Trick or Treat!

For Elliot's second Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating after school. Elliot was a monkey, because she's our little monkey! We gave her a banana (it helps the costume) and she had eaten the entire thing by the second house. We went to most of the houses we went to last year. Mostly just friends in the neighborhood.

Here are some pics:


What a monkey! At Stew and Jennie's house:


Sleeping in the carseat:


Ella and PopPop: (On the video phone last night, she said "PopPop!" when she saw him! How sweet!)


Aunt Vik and Elle:


Elliot hugging my leg: (Davey loves this shot!)


Out trick-or-treating as a whole family - at Darren and Laura's house:


SuperDaddy!:


Elli getting ready to head to Target to get Halloween candy:


Aunt Amy and Ella:


Elli and SuperDaddy:

We're just so busy!

Saturday after teaching a day full of lessons, we went to a costume party at Stewie and Jenny's house.

Sunday we left for Aunt Vik's house at 8:30 AM to meet she and Melissa, Andrew, and Tanner for a day at the zoo!
We left the zoo at 3:00, raced home, got home at 4, changed Elliot's clothes and headed to Alexa's 2nd Birthday Party.
We left the birthday party (at McD's) to head home because Grandma and Grandpa were on their way there. They left at 8:30.

Monday night, Mommy took the night off and went out to dinner with Vikki and Melissa at CPK. Yum!
(Daddy had his boys' night on Friday!!!)

Lil' Leos

For those of you who have heard tons of stories about the Mommies on my "Mommy Website," here is a spectacular pic of our kiddies! Thanks to Mommy Laura in Boston for putting it together for us!



Back row: Ava in TX, our Ella in NY, Griffin in MA, Matthew in...space!, Andrew in MN, Keira in MS
Front row: Devan in Canada, Liz in ME, Phoebe in Canada, Jake in ME (Liz's twin!), and Katie-Kate in TN

WE BOTH FORGOT!!!

Dave and I both forgot! I can't even believe it!

I was walking down the hallway at Clinton Elementary, and I saw the book fair sign. It said, "Teachers Preview Day October 20!"

I thought, 'October 20?! That sounds familiar!......OMG! OUR ANNIVERSARY!' I immediately ran to my room and called Dave. We were both shocked that neither of us remembered. We both agreed that we must not have written the date on Monday, or one of us would surely have remembered it!

We've been together for 8 years and 3 days...

We agreed to go out to dinner tonight somewhere nice and with Elliot. Elliot decided that was not in the plans for tonight. Instead, we're ordering in from Applebees. At least its something.

I guess after awhile the anniversaries don't count much unless its the wedding anniversary, right?

Yay for Elliot!

She slept through the night last night for the first time in four nights! Thanks, Ella!

The Busy Bunch

That's our family! The busy bunch!

We had a nice visit to Ohio over Columbus Day weekend. Elliot has now flown on 16 different airplanes. She did great on 3 of our 4 flights this trip.

Elliot has added "Please" and "Hot" to her list of sign language.

She has also been exhibiting some disturbing behaviors. According to "What to Expect: the Toddler Years," it's because of stress. I assume her stress is Dave and I being back at work. She now bangs her head on the floor. I know Uncle Jamey used to do this, and Daddy Dave did this - from what I understand, both have the scars to prove it. Hopefully, with more face time with Dave and I, she'll grow out of this soon.
Sleep is also disrupted again. We've been having trouble getting her to bed and getting her to stay in bed during the night. *Sigh*

Work is going well, tons of private lessons between Dave and I, and little time left for our house. So we have some dirty dishes, toys not put away, and a bit of laundry to be folded - but that will all keep, right? (That reminds me of a poem, which my Mom gave me, and I absolutely love...)

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow,
For babies grow up, we've learned, to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, Dust, go to sleep:
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

Let's just say...

...that the "Poop Floats" entry is no longer the most disgusting day I've had!

A Learning Explosion!

A week ago we took Elliot to the Doctor and she knew 18 words. I am SHOCKED by the amount of stuff that she's learned since then!

New words:
On
Off
Light
Apple
I'll add more as I think of them, but I know there are more than that!

New talents:
If you say, "One!" she says, "Two!" and sometimes, "Three!"
She can take the top off her bottle and put it back on. (Hence her new words, "Off" and "On!")
She can stack pegs by turning them the correct direction and making a tower.

Monkeys, Firetrucks, and Pumpkins

Sunday, we decided to dress Elliot up as a Monkey and head down to our local firehouse to buy some pumpkins. We did this last year when she was too little to even sit up on her own. She was a cow last year. As soon as we got out of the car, the fireman began saying, "Look at this cute little guy!" We had to repeatedly say, "SHE..." When we had trouble getting her to stand still and look at the camera, we added a banana to the mix, and she tried eating it from the peel inward. We finally peeled it, and she ate it like a big kid!!!

Elliot and Zoe:


Elliot eats the banana's end:


Look, Mommy, a banana!:


Daddy! You're so funny!:


An artistic shot...of Elliot walking away:

Stay-At-Home Playdate

We had a playdate today with our stay-at-home Mom friends. These are the kids and Mommies that we used to play with when we were a stay-at-home Mom kind of family. We had Kim and Sienna, Cindy and Chris, Laura and Alexa, and Karen and Julianna over. We had a very nice time with everyone here. It is so much fun to see all the kids together!

After the playdate, we went outside to get our Lil' Leo pictures. Not much success there! We're supposed to have Elliot in a white shirt and jeans, outside (its overcast today, though). We went outside and I couldn't resist some pics in her new hat! We may have to try again to get the pictures for the Lil' Leos, though. After all the Leo pics are in, our friend Laura is going to composite all the kids together into an America's Next Top Model-esque picture together. Yay!

Elliot passing by:


Elliot rolling on the floor (one of her fave activities these days!):


Juliana:


Miss Sienna who lives around the corner and we always stop by her house on walks:


Elliot playing with her table:


Alexa and Chris (behind the pole):


This was supposed to be a pic of Chris, but Elliot walked into it!:


Elliot doing the Chicken Dance?:


Elliot as a gangster?:


Elliot in her CUTE new hat!:


My Punkin with the Pumpkins and her Mum:


Where's Elli?


Peek!:


Dancin' Machine!:


Honorary Lil' Leo (she's really a Lil' Cancer, but it doesn't have the same ring to it...):