While I was at work today, I heard someone mention that it was snowing in Manhattan, KS. I couldn't believe my ears ... snow, already?! Then it hit me ...it's mid November after all. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. I can't believe how quickly time flies when you are busy being a full time working wife and mom! In all this craziness, there is one thing I know for sure. I absolutely refuse to listen to Christmas music until after Turkey Day. It kinda makes me sick when I start hearing it in stores so soon, even before Halloween. What the heck is up with that? I myself am a huge fan of Halloween and Thanksgiving and think both of these holidays should be treated with a little more respect. I'm just sayin'.
Every Halloween, my family carves pumpkins, and we go all out .. well beyond two triangle eyes and a toothy grin. Check this.
Funny story about the one on the right .. turns out my dad had a rotten pumpkin and we had to improvise when the first side starting falling apart
Since we have a little person addition to our family, we started a new Halloween tradition this year. We visited the local Deanna Rose Farmstead for Night of the Living Farm. We watched silly kids run around in costumes, roasted marshmallows, and took Ella into the haunted barn and on the scary hayride (versus the non-scary hayride, which sounded pretty boring to us :)). Kids were jumping out left and right to scare us, but they didn't phase Ella one bit ... that's my girl. Gotta gear her up for the West Bottom haunted houses when she get older. Eli, on the other hand, was so jumpy he almost fell off the trailer. I love it.
Our Little Monkey Socks
her costume is from Uncle Nick, who loved his sock monkey when he was little
So, our rambunctious little toddler made a decision that walking deserves a little more effort this week. She took her first steps over a month ago, but wasn't really interested in using this mode of transportation to get from place to place. Crawling and cruising were much more convenient for her. We were okay with this, though, because she seemed to be staying pretty safe getting around, going up and down the stairs, etc. However, this all changed last Friday, when we came home from St Louis to find that she was walking everywhere. After spending a day and night with my parents, she suddenly developed a desire to stand up and move, and she wasn't about to give up. With each plop, she hoists her self right back up onto her two chunky legs and keeps on trukin'. It's so fun to watch this new little person wobble around. She has no qualms about where she waddles to, though, be it straight into a glass cabinet, a table edge, or face first down a flight of stairs. We suddenly found it necessary to install gates on each of our three sets of stairs. Now, if I can just get over the idea of having bumpers on all our table corners and all over our fireplace mantle ... is that really necessary?
We are having such a blast raising this silly little girl. Here are some of our favorite pics of her in the fall leaves.
I'd like to end this post with some pictures of Eli's family. What a wonderful group of people who I've had the pleasure of getting to know and love over the past ten years.
Eli's Uncle Mike and Grandpa Gaghen visiting from Alabama
One of my favorite pics of me and my sister-in-law, Emily
Eli's grandma, Mary Goodwin, passed away last week at 83 years young. She was such an amazing woman who always made you feel so special when you walked into a room. We'll miss you dearly, you "sweet girl".
What a great post Abby. :) I'm very sorry to hear about Eli's grandmother, I hadn't heard. I love hearing family and friends talk about how much fun they're having with parenting. We agree!
ReplyDelete