Thanksgiving

We spent half of the Thanksgiving Weekend in Portland with my family. We had a wonderful time visiting with family, shopping, playing the wii, chillin' with some friends and laughing together. I am thankful for my family!

Leila's new pillowcase dress.

Watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving with Daddy after dinner.
My grandparents used to make rocking horses together. Papa would build them and Grammy would paint them . My Mom has kept two of them over the years and Leila is the perfect age to enjoy them. She played with it all weekend. A friend of ours, Daniel, brought his little girl over and the girls rode all around the house.

Early morning books:

(Uncle Nonny, Granddad, Leila and Grammy)

A Backyard Friend

Wednesday morning, Leila discovered a new friend in our backyard. "Look, a baby owl!", she exclaimed as she pointed out our TV room window. Chris and I ran to the window to see what she was talking about. While we were checking it out, L was grabbing books to read to the baby owl. She must have stood by the window for 15 minutes reading some of her favorites to this baby owl (who was sitting VERY still!). These pics were taken the following day when she was STILL reading to him.

"See, right there!"
"Look at the pictures, baby owl."

Reading Owley to the owl.
Are you wondering what the owl looked like???? I am not sure if this is cute or gross...Leila's baby owl is an overgrown mushroom of some sort! It really does look like a little snowy owlet...the tips of the feathers are even grey in color.
Later in the afternoon, we took her outside to see the owl. She didn't want to get too close because she told us he was sleeping.

I have a feeling this mushroom might get to stay in our yard for a while!

Trick or Treat!

This year, we met up with some friends and trick-or-treated the businesses of downtown Puyallup. The streets were full of cute kiddos in costumes and several businesses were even out of candy because so many folks had come through. The rain held off for a few hours and right when we were headed back to the car, we began to feel some raindrops. Whew! We were lucky.

Mamas and Munchkins:

Aimee and Tevyn, Jeanna and Audrey, Erin and Leila

3 Men and 3 Babies:

Jason and Tev, Chris K. and Audrey, Chris T. and Leila

Our last stop of the evening was Gramma and Papa's house. Leila was ready for some rest at this point.

Despite being extremely tired, L managed to smile for a few more photos before we took her costume off for the evening.

Paul McCartney and an English National footballer:

I know, I know....I was a soccer player last year. It was a last minute decision this year to dress up and I didn't have any creativity! Thank goodness Chris let me borrow his soccer gear.

After pictures, Leila and Papa cuddled up to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (AGAIN!!) while they waited for dinner.

Leila's favorite part of the evening, hands down, was passing out the candy at Gramma and Papa's house! When the doorbell rang, she would jump up, squeal with delight and RUN to the door. She was adorable! We had a great evening with friends and family. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Wednesday night we brought in the pumpkins! Leila was very excited at the prospect of having an Elmo pumpkin, but not so thrilled about helping with the process of carving it. After the initial excitement wore off, L was much more interested in watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown than in working on her pumpkin. So, Daddy took over. By the time he finished Elmo, he was all out of energy. We still have one untouched pumpkin on our porch. Luckily, he got to carve one at Aunt Lynn's house a few days ago for himself.

Our patch...Elmo, Star Wars and Mickey. Mickey was going to be more intricate, but I made one bad cut and the whole face was doomed. We are calling it Toodles rather than Mickey.