Pumpkin Carving

We have enjoyed making our own traditions here in New Mexico. And for Halloween we carve pumpkins at a friends house. We have some yummy homemade chili and good conversation, then dive into the pumpkin fun. The kids dress up in their costumes, which is nice to be able to wear the costume more than once! Usually we all gather around the pumpkins and join our efforts for carving, but this year we had a few more little ones to run after! So the menfolk carved the pumpkins and the women kept the kids entertained. Titus even got to decorate a pumpkin with stickers. Thanks Leah! That was a great idea, and T-man loved it!

Enjoy the photos

Sara is the pumpkin, Elsa is the LadyBug and Titus is the construction worker.

New Family Photo

So it was time for an updated family photo. The infinitely resourceful Tiffany found a great online coupon for a high-end photography studio in-town. We figured we'd go, take a session's worth of shots, then buy several to update the photos in our home.

Boy were we in for a surprise! WOW these things are EXPENSIVE! The coupon (which we paid $30 for) got us one outfit, one pose in an 8x10, 5x7 and some wallet size. After the session was over they had us pick out our favorite pose and then offered to let us upgrade to a "package" with several other poses and more prints. Well, the so called "entry level package" they offered cost $699. SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. That's more than our DSLR camera cost! I have NO idea how these places stay in business charging that kind of money.

Anyway, we've decided to make a pact with some of our other rational (or cheapskate if you wanna call us that) friends and take each other's family photos throughout the year. God has made plenty of beautiful places to take photos and I'm sure you all have been impressed with the photos of the kids that Tiffany has taken up to now.

Fallen

We apologize for falling off the blogging wagon. There have many events these past weeks and we are gonna date the post when it happened. This means you might have to scroll down to see a new post. We will try to post them in order, but no guarantees!

Balloon Fiesta 2010

This year for Balloon Fiesta we had visitors. Granny and Papaw came to the Fiesta with their friends Charlie and Sharon. They came over and visited the babies and us, and took us out to dinner. We truly enjoyed their visit, and I think they enjoyed their visit too! Granny and Papaw got Titus a hot air balloon shaped blow-up balloon. He had a blast! He took the basket part with both hands lifted it over his head, threw it to the ground and watched it bounce. He was entertained for a long while, and Elsa loved to watch it and laughed along with everyone.







When we went to church that Sunday, there were balloons everywhere! I mean everywhere. In the parking lot of the church, in the dirt lot behind the church and the big open space across from church.

Titus turns 2!

Titus turned 2 years old today!!! We enjoyed a nice Wednesday starting with a special breakfast, a donut! (you can see on our face in the above photo, it had chocolate icing) We attended Bible study where we got to play with our friends. Then we went to lunch with some of our friends. We got balloons and played in the play area.







After our nap we opened some wonderful cards and gifts from grandparents. Thank YOU so much! And this evening we were allowed to stay up late and watch a movie! All in all a great day to turn 2.

Dr. Appt

Elsa is a "picture of health" says the pediatrician. She now registers in at:
Weight: 14 pounds
Height: 27 inches

She is tall, 75th percentile for height. This is why we have to wear some 9 month clothes. She just is too tall for some of the 6 monthers. Jordan took her in for this check-up, since I double booked myself. (oops!) I had told Jordan that I thought Elsa looked pale, so he mentioned this to the doc. The doc says, "Tiffany actually noticed this?" Apparently breastmilk's iron levels drop around now, and that is why we start rice cereal (iron-fortified). As a result of the drop in iron levels, the child can be paler. How funny! I just thought she might be under the weather. They will check her iron levels at her 9month appointment, but it is completely normal and expected for kids to be pale.

A Healthy Elsa is a blessing.

Nellie & Titus (AKA Bonnie & Clyde)

So Titus' best friend is a little girl named Nellie. They play together so well and often get each other into trouble. If Titus can't find Nellie, he'll run around and yell "Nel-ne!" until he finds her. Nellie will often point and Titus and say "Tie-us, Come!" and Titus will happily trot to her as they run off on an adventure.

Here is a cute video of them playing in a toy helicopter.



(I've been made aware that perhaps Nellie thinks Titus is her boyfriend. Check out the bottom of this post on Nellie's blog for the scoop.)