Jack-o-lanterns

We carved our pumpkin tonight. It's actually the first time we made a jack-o-lantern with Elizabeth. We figured she was too young to enjoy it before now, so why bother with all that mess and goo? So, we had a great time starting the tradition tonight.

First, Elizabeth told David how to draw the face. They both took it very seriously - almost like they were drawing out a mug shot:



Then, Elizabeth took a few stabs at helping clean out the pumpkin guts, but quickly turned that slimy task over to David. A girl after my own heart!



Then, David cut out the face while Elizabeth painted a face on her little pumpkin.




At least, that was the plan. But, once she got started, she had so much fun painting, she kept at it until the whole pumpkin was painted. Here are the final products:




And, after they were done, Elizabeth still wanted to paint some more pumpkins, so we improvized:



Happy Halloween!

Little Goblins

Elizabeth and I had a lot of fun yesterday at the Little Goblins Galore halloween carnival put on by LFUCG. (Poor David was in Morehead at his Saturday class.) They had carnival games, a petting zoo, and a trick-or-treat trail. We went with several other friends, and Elizabeth tried really hard to keep up with the older girls!

Here are some pictures:









And, even with all the candy around, she decided to eat an apple while on the Trick-or-Treat trail:

Little black kitties

Elizabeth absolutely loves cats. She's going to be a black cat for Halloween (or a "black titty" for those who don't understand her Pre-schoolese). And, until now, her favorite stuffed animal was a little black and white "kitten" (I actually think it's a baby tiger) named Shazam. Last week, she got to take a stuffed animal to school, and she was so excited that Shazam got to go with her.

But, this week, I think poor Shazam has met his match. Last night, my friend Carolyn came over and gave Elizabeth a treat - a little black and white Beanie Baby kitten. I don't think she had any idea how well that was going to go over with Elizabeth, but she struck gold.

After much discussion, Elizabeth decided to name her new kitten "Oreo." Oreo has been the focus of all of her activities today and she has taken Oreo and Shazam with her everywhere she's gone. She claims the two kittens are best friends, but she also says that she's their Mommy, which means they are brother and sister. I have a feeling there's going to be some pretty bad sibling rivalry going on here pretty soon. Because, although Elizabeth loves both her babies, she's been showing a little preferential treatment toward Oreo. After all, this is how I found her sleeping in bed last night:



Yes, that's little Oreo tucked under her arm so sweetly. And, if you look closely, you can see one of Shazam's paws in the upper corner of the picture piled on top of all her other stuffed kitties.

Speaking from one younger sibling to another, I think poor Oreo better watch her back....

October traditions

One of Erin's best friends got married in Lexington this past weekend, so she and the kids came up on Tuesday to spend the week. As always, the girls had a lot of fun playing with each other. And, Bridger has graduated from the happiest baby ever to the happiest toddler ever. You do have to watch him carefully, though, because he is FAST and things he shouldn't have seem to magically appear in his hands! He loved watching the girls play and seemed quite upset that he couldn't quite keep up with them yet. I imagine that won't last for long!



He also is turning into a budding musician, and was very cute to watch singing and playing Elizabeth's piano.




We took the kids on our annual trip to the pumpkin farm on Friday. It was very crowded, since we managed to show up during several school field trips, but they still had a fun time.











Here are some comparison shots from past pumpkin farm visits:

October 2008:



October 2007:



October 2006:



Elizabeth in October 2005:

The endless summer

Although the calendar says October, we're still experiencing summerlike days in the Bluegrass. We're also in the middle of a moderate drought. That means we've had gorgeous blue skies and sunny days for almost 3 weeks straight. As someone who works outside most of the time, I'm definitely not complaining! So, although it looks like fall outside (the trees seem to have given up on waiting for cool temperatures and have started to change anyway), it feels like gorgeous summer weather. Today was again unseasonably warm (~85 degrees), clear and sunny, so we decided to take advantage of it.

This morning, David washed and cleaned both of our cars. Elizabeth helped for a little bit:



Here's an action shot:



Now, I figure she's trained to participate in pretty much any extracurricular activity, as she'll be able to work the mandatory fund-raising carwash event.

After that, we headed to McConnell Springs. It is speculated that the settlers of the city decided on the name of "Lexington" while sitting around one of the springs here in June 1775. As someone who was born and raised in Lexington, it's kind of surprising that I'd never been there before. They had some really nice, short trails to walk along, and we had a great time exploring and seeing lots of neat bugs and trees - including a huge, old Bur Oak tree. The water in the Springs were down (thanks to the aforementioned drought), so although it was still pretty, we decided we'll have to go back sometime when the water is up because I'm sure it will be really neat to see then.

Here are some pictures we took of the beautiful scenery:







(That one's pretty fuzzy, but you can see how big the tree was!)

Elizabeth is still getting over the croup/cold she's been fighting for a couple of weeks now, plus she got up in the middle of the night and then again early this morning. So, she fell asleep in the car and spent most of the time at McConnell Springs sleeping in her stroller:



But, she did wake up in time to see part of it and enjoy a picnic lunch!

Elizabeth's choir debut

Elizabeth has joined the Cherub Choir, which is for 3 and 4 year olds, at our church. They practice every Sunday morning, and for the past few months, Elizabeth has been singing songs to us that she's learned in choir.

Last night, the Cherub Choir sang in church for the first time since Elizabeth has been a member. Granddad, Granny Pat, and Mamaw Helene came to watch her choir debut. Unfortunately, Elizabeth managed to fall asleep in the car on the way to church, so she was pretty grumpy when we woke her up to eat dinner.

Then, when it was time for the Cherub Choir to go up to the front of the sanctuary, she got major stage fright. She stopped in the middle of the aisle and refused to budge. Fortunately, I have strongly developed negotiation skills, so I quickly bribed her with a small bag of Skittles if she would go up there. Of course, then she just stood up there through the entire song, chewing on her nails. She finally got over her stage fright when everyone started clapping after the song was over - she liked that part! So, while she technically has now debuted with the choir, she still has yet to sing a single note!

Here's a picture of Elizabeth sitting on the floor of the sanctuary waiting her turn:



Here she is after she finally agreed to stand up with her friends (that's not really a smile - she was just about to put her fingers in her mouth):



And, here's what she looked like for the rest of the song:



We did take a video of it, but there's really no need to post it - she literally stood like that the entire time! Oh well, maybe she'll decide to actually try to sing next time!

Kentucky corn maze

This afternoon, we went with some friends from church to a local corn maze. It was designed by the same company that designed Uncle Shuck's maze, which we went to when we were visiting the Hobbs family in Georgia last October. The maze was a very elaborate portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. You can see a picture of it on the Kelley Farms website.

The weather was beautiful, the corn was a-maze-ing (groan....), and we all had a lot of fun!