Aurie love

How's that for big eyes? :) 

Cousin time...

A fun day with Anevay...

Trying to get Lia to join in the photo...

Not going to happen! ;) 

Grandma and the girls...

Aurie's hang-out... (all the better to see the action and reach my toys)

A funny from Lia this week... when we arrived home in the evening one day, and it was pretty much dark, she got out of the car, peeked up at the sky in the driveway and told me, "Mommy, it's time to go trick-or-treating." Yay- year-roud Halloween! :)

Aurie in Action

Here are three little snippets of Aurie lately. She started eating rice cereal, as per the doctors suggestion. We tried the regular for a few days and then I couldn't resist to try the one with fruit. Wow...she chomped at the spoon! :) (If you watch closely here, she's wiggling her head in eagerness to get the spoon in her mouth :) According to the doctor, she may also be starting to teethe, which might explain some wakefulness at night. It's easy to believe when you see times like this- does that chair taste good? :) So then my favorite... daddy (once again!) making her giggle. Melts me every time it happens :)

What Arts and Crafts?

 We decided to go on an adventure this weekend since there were so many festivals and things going on (the temperature has finally come down!). It was a looonnnngg drive over to Fountain Hills, and we thought we'd check out the Arts and Crafts Fest that we frequented in the old days...you know, way long time ago ;) Well....I think the highlights were the yummy goodies and rolling down the big hill to the fountain. We did get a chance to peek here and there in the tents, but to be honest, it wasn't all that exciting- even to us. It did, however, confirm that I certainly am up there to have a tent of my own! :) (One day- when mommy isn't needed quite so much...and maybe once I can have a couple helpers on my hands :)

 Look at the neat fountain! Let's run closer!

 (See daddy run closer too!)

 And then there was some hockey talk this weekend too...tryin' on daddy's Ed Jovanovski jerseys (I was shocked they were allowed to touch them! ;)

Our favorite (well, a way up there favorite) game with daddy.

Aurie Rolls!

A few days ago, this little rascal had me surprised when I came back into the room and there she was, flipped over! She's reaching and grabbing things already, and brings some toys up to her mouth ('cause as you can see, she likes to suck and chew on anything...fingers- hers, yours, doesn't matter...)  She seems very ready to go- sometimes we laugh that she looks like she wants to get up and run after the other two! Then, the same day, she was practically sitting up on her own. I had my feet on either side of her kind of supporting her, but she did really well.

Sleepy Shoppers

Grandma and I did our best to shop them til they dropped ;)...and it worked! Just kidding :) But they were tuckered out after a trip out for new shoes, lunch and IKEA.

This is our little engineer at work again :) I had given them a cardboard tube to play with (Lia likes to call them her telescopes) and Ellie apparently confiscated it, and created a "hat", she called it. What a funny girl! (Maybe when she graduates from engineering, we'll use this photo on the front of the invite :)

Agh! Scarrryyyy.... (A prize from our favorite "claw" game at Walmart, I told you about before.)

I had to tell a funny that happened on our way pretty far to a fish fry at a friend's church last Friday. Something I often do with the girls is point out things I see when we're driving, and they tell me about things they see, just sort of to pass the time (and curb whining). So, Ellie tells us she sees two ferris wheels after I point out to look a certain way because the state fair is visible. I was pretty impressed, never ahving gone on one, that she knew the name. SO then, Lia says, from the other side of the car- I see some monkeys. Well you have to know, that Lia is prone to telling us she sees the cat in the tree in the backyard too, when we're sitting at our dining room table, and since we were on a highway, passing through the downtown of Phoenix, I was pretty sure I could pass her observation off as funny Lia. Well, then all of a sudden Ellie says I see monkeys too. Yeah...I had to look. There, in silouhette from the setting sun, were men working on this skeletal framwork of a mosque or something of the like , quite high up, and right off the highway. They did kind of look like monkeys... maybe we should listen to Lia more often ;) 

Happy Halloween!

Ellie and Lia? No....Tinkerbell and the Little Mermaid yesterday! (holding the dolls their costumes were modeled after)

                                     

I was thrilled to get Lia into her costume and didn't hesitate to take some pictures Friday, before we left for "Mommy's school" to visit. Ellie, at the same age, wouldn't put her costume on for anything. So....when Lia started tugging at it, and asking for it to be taken off, I wasn't surprised. So, here are the two sillies "practicing" Trick or Treating with daddy right before we left. Lia's now dressed liked an ornery 2 year old! :) (But with really cute legs, no?)

(Mommy's Princess of Patience....fits, yes? ;)

So here's the big night...after much anticipation. It started so quickly, with kids coming pretty early, so we had to hustle it outside. The girls were so excited. Lia donned her outfit eagerly (yay!) and I even put Aurie in her "Flounder" costume (It's Little Mermaid's fish buddy, if you aren't familiar with the name). We munched on our hot dog, chili and cornbread dinner inbetween trick-or-treaters and had fun chatting with the neighbors. Of course all the girls had eyes for was the candy, but were pretty good with eating something solid first :) (Lia thought she was at a buffet with the tray I set up....a little bit of this, a little bite of that.). It was nice out, but got a bit cool after the sun went down, so I was glad I thought of putting long sleeves on the costumes and had a change for Aurie. She loked so cute in both! I felt proud of their costumes...they looked so sweet and sparkly- they received lots of smiles when calling out "trick or treat" in doorways. (My favorite parts were their feet...be sure to catch the pom poms on Ellie and the fins on Lia!) There were a fair amount of houses to visit, within the range of our house- not near as many as when I was a kid. I remember almost every house lit up and a pillowcase full, We did a lot of walking for half a plastic pumpkin full!

(Lia doing a little trick or treating practice on our bowl!)

(Check out the grouchy...no more pictures look on Lia!)

This was carving the day before. Ellie liked touching the slimy insides but Lia would have nothing to do with it!

Daddy and his little pumpkin...

(It was hard to get a shot of Ellie without her mouth open! It was a candy night!)

Why settle for one sucker when you can have two!?