grippy

after our first baby was anti cuddles, i'm sure we'd think any babe was a master snuggler.

 whether it's hair, blankets, a hand, my chin, or her favorite of shirt collars; 

she clings for dear life.

i hope she never grows out of it.

fall family pics

i twisted austin's arm almost completely off & got him to agree to letting my dad snap shots of us for about 40 minutes.

thanks daddy, we are not an easy foursome to catch.

the chief just had a birthday. {YAY} one of my presents to him was a promise to not force him into a family picture for a year...

 

ish.

diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son john

i had one of those days today. they seem to be becoming more frequent. i have done this three times this month...

upon coming home, i sit down & take my shoe off. by the time i get to the other one i find i've been running around like a nut for an hour & fourty five minutes, still with one shoe on & one shoe off. quite literally too busy to take my shoe off. i was wearing heels one of the times!

it looked something like this. i am just sure of it.

i make time to blog about it but not time to seriously take BOTH shoes off?!

freak.

take it or leave it

what to do when ellery loves nearly every single food in creation but wants to assert her dominance & control over her own life & refuses to eat it?

last night she happily scarfed a full cup of cold/plain peas as a snack a couple hours before dinner, inhaled  mushroom ravioli, & then threw one insano trip when i gave her butternut squash with brown sugar on the top.

yep.

sugared squash!!

45 minutes later & countless tears, she finally consumed a tiny stringy piece of the squash, we erupted in applause & our happy, sane toddler returned to us.

so what do people do?? she has to keep eating well & if she starts refusing anytime it's not a regular item on our menu that's not gonna work for me.

my mama had two dinner options: take it or leave it.

not always my favorite but it teaches you not to be picky & to be one adventurous eater. i don't want to make it this horrendous experience, especially when she does so well eating literally anything! but if she doesn't feel like it- we fight tooth & nail. & it's usually because she doesn't remember having it before. i felt sooooo bad for her last night. i don't want to say, it's up to her if she doesn't want it. but i also don't want to make her clear her plate just to assert my dominance. she's still a bit young to explain to real well so maybe wait? but i don't want to start a precedence now that i won't like later.

hmmm. what do people do?

p.s. she gobbling down last night's squash as we speak. with no sugar. maybe i found the key? :)

work shower

there was a small baby boom with the guys austin works with so they decided to throw a little shower for everybody. games, prizes, cakes (cossette had her own since she was the only girl), & crazy gift card presents. it was very sweet of them. it's almost like they like him.

jellybean was the only little kid there so she was the life of the party. at the end she got her feet tangled on all the balloon strings & slowly shuffled around with 70 balloons trailing her. classic; she loved it!

nice little afternoon. thanks!

our harvest

the farmers with their beloved crops.

an ellery celery stalk.

a coco pea pod.

-hahaha-

hope everyone had a great halloween!

the patch

i had planned a fabulous trip up to half moon bay for a day of pumpkin patching but austin's insano overtime hours leave us with little chance for such tommyrot.

we still had fun going to a local one for an hour or so.

c has gotten so so smiley lately! 

 elles tried for a huge gourd first,

 before trying a more 'ellery-sized',

which she still almost dropped. hehe.

thank goodness for gramvi's quick hands.

 doesn't she look proud?

 this little girl loves to drive! 

e is almost 22 months now; her pant legs & i just can't keep up.

had a quick wagon ride...

 and an even quicker attempt at a picture of the girls together. maybe next year. :)

i adore her facial expressions!

always fun having gramvi & g'pa join us. right now 'pa-pa' is definitely on the top of e's favorite person list. she asks to visit him all the time & squeals and runs to him shouting pa-pa over and over. gramvi feels a tad ousted. :)

 don't you love cossette's light orange ballet socks? festive!

i miss my blonde hair today. 

 can i have your hair color?

 i'd LOVE the darker of austin & his mini me too. just not this mousey-tweener stuff.

real quick, did you notice coco's eyes? i'm sure you did. how could you not??

 gotta love a man in flannel :)

have i mentioned that fall makes my soul sing?

cuz it does.

meanwhile back at the ranch

the girls were very, very well taken care of.

so was the chief for that matter.

my in-laws are beyond incredible.

i got a detailed email every day.

along with dozens & dozens of pictures.

 it was exactly what i needed.

 thank you grandma nee'nee & grandpa hill!

we were thrilled to see each other again.

i missed my little family.

we did nothing but cuddle for days.