Fall Festival

Friday evening our church had their annual Fall Festival.

Ellery was a bunny. I made her ears and put her costume together from clothes in her closet.



It was fun to walk around, see friends and let her play some games. Although each year that she gets older will be better.






There were a few games that she could actually play, like "penny toss" and "toss the bean bag."









My brother, Daniel, came to check out the scene. Ellery calls him "Uncle."



One of the best parts of the evening for Ellery was the petting zoo. They had a pig, pony, goats and even a llama.

This is the best way to see her costume.





If I'm being completely honest, Halloween isn't my favorite holiday. Each year will probably get better, as Ellery begins to enjoy it more but for now I just like getting past October 31st so I can focus on THANKSGIVING!!

Have You Ever...

Last night moments after the lights were turned out, I had just gotten super cozy in bed with the perfect "fall asleep" position and then my mind took me to some place strange.

All of the sudden I got a bad case of the giggles! I tried SO hard to keep them contained. But then my body began shaking. These giggles HAD to come out!

Poor Cary, rolled over and said, "Sweetie!! What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between my laughing and crying.

I felt so bad, I knew I was keeping him awake and then worrying him. But I could NOT help it! Once I get laughing like that ANYTHING keeps me going. So even Cary asking if I was OK was tickling me even more. At one point I was laughing so hard I was crying. I'm so weird.

Finally I got control of myself and went to sleep. It was a great sleep.

Have you ever gotten the giggles as you were trying to go to sleep?

Perfect Fall Evening

Daddy had a great idea for dinner tonight, hot dogs done over the fire pit!





Ellery had so much fun!



She LOVES being outside and doing anything with Daddy. All during dinner she kept saying, "Outside! Outside!"







Anyone who has been with me on the 4th of July or any cookout knows that I really only eat hot dogs if they are BLACK. I also cover them in mustard. I don't want to taste the nastiness that I'm eating. Sweetie did a pretty good job of cooking my dog!



Of course Cary had another fantastic idea, SMORES! But only after Ellery went to bed.





Soo yummy. What a perfect chilly Fall Friday evening!

Sunny Day Song

Ellery's first song!


One of Ellery's favorite things at this age is Baby Signing Times. She loves watching the DVD's and listening to the CD's. One of the songs from Baby Signing Time is the "Sun" song, which is what she is singing.

And because I can't upload video into a blog book, here are some pictures.

Good Daddy

This is the picture of a good Daddy.





If you look closely you can see her hair bow in his hair. I just love it!

And no, Cary's not doing push-ups with Ellery. She is riding her imaginary "horse."

Shining Heart

Okay I'm totally having one of those moments where I am so FULL of joy and happiness.

It's been a rainy, busy, full and delightful day. All topped off by a surprise family dinner out before I head out of town (by myself) for the first time since Ellery was born.

My heart is shining with smiles right now.

Clutter & Reflection

I have to accept that my life will always have clutter.

If there is a moment when there is no clutter in my house, just wait 10 minutes (or until the mail man comes) and then it's back to the same old, same old.

I also need to learn to accept that the majority of my life for the next few years will be concentrated in the kitchen.

Maybe I need to re-prioritize things. I don't know.

Believe me, I've had a great day!

But I feel like I've been cooking, cleaning & stressing over the stupid pile of mail on the counter too much and not able to enjoy the precious moments of sitting on the floor with Ellery while she plays with her hair bows. I'm always thinking- "the bed needs made", "her teeth need brushed", "it's 10:30 and I'm not even out of my PJ's yet", "did I put that dish in the dishwasher?"

Who knows where this is coming from. It's that time of the day when I'm crashing and I reflect on the productivity of my day and if I would consider it a success.

I would consider today a success, though!

Ok, I'm done.

For The Blog Book

These are just some pictures I've snapped today for memories.

Ellery loves to tell me to "sit down" next to her so we can play together. It's absolutely precious.





While eating soup for lunch I realized pretty quickly that although she is very good with utensils and feeding herself, soup is not something she has mastered quite yet. Therefore her clothes from this morning are now soaking and she is wearing a new outfit.

But chocolate milk after nap is delicious!



This is her saying "GO!!" Another favorite word in her quickly growing vocabulary.





Monday Cary was showing Ellery some home video we have been taking of her since birth and a clip from 1 year ago came up. She was just rolling over and we were playing in the Man Room tickling and laughing. It's unbelievable how fast she's grown up!!

Breakfast

Just made cheese grits and scrambled eggs for our breakfast.




I'm realizing that I really like to make breakfast for E and I.



But don't give me too much credit, yesterday she had yogurt and a banana. :)

Rainy Monday Morning

This is how I found Ellery this morning when I went into her room.

She cracks me up!

Our dialogue during her diaper change:

Ellery: "Milk"
Leah: "You want some milk, Ellery?"
Ellery: "Uh huh"
Ellery: "Eat"
Leah: "What would you like to eat?" (expecting her to say "cereal")
Ellery: "Taco"

What?! She said "taco" for the first time yesterday on the way to church. Where did she get that one from? At least it made me laugh.

Weekend Review

Friday night was kinda crazy.

When E woke from her nap I told her we were going to see Daddy and some cows. For the next 2 hours all she said was, "Cow!"

We met Cary at the fair early in the evening. His company was having a business reception in the main "hall" since they were the primary sponsors of the fair this year.

I had about 10 minutes to eat and chat with some friends before I had leave Cary and Sweets to head to my other event for the evening. I am bummed because I didn't take any pictures and didn't really have a chance to enjoy the fair with Ellery, but there's next year.

From Cary's report she had a blast petting all the animals and playing with her little friend.

My next event was, Miss Paula Dean!



She was funny! I made her chocolate pecan cobbler for dessert on Sunday night.


Saturday evening we visited with friends who have just completed their second home at Lake Anna. Ellery had a lot of fun playing on the sand and watching the other kids swim in the lake.






Cary's parents and brother came into town on Sunday evening.

We invited Wally & Kitty (Cary's great-uncle & aunt) to dinner.



It's been a full weekend!!

Master Bathroom

Look what happened in our bathroom!!



I am BEYOND excited about our new glass enclosure.



Cary has worked so hard on tiling this shower. I know I've already expressed my pride in his work but this just puts the cherry on top!