go!

When we were little, my Mom would pay us $0.25 to run our dog around the house. I think she was making herself laugh with this because I remember her laughing when she said it. Or maybe the dog barking and the kids complaining were worth the money ( a bargain at $0.25!). I think about this often when Ella gets wound up. Right now, running a circuit inside is fun to Ella- no bribery required.... hall, kitchen, family room, dining room, back hall, kitchen.... So here she is running around. And yes- I would also give her $0.25 to take it outside.

Weekend

We are still laughing from Friday night and thank you Grandma for coming up to take care of Ella while we went out. Little did you know that one night would turn into a weekend of taking care of all of us while we are still (yes,... still) sick. Wes is the most pitiful with pneumonia. I think we made the best of it though. It rained Saturday so we played inside and then went to the mall to run Ella ragged in hopes of a nap (for us all!). Here she is with Grandma and her duck hat and scarf that have made a huge comeback this season- thank you Karen!

I love these next two pictures of Ella hugging Robbie:

We then headed to Chiles Peach Orchard where apples are in season. The weather was beautiful and at this time of year, the scenery is amazing!

There was a pumpkin patch at the orchard so Ella was able to see where pumpkins really grow. I'm sure by next year she won't want to hear about it but she was curious about the vines this year:

And then we napped (again). Thank you so much Robbie for a great weekend! As I type Ella is looking for her tiara ("Because I'm a princess") and her earrings. Hopefully she'll stop for a minute so I can get a picture for you!

Capitol Steps

Thank you Steve for a great evening! We had, what felt to me, a real night out! We started with dinner:

And then on to The Paramount:

And finally, The Capitol Steps!

They didn't allow any pictures, so this is all I had, but what great seats! My face still hurt the next morning from laughing so hard.

Sleeping (Take Two)

For the last month, at least one of us has been sick at any given time. I had that virus that makes you feel like you have pneumonia but you don't so there is no remedy (except, thank God, cough medicine with codeine), Ella had pneumonia, and now Wes has I do not know what but he is miserable and I'm scared for us to get near him. On top of that Ella has started coming into our room at night and climbing into bed with us. Lately I haven't even noticed when she crawled into our bed.

So... with Wes sick we decided to put the blow-up mattress in our room so Ella and I wouldn't be near him last night should she wake up and come sleep with us (again- I do know I should bring her back to her room, but I'm so desperate for some sleep so I'm ignoring good discipline right now- check back in a couple weeks). This picture is what I found when I came out of the bathroom to go to sleep. I did put her back in her bed but sometime in the middle of the night she was back.

Carter's Mountain

Fall in Virginia

Yes, it is that time of year again ... pumpkins and hayrides! We went to Greenfield Farms and saw farm animals, hayrides, hay mazes and corn mazes. Not so many pumpkins though. Ella liked running on the hay maze the best but also ran around in the corn maze. She liked getting off the path and Wes and Steve liked (?) chasing her down. I was too busy trying to find my way out.

Night Out

Wes and I went out tonight to a Casino Night at Wes' work. I had never been to one of these so it was all new to me. Wes gambled and I hung out with my friends. Not so much a "date night" but at least we got out, right? The event was held on The Lawn at UVa so we got to see college life in full swing on a Friday night. I forgot what that was like and I have to say all those kids look much younger than I did (or maybe I'm just that much older now). Steve came over to stay with Ella (thank you GPS!) and was dancing when we left. Steve has Bear Bear and Ella has Baby Baby. That's right- we are oh so creative in naming around here.

Everyday Life

Here are some pictures from this week. The one above is this morning. Wes and I are so amazed at how big Ella looks to us sometimes. This morning was one of those times. On top of her looking big, she acts big with her "I can do it" attitude and her desire to go to Preschool. This morning I was tickling and kissing her and she straightened herself up and said, "Stop Mamma, I am going to school now." She then walked outside and tried to open the car door. I just watched her and wanted to say, "No, don't go!" and thought maybe if I pleaded hard enough with time, I could stop it. Who doesn't want that, right?

Earlier we were outside to see a home-made bottle scooter (something to do with a science experiment that probably involved baking soda) scoot down the road. It was a success. The girls squealed and Benton ran after the scooter. I don't know how Amy and Benton put that thing together, but it was really cool.

Ella and Caroline got some scooter time in too:

Dr. Mayo

We love Dr. Mayo. Actually, the entire practice, but Dr. Mayo is who we see most often and we saw her today. Ella is usually not so great in the doctor's office but today she was stellar, even asking for a repeat performance of her exam. So this is Dr. Mayo right before we got the news that Ella has pneumonia. It's the watered-down "Walking Pneumonia" type but her first antibiotic none-the-less.

Vacation

I would usually be writing about what a great trip we had, thanking Poppy and Nonna on behalf of Ella for playing school, pumpkin picking, reading, hugs, bird feeding, dancing, singing, cooking (and letting Ella cook too!), and especially for letting me sleep.

I'd be posting pictures of the beautiful view from their home and trying to put into words the beauty of a visit to Creeksedge. Well, you will have to check out the 06/04/08 post for that. I only have a couple pictures from this past week.

But instead I am writing an apology. I brought a coughing child to your home, left her with you, and then came back in not such great shape myself. Then I called you today to let you know Ella has pneumonia. I am so so sorry! Thank you for sleeping with Ella. That's right everyone reading this, Ella slept BETWEEN Poppy and Nonna. She started out in her bed but her coughing was so difficult they put her safely between them. One night I came upstairs to find her all tucked in and my Dad and Nancy had barely enough room to sit let alone sleep. They sent me back to my room to sleep and they took care of Ella. Thank you for taking care of both of us- I promise a better trip in November.

And just so we are all clear on how badly I behaved, this is the only picture I have:

Old Habits...

This is the same exact position Ella slept in for the first three months of her life when she was in her brace. I'll spare everyone my diatribe of getting Ella to bed tonight, except to say it took an hour.

Sleeping like Uncle Matt

Interesting picture, no? It doesn't seem too exciting (it's not) and there is no Ella (say it isn't so). But look closer and you'll see her feet peeking out beside the chair. Here's a closer look:

And another:

Yes- that is Ella sleeping behind her chair using Fancy Nancy as a pillow.

Here's how this happened... I decided today's nap was a good time to re-introduce Ella to sleeping on her own. This, I knew, would entail walking her back to her room.. repeatedly. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to start this at this particular time- especially since Wes was golfing, but I did and I regretted it as soon as I realized what I had done. I started out getting up, giving Ella a hug, reassuring her, and then carrying her back to her bed. After six tries of that I walked her back to her bed, seven times later I just pointed to her room as I walked toward her and somewhere around the 20th time I just pointed.

Then I had to go downstairs to get something and when I came back upstairs Ella was hiding behind her chair insisting she wasn't coming out and she wanted her blanket and binks. This seemed like a good alternative to me since the other option was wearing a rut in our carpet. And sure enough- she fell asleep behind her chair.

I say this is like Uncle Matt because I have heard about all sorts of places he can sleep (non of which I could) so I can only think she gets this from him. Hi Uncle Matt!

Grandpa Barry's House

Every time we go to Richmond, I feel like we take over Barry's home. And Barry, you are so generous about it- thank you! This weekend was no different. We went shopping, including a train ride:

We then headed over to Barry's for a nap. That sounds simple enough but Ella loves "Grandpa's Puppy" and goes right for him:

She then moves on to find any type of ball no matter where it is in the house. You know, normal active two-year-old stuff that wrecks a house in seconds flat. We wrapped up the day with dinner and were lucky to hit a night Shannon wasn't "Noosing" (I quote Ella on that one) so she could join us.

Of course before we hit the road to go home Ella needed to use the potty. Yes- I travel with a potty chair in my car. Yet another reason I love the Volvo. Thank you Polly for the tip.

And as a footnote- Ella woke up the next day wanting to see Max. I had no idea who that was, but apparently it is "Grandpa's puppy".