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