Halloween 2012

Ellie is too young for trick-or-treating, but we take her on a wagon ride every night after dinner, so we wanted to be able to do it on Halloween in costume.  Jen Wheeler sent me the link to an awesome costume that incorporated the wagon, and I was instantly sold!  Pete soon jumped on board, and our family costume for Halloween 2012 was in the planning stages.  We were really really happy with how it turned out.

For my part, Ellie's costume was pretty simple.  I bought a gray sweatsuit, seam-ripped off the existing applique, and sewed on a little pink tummy and some pink and gray ears.  I also added a tail I whipped up with some gray velvet and polyfil (with a little button over the shoulder so Ellie girl wouldn't have to drag it behind her.)  The tail was the most labor-intenstive part - that little sucker was a beast to fill with stuffing!

Fiona's cheese costume was a few blocks of floral foam glued together, carved out, and spray painted yellow.  I sewed a little black felt jacket for Fi and hot-glued the cheese to it.

Pete made our little mouse trap (though I made template for the logo!), and I think he did a fabulous job!  He built it the Sunday before Halloween in our basement, then was up Tuesday night until midnight spray-painting it in the garage.

Ellie was terrified of her mouse trap (shocking, I know), so she went down the street with her daddy like this.  I pulled the wagon and walked the cheese.

After we walked our wagon-route, we dropped Fi off at the house and walked another block over to our friend Audrey's house.  Her mom and dad were hosting all the girls Ellie's age (and their parents) for dinner.

Then we headed back to our house for dessert.  I had made pumpkin cheesecake and these really awesome black and orange whoopie pies of which I failed to take a picture.  They looked very festive.  Ellie REALLY enjoyed hers.

Once the sugar was flowing in the girls' bloodstreams, they all seemed to migrate toward the staircase.  Some of the girls are newer to stairs than others, and it quickly became the place to be.

Around eight o'clock all the girls were buzzing and up past their bedtimes on a weeknight, so everyone headed home.  Ellie had one last shenanigan up her sleeve, then we carted her off to bed as well.  

Best part of Halloween 2012?  As Ellie and I headed out the door Thursday morning for daycare and work, I had to remind Pete to fully remove his whiskers before walking into his account in Cincinnati :-)

Catching Up

Weekends have been pretty busy - here's a recap: 

Three weeks ago, on our way home from church,  we saw horses show-jumping in Centre Point.  They were there to promote the Alltech National Horse Show that's going on right now at the Horsepark.  We met Junior, Beau, and Maverick.  Ellie couldn't have been more pleased to see her beloved 'Hee Haws!'

Later that evening, we went to Evans Orchard to visit their pumpkin patch.  We had no idea they also had TONS of activities for children: potato sack slides, a petting zoo, a giant hay bale fort, etc.  We enjoyed our last sunny, warm Sunday, and Ellie picked a pumpkin.

Last weekend, we finally decided to tackle the leaves in our front yard.  We even had a third rake for Ellie!  She was more enthusiastic about it than we could have hoped.

Then on Sunday we had our neighborhood Costume Parade.  Our friend Scarlett (the strawberry) won for the 'younger ones' age group.  It was super-cold and dreary out, though, so everyone came back to our house to hang out!  It was so fun to watch all the little girls running around together - Ellie was in heaven.  We all had such a good time that we pretty much re-created it last night for Halloween - more on that later!

One and one-half years.

What an amazing adventure it continues to be.  We love you, Baby Girl.

Book Signing - Young House Love

Yesterday, the whole fam loaded in the car and drove just across the river into Cincinnati to attend the Books by the Banks festival.  There were all kinds of activities for kiddos, and great authors, blah, blah, blah.....

JOHN AND SHERRY PETERSIK WERE THERE SIGNING COPIES OF THEIR NOT-YET-RELEASED BOOK, YOUNG HOUSE LOVE!!!

Rachael and Margot drove in from NKy, and Audrey and Andrew drove up from Louisville.

The festival started at 10am, and we arrived pretty much right on time.  Rachael had gotten there a few minutes before us and saved us a place in line.  It wasn't very long at that point, but within 15 minutes or so it was around the room!  We started to get nervous that they weren't going to get to us before they had to leave to do their panel discussion at 11am (which we also wanted to attend), but they signed our books, and Audrey and Andrew's, and, a good 15 people behind them.  (Pete and Andrew stayed behind to pay for our freshly-signed-but-not-yet-purchased books so we could get good seats for the talk.)

Wait wait wait Mom, I want to hear what Sherry is saying.

I really think we could all go out for coffee and have a great time.

Sherry lovin' on Margot.

They were SO SO sweet and chatted with us about their trip, eating at Graeter's etc.

They were equally sweet to Audrey once her spot came up in line.

Thank goodness for snacks and quiet books and iphone apps and aunts and uncles or Ellie never would have made it.

We tried to play it cool, I don't think we appeared too enthusiastic, just supportive and happy to meet them.  John is a soda enthusiast, so I brought him an Ale 8 One.  Audrey reminded me that it is Aquatober, however, so he might not have gotten to sample Kentucky's finest before boarding the plane home.

I read most of the book last night, am hoping to try projects number 2, 5, 20, 152, 207, 214, 231, 240, and 242 (can you hear Pete groaning loudly?)  So glad we got to meet the Petersiks!!  What a fun morning. 

Jen's Baby Shower

Whew!  What a weekend!  I had so much fun hosting Jen's shower on Saturday.  We are so lucky to have such good friends in Matt and Jen.  It was great to see her and chat with a few of her friends and family members.  She and Matt drove home yesterday and she had a blog up about the shower before bed last night!  Talk about a productive woman.  Her blog is full of fantastic pictures that her sister Claudia took, so you should definitely head over to Bluegrass to Palmtrees to see more pictures.  Especially her answers on the Wishes for Baby - talk about a tear-jerker!!

The theme of the shower was pink/navy to match Baby Girl Wheeler's nursery.

There was a sweets table for guests to make their own goody bag to take home.  Assembling all of this was one of my favorite parts of planning the shower.  That and one of the games we played - Daddy Knows Best - you'll have to check out Jen's blog for those pictures.  If only we had video of OUR reactions to Matt's answers.  Who knew he was so into his hair?!?! (j/k Matt, you know we all love you)

Matt's mom, Peggy, Jen's mom, Susan, and Jen.  Can you tell they are over the moon about becoming grandmothers?!?!

The Mack Women:  Claudia, Jennifer, and Susan

A little after two o'clock I went upstairs to check on my litter napper.  Pete had picked her up from her friend's house just before noon and put her down for a nap in her crib before joining Matt and his dad for lunch.  (How did we not get any pictures of the dads?!?)  The party was long over and I started to take down the decorations.  The garland that hung from our front porch was Ellie's favorite.
 

Until Matt unpacked Jen's Snoogle in preparation for them to stay the night.  Then she was all about her Uncle Matt carrying her around in the duffle bag.

 So, again, not many pictures on my camera - check out Jen's blog for the real details!!

It's almost time!!

We can't wait for Matt and Jen (and bump!) to arrive tomorrow - here's to a weekend of family and fun!!

Olive You.

Last night we wrapped up another busy weekend, and I was digging around the cabinets to find something to make for dinner.  Pete was sitting at the counter while I put water on to boil and Ellie quickly appeared at his feet saying, "up, up!"

So, much, much sooner than I ever anticipated, we were eating dinner at the peninsula.  I got a little teary-eyed when I took this photo.  This is the exact kind of thing we imagined when we first discussed removing the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.

Ellie was more than a little pleased with herself.  She was also hungry.  Which equals grumpy.  So Pete began filching olives for her from a nearby bowl.

17 months.

Seventeen months old, practically a lady!  It seems as though everything about Ellie is growing like gangbusters these days.  Her hair, legs, appetite, vocabulary, tendency to stretch the rules - all on the rise.

Here's a little confession:  A few times in the last month I have picked Ellie up out of her crib right before Pete and I go to bed for the night.  I sit in the glider with her asleep on my shoulder because it's the only time all day that we get to snuggle.  From the moment she wakes up in the morning until we put her in her crib at night, she is on the go.  This morning, before her feet had even hit the ground, she was saying, "shoes? shoes? shoes?" and trying to get dressed for the day.  I requested a hug, and she complied, but then she was on her way downstairs for milk and cereal.

Ellie's seventeenth month was a busy one with her first cubs game, croquet tourney, our trip to the natural bridge, her first haircut, a trip to Shaker Village, her first sick day from school, and I'm sure many other things we didn't think to photograph.

Month eighteen has started out as busy as the past one - we've had the aquarium, bourbon chase, and, last night, pumpkin picking with our neighborhood friends!

Newport Aquarium

This week the Newport Aquarium was offering one free admission with an annual passholder, so we made some time on Wednesday afternoon to go together as a family.  Pete and I went multiple times before Ellie was born, but I've just been once since we have had Ellie.  (I do have a season pass from that visit because the season pass is less than two adult admissions, so if we went more than once in a year, it would pay for itself.  Ellie is free until age 2.)

Probably the thing we were most excited about was the octopus!  It has always been curled up in the corner sleeping on our past visits, this time he was swimming all around his tank.  It was so neat to watch him move through the water.  If only Ellie was as interested as Pete and I were.  We took turns chasing her down the hall so the other could watch Mr. Eight Legs.

We feel very lucky that Ellie did not seem to be afraid.  She was terrified at the South Carolina Aquarium, but loves our local one.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves so she could wander back and forth through the tunnels at her leisure.

Then it was on to the jellyfish exhibit:

Followed by the shark tunnels!

And finally, probably Ellie's favorite, the Penguins!!

I've said it before,

I'll say it again.  Fall in the Bluegrass is beautiful, not to be missed, and one of the reasons we love living in Lexington.  (Spring is pretty great, too, but there's something about fall that gets us outside.)  Now today, of course, it's rainy and chilly, but it is a Tuesday afternoon so I guess there's not much use in complaining.

Last weekend was no exception.  We went to Oktoberfest Friday night and had our usual trifecta of Beer, Brats, and Bingo.  Don't knock it till you've tried it!  Local celebrity Bill Meck was the Bingo caller and there are always a few entertaining folks who've had one too many beers to make the game more exciting.

Pete was home on Friday so we all went out to lunch.

My cousin Joey's doppelganger was there.

Saturday Pete had an out-of-town race (no surprise) so we didn't get to see him until we drove to Louisville for a wedding that evening.  Aunt Audrey and Uncle Andrew watched Ellie for a couple of hours and put her to bed at their house so we could go to the ceremony and reception.  They only sent us one picture while we were gone, but it pretty much summarizes their time together.  Shenanigans.

The wedding was at a lovely outdoor location - The Gardens of Ray Eden - and the bride and groom looked lovely as well.

Sunday morning we drove home after breakfast at Wild Eggs and spent the day outside doing yard work.  In the evening we headed over to Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate for Jazz on the lawn.  It had gotten chilly but that did not stop us from enjoying the evening.

This weekend is the Bourbon Chase, so Pete will be off racing with his pals, but we look forward to seeing him at the finish after their 200-mile relay!

There's no story behind this picture, just typical Ellie behavior.