We had a very nice Thanksgiving visiting my family.  Miss E was in heaven, chasing her Aunts and sitting on their backs as they crawled across the floor.  She especially had fun tossing the ball at Aunt Crystal’s stomach as she layed on the floor.  She thought it was so funny!  Aunt Crystal -  well, that’s debatable.

Last week, we were very fortunate to be able to get together with some of my friends from my YSA days whom I had not seen in a long time.  The Tolleys were down visiting family for Thanksgiving, and we took the opportunity to get together a couple days before.  The Snapps also came, which was great because I hadn’t seen them in, well, forever!  Once they all got warmed up, the 5 kids had fun playing together, especially playing with a huge puzzle spread out over the coffee table.  It was a great evening and I’m really glad we had the opportunity to visit with them.

Fun to do, to do, to do…

Ah yes, Miss E has officially discovered her dress up box.  She has always gotten a kick out of playing with different hats, but now she’s discovered the skirts and shawls and what not.  She spent one day getting dressed in many different outfits and coming up to me and saying,

“E tute, take piture?”

And here is the fashion show.

There is a country song where a husband is talking about his wife and talking about all the little moments that make life wonderful and beautiful.   Often times, as a mom, it is those little moments with Miss E that make the tantrums, the frustrations and the messy house all seem like nothing and make the special gift of time I have with my daughter so precious.  I thought I’d share some of them. 

*A few weeks ago, I was cleaning the bedroom and noticed that Miss E had been quiet for too long.  I headed to the front room to check on her and found her with a box of wipes, or what had been a box of wipes.  There were now wipes all over the couch.  When she saw me, she quickly held up her hands and said, “Go away, please.”   I couldn’t help but laugh.

*Also a few weeks ago we had Stake Conference.  I was fortunate enough to get to sing in the choir and therefore was on the stand the entire conference.  This left Daddy in charge of Miss E for the 2 hours of Stake Conference (plus the hour early I had to be there).  Conferences are hard on children as their attention spans are just not as long as the conference.  In the middle of Elder Quintin L. Cook (one of the Twelve Apostles) speaking to us, Miss E turned to Daddy and cried, “Song and Prayer, Song and Prayer”.  She was very ready to be done. 

*She’s recently become acquainted with the need to buy things.  When we’re at the store she’ll reach for anything that looks at all interesting and say that she needs it.  Whenever she asks for more of something, usually a treat, and I say “that’s all” she tells me, “Buy more, mom!” 

*She does not like it when I disagree with her opinion on something.  Usually when such a disagreement happens, she looks at me and says, “No way, Mom.  No way.”  Now, as an “improvement” to this she turns and says, “E run away” where she proceeds to run behind me or to the opposite side of the room where my statements can’t reach her. 

*She’s also discovered money, or as she calls them, monies.  Pennies to be exact.  She has a piggy bank and any penny that enters the house is immediately hers.  Well, this morning she was playing with her grocery cart and wanted me to go to the store with her and buy money.   That made me giggle. 

*When I put on my robe this morning she looked up earnestly at me and said, “Mommy on a robot?”.  

*Everytime she feels like she looks especially cute, is doing something different, or just in the mood she turns to me and says, “E tute (cute), take picture?” 

*Yesterday at the store, we were waiting in line to check out and she saw the candy.  She turned to me and said, “Trick of Treat Please!”.   I just laughed.  And yes, she managed to get some M&Ms out of it. 

I’ve been needing a haircut for forever and hadn’t had one because I didn’t completely know what I wanted.   Remember - it looked like this:

Long and the same, same, same.

Well, I found that a gal I’ve been friends with forever (like, first grade forever) is down about a half hour south and does hair.  So, we used my hair as an excuse to get together and hang out.  It had been forever since we’ve had that opportunity.  So, Miss E in tow, we went for a visit.  Miss E and Natalie’s (my friends) daughter played while Nat and I chatted and I put myself in her hands.  I didn’t really know what I wanted, just that I needed a change and was really ready for something different.  Natalie took it from there and the end result was this:

What do you think?

Isn’t it cute?!?

It is not something I would have ever picked out for myself because I wouldn’t have thought it would look good on me.  But, I love it.  I can do it myself in about 10 min, which is fabulous.  She thinned it too and my head feels so light!!!!  The length went to locks of love, which I love to do when my hair is long.  I have bangs (bangs!  Who knew?) which is a completely new thing for me and it is shorter than I’ve ever had it.  And, now I have a great easy new cut that is exactly perfect and what I hoped the end result would be.  Thanks Natalie!!!

By the way, I must comment on the fact that my best friend in the world, Alisa, also got her hair drastically changed the day before I did.  And, no, it wasn’t planned to happen that way.   She looks great!  Go see!

Love, Miss E

Friday night, we had the opportunity to attend a Halloween Party organized by our friends here in Family Housing, the Rowleys.  All the kids and the adults dressed up and brought food to share.  We had soup, salad, and bread for dinner.   The kids made a mess of the toys, danced to the music and had a good time while the adults chatted and even played a couple of games ourselves.  Everyone pitched in to help clean up too and we even got the kids to bed at a decent hour.  It was a nice evening. 

Miss E has found a good friend  here.   J is just 2 months younger than Miss E.  They’ve had fun playing at the park together a few mornings over the last week, tossing the ball at each other and running around.  Whenever we go to play with friends, Miss E wants to know if J is coming.  They had fun playing together at the party as well, including the dancing as you will see.  It was very cute.  J’s mommy said, “hold hands!”.  The pictures are so cute. 

Oh, and no, Miss E is not a firefighter for Halloween.  She’s actually a kitty, but all the kids were playing with the fire hats, so Miss E was too.