Picture with a 1000 words or less: New Moon

New Moon

I have not yet seen it.

Mom, Abby, and Katy (not pictured) saw it opening night Friday morning at midnight...

I stayed home writing a paper.

Ahh, the life of a grad student. So Glamorous.

Dad was nice enough to keep me company. I know it broke his heart to stay away from that teenage love triangle and watch sports center instead.

Is there anyone out there that was planning on seeing it but has not seen it yet? Abby has been nice enough to volunteer to see it again with me ...if I make her. I'm sure it'll take a lot of convincing.

Hair cut: Before and After

My best friend, Jennifer Tuttle Beebe, has been in town visiting her family for Thanksgiving, which has been SO fun!

She also happens to be an AMAZING hair stylist!

Behold!

Before:

(I think this pic is hilarious. I had just woken up from a nap and

was having trouble cutting my waffle. haha. Eliza looks adorable in this pic, tho!)

After:

Thanks, Jen! Totally wish you lived here! ;)

Larger than life...

Today as Eliza and I played imaginary picnic or "Pig-nack" inside the McDonald's playplace, she told me, "Mommy, no! You sit there, and I'm going outside." I redirected to her and told her to say please and speak nicely, so she did.

As she climbed back in to the little space we'd been playing in, I switched sides so she could get in to the small rectangular space easier.

"No! That's MY chair!" I redirected her manners again, but cracked up that apparently her imagination was detailed enough to include chairs. I moved back to my "chair" and helped support her little body as she climbed over the rope divider.

As I put my hands on her to lift her up and over, I had a distinct impression of just how enormous this little person's spirit and personality was. I was awed at her power and intelligence... and I felt grateful to be a person in her life who could be there to "help" and assist her...

...even if all I was doing at the time was trying to not ruin her "pig-nack."

I love my little, larger-than-life, Eliza!

Fair Feathers Food Fun Family Home Evening

We spent our Family Home Evening a few weeks ago at the SC State Fair. So Eliza, Abby and I met up with Mom & Dad and Katy, Aaron & Reuben.

We had a blast! But if I'm gonna keep this blog going during the rest of this semester, I'm going to have the pictures speak for themselves.

The Caterpillar Rollercoaster! This was the only ride Eliza rode. But she rode it three times! Once as soon as we got there with me. After eating during the middle of our time there with Oma. And then on our way out with Aunt Abby! She was just barely 36" -- just barely tall enough to ride the littliest, easiest kiddie rides. She was excited to ride them but did not want to ride them without me, so that left like 3 ride options.

Caterpillar it was!

If you look closely, you can see Eliza and me in the right corner.

The animal barns were the best part for Eliza, I think.

I had Eliza pose with the peacocks! If you have been around Eliza lately you know why!

For you out-of-towners, the peacock is Eliza's favorite animal to impersonate. Even though I have attempted several times to teach her what sound the peacock makes by showing her youtube videos, etc., she continues to say that the peacock makes this terrible loud, growling honk that sounds like a dying goat! Maybe I should try to get a video of it. She also has a peacock beanie baby that she would take EVERYWHERE if I let her.

She loves her some peacock!

Goats and Sheep. We ran into some friends, the Sheridan's who were riding the Elephants and Camels, and Br. Sheridan shared some sheep food with Eliza. Eliza was ecstatic.


Eliza loooooovvvvvvedddddd riding the pony! She was adorable.

These llama's were crazy smart! And really soft too! He was like eating out of the food machine before I had even turned the knob. Eliza really like them until I got some food and then she just wanted me to do it.

The fair food was a hit as always. Check out Kate's blog to hear more about it. Below, however, is a picture of me right after I took a bite of a "Pig Licker" or the chocolate and powder sugar covered bacon thing. BLAH!

I'll try everything once?

This last Friday, we also attended the annual little Halloween carnival at Pine Island put on by my dad's company. Eliza only wanted to keep her costume on for like 5 minutes. Oh well. At least she was nice enough to try to share her Nerd's with Reuben!

What are older cousins for but to expose you to hard, small, choking-hazardous sugar items...?

Abby and I hadn't gotten quiet enough out of the fair on Monday night, so we went back out on Friday night after Eliza and the old folks were in bed. (Well... Dad was actually still awake when we got back)

I think we ended up riding every single crazy, scary, adult ride plus some. I only got nauseous once, and that was right after finishing off a 10-inch gyro that I shared with Abby right before hopping on the ride that drops like 10 stories in 2 seconds.

Otherwise, it was a complete blast, and we stayed until the rides stopped running! Abby was the best fair date EVA! Thanks, Boo!

Spooky Spiders

Eliza and I made spider hats for halloween!

We got a book from the library about spiders, got a $1 spider from Target that only has 6 legs, have been admiring all the spider halloween decorations, and have been running into spiderwebs all over the place in our walks in the woods.

So we made spider hats!

For anyone who's interested, I love getting weekly pre-school lesson theme plans from this blog on my blog reader. I've gotten some great craft ideas from there too, and the spider hats were one of them.

Reuben enjoyed the spider fun too.

He was very cute walking around with it on his head, but unfortunately it did not stay on him long.