Jack O' Lantern

The pumpkin officially became a Jack O'Lantern this afternoon. Ella wasn't really sure about it and once she smelled it (ICK!) she wanted NOTHING to do with it. Ella smells everything before she goes near it (food, cothes, etc). Daddy did a great job carving! This is our first pumpking carving event and it was non-eventful. The seeds are drying and will be roasted tomorrow -- YUM!

My contribution:


Painted at a recent Girls Night Out at the pottery place.

Happy Nevada Day!

That's right, folks, this past weekend we celebrated Nevada Day. It's actually on October 31st, but since that coincides with another holiday, Nevadans celebrate their state's admittance in to the union on the last Friday in October. Hey, it get us the day off so who are we to mock??

In honor of Nevada Day, we went to Costco. Then we hit a really cool new playground (new to us at least) with lots of sand to play in!


And a REALLY big hill to roll down....

And, of course, shopping with Aunt Michelle at the outlets. We hit the jackpot... all kinds of leopard print for Sarah and Ella!

Just a note: Ella does not drink anything other than milk or water. I tried once to give her juice when she had a fever -- just to get her to drink anything, and she would have nothing to do with it. Since she doesn't like juice, I figured there was no way she would like diet soda....so I gave her ONE SIP ONCE. Loves it. Go figure.

Yummy Lotion

Ella and her friend, Alison Keyser, hanging out together in Alison's living room after my women's Bible study last week.

Our humidity has been extremely low recently -- around 4% or so. We are very, very dry! I have been lubing Ella up every day with a berry scented lotion. She loves it -- so much that she tries to open the bottle and eat it. I couldn't figure out why until it hit me tonight -- it smells like the strawberry yogurt she eats! Note to self: No more lotions that smell like food -- no matter how yummy!

Anecdotes

Ella and Iva (who wasn't feeling well) "watching" TV.

Just a couple of "funnies" lately:

1) I use cloth diapers. The dirty diapers go into a hamper type thing and are washed every night. In the morning, I put them all back together for the day -- there is the diaper cover and an insert. Ella loves to help with the morning diaper ritual. Yesterday morning she strolled off with a clean diaper cover. She came back a few minutes later and threw an insert at me -- a sopping wet, dirty insert. Sure enough -- she had put the diaper cover where it belonged in the dirty hamper and brought me a dirty insert in its stead!

2) I went out tonight for a while so Daddy was on bath duty. He ran in to a glitch -- Ella didn't want to get in the bathtub without her blanket. She stood there naked, trying to get in the tub and would not give up the blanket. Daddy said it was the quickest bath in the history of Ella!

Boo!

Hangin'

Ella decided that it is fun to hang out backwards on the kitchen chairs...

And I tried to get a picture of her with the Wal-Mart pumpkin, but no such luck.

Ode to the Crock Pot

This is the most beautiful thing I have EVER seen! And it is MINE! When I was a single lass I had a small Crock Pot. The old kind that is all one piece. I love it. I cherish it. But it is far too small to cook for more than 1 person. So when I was about to become a married lass, I registered for a big, mighty Crock Pot. But this one is far too large to cook for only a few people (even if one of you eats enough for 2). If you do not fill the mighty Crock Pot full, it is not happy and overcooks your food even on super low. Alas, FINALLY I have the perfect Crock Pot. Not only is it the correct size for 3-4 people... it is also RED!!! I was sidetracked for a few years by stainless steel, but red appliances and I are now friends. So if anyone wants to trade a red Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for a gray one -- let me know!

Just in case anyone was wondering....

I am very, very afraid it won't be done in time. I waited too long to start! Thankfully the new owner is way too young to notice if it isn't quite done on time. His big brother might, but the owner won't!

Mmmmm....sugar!

Ella and I took a morning stroll to the post office yesterday (and mailed out lots of fun packages!). The nice man who helped us offered her a sucker (aka lollipop depending on where you grew up). It was small and I could keep on eye on her as she ate it so I gave it to her. Needless to say it was a hit. I believe it was green apple, thus the green lips. She was even nice enough to share a lick or two with me!

Pumpkin Hunting

After two 15 hour days of marching band on Friday and Saturday, we spent Sunday afternoon out enjoying the beautiful Las Vegas Fall weather. The plan was to head to a Fall Festival to get a pumpkin. We made it to the festival... and the way overpriced pumpkins! They started at $10! Now, I'm a country girl from farm country where pumpkins are about 30 cents a pound so there was no way I was paying that much. Instead we looked around and played in the hay maze. (We later bought a pumpkin at Wal-Mart for a respectable $3.50!).

The Many Faces of Ella

Yesterday at lunch Ella insisted on sitting at the table with Mommy (rather than in her high chair). I snapped these fun pictures while we were eating. Note the blanket on her lap -- must go everywhere, especially when you don't feel so well!

The Poster Child for Birth Control

That is what Mitch jokingly called Ella last night during her 20th fit in 20 minutes. In her defense, Ella has been ill with a fever since Sunday (it broke Tuesday evening) and a rash showed up last night. She is very tired and add to that trouble sleeping from not feeling well (to her already stubborn character) and yeah, she's definitely the poster child for birth control. But we still love her!

(This is her using her old swing. She's way too heavy for it, but loves to hang out there!)

Our Newest (Bald) Addition

Our dad, dzia dzia, Grandpa Vee, Big Guy is bald. As long as any of us has known him he has been bald and has endured years of jokes and harassment for being "Folically Challenged".

Our brother-in-law is currently fighting cancer. Matt just finished his second week-long round of chemo and is now sporting a Tom Van Buren hair-do. Karin misses his grizzly-Ben locks, but we here in the Gabel house think he is one good lookin' dude even without the thick, curly locks (so much so that I felt the need to share!)!



We always knew there was a hottie under all that hair and a hoodie!
We love you, Matt!!

Children's Health Care

I need to vent. I have spent the past 2 days reading about Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance bill and how awful this is. I can't find anywhere why he vetoed it -- and I am sure that he had good reason to do so. Do we seriously believe any human being would just cast aside children in need? Give me a break. It is really sad that I have to go digging around to find the entire story.

Persistence

I'm not quite sure how to describe Ella's personality -- stubborn, adventurous, daring, self-assured, maybe persistent? Yesterday we went to the park with a friend whose daughter is 4 months older than Ella. This little girl stayed close to Mom and explored the play area cautiously. Ella got out of the stroller and took off at a dead run, fell on her face, got back up and proceeded to run and fall (over and over). We had to leave when she threw a fit because I wouldn't let her go play in the sprinklers at the soccer fields.

This morning the trunk was gone from the window and I put her toy crate there instead. Did that stop her? NO WAY! Turns out you can use the crate to get up on the speaker to get to the cat on the window sill behind the TV.

Fairy

Yesterday afternoon Mitch showed Ella her Halloween costume and she fell in love. She insisted on carrying it around the house on the hanger. So Daddy decided to put her in it instead. A little sneak peek at Halloween...

Have You Seen My Carabeener?

We are definitely in to the climbing stage. I knew this day was coming. We have (had) a chest/trunk under our living room window -- the cats sit on it, Ella likes to throw small objects behind it...and last week she started trying to climb on it (hey, Felix can do it, why not her?). This morning she succeeded. Not only did she climb it, she tried to get behind the TV as well (again, this is what Felix does -- mostly to get a way from her!). Now the trunk has been temporarily moved to the middle of the living room until I can decide what to do with it.




Getting down...




Anyone need a trunk??

Today was one of those days....

Ella was a handful today. Crying, not eating, not sleeping, having fits.... from 6:30 AM until 6:00 PM. But she is starting to understand more. Yesterday the Veggie Tales "Hairbrush" song came on and she ran around pretending to brush her hair! She loves my hair brushes and gets them out of the drawer all the time (she can open it, get the brushes out, and then shuts the drawer!). I was just amazed that she connected the song with the hairbrushes.

She is also getting tall. Yesterday afternoon she came around the corner with a yogurt cup and spoon in hand. I had left them on the table after lunch because she had only eaten half of it. So there she was trying to eat with the spoon all by herself (and getting yogurt EVERYWHERE!). Apparently she can reach further than I thought.

Today I left a kitchen mitt on the counter (again, too close to the edge) and she came out to the living room -- ready to help cook!



P.S. These were taken AFTER a major fit over the fact that I wouldn't let her have the camera that I had gotten out to take her picture.