Happy Halloween!!

We had such a fun Halloween this year! Eli was a leopard and Hannah was Ariel. On Friday, Grammie and Mommy took Hannah, Tayla, and Elijah to State Street for trick-or-treating. There were lots of kids down there, and lots of businesses generously handing out candy to the kids, so we brought home a lot!! Eli was so cute--he would hold out his pumpkin to the people giving out candy, and sometimes would even say "here ya go!" SO cute! The girls got their faces painted, too. Then, on Saturday, we finished up carving and decorating our pumpkins! I think the two we did here may have been even more creative than the one we did in Missouri! You can judge for yourselves... Grammie and Gabah said that almost everyone who came to the door was completely amazed by them and gave compliments and wanted to know how we made them and some even took pictures of their kids with them!!! Wow--what an ego-booster for me! ;) Anyway, for Halloween night, the kids got all dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating. Elijah was pretty tired, but we got him set up in the wagon anyway to see how long he'd last...just so he could have a bit of trick-or-treating fun. I carried him to the door with Hannah at a few houses, but eventually let Hannah go up on her own and let Eli hang out in the wagon with a blanket over him because it was cold and he was pretty sleepy. He ended up falling asleep after about 20-30 minutes with his head all tilted to one side. I called Gabah who came to get him and Hannah and I continued on trick-or-treating for another hour or so. Needless to say we have WAY too much candy now when you count the candy from the Homecoming parade, Hannah and Eli's candy from State Street, and Hannah and Eli's candy from Halloween!!! Anyone want some? Happy Halloween!!!

Mizzou Homecoming

Last weekend, we traveled to Columbia, Missouri again to visit Nannie and Paw Paw and to participate in some of the Mizzou Homecoming festivities. Fortunately, no one went to the game to see Mizzou get killed by Texas. It was ugly. We got there on Friday afternoon and had some yummy pizza for dinner. Then, Grammie, Gabah, Mommy, and Hannah went to campus to see the fraternity houses. Each year, they all put up big stages that are decorated and do skits about the game. It was very cold and a little drizzly, but we still had a great time! After that, Mommy went back to the house to put Eli to bed and the rest of the group met up with Paw Paw to go to the Mizzou practice basketball game. Obviously Mizzou won! ;) On Saturday, our whole group (Mommy, Hannah, Eli, Grammie, and Gabah) went downtown for the homecoming parade! It as pretty cold and breezy, so we all had to bundle up! It was Eli's first opportunity to wear his new winter coat, hat, and mittens. After the street was closed off and before the parade started, Gabah put Eli in the street and let him walk around--he ended up walking back and forth about 4 blocks! And then proceeded to sleep through the parade. Hannah, however, was wide awake waving at all the people and collecting tons of candy. After the parade, we enjoyed the afternoon together at Nannie and Paw Paw's playing. Eli had fun playing in a box, and Hannah had fun playing with pom poms and "selling" little pretend coolies. Then, Hannah and I carved them a pumpkin which turned out to be one of the most creative pumpkins I have ever come up with! TOo bad the "teeth" melted after a few hours--I hadn't thought of the fact that the juices from the pumpkin would melt the candy corn into a huge puddle of sugary goop. Oh well. Saturday night was the horrible football game, which no one enjoyed watching. And Sunday was our drive home! It was a wonderful weekend filled with great memories! :)

A Sick Elijah and The Pumpkin Patch

Elijah has been having such a rough time lately... First of all, he has been having such a hard time with teething! He's working on his molars--he has two in so far, and the third is almost there. One of his newest favorite playthings has become my muffin tins, and apparently they make great teethers, too! Last Wednesday evening, I had to take him to Urgent Care because he had been crying uncontrollably for almost 3 hours and had a 101 fever! I was afraid he had an ear infection since he'd had a cold for a few days. But, as it turns out, he had "pink eardrums" which were apparently "almost an ear infection but not quite yet." Hmmm. Anyway, the doctor said it's just pain from his teeth and there's nothing I can do about it other than giving him Motrin like I had been. Nights were rough and he didn't get much better, so I took him to his regular doctor on Friday morning, and then he really did have an ear infection. He started taking antibiotics and started feeling better fairly quickly. So, on Sunday afternoon, we had planned to go to the Pumpkin Farm with Hannah, Eli, and Hannah's best friend. This was the only day we could go before Halloween. Just before we were going to leave, Eli started throwing up! About 5 times in an hour! So, Gabah took the two girls, and Grammie and I stayed home with Elijah. But, after that hour, he never threw up again. And now, he's back to normal except for his slight cold and his painful teething. But the girls and Gabah had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch! They saw some giant pumpkins, bought our pumpkins, rode on the haywagon, walked through the corn maze, petted the animals, and lots of other things! I'm glad they were still able to go! This weekend, we're headed to Missouri for the Mizzou homecoming and a wonderful visit with my grandparents!!

Apple Picking '09

Well, we had a really fun afternoon today! We decided to go apple picking at Appleberry Farm, about 15 minutes from home. We also decided to bring along Hannah's best friend, Tayla! All 3 of the kids had a ball gathering apples! Hannah and Tayla were running around like crazy collecting apples, and Mom and I had to work hard to get them to stop--we didn't want to end up with a hundred apples at home! LOL Eli got attached to a couple apples that were just his size--one in particular was so tiny and cute! He had one in each hand the whole time we were there, and there was no taking them away! At one point, he decided to bite into them--he made lots of teeth marks but never really got a real "bite." After collecting lots of apples, I took the kids on the hayride while Grammie warmed up in the car. (It was a pretty chilly day!) It was a fun day, and everyone had a great time! Can't wait to go again next year! P.S. To see all of our pictures from today, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2627545&id=8621722&l=a7daa04b9c

Wow! You look older!!!

And no...this post is not about my birthday and ME looking older!! (Well, I can mention that my birthday was on Friday, and that my family made it a wonderful birthday by fixing my favorite dinner, a baking gorgeous cake decorated by Hannah, and giving me awesome gifts!) No...this post is about this picture of Eli! I took it this morning before church because I thought he looked so cute in his little dress-up clothes. When I looked at the picture on the computer, I was completely amazed at how much older he looked!!! Almost like a little boy rather than a toddler! So, enjoy this picture of my adorable little man!

A Trip to Missouri

It's been a while since I posted on here, hasn't it? Sorry 'bout the delay in posting again. Hannah has really been enjoying Kindergarten! She has been riding the bus every day, she has bought school lunch, she loves her teacher, she's made friends...everything is going just great! This past weekend, we all took a trip down to Missouri to spend the weekend with my grandparents (Mom's parents)--AKA Nannie and Paw Paw. While there, we also went to a Mizzou football game and watched them beat Furman 52-12! The kids loved spending time with their great-grandparents, and we all had so much fun being together, even though it was for such a short time! I am so excited that fall is now upon us--so many fun things to look forward to! Trips to pick apples and to the pumpkin farm, watching the leaves change, Halloween, Thanksgiving...it's all so wonderful--my favorite season! I will try to post more often! Until then... enjoy the pictures! (The ones at the top of the post are from our drive home from Missouri--the rainbow was gorgeous, and really couldn't be captured in a picture. It was the brightest rainbow we had ever seen!)

The First Day of Kindergarten!

Well, it has happened! Hannah has gone off to her first day of Kindergarten! The bus arrived at 7:47 AM on Thursday morning, and a somewhat nervous but very excited Hannah climbed on board! I had no idea how hard it would be for me so see my baby ride away on that bus! But as she arrived back home, she came running off the bus, gave me a huge hug, and told me "I had so much fun!" She proceeded to tell us all about her day at school, and can't wait to go back! She even made a friend who is in her class and rides her bus! I'm so proud of my big girl!