'Lil Pumpkin Head

Annabelle was thrilled to get the mail yesterday, because she had a present from Ms. Carol in "'Tucky!" She walked up and down the sidewalk saying "My present, my present..." After a few minutes she sat down on the curb and finally asked to open it. She pulled it out and immediately put it on. It was a VERY blustery day and she was so excited that when she put the hat on, her hair no longer was blowing in her face!! What a concept! Yes, just like she does with the rain and the sunshine, she kindly tells God "No blowing, please!" when it is windy. Thanks Carol for brightening our day and thinking of our little girl!

"Hi Carol"

"Cheeseburger. "Maybe someday when she smiles she won't do it so goofily!

Pure joy!!

Fall Festivities

Well, Annabelle and I are at my parent's house for the night, so I have a chance to update you on our life. The geeky Social Studies teacher in me couldn't stand the thought of not watching all of the election results come in tonight. I'll probable watch it into the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully it's only every 4 years! It's so exciting to watch the states get colored in and count up the electoral college votes! (Thankfully since we only get one channel (PBS) at home we have been exempt from all of the political commercials and bantering!)

Fall has certainly been an enjoyable time for us. We don't have trees in our yard yet so thankfully it hasn't meant raking leaves. Instead we have just enjoyed all of the beautiful trees around us. It is sweet to see Annabelle get so excited about all of the colors she sees. "Red, yellow, orange!" It has been nice to enjoy the weather by taking walks, going to pick apples and pumpkins, looking at the moon and twinkle stars at night and playing with "messy" toys on the front porch. We enjoyed our churches trunk or treat the night before Halloween and then we had a good time going trick or treating in my parents neighborhood. We learned that in Godfrey people don't trick or treat on Halloween, just the night before. On Halloween there is one of the largest Halloween parades in the U.S. Who knew? Annabelle was overjoyed with all of the candy she got and was certainly not shy about walking up to people's doors to get more candy. We learned that she doesn't like clowns at all. They are "Scary and make Annabelle sad and cry." She enjoyed wearing her costume (a hippie) and she loved telling people that hippies say "Peace, Man!" She couldn't quite get the peace sign down with her hands so it looked more like the "L" for loser" sign! Oh well. God is so good to us and we continue to thank him for his blessings. A big blessing to us is that Joe's grandma and my granny are still with us. They have both been through quite a lot, but for now God still has them here to bless us. We love them very much.

Annabelle has enjoyed Nana and Poppa's Backyard this fall. Here she is eating a scrumptious chicken nugget dinner while telling Miles "Shh...no barking!"

Annabelle sliding into a pile of crunchy leaves Nana raked up for her. Thankfully there are lots of leaves for her to run through at Nana's house!

This tree looked like it was on fire it was so red!

Annabelle showing off her pumpkin that Gusta Granny painted for her.

"I like this little one!"

Just posing in the corn

What a big girl!

Annabelle painting the pumpkins we picked (and she preceeded to paint her hands and feet, too!)

The finished product! The front's look pretty, but Annabelle wanted to keep the "original"mud on the back sides of the pumpkins.

Our little hippie!

Flower children

Annabelle with her first piece of candy she got from trunk or treat. She was satisfied with just one sucker for about an hour!

"Wow! They have the best candy!" Annabelle had the most fun getting candy from Nana and Poppa's house becasue she got to pick as much as she wanted.

"Thanks for going trick or treating with me, Uncle Brad-a-leee and Aunt Joy!"

Fun times!

Children are such great entertainment! You don't have to leave home and it's free fun! We are thouroughly enjoying our precious little girl who is growing up way too fast! She is well into the "mine" stage and "I do it all myself, please" stage. Who taught her that she was almost 2? We have been seriously potty training for a little over a week and she is doing very well. She likes wearing her big girl panties (except for nap and bedtime! She certainly isn't ready to go diaperless then!) She absoultely loves people...her family especially. In the past week she has gotten to see Uncle Luke and Aunt Ashley, Uncle Brad and Aunt Joy, Nana, Poppa, Gee Gee, Papa and Papa Don. She just loves to be around them all and she gets quite hyped up! She has also picked up on the fact that I call Joe, "Joey" and "Baby doll." So it isn't uncommom for her to be heard yelling through the house "Come here Joey, baby doll!" Thankfully I love my husband and call him nice names! The pictures will show you some of her other fascinating adventures!Enjoy.

Annabelle rediscovered the swaddle blanket from Gusta Granny. It certainly doesn't fit quite like it used to.

Annabelle using the swaddle blanket creatively! She is Mary with baby Jesus.

Annabelle trying to walk in the swaddle blanket. She is so excited to wrap the new baby in the blanket. We practice quite often.

Yes...our daughter is smelling our feet. One night she took all of our socks off and played with our feet for quite sometime! Now if only we could get her to massage our feet.

Annabelle loves to be outside! Her daddy took her up to the park by our house one night for a date!

Annabelle sitting pretty in Aunt Ashley's hat! What a beautiful girl, huh?

"Look at my tongue, mom!" Annabelle was out on the front porch with buddies Sophia and Emma and they were playing with rice! Hey, it's a cheap toy that cleans up easily.

Annabelle loves her daddy! She also likes "case". (an old pillow case from my parent's house) She enjoys trying to walk around the house in it without falling down.