Pumpkins

I can't tell you how long it has been since I've carved a pumpkin. I mean, literally, I can't tell you. I'm not sure if I have done one since we've been married or not. I can't remember. We've painted a few and we used wire to make swirly decorations on one once. We've always at least bought some even if only to sit them by the doorstep au natural. This year I decided that Gabriella was old enough to help in the dreaded scooping and scraping and thus it was time that we do a couple good old fashioned carved pumpkins. Jonathan took on the large pumpkin and Gabriella and I took the smaller one. I took the top off and showed Gabriella the insides. "I am NOT sticking my hand in there," she immediately announced. So, I was left with the entire job of cleaning out the pumpkin while Gabriella watched with a look of disgust. Once that was done Gabriella was quite glad to use a washable marker to draw the face on our pumpkin. The only glitch in her design was that Gabriella likes to use a single tiny dot in the middle of her eyes so I helped her "attach" the smaller circle to the larger one to make the eyes carvable.

Her end design looks a lot like this pumpkin she drew earlier this week. (I love this drawing.):

Once Gabriella was finished with her artistry I was able to carve out the shapes she had drawn in about five minutes. Meanwhile, Jonathan was just starting to transfer the intricate "Happy Halloween"/Tree design he had chosen. He was so intent on his project that worked through supper. Gabriella and I heartlessly ate our delicious pizza right under his nose.

(The awesome pizza crust recipe I used is here. I'll have to play with making it with at least some whole wheat flour, but man it is tasty. Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. There was plenty dough to make Gabriella her own cheese-less pizza and a few bread sticks.)

Jonathan finally finished his pumpkin long after Gabriella was in bed. We lit them up and put them on the porch. Isn't the face Gabriella made super cute? It is hard to see in this picture, but Jonathan's says "Happy Halloween" across the top.

Here they are in the daylight. (Plus a "teaser" picture of Gabriella in her peacock costume! We did the "Monster March" parade today. I'll try to have those pictures up tomorrow.

This will be quite the week. We had the Monster March today and we still have three more costume events this week! Stay tuned for lots of pictures.

Fall Photos

To atone for my lack of pumpkin patch pictures I decided to attempt a mini photo shoot with the girls and our pumpkins on the back deck. I put the girls in the outfits they wore to the pumpkin patch, but to my extreme frustration I couldn't find Juliana's pumpkin hat! I don't know where on earth it could be. Surely we didn't lose it?! I mean, you would think I would notice a bright orange hat falling off my child's head. I had to settle for the cupcake hat. Anyhow, neither of the girls were really in the mood for pictures and they graciously gave me about 10 minutes of their cooperation before defecting to the play house.

"I am soooo done with this hat."




See the cute pumpkin bows I made for Gabriella?

...And on to the playhouse. I don't even have words for this face. Anyone want to caption this?

Yes, those are my toes. I'm holding the door closed so Juliana doesn't swing it open and fall on her face (again.)

Juliana is quite happy about her ability to pull up to standing on everything and anything. She has even started to do some cruising. She made it the length of the couch once, but we won't talk about Juliana and her crusing because we all know what cruising leads to...

The pumpkins were transformed into masterfully carved works of art tonight (or something like that.) I'll post pictures of them later!

Standing Tall

Juliana decided that while we were all a bit distracted it would be a good weekend to learn to pull herself all the way up to standing. Of course, with this new skill comes the responsibility of learning which items in the house are not good for pulling up on. The chairs to play table, for example have felt pads on the feet so Gabriella doesn't scratch up the floor. These are not so great for pulling up on, but if you are careful you can get a few good steps pushing the chair across the floor before you wipe out.

Oh and another milestone... Juliana's hair is finally long enough for clippies! I got out all of my bow/hair clip making stuff and made her a few new ones. I had some scraps of that rubber grippy shelf liner and I glued a tiny piece inside of her clips. It holds the clip in her wispy fluff like magic! They don't budge even a milimeter. I still have tiny clippies that were Gabriella's, but I used magnets to hold those and that doesn't work quite as well for Juliana's hair so I may convert them for Jules. I also made the fantastic pumpkin bows that Gabriella wore to the pumpkin patch. I'll have to post a closer picture of those later.

'Roid Rage

I can't tell you how glad I am that Gabriella is finished with the oral steroids. They made her miserable. Actually, it would be more correct to say that they made us ALL miserable. Gabriella has a great little personality. She is usually very enjoyable to be around. On steroids she is hyperactive and even agressive. It is a pretty big personality shift. It doesn't help that albuterol (her breathing treatments) also makes her feel a bit jittery. She got so tired and not be able to sleep until she just dropped. Yesterday I ended up just holding her and rocking her until she finally passed out. Honestly, Jonathan and I spent most of our weekend just taking a deep breath, reminding ourselves how sick she was and trying to divert her attention. She got to watch the movie "Enchanted" twice and she got to eat jello.

Today she still needs breathing treatments, but she is definately on the mend. She'll have a check in with Dr.Sarah in a few days.

Not being able to breathe= No Fun

Once again we find ourselves all sick sick sick.

I seem to be fairing the best in our family so far, but I don't feel great by any means. I didn't go to work today so I could take care of all these other sickos I live with.

Juliana isn't her normal super happy self, but she seems better today.

Jonathan is downstairs passed out. He feels awful.

Gabriella was so sick yesterday that she got up from her long nap only to announce she was too tired to play and go back downstairs to put herself back in bed. She has been running a fever even with Tylenol. We've been giving her nebulizer treatments, but she has still been running short of breath in between them. She'll have to pause in the middle of the word to catch her breath. We took her to the doctor this morning (our usual ped wasn't in) and he said it was likely pneumonia. We know she is susceptible to it. She is on oral steroids and we'll start antibiotics tomorrow morning if she is still running a fever. Poor thing.

Did I mention I hate cold and flu season?

Teething + Colds = No fun!

The other night Juliana was being particularly chompy so we checked her mouth and sure enough one of her top front teeth was completely through and the other is on the cusp of breaking through. That girl is a speed teether!

Yesterday Juliana was mildly cranky and she took two looong naps. She had a very mild temperature and runny nose, which could be teething, but I was starting to suspect a cold. After I took Juliana's temp Gabriella asked me to play doctor with her. I took Gabriella's temp and was suprised to see she was at 100.01. This morning both girls are pretty congested and Juliana is flat out miserable.

Did I mention I hate cold and flu season?

3 Years of Sauvie Island

Today we made our third trek to the beautiful Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch. This year we brought along a new family member (OK, so technically Juliana was there last year, but this year she was able to enjoy the view.) We also brought our friends Kaycieann and Travis. I was pretty excited about taking three million pictures as this was my first year to bring my canon rebel. I realized the night before that I needed to charge the battery... and I forgot. I remembered right before it was time to leave and I put the battery on the charger. My camera died not long after we got to the patch. I was able to get it to turn it on and shoot off a few super quick pictures on auto in the actual pumpkin field, but I only came home with a few decent pictures. Foo. (We did actually have a great time. Kaycie and Travis are two of Gabriella's favorite people and are always lots of fun.)

Anyhow, sob stories aside, I thought you might like to take a look at the last few years of Sauvie Island Fun.

2006

*Gabriella is 13.5 months.

2007

*Gabriella is 2. I am 6 months pregnant with Juliana.

2008

*Gabriella is 3. Juliana is 8 months.
Yes, Gabriella finally outgrew that sweater.

Aren't Kaycie and Travis super cute? They are getting married next summer.