Summer-Winter (a picture recap) and some other tidbits

I've been terrible with keeping up the blog. I'll give you a little update on us and then show you some of the pictures I just pulled from the little camera I carry in my purse. I have some from back in the summer, even!

Thanksgiving was nice, but the next day my Mom fell ill and spent a week in the hospital in Louisville. Brian's Mom was nice enough to stay with us and keep Eliza last week. Thankfully, my mother is home and doing much better, so we'll be back in our usual routine tomorrow.

We've put up two Christmas trees this year. We initially put up an artificial tree, but it's no secret that I'm not a fan of the fake tree or colored lights. My very understanding husband let me undecorate the fake tree and put up a real one with white lights. Before and after pictures to follow below.

Next week we're heading to Western KY to visit family and we'll also head to Nashville to take in some of the holiday cheer at the Opryland Hotel. We couldn't be more thrilled.

Eliza is chatting up a storm these days. She likes to say "Oh, wow!" along with "Who/what's that?" Along with her own little alien baby language we've yet to translate. Her hair is getting much longer and really wild, but she won't let me put bows and ponytail holders in it. She has almost a full mouth of teeth and still uses them to chew almost anything she can get her hands on.

And now, a half a year's worth of quick snapshots.

A bright little picture...

This one goes out to Betty, who is hopefully continuing to get better in Louisville as we speak. Eliza's (slightly overdue) 15-month picture.

I'm a slacker!

Sorry for the lapse in posts. We've been so busy with work and the approaching holiday and we haven't had much time to update. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year and we're too excited for words.

This past weekend was a productive one. We both had to work Saturday, but Sunday we cleaned up the house and then headed out to the park. The weekend before that, we went back to the Orchard with Brian's Dad and Stepmom. We had a ton of fun on a hayride and buying apples for another pie. I also bought some pie pumpkins and tried my hand at a homemade pumpkin pie. We have pictures from both weekends and plan to post them shortly, we swear.

Eliza is, of course, thriving. Lately she's learning to get her way by squealing loudly. She's also learned to say "up" when she wants out of her high chair or she wants someone to hold her. She doesn't have any other baby family members to play with, so she's fascinated when she sees other kids. She needs some buddies and I think we're going to be working on that soon.

Pictures to come soon!

Eliza's first trick-or-treat in pictures

14-months-old!

Eliza is 14-months-old (yesterday. sorry)!

First, we'd like to thank Grandmomma and Granddaddy for the nice Halloween card for Eliza. She absolutely loved looking at it.

Second, we're gearing up for Eliza's first Halloween as a trick-or-treater. We're going to dust off the ballerina duck costume from a couple of weeks ago, but a little fancier. I worked on teaching her to say "trick or treat" the other night. It sound like "tritick", so I think we'll try again tomorrow.

Tonight, however, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. Here's a picture.



We also (a day late, sorry) took Eliza's 14-month Raggedy Ann picture. She was sleepy and grumpy and a multitude of other dwarves, but we managed to get a shot we could live with.



This month, Eliza became a full blown talker and a full blown walker. It's amazing how much this adorable little kiddo has absorbed in the past 30 days. I can't imagine what a little terror she's going to be when she learns to RUN.

An adorable terror.

Boyd Orchards and the Family Pumpkin

Today we decided to head out for some family fun at a local Orchard. They have lots of family activities, music, hay rides, and lots of beautiful fresh fruit. After our fun hay ride, Eliza helped us pick out a pumpkin.






Isn't the store adorable? While we were inside, we also picked out some delicious Empire apples. I made a pie as soon as we got home. The pie tastes delicious, but is a little on the runny side. Lesson learned. Next time I'll let the filling simmer longer. Still, we got a half gallon of apple cider that's FANTASTIC.

Finally! The best sound...

Eliza has been a chatterbox lately. She says "Who's that?" constantly while pointing at various things (pictures, objects, etc.), Eziza, Ah-boo (we haven't figured this out yet, but she says it constantly), and "Hot". All food is "hot", no matter the temperature.

She routinely says "Hi, Dad!" to Brian, but she has not yet mastered my name. Until tonight...

I left a room and she momentarily got upset, I was in the kitchen and I heard her yell "MAMA!!!" from the living room.