Love Elmo

Julia loves a new toy - Elmo. This stuffed Elmo is a hand-me-down from Evelyn, who never really took to the guy. Julia carries him around the house, giving him hugs, and she likes to have him for naps and bed-time. And she can also say his name very clearly.

Glinda Costume - Part V

Evelyn's Halloween costume involves lots and lots of gathering. The tulle sections of her sleeves are gathered, and (naturally) the skirt is gathered. In order to make the fullness of the sleeves and skirt look even, I have spent quite a bit of time pinning the gathered material so when I sew it, it looks fabulous. It's a time-consuming process, but well worth the effort.Here's a picture of the latest installment of Evelyn's Glinda costume . . . can you guess what major piece is missing?

Shop 'Til You Drop

One of Julia's favorite things to do right now is carry bags around the house. She goes to the kitchen cupboard where I keep handled paper bags from various stores, fishes around until she finds the ones she needs, and then she carries them around the house. Here's a picture of our happy little shopper -

Glinda Costume - Part IV

The bodice of Evelyn's costume is mostly complete. I won't be able to finish the neckline until after the back zipper is put in, and I can't put in the zipper until the skirt is attached. So the next step is sewing the two-layered skirt . . . stay tuned for updates and pictures!

Butler's Orchard 2009

For the second year in a row, we headed to Butler's Orchard for their Pumpkin Festival. "Festival" is the right word to describe all of the autumn activities - there is so much to do! We arrived at the orchard right when it opened at 10:00, which meant a great parking space right next to the entrance.

Our first stop was the tractor-pulled hay rack ride that took us out to the pumpkin patch. Evelyn loved the ride, and Julia didn't quite know what to think of it, but she was content. Once we got to the pumpkin patch, we tossed Julia into a wheelbarrow and headed off in search of the perfect pumpkins. We found a little pumpkin for Julia, and Evelyn found a bigger pumpkin for herself, which she plans to carve into a jack-o-lantern.
Julia didn't want to sit in the wheelbarrow the entire time we were at the pumpkin patch - she wanted to walk around the field like the rest of us. However! Pumpkin patches are tricky places for little ones to wander around. She had to rely on either Troy or myself to hold her hand and guide her around the pumpkin vines.Here's Evelyn with her prized pumpkin.

The ride back to the main activities area was just as much fun, maybe even better since we had our pumpkins with us.

After the hay rack rides and pumpkin patch, Troy and Evelyn took our pumpkins back to the car, and then we wandered around to find more fun things to do. I think we spent about half an hour going down the big slides - all three of us girls even went down together! Evelyn was brave enough to go down the slide several times on her own.

After the slides, Troy and Evelyn chased each other around a hay bale maze, Julia snacked on crackers, Evelyn went on a moon bounce, Julia snacked on crackers, Evelyn played on a wooden train, and Julia snacked on crackers. Everyone was perfectly (and happily) exhausted after spending two and a half hours at the pumpkin festival.

Happy Husker Birthday

Evelyn and I had the same idea for Troy's birthday cake: Husker football. Evelyn wanted me to cut a cake into the shape of a letter "N," but that's a little too ambitious for me. What I had in mind is what's pictured below - a 9x13 cake, transformed into a football field.

Evelyn and I kept this a secret from Troy until after supper tonight. That's when we surprised him with his cake, sang "Happy Birthday," and ate cake. Or, as Julia calls it, pancake. And Evelyn insists that today was Happy Husker Birthday for Daddy.

Whirling Dervish

Julia's funny-of-the-week is something we like to call the Whirling Dervish. While holding onto toys (Sir Topham Hatt and a stuffed lamb in this video), Julia goes around in circles a couple of times, and then giggles. Probably because she's a bit dizzy! And then she does it all over again.