The Columbia Zoo

A couple of weeks ago on an absolutely beautiful Saturday in fall, we made an impromptu trip to the Columbia Zoo when Brad got home from work. It was a perfect fall day, which meant it was a perfect day to go to the zoo and be outside! Both of the girls absolutely loved it and had a wonderful time!! We saw some amazing animals, and Alli's favorite was the giraffe ~ she even got to feed him! We can't wait to take them back again.

I am including this picture below for one reason: to show you Boots' eyes. Both of our girls have very pretty blue eyes ~ in fact, Papa's nickname for Alli is "Blue Eyes" ~ but they are very different shades of blue. Boots has my Daddy's eyes ~ her Onnie's eyes ~ they are a very rare, clear, true blue. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and see what I mean.)

Another beautiful day this fall, we spent hours out in the front yard. At first, it was Mommy-Alli time outside, riding her toys, trying to figure out which one she wanted to take for Rider Toy Day at school. When Boots woke up from her nap, she joined us out there in her excersaucer and loved being outside!

I wish the color came through even better, but the trees on our street have so much color in the fall!! It is so beautiful.... I love this season!

Alli and Peyton

Elizabeth and Lauren

"Boots"

Alli and I have begun taking long walks and collecting leaves along the way. We talk about the different shapes, sizes,and textures of the leaves. We notice how some leaves change color during the fall, and some leaves do not ~ some trees don't even have leaves and have pine needles instead! This is the artwork from one of our walks. My goal was to get Alli to notice and appreciate (well, at a 3 year old level) this beautiful time of year ~ instead, now she is just obsessed with leaves. (And she brings them inside and stashes them places, like the refrigerator.)

One day for Mommy-Alli time when Boots was napping, we pulled out the "secret bed" in the couch and watched a movie. We also had special treats: popcorn, boiled peanuts, and Alli's most favorite M&M's!

Elizabeth has been cruising the furniture since her first day crawling, which was the day before she turned 7 months. She loves this push toy that Neen & Ross gave Alli, and now, she is walking all over the place on her own!

I tell my girls all of the time that I am the luckiest Mommy ever in the history of the world!! They are my heart and my joy, and they are growing up entirely too fast....

Halloween 2008

Little Bo Peep found her Little Sheep this Halloween!


We had a blast this year for Halloween! As you can see, Alli was the best ever Little Bo Peep, and Boots made a precious little sheep for her very first Halloween. (So what if people thought she was a rabbit because the ears were a little long!) :)

As always, there was a lot going on around here for this fun holiday, so we had a lot of preparing to do. For her part, Alli had fun painting pumpkins...

...Boots crawled around, got into stuff, and made messes for Mommy to clean up...

...and Daddy carved the pumpkin!

Halloween Day was busy from the moment we woke up that morning. It was a Friday, so that meant it was a school day for Alli. EDS preschoolers put on a parade for the rest of the school, and of course Alli loved all of the attention! Her class ended up congregating around in the middle of the courtyard and "posing." There were pirates, princesses, Fancy Nancy, Dorothy, vampires.... But only one Little Bo Peep!

Later in the day, as room mother for Alli's class, I was able to help with the class Halloween Party. For a very few seconds, all of the children sat down to enjoy their snacks.

After school was over, we rushed home for the girls to nap and for me to finish preparing for our now-annual Halloween Party. This is the third year in a row that we have invited friends over for a casual chili dinner and trick-or-treating. Our crowd gets larger every year, and this year, we had 41 people in attendance! It was way too much fun!! We had Nana's Chili, which is always a hit, and several snacks, including yummy home-boiled peanuts and RIP brownies with special treats and prizes on them for the children. Boots was even in the spirit of the evening, posing for pictures and being completely entertained by all of the chaos.

This year, we were joined by the Lewises, Porterfields, Duckworths, Bloodworths, Whitwells, Harpers, Schroerluckes, Pattons, and several others, including our sweet, precious neighbor, Miss Linda.

Elizabeth and Lauren Lewis were the youngest in attendance. Both were troopers, until Boots was ready to get out of the stroller and have her Daddy carry her. :) All in all, chaotic as it was at times, I think children and parents, alike, had a good time this year. Brad, the girls, and I are already looking forward to next year and hope everyone can join us again!!