happy halloween!!!

pooley's pumpkin patch...

well i keep calling it that, but it was more of a farm i think. they did have pumpkins and a big pumpkin patch area, but we must have waited until too late in the season because there weren't many left. unless we were looking in the wrong place, which is entirely possible. wilson was in total awe of everything there. it was so cute! except that he was running around like a mad man, and wow, is he FAST! the morning started off chilly, so we started off all bundled up. but of course it got warm, so as i was chasing wilson i was also juggling jackets, money, and of course our "treasures" to take home - bare corncobs, walnuts, rocks, dandelions, important stuff! i almost always bring a big bag but not yesterday. oh well! hee!

the kids all had a great time. anna is such a sweetie, always so gentle and kind to the animals and all of the little kids there. she's getting so brave, too! she was a little nervous picking up the chicks at first, but she just kept trying until she figured it out. and she didn't even hesitate to get up on the pony. she's growing up so much!

ella liked everything too, i think. she was very quiet and reserved the whole day. i wonder if she's sick?! lol! no - i think she does get nervous and shy in new situations. and there were quite a few strangers around. she's definitely going through a stranger hating phase.

wilson. hee! he is learning his animal sounds so they were having great conversations. and when ever he gets excited he says, "ooo!" so that's why he's making that face in so many pictures. lol! a lot of the animals were licking his fingers and that was making him belly laugh each time. he must have loved the pigs, because all afternoon he was going around snorting just out of the blue. he's so funny.

we were all so worn out at the end of the day, but yet no one wanted to leave (except me. ;) ) i think we're all still kind of tired. here's hoping for a kind of relaxing morning so we can all catch up on some rest.

(ps - the pictures looked great before i saved them as jpg, and now some are not half as crisp and some are grainy. i know jpg does wonky things, but usually not that wonky! well and for the first few i had my iso cranked from the last time i took picts. whoops! i'll have to use a little noiseware on them later. and hee - click on the big picture to see more. i can't figure out how to embed the album without it being a slideshow now.)

more ella and rosadita..

"rosadita's name used to be grondo. she was the CUTEST baby with pink cheeks and she loves me." it's so sweet when ella is enchanted. i was so glad to see just a glimpse of that side of her tonight, because the rest of the day she was anything but! i think having anna home for fall break has been hard on all of us. not because of anything anna has done, but just that our whole routine is off. and of course ella's not a big fan of having to have to lose a little piece of my attention. ;) i still would love to know where in the world ella comes up with these names! lol!

an ella story...

the girls went out to jump on the tramp between rain showers.
and she came stomping in.
saying,
"there's a new girl on the trampoline,
it's cold,
my fancy shoes got wet,
the mud is wet,
and there's a dead worm on the deck."
and i said, "i'm sorry, honey!"
and she said, "it's not about you!
i just don't like being cold
or dead worms!"
but she strapped on her ladybug boots,
turned right around
and stomped right back out.
i love her. :)

november it kit...

i know i always say this, but this kit was my favorite month ever!!!! as my brother said, the it kit is the schnizit. that means awesome, right? lol!!! i'm a little nervous repeating that since it's something my brother said. ;) this kit has a beautiful tag designed by denise and it's an it kit exclusive. i'm saving and hoarding mine, because i know what a few of next month's papers are and i know it will work so beautifully with them. but the projects the team did with the tag and the october papers are so gorgeous too! check them out here... (it kit gallery)

happy birthday, kelly!!!!!

hope your day was wonderful!!!

thank you becky!

becky posted on her blog about how she learned photography. i have read some of the same books she has and looked at a few online photography websites, but now i am totally hooked on ilovephotography.com. i'm already learning tons of things i didn't even know i needed to know. in a post in the just starting out forum an amazing photographer named cheryl jacobs wrote this:

- Never compare your journey with someone else's. It's a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never "arrive". No one ever does.

- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons, and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.

i think that can be applied to so many things!

i don't know how i can do a photography post without a picture so i'll post this one of my sister-in-law and her family from grandpa k's wedding this weekend. i have some other ok shots from the wedding too, but this one was by far the best. it was a dark, rainy day so i really struggled. not to mention i just have A LOT to learn! i used mindy bush's actions and frame.

mr. wilson...

isn't he a cutie? he was such a good boy today! even though he had to spend an hour in the car before bagels he still sat like a good boy, eating becca's pickles, playing cars with kelly, sharing denise's ella's pretzels and giving loves to miley.

he's fascinated by little babies, and today he was giving gentle pats to a teeny baby boy at ella's preschool. which was much sweeter than the last time he saw him and tried to steal his binkie. ;)

wednesdays are hard on our schedule because by the time we get home from preschool and eat lunch it's 12:30 or 1:00 and we have to leave to get anna between 1:30 and 1:45. wilson was happy and it was a gorgeous fall day, so we decided to walk to get her. ella's feet were tired (as she says) so wilson walked 3/4 of the way to school. that's almost half a mile! when we got to school he was waving and saying ba-ba (bye-bye) to all of the kids.

we picked up "signs of autumn" on our walk home. wilson almost made it, but he fell asleep holding his stick in his hand. he's always so happy to go to in his crib when he's asleep. he usually lets out a sigh and lays spread eagle with his blankie on his cheek. when i go in to wake him up he always says, "oh!" and starts scrambling to grab his blankies and his binkie. so i have quite the load to carry downstairs!

after taking anna to ccd we stopped by the grocery store. he loves to pay - he always reaches for my wallet and gets out my card. he loves to hand it to the cashier and he waits to get it back. and then he usually tries to pay again. lol! thanks, sweetie! once is enough!

he loves to help me cook - he still yells out "COOK!" all of the time. tonight he didn't care to sit in his highchair to help cook, but he was hanging around my legs giving them random hugs and kisses from time to time. we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner (thanks for the idea, kelly!) and he ate a little bit of it! and a jar of baby food and some bread and butter. i'm SO amazed at how much he can put away. he eats more than ella!

speaking of ella, she has a bit of a cold and wilson and i had to run to walgreens during bathtime to pick up some benadryl. (i don't think it helps her cold all that much but it helps her sleep so that's good). all through walgreens he was giving everyone he saw big huge grins. i think he made almost everyone in the store smile. yep! i love him!

i love being able to blog to capture a little day in his life at this age. of course this will all go on a scrapbook page someday. when he's older and i can get a little scrapping in without worrying about him crawling up to dance on the table. ;)

(ps - his hair isn't really red! but the sun was hitting it in a weird way and it was exaggerated when i tried to edit the pictures on my laptop. all of my favorite mindy bush actions are on the upstairs computer and i had to blog downstairs since the cubs are on. lol!)