Nap Time

I have been letting Elaina take a couple of books with her in the crib before nap time. Since we've lost the paci, we've had to get creative on ways to sooth her to sleep. I have rocked her some but don't want to start that habit (as much as I love it). We always read books before nap and bedtime. Well, last week she requested to take two books in the crib with her to read. I thought, "what the heck" and did it. I said, "read those books and then you need to go to sleep." She waved bye-bye to me (which was comical) and I left. I was skeptical when I left but it worked well. When I went back into her room 15 minutes later, she was asleep. The second day we did this, when I went in to check on her, I found her like this...................

Dead asleep.... SO STINKIN FUNNY!

Elaina's first hair cut

Elaina got her first hair cut yesterday (11/15/09). This was a big day for us. I've been putting it off for reasons that I can't explain. But, we did it. And, I am glad we did. She did so great - sat there very still (with the help of a sucker) and it looks so adorable (if I do say so myself).... It is also nice that now, I don't HAVE to put her hair up. It's not hanging in her face all day long. My friend Jodie who just got her cosmetology license did it. She was so sweet to do this. Here are some before, during, and after shots of the moment....

Before

The first cut...

After....

Look at those curls....
More after shots... SO PRECIOUS!

The Bubble Wrangler

My sister Nell has always made amazingly big bubbles by using her hands and some dish soap. It's a pretty easy concept and maybe others do this too but she's the only one I know. A few weeks ago, she was trying to teach Elaina how to do it. While they were doing this, her husband, Dave, called her the "bubble wrangler." Hence, the name of the blog post....

If you don't know how, you basically lather your hand up with Palmolive (or whatever dish soap you have) - like a LOT of soap. Add a touch of water. Then, make an "okay" sign with your fingers and blow a bubble through it. It's pretty cool. Here are some shots of Nell and her partaking in the fun... You can kind of see the bubbles.... Elaina loved this.

Halloween

So, now onto Halloween... After this post, the Happy Halloween blog background can come down... Here are some shots of our Halloween. It was a bit rainy so not too much trick or treating was done but we did get some in before it really started raining. Elaina had a great time and got more candy then she needed - but she (and Erik and I)have been enjoying it.

Pre-trick or treating poses...... so adoreable

Elaina (Dorothy) with Jax (Toto) We did not take Jax with us as originally planned. He would have been all over the map. He did however sit still for some pictures (which was amazing)

We went trick or treating in our friend Julie's neighborhood with others from our small group and their kids. They all had super fun... Here is Elaina with her friend, Laurel
The whole gang....
When we got home, Nell and Dave came over - Nell had a mouse mask... Here's a pic of her and Elaina

Then the mask made it on Jax's face....One more pic - We had Pirates and Princesses at church. This is Elaina in her princess outfit.... So cute - she LOVED being a princess and talks about her princess outfit a lot since then

Pumpkins and Parties

So, just some more shots of more Halloween festivities. I don't remember doing quite so many Halloween related activities before having Elaina :) We had such a fun time with it all.

On Thursday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins. I figured Elaina would love the "scraping out the inside" part - WRONG. She was not into getting her hands messy.

She wanted to help - she did okay with this but it made the process really slow. Luckily her attention span was in and out so I was able to actually carve during the moments she walked away.

This was the pan of pumkin insides. Elaina said "I want some cheese." So funny - it looks like shredded cheese.
Helping her daddy

Finished pumpkins - I did a free hand one, Erik did a sketched out one... We are amateurs at this - not too bad.
On Friday before Halloween, her school had a Halloween Party and trick or treated from classrom to classroom. Here are some shots of that.

She got glasses in her goody bag - she's worn them everyday since she got them.

Elaina's class - she's still got the glasses on...

Here she is standing in line to trick or treat at the 4 year old room....glasses still on - upside down
She is so silly - these pics crack me up!