More Fall Excitement

Once again, I'm a bad bad blogger and have failed to upload pics (or even take them). We celebrated the beginning of fall by visiting a pumpkin patch at the church nearby, where Avery ran around and touched every pumpkin possible. She tried to run off with a couple of them, but we left them there for other people.

We also celebrated the first fruits of our garden...green bell peppers. Our tomato plants are flourishing, but I need to get tomato cages pronto, because the weight of them is making the stems split without proper support. Oops!

We also spent a lot of time in bed due to colds - Luke never caught it, thank goodness, but Avery and I were out for almost a week.

We played a little game of peek-a-boo ("pee-bo"). Avery is so funny when she tries to play without a blanket to hide under - she likes to just poke her fingers in her eyes or ball her fists up, and she'll wait and wait and wait as long as she can before popping her eyes open.

And a little fall cleaning to get the season off to a good start.

Happy Halloween!

getting stuffed - these came out 20 minutes later because it was hot and the costume kept riding up over her diaper

trick or treat!

the crew at home base

riding in style

on the road again

she carried this mini pumpkin that she got at the first house almost the whole time

Aunt Bri taking a turn

this house had a guy waiting to scare people just beyond that curtain - Luke announced that a little baby was coming in, so the guy just sat there and wouldn't give any candy...what a grinch!

Daddy's turn - he struck out 5 houses in a row - no one home

Check out my face - it's because the old lady to my left had just flashed her old lady hiney. Yikes!

This was Avery's first trick-or-treat-ing Halloween, so we took full advantage of it, although all of the candy will make it's way to work with Luke this week, hopefully. We started a tradition last year of camping out at my sister's house with my other sister and her fiance, handing out candy to the kids in her neighborhood. This year my parents drove in as well, and we ordered pizza and set up shop on the driveway.

Details on her costume: I wanted to make it, but needed something easy because I'm no master seamstress. I found a pattern for a bubble suit for a bumblebee or ladybug and adapted it for this costume, and the total cost for it all came in under $10 for the brown flannel, the purse, and some costume jewelry. We had everything else at home already. I sewed the face pieces out of felt, glued earring backs on two buttons for "pearl earrings", sewed felt high heel shoe covers, and stuffed her with plastic bags. All face pieces were safety pinned onto the costume so I could move them about if I wanted to. We tried gloves, to complete the look of Mrs. Potato Head's hands, but they were too bulky, and we also ditched the shoe covers because they kept spinning around.

Avery didn't quite understand what was going on, but it didn't take long for her to figure out that people were giving her things to put in her purse, and then she just started helping herself. She was very polite at each house, telling everyone "thank you" and "bye-bye". One older gentleman scared her a little bit, but once he held the candy out, she was ready to make nice - let's hope that doesn't become a habit!

We spent the previous night at a Trunk or Treat at an area high school where she quickly won over the cheerleaders. She is quite the charmer. Plus, her pic should show up in the local newspaper this week!

A Shameless Plug

My hubby thinks I'm weird for using Swagbucks, but he seems to forget that I've gotten almost $75 in Amazon gift cards from it, so I'm going to just ignore his comments. :) You can sign up through the Swidget on the right hand side of the blog if you want to try it yourself. Yes, I get points if you sign up, but then you can get other people to sign up and you get points too, everytime they get points! Everybody wins. :) I only use it as a search engine - I don't do all the special offers they have. And today they are offering an extra 20 swagbucks (click on the SwagCodes button on the Swidget), and then click on Sign Up and copy it into the codes box on the sign up form. Or click here: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/mollyfantastic

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

We celebrated Avery's 1/2 birthday with some new friends, enjoying cake and 1 1/2 candles (and no pictures on our own camera). This is Avery at 18 months:

-22 lbs 14.5 oz (25-50%), 32.65" tall (75-90%)...she's taking after her Daddy. Dr. B says she's a "really healthy toddler!!"

-loves shoes of any kind, but especially Mommy's heels. They are usually on the wrong feet, and she only wears one at a time.
-still fascinated by books, and is often found reading to herself in her room
-says anywhere from 20-30 words, with new ones popping up daily. Sometimes I can hear a word that no one else would, so does it really count? At least I know what she's trying to tell me. This month we added: toash (toast), fish (for goldfish crackers), cookie (for graham crackers...not sure I've ever said cookie around her, and I think she's only ever had a couple bites of one in her entire life) fau-wa (flower), button (or a variation of it), kiki (kitty), meow, bath, Nana, pease (please), toes, boom!, moo, pee-bo (peekaboo), choo-choo + short phrases - Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy, Bye-Bye Mommy, Bye-Bye Daddy, no no no no
-is trying really hard to say bracelet and necklace and breakfast (almost got it!)
-recognizes chin and belly (as opposed to just the bellybutton)
-signs "eat" regularly now
-is fully taking one nap a day, from about 1 to 3 or 4 pm.
-recognizes friends and family and playmates, and is super excited to see them and very sad to leave them
-is really into her babydoll, and pushes her in the stroller more, instead of those chip clips
-has started sucking her finger at non-sleepy times, which is a little frustrating
-still cries when we drop her off at the nursery, but calms down quickly and even seems to have fun while she's there
-is still a cheese and fruit lover, and that's about it.
-is very girly, loving anything jewelry, purse, or shoe related. She has a bracelet of mine that she puts on while we're in the car
-recognizes objects and says the word when she sees something or hears the noise
-gives kisses anytime you ask, but will tell you "no" if she's not in the mood

Big Helper

Avery loves to help with dishes and laundry. She decided to add a little something extra to the mix today. I found this when I went to load the dishes after breakfast.

Random Pics, or The Goofiest Girl Around

Going to the Chapel

We traveled to Houston last weekend for my dad's wedding, in which I did a reading and each of my sisters sang. Just to brag on them a bit - they are incredible singers - it's so great to see the gifts God has given them and how they are using them well. Love those girls.


Congrats Dad and Angela!

We had a blast at the reception, and Avery charmed everybody with her sense of style by sporting her latest fashion trend, the headband, and her amazing dancing skills. She also tried to catch the lights on the floor from the disco ball. Luke wowed everybody with his "superman" - turns out white boys can dance, sort of. :) They at least have fun trying.

Aunt Victoria and Avery

dancing with Daddy

she carried Aunt Michelle's purse around ALL night

staring at the disco ball

Dad and Mam-maw

I also made the groom's cake - I'm hyper-critical of my work, especially since I don't tend to do highly decorated cakes. Makes me all kinds of nervous. I prefer a good homestyle goopy-frosting cake. But, people have been requesting pictures, so I'm going to be vulnerable and put a couple on here.