The Cheerleader and The Chicken

Post disclaimer : please forgive all blurry ancient iphone photos. We are in desperate need of new phones. Donations, anyone?

We headed to our friends house for Halloween this year. Their street has a little "parade", it all starts nice and early at 5:30 -- it's delightful. It means we can have Ford in bed by 7:30 and feel like we had a full event. Heaven. It also means you have to start getting the kids in their costumes around noon in order to get out the door by 4:45. Not really -- maybe 3:30. In either case, it's ridiculously early. And in my case, seeing that I started at 4:15, I was still tying shoes and doing pig tails at 5pm. Oops.

Here's the little chicken trying on his outfit in the afternoon.

The chicken, the cheerleader and a grecian goddess.

Abby was out of the gate running... trick or treating with Daddy and hardly stopping for a photo. Most of the pictures I got are from behind because she was on. the. go.

cheese!

Note daddy's open container...

And once we were back at our friend's house, Abby sat on the porch with our good friend Todd and handed out candy. Todd was dressed as Waldo and Abby soon absconded his glasses. She became the "very smart cheerleader." (no comments about this being an oxymoron).

Once we were home, she counted and recounted her candy again and again. All out of the candy pail, all in the candy pail. All out of the candy pail, all in the candy pail. As I hauled her off to the bath (after 5 skittles, 2 sweet tarts and a lollypop - thanks, Todd!) she screamed, "I want my candy!!!!!!" Whew. It's gonna be tricky business getting most of that candy to "disappear." Happy Halloween!!!

October Outside Brrr!

And just like that, it was freezing! Hats, jackets....big smiles. Gotta love fall.

And in bigger news, Ford is eating! And sitting in his high chair!

456. abby's artwork

457. abby listening and obeying at least a few times a day

458. learning math through raspberry counting

October Outside

We've been enjoying lunch outside in the courtyard lately. Seeing that it's been in the 80's, it's been perfect. I'm so enjoying all that our two year old can do. So much easier than the "baby Curves" that Ford is still experiencing -- going from holding to bouncy to swing to holding to crib.... and over and over. I can't wait for him to sit up -- which should be any month now. Then again, I keep saying that about him sleeping through the night and that hasn't happened yet either.

With all of the playing/running/jumping between bites, she even got an owwie. :)

I've had a weird week of remembering exactly what we were doing a year ago. I think because of said sleep deprivation, it feels like just a few months ago and I'm tripping out at how much Abby has changed. Last year, when we went to the Halloween festival, Abby was still only walking by holding on to our hands. When I think of how well she can walk and talk now, I can hardly believe it. We also went to Austin a year ago this weekend. I was 10 or 12 weeks pregnant and Abby seemed so little when we left her. And now Fordy seems so big! The whole thing is really wild. And a year from now, I'm going to remember dressing Fordy up for Halloween like a chicken. Details to come!

453. world magazine

454. getting to sleep in till 7:40

455. 10 minutes to read mid-day

Creepy Saturday

The whole fam fired up for a Halloween fest on Saturday. It was a good time. A sweaty, crowded good time.

The Halloween festival started out with some fun games (monster toss, ring toss, blah blah blah) and a big, fat lolly. Abby stared adoringly at it all day. Have you read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse? If not, just know that Lilly "longed for her purse all morning," This was the same love affair Abby had with her lolly. Big deal, people. Big deal.

Then we had lunch - hamburgers! It took Abby about 30 minutes to finish a mini burger.

Maybe it was all of the clapping to the band...(like the "Olivia Joins A Band book mom!")

Fordy was a bit overwhelmed by the entire scene...

After lunch we checked out the jumpy houses and slides and decided it was all too advanced for us. We headed to the face painting line. At this point, Ford was asleep in the Ergo and our combined temperature was reaching 145 degrees. Grant wrenched the lolly out of her little hand and once she was in the chair she got very still and very quiet. The last time she had her face painted, the gal told her to "sit very still, please." Apparently Abby was happy with the results because she hardly spoke to the woman and would not make eye contact, trying to remain still. The lady looked up at Grant and said, "is she okay?" For a minute, I thought Abby was going to be sick - all that lolly....all that hamburger....all the heat. But no. She just wanted the perfect bunny on her face. (note extremely sweaty hair setting in).

This is one of my new favs of the two of them. How do they look so happy and not at all sweaty?

Because here is the truth: Fordy in ergo, Abby being wrenched up for the picture, lolly still in mouth, with all of us dripping in sweat.

Ah, Halloween in so cal. It never fails to have you sweating in your costume.

450. designing cards in a few spare minutes

451. excitement about the holidays approaching

452. lunch on a rainy day with friends

The Hobbit

People say the darndest things.

I was returning a pair of shoes that didn't fit (read; didn't fit in my budget after I came to my senses) a few days ago. The tattoo-laden gal ringing me up surprisingly didn't catch her her name-tag hanging around her neck on any of the hundred piercings covering her body when she said "return on your card?" Of course. Right? I mean, who gets cash back? Her piercings gave Ford plenty to look at while he was happily sitting in the Ergo (a first!) when she leaned over the counter and said to him "Oh hi! Little guy! I love little guys! And I love your ears. I do! They make me think of a little hobbit."

Crickets from those of us in the Ergo, the stroller and at the counter.

Really? A hobbit? With hairy feet? And..... big ears?!

To be honest, this same thing happened with Abby. In fact, it was worse. They said, "well, I know where she got her ears from, mom!" Double whammy. The great thing is, I didn't know I had funny ears. I really didn't. I'd heard that like once in my life -- from a hairdresser, no less, who told me if I sit in front of the TV and hold my ears back, it would help. My mom wanted to kill her. Anyway! It brought up a great point. I see Fordy as this perfectly cute little guy that I can't get enough of. Ears? What ears? Dimples? Yes. Big smile? Yes. The ears aren't even on my radar. Funny, right? And I started to think -- if I see past my son's imperfections this readily, imagine how the Lord sees me. Pretty humbling.

You be the judge. Hobbit?

Alright. He does have fabulously big ears.

We just gotta get his hair nice and long like this to cover them up:

446. seeing perfection in imperfection

447. learning to listen

448. time for TV, a great book and bible study all in one night

449. seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with waking up at 3am

Tea Party

Sunday was a lovely day for a big girl birthday party. Abby was so excited. She even got to miss her nap for this one. As you can see, she had pig tails when we left the house. By the time we got to the party, our lovely friend Hillary said she was channeling Marilyn Monroe. Nap in the car + curls + piggies out.

When we got there, Abby made a marshmallow necklace decorated with sprinkles. It melted into her dress just perfectly.

These ridiculous letters (which we got to take home!!) marked the spot where Abby was to sit for the tea party.

Right next to the birthday girl, I might add. Abby was in heaven.

Notice the little ball of pink fluff on Hillary's lap? Yep. That's Abby. Made herself nice and comfy in the center of the gift-opening action. She always seems to find her way on to a really nice adult's lap.

Since most of the girls were older, it was wonderful to meet new moms and have them instantly help out with Abby if she needed more "tea", or more snacks while I was dealing with Fordy. Plus, she felt so comfy with the big girls, she was playing with them while i stood on the other side of the yard. I realized mid-party that this doesn't happen much. She can stick pretty close sometimes in a strange environment. I think it has everything to do with the lovely family who threw the party. Abby loves them so. Happy 4th birthday Katie! 442. no "post nap wake up grumpiness"

443. getting organized

444. being reminded of answered prayer

445. freezing next weeks' dinner now

Suffering

I've been thinking, since Abby's surgery anniversary about those days surrounding her birth, getting the news about her heart....and what followed.

And when I read this I felt really blessed to know from experience that this is true. Both in our fertility struggle and with Abby's heart situation.

"We can make the right answer sound old hat, but I guarantee this: God will surprise you. He will make you stop. You will struggle. He will bring you up short. You will hurt. He will take his time. You will grow in faith and in love. He will deeply delight you. You will find the process harder than you ever imagined – and better. Goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. No matter how many times you’ve heard it, no matter how long you’ve known it, no matter how well you can say it, God’s answer will come to mean something better than you could ever imagine."

-David Powlison

I love that truth. And I love that I can say that I know it's true.

Just to keep us guessing, Abby has decided that frozen blueberries are back, yo.

Oxyclean to the rescue once again.

437.eating dinner outside

438. an industrious, deal-finding, tireless husband

439. fordy's health

440. new music

441. thank you hillary for the reminder to love today