Catching Up

We haven't written in a while because the computer has been (and still is for the most part) on the fritz. But that hasn't kept us from staying very busy lately -- so here are a few photos and little stories to get you caught up on our lives.

On the 26th Daddy celebrated his 34th birthday. As usual, since the early fledgling days of our relationship, he received homemade "birthday cookies" from me. If I'd known this would be 'til death do us part I might have chosen a simpler recipe all those years ago. They are a labor of love. So instead of cake we enjoyed cookies -- Ella really liked them. Hmmm -- will this become a tradition for each birthday?

On Saturday we carved pumpkins. It's hard work so Ella and mommy took a break and shared a sugar free popsicle. She loves them and they're a treat for her little throbbing gums.

Sunday night we went down to Manhattan Beach for trick-or-treating. The streets were packed with princesses, animals, fairies, witches and goblins. Since Ella can't actually eat the candy we decided this was a better way to celebrate Halloween. We were one of the few families in costume but we had a great time and our photo was taken for the local paper.

For Halloween we dressed in costume and sat out in the front yard and handed out candy. The children enjoyed getting candy from the Oz family. And although the Lion head didn't last long -- she enjoyed crawling around the yard and looking at the jack-o-lanterns. Unfortunately we didn't have as many trick-or-treaters this year. Last year, when we had just moved in and I was reaching pregnant capacity, there was a non-stop stream from about 6:30 until 9:30. We very conservatively went through about 20 bags of candy before running out before it was all over. This year -- we began buying candy back in September and had 23 bags. By the end of the night we were giving two and three handfuls to the kids.

Not much on the agenda for the next few days. As for Ella's progress -- she's really getting the hang of walking while holding our hands. She's even stood on her own for a split second a couple of times -- but she gets freaked out and cries. She's also figured out how to open drawers -- which usually results in smashed fingers and much drama.