Blinking Lights

This is definitely our favorite new Christmas song!We love Brian Kinder!

The Elf on the Shelf

Hope has had a hard time listening and minding her mommy lately. I know there is a lot going on in her little life right now, but it is very frustrating. Nothing seems to help. Enter Santa's Helper, the Elf on the Shelf. There is a story by this name. The story is about an elf who come to your house to watch you. He then goes back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa if you have been good. Hope's elf is named Charlie, and he has been watching over Hope and "noting her file..." Please help us Charlie!

Tick Or Treat

We had a good time tick or treating, but my pictures did not turn out very well...

Pumpkin carving...and eventually painting

We went out to my sister's house to carve our pumpkins on Monday. Hope was completely disgusted by the pumpkin guts. She would quickly walk away when we tried to get her to see them, much less touch them. She eventually settled for painting her pumpkin, which of course was a huge mess! We had a good time, but I have no pictures of the finished pumpkins!

The Wonder Place

Last Monday I took Hope and Clara to The Wonder Place. It is a creative play space for young children that my friend Julie opened last year. It is a perfect place for Hope to play and explore. Clara liked the Vet office the best and Hope loved the water table. Hope took care of a Kellogg kitty in the vet office.

Our Beautiful Ballerina

Boo at the Zoo

Boo at the zoo was very crowded. We let Hope stand in line at a few candy tables, then we rode the newly restored Over the Jumps Carosel. It was built in the 1920s, and is not your run of the mill carosel. The horses go over ramps. Hope was not so sure about it at first, but was enjoying it by the end.

Pumpkin Patch

We have enjoyed getting back to some our favorite places since we have been back. We made it back just in time to make it to the Hidden Valley Pumpkin Patch.

She loved every minute of it. She had two missions: 1. To pull the wagon by herself. 2. To fill the wagon with pumpkins until no more would fit.

There was a slight problem as she filled the wagon, it got harder for her to pull by herself. Eventually she had to have her daddy help her.

When she went to have her face painted, she kept telling me she wanted to do it by herself. So I am thinking, okay, she doesn't want me to sit in the chair and hold her in my lap. I give her the money and let her give it to the lady. Then Hope tells her "I am going to paint my face by myself." Ooh, I hadn't caught on to that. The lady was so good, she said, "how about I paint your face, and then you paint mine." Hope agreed. She painted a pumpkin on Hope's face, and then Hope painted a pink and purple rocket ship on the lady's. What a brave woman!

We're here! Now...to catch up

Ok, this might take me a few days to completely catch up. The move went pretty well, with the exception of no electricity for 3 days. Hope loves seeing her cousins all the time, but still asks to go to her house in Texas and to go see her April. She has really really been acting up lately. I'm not sure if it is the age or all the changes going on. Maybe a little of both.

I'll start with this picture of Hope and Abby. It's a terrible picture of Hope, but she was so proud of herself for dressing up Abby. Abby is very patient with her...