Monday, November 1, 2010

October Fun!

Almost concussion recovery after neighborhood Halloween party


Great Falls near our house



GQ pose - no joke, he asked me to take his picture posing like this



Shadow family - very cool!










Getting a soccer medal






Halloween party with his class at school



Boo at the Zoo








Iron Man!







Minnie Mouse!



Girlie, our new guinea pig





Visit from GG, post-soccer







Silly Ellie



Ellie and Nathan


To complete the last posting, Nathan has another funny word to remember..."spill." Which means pour. As in "Daddy spilled me some milk." VERY CUTE. Heard it this morning.
Anyway, October has been really fun. Visits from GG, beautiful weather, a new guinea pig, and LOTS of Halloween...seemed like Halloween was the holiday that kept on giving, but at least we got good use out of the costumes!
I noticed I didn't post pictures last time so maybe I'll do a picture posting this time - there are lots of good ones. Kids are doing well. Since we need more time to figure out the dog that will work for our family (and our allergies), we opted for a guinea pig. I say "we" but it feels a lot like "me" so we now have Girlie added to our family, a poor, formerly terrified guinea pig who has fit in quite nicely in our family and who is really cute and loud. Nathan has done a good job of being a diligent pet owner and likes to get Girlie out for a "run" each day and play with her and give her treats. Hence Girlie loves Nathan. Ellie, on the other hand, is a Girlie grabber (by the neck, the foot, the fur, etc.) so Girlie pretty much shrieks in terror when Ellie comes around. Ellie has the best of intentions but just is not quite "pet ready" at this point.
Gymnastics is going better now that Daddy has been in charge of Ellie the past few weeks. On a good day, she is awesome, and really loves it. Even responds with "genastics" when I ask her what she wants to do each day. She is still the girl of NO but I still love her to pieces.
This year we went to "Boo at the Zoo" again at the National Zoo which was a lot of fun. Ellie got the hang of "trick or treat" pretty quickly and both kids had fun running around in the dark, seeing the animals and the costumes. They were so good and we look forward to it again next year. A Halloween tradition. Then it was Halloween party at Nathan's school, "Trunk or Treat" at church, neighborhood party (where Nathan fell 5 feet off a jousting bouncy and potentially had a concussion!), then trick or treating with the neighbors. Grandpa and Grandma have been here to share in the fun too! The boys left us in the dust this year since Nathan has REALLY gotten the hang of trick or treating so the "girls," Ellie and Alina with me and Janel made it to a few houses. The girls were super cute and if the term best friends can apply to 2 year olds, it is happening in our neighborhood. Alina and Ellie shriek with delight when they see each other, play nicely for hours, smile and giggle constantly, and ask about each other when they are not together. It is the most adorable thing to witness. I wish the teachers at Ellie's school who say she is "quite aggressive" could see her with Alina and they would change their opinion. Ellie is also in LOVE with her brother. Constantly asking "where Nate?" "what Nate doing?" and giggling like we have never heard except when she is witnessing her brother do something funny and/or silly. And Nathan loves to perform for her. Nathan is also quite protective of his sister. Sure they have their moments but it is so cool to see the love between siblings.