Trunk or Treat with Our Little Cowgirl

This is our church's 3rd annual Trunk or Treat. We have 75 cars, bounce house/slide/rockwall, treasure hunt inside, a singing/skit show and fireworks at the end. I think last year we had 4,000 people come through. It rocks. Here's the trunk we did this year with our friends Dave and Megan.
Here's our little cowgirl sans hat.
She was NOT happy about wearing the hat. (There is a lone little tear trickling down her right eye.)
So doing the very responsible parent thing, we bribed her with m&m's and smarties to wear it for the pictures. (Her trusty steed a.k.a. our golden retriever was also interested in said bribes. Although he didn't cooperate nearly as well as Ella did for the photos!)
It didn't take her long to figure out that this whole Halloween/Costume thing involves candy. Now she's all in!
And here she is all bundled (leggings under her jeans, three layers on top, hat and mittens!) at the actuall trunk or treat because it was stinkin' cold!

She was a little overwhelmed by all the trunks, people and noises. She would squeek a barely audible a "trick or treat" and "thank-you". And near the end she was very tired and very torn. She would ask to "go back to car go home" and in the next breath, with droopy eyes say, "more trick or treat. More candy in pumkin." We didn't stay for the fireworks. By the time I got her tucked in at 7:45 (45min past her normal bed time) she was one tuckered little cowgirl!

Happy Halloween! Hope yours was as fun as ours!

One Handy Hubby

My Husband turned this:

Into this:

Oh sure, it took him for flipping ever and a day because the sandblaster gave him quite a hard time. Yes, he was gone so much that everytime he wasn't in sight Ella would immediately announce, "Daddy fixing stove!" And I admit, I did begin to forget what his face looked like by the end of said stove project...but it's all worth it to have this money saving, cozy ambiance creating, beauty perched on our hearth!

Our New "Go To" Spot!

A long time ago Jason planned a little getaway for the two of us. He planned it for the end of a long stretch of overtime and business trips so that we could refamiliarize ourselves with what the other looked like. We went to North Conway, NH and have now dubbed this our new "go to" outdoorsy spot! I'll just let the pictures tell the story.A roadside view I just couldn't resist on our drive up.

Stonehurst Manor where we stayed

(wasn't aweful but wouldn't recommend it and wouldn't return)

The view from our B&B!

Another view from our B&B

We took a little hike across this bridge...

...to THIS waterfall! (200ft)

Perhaps this will give you a little perspective!

(I'm the black smudge in the lower right corner!)

Then we hiked this.

(It's called Frankenstein Cliff. We found it very fitting for this late Oct. jaunt.)

I found this little tree. He's a survivor.

We took in this view.

And this one too.

And this one too.

We found a few covered bridges.

I took a few pictures of them.

And a few more :)

We got a view of snowy Mt. Washington sans clouds on our last morning.

We drove off the beaten path...saw a black bear...and took some more pictures of beauty.

Then we hit the road. Sad to leave. Two nights is too short!

But I found some more beauty on the way home!

Outsmarted by a Toddler

The Following is an ACTUAL conversation that occurred tonight while reading bedtime stories.

Ella: (points) "Dat?"

Jason: "Flamingo."

Ella: "Dat."

Jason: "Flamingo."

Ella: "DAT!"

Jason: "That's a Flamingo Ella."

Ella: "Ostrich."

I turn the book so I can see what she's pointing at and sure-a-stinkin'-nough...it's an Ostrich. No if ands or buts about it. Clear as day. Ostrich.

I can see how very confusing it must be..... And that, my friends, is why Jason gave up teaching.(Just kidding honey. I know it's been a very long weekend :)

An Honest Heart.

I was in the kitchen finishing dishes. Ella was romping about pushing her stroller through the house. I heard the spinning wheels come to a stop and heard drawers opening and closing loudly in our bathroom. (Child locks would not fit on these drawers so we make sure to keep harmless items in them.) She understands that she's not supposed to be in them and was no doubt reveling in the joy that mommy was busy and she was able to rummage through the off limit goods at will.

I stopped what I was doing and went and waited outside our bedroom door. I heard the the weels on the little stroller start to spin again and some happy chatter bubble out of Ella's mouth. This chatter abruptly stoppped, as did she - in her tracks, when she turned the corner into the living room and found me standing there. She peered up at me with a look that clearly communicated she knew the jig was up.

"What were you doing in there?" I asked.

Without a word she took the blanket off of her baby to reveal a small horde of "treasures" she had taked from the drawers and stashed away.

"Those are not yours," I said. "Please go put them back." And she did. I hugged her and praised her and we went merrily about our morning.

It all just struck me. First of all it was adorable to hear her get into mischeif. I also thought it so cunning that she had the forthought to hide her loot under her baby blanket. Cunning and funny, but also a bit scary as I think of years to come! But most of all I was struck by her honesty. She didn't try to deny that she had taken things. She didn't try to speed past me and get away. She didn't refuse to put things away. When asked, she simply showed me what she had done and then obeyed and returned them.

I do not expect my child to be perfect. To never disobey or test limits. Although this serves as the most minescule example, I do expect as she grows, that when she does wrong, she'll take responsibility, accept the consequences and do her best to make it right. That is what we try to instill in her and if she grows to do just those things, oh how happy we'll be!

In that moment I prayed that God would preserve that honesty of heart in that beautiful little child.

"I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent." ~1 Chronicles 29:17

Danie!

The language of my little one never ceases to amaze me. Books say she's picking up new words every 90 seconds and I believe it! She's putting together 4 and 5 word senteces like it's her job. I'm also in awe of the things she remembers now. She's able to say what she's done in a day and will often recall and talk about things that happened weeks or months ago! Here's a little snipit from this morning on the changing table. She busted it all out of no where.

Ella: I go ride da car.
ME: You want to go ride in the car?
Ella: Yeah.
ME: Oh, okay. Where do you want to go?
Ella: Go see Auntie Den (Jen).
ME: Awww, you want to see Auntie Jen? I'm sorry sweetie. She's working and her house is a long way away.
Ella: I go see Danie (Janie, Jen's horse)! Feed Danie apples. I ride her.

I mean seriously. She's 21 months old. Wow.

You see, we just returned from a weekend up home and stayed with Auntie Jen. While Ella adores horses in theory and from afar, she often cries hysterically when she gets close to them because they are so big. True to form she cried as we got close to Jen's Quarter Horse Janie, but I told her she was fine and set her down just outside the gate. After about 30 seconds she stopped crying and then she actually asked to come in the pature "I go under gate?" and then she came in and stood very close while watching me feed Janie apples. She was intrigued because "Danie wear a shirt!" (translation: Janie had a rain blanket on). Where she came up with riding her I have NO idea. And while I hope that she actually will do this, I fear it might just be another one of Ella's "really good in theory" notions. :)