Giving Thanks 2009

My mom hosted Thanksgiving this year so we spent the day with her andDave and his boys. It was a great time and mom did a fabulous job as host.

Ela and Kelly doing a "pinky promise." Its her new favorite way to get me to forget she's in trouble. "I won't do it again mama, pinky promise."
Us girls with Grandpa Chuck. He cleans up nice.

The future of my shoulders

I was washing dishes today with my shoulders hunched so that my arms could get past my belly to reach the sink and I realized how horrible my posture is. It was never good before but now with this large 8 month pregnant belly its even worse. I hunch when I clean teeth and I hunch when I do pretty much anything standing up. Its getting rather uncomfortable so I'm extra excited for this baby to be born. Hopefully I will be able to straighten up before I become Quasimodo.

Halloween Happenings

Halloween was great this year. We spent it with cousins and Ela got her first real trick or treating experience in an actual neighborhood which was very exciting.

Pre trick or treating/sugar rush.
Clapping for the other contestants in the costume contest at the trunk or treat. She really should have won for cutest costume but we were robbed by a little butterfly. I'm going to say its just because it wasn't our ward and they didn't think it was fair to award an outsider the prize.
The only pose I got since she was on hyper speed all night due to a combination of excitement and sugar.
Trick or treating for real. She was super excited and happy for about the first few houses and then she realized one of the older boys in the group had a pretty scary mask and suit on. She freaked and kept making us walk with or hold her since she "didn't want to see that little boy." The funny part was a few houses later she tried to comfort her scared cousin by saying "its just a mask" about a different guy. Of course she said this from the safety of daddy's arms and still would not acknowledge the first boy but it was still progress. Overall it was very fun and she was the most adorable "titty tat" ever.

Botanist much?

Everywhere we go Ela is pointing out Bird of Paradise plants. She has spied them from across the street in the car to hiding in flower arrangements in restaurants. Sometimes I never see them but she has such keen eyes she can pick them out from anywhere. I'm pretty sure she learned about them from her Grandma Shel, I heard her teaching her about purple pansies the other day so now she'll be on the lookout for those too. What a random funny girl she is :)

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to a cute little pumpkin patch in Bonita this weekend. I had never seen pumpkins actually growing in a patch so I was really excited. It was pretty much one big photo op for me but we all had fun checking out the different types of pumpkins, riding the tractor hay ride and navigating the corn maze. Ela called all the dead ends "dead ants."
Her favorite part was feeding the animals, especially the Llama she named Linda (just like the one on Go, Diego Go her new favorite show).
She wore her kitty ears for a little bit. She's preparing to be a "Titty Tat" on Halloween.

Laughing at Daddy making piggy noises.

Our family in a barn on some hay. It was a good day.

This is Halloween

Last night Todd helped Ela carve her very first pumpkin. Actually he did pretty much everything seeing as how knives are rather sharp and pumpkin guts are rather gooey. She reached in twice to pull stuff out and that was it. Then she said "I'm all done making a pumpkin, I want to watch my shows."

I was expecting some triangles and square teeth but Todd ended up spending about 30 minutes drawing and then carving a "very scary Jack O'Lantern."
The finished product. I'm so excited for Halloween, pumpkin baked goods, sweaters and hopefully some cooler fall weather.

Choppin broccoli

Grocery shopping today she picked a mini stalk of broccoli and carried it around the store. She squealed when she saw it and called it "my size". It did help her want to eat it later at dinnertime though.