Arizona Fall

Since the temperature is still in the 90's, we decided to create our own pile of leaves for Lucy to play in. She loved it. The colors, the way they fall on you, it was all very exciting. Okay, we don't have any deciduous trees that change colors, so we used what we have...newspaper adds. It was a fun fall evening in the living room.

We also had to carve Lucy's first pumpkin. She picked it out, and thanks to our local farmers' market, it was $.15/lb. I paid $.87, that is a great price and the girl can pick a pumpkin. She didn't even think. Just point and lets go. She doesn't really like to get her hands dirty, so she didn't dig in, but she enjoyed using the spoon and even tasting the pumpkin. She thought it was pretty cool when it was all lit up, but knew right away that it was hot. She kept saying, "hot" as she was reaching towards it.

Getting Ready

I don't think Lucy gets that she is going to have a brother in a few months. She likes to play with my belly and we tell her there is a baby inside, but the girl doesn't even like to say the word baby. She will look at babies, but that is about the end of it. Also, when other kids try to touch her, she gives them a funny look. Like, "why are you doing that?" But, today Tyler fell and was whinning a little about it, so she walked over to him and gave him a hug. All on her own. She'll be ready to love a little brother. We only have 8 1/2 weeks left. That means you all only have 8 1/2 weeks left until Christmas. Get shopping.

Definately Advanced

Gary has always said that Lucy is advanced. It is a joke that is repeated often in my family. Well, as of today, a third party said the same thing. Ronald McDonald said that Lucy is advanced. She was afraid of him and so he figured she was 2 yrs old. Since she is only 15 1/2 months, he said she must be advanced. He signed a picture of himself and gave it to her. She held it and stared at it with a smile on her face for the next hour. I guess she will be that kind of child. We will have to force her to step out of her comfort zone, but she will be so proud of herself after it is all over. Then at dinner time, when you see what she learned, I think it is official, she is definately advanced.

Fall Break

Gary had Thursday and Friday off last week for fall break, AND the temperature dropped dramatically, so it was WONDERFUL. We went to the zoo and took Tyler who is the boy Lucy and I watch on Thursdays and Fridays. We tried to go to the opening night of the state fair. Once we parked, I went to change the diaper Lucy was complaining about, and no wonder. It was a blow-out. So, I felt like we would fit in with her just in a t-shirt and diaper with her tennis shoes and no socks. But after traffic, sitting on the shuttle in more traffic and then standing in line for tickets, we missed the cheap time deadline by about 10 min. So we turned around and got back on the shuttle and went home. We didn't think the $11/person mark-up was worth it. But, we were even more relieved when we saw the news later that night and a huge fight had broken out with gun shots fired. I guess going to the fair wasn't really all that great of an idea anyway. We had some wind come into town as well, so we went to the park and flew a kite too. Lucy thought it was pretty cool. We also did a little of Gary's favorite thing to do on days off, shop. But after dropping his car off for some routine maintenance and finding out that it would cost $1000 to turn off his check engine light, out spending spirits were dampered. We have not gotten the light off yet.

Centralia Illinois

Lucy and I had the opportunity to go babysit her Kleinhenz cousins in IL at the end of Sept. We stayed a few extra days to spend time with Paisley and Grant as well. It was pretty low key and we had fun visiting. Grandma and Grandpa Ogden came to visit and brought Courtney too, so we got an extra bonus. Lucy loves being with her cousins. She loved the fact that each morning we would wake up, eat breakfast, and then get into the car to take the big kids to school. I think going on a outing first thing each morning was exciting to her. Then she would wait all day until we went back to pick them up so she could play. Elijah asked me if having a baby was hard. I told him sometimes because Lucy couldn't talk very well. The next day at dinner, which is always a stressful time for me as I try to make sure she gets enough of the right things, he said, "Oh, I see. Now is one of those hard times." He was right, another adult there would have made things a little easier. It was so nice to be able to see family at an unexpected time. The week before I found out I was going, I had been complaining to Gary how I needed some "family time". Ahh, tender mercies.