Time is flying! This is what has been happening, sort of...

Let me start with my favorite picture of the last 2 weeks. C is ready for her second 1st day at dance. I moved her to a different school, the first was a madhouse, this teacher being the cheeriest person alive and maintaining smaller classes! She wants all little girls to feel special and pretty because soon enough, the world tries to make us believe otherwise. So here she is, with her bag that my mom made for her, her ballet slippers and tap shoes inside. E wanted to be a part of the picture and struck this funny little pose. Does he remind anyone else of one of the guys from Abbot and Costello? Is this who I mean or is there some other guy? Let me know if you think of who it is.

She loved her dance class, is taking it with a new little friend named Rosie. It turns out that one of our family friends is also in it. Small world. Here is proof that C has a softer side. You just have to pay attention. She initiated this hug. The other day, she waited for E to come out of the restroom with her arms wide, embraced him, and then took his hand and led him down the hall. She did this to one of his friends also, bringing him upstairs. Josh didn't know what to think of it.

Friday C had her first haircut (well, by someone other than me). She sat still, with a little embarrassed grin, and when the gal had spent all of 7 minutes trimming 3 inches off and putting long layers in it, smiled big and jumped out of the seat to have a look at all the fingernail polish.

About an hour later, we picked up E from school and headed to Gardner Village to meet my mom, my sister-in-law (D's sister), her mother-in-law and of course my nieces. My sis in law, Missy, is due in about 10 days. She isn't finding out what she is having. This I find terribly annoying. But I guess we will find out soon. It is fun to have her and her family now living nearby, we get to see them and spend time with them more often and we love it.

GV is a historic old mill and community of homes turned retail shops. During Halloween they have tons of big and little witches throughout the area. It was a madhouse. We managed to have some treats, look at a lot of witches, take some pictures, ride some ponies and then before any of us adults had a breakdown, leave. My mom is the real trooper. She is about to have surgery on her back, it is not fun for her to walk around, carry kids, sit and feed ducks with kids.... but she came because she knows she won't be doing any of these things with my kids for a while. She kept E happy, helped all the grandkids (including the grandkids in law, or whatever they are). My kids absolutely adore her and so do I.





Now for the cutest 6 month old, he has just had his first taste of solids. I start my kids later because of food allergy issues. So J had his first taste this weekend. He loved the first 3 bites and then just wanted the spoon. The two older kids wanted to help, which as most of you know, isn't much help. And of course, him being my third, he hasn't tried again. Poor kid, who doesn't get the attention or the play time he really deserves - he really probably does because we all pay so much attention to him. I just remember with my first, everything they did was seen by me, all the time. With my second, she got attention from all of us, and now I guess J gets a lot of attention just different amounts from 4 different family members. Oh, the rambling is beginning. I must stop now.

I've talked about our great neighborhood before. A couple moved in last year and we love them. They grew some pumpkins this year in their backyard and decided to invite the littler kids in the neighborhood and their parents over for a picking party.

They had paints for the pumpkins, a pinata, treats, the works. Did I mention that they don't have any kids yet? It was so much fun. C chose the outcasted ugly duckling pumpkin. D still wants to throw it away, but no, all pumpkins deserve to be loved. I wish I had a better picture of it. It is so misshapen, but she loved it and painted it pink. The kids had fun, the parents too. Can't wait until next year. The mother of the friend who threw the picking party (she also lived up our street) commented later that she couldn't believe I would put these painted pumpkins on my porch. She said she didn't think I was the type to allow these "non-perfect" pumpkins to mix with my fun, perfect pumpkins - implying that I want my display perfect (which it never is) and my kids' art didn't mix. I let her know that I have three kids, my house is a child's house. I love how they express themselves. And truly, I can't believe she thinks I really have it all together enough to have a perfect front porch. Rambling again. Going to bed.