Happy Halloween!

Cake Finale

My final Wilton cake class was last night, and I thought I'd share the finished project...it's quite tasty!

Stinkin' Doorknobs!

We had a little adventure on Sunday. I was cooking dinner, and Keith was playing with Em in the living room. **Side note: She is suddenly very interested in closing doors.** She hopped up, ran down the hall and into the bathroom. She slammed the door closed, and by the time Keith got there, had turned the lock on the door knob. Of course, she had no idea what she'd done, or how to undo it. She was happily chatting away in the bathroom while Keith was trying to jimmy the door and asking her to unlock it. When it became obvious we weren't going to be able to unlock the door, I suggested we take the door knob off. Seemed simple enough. Unfortunately, the innards of the knob cracked during the process, and Keith was left to rip it apart piece by piece with a pair of pliers. By now, Emmy didn't think this was so fun anymore and was standing right on the other side of the door screaming. We kept peeking into the hole and trying to keep her calm. In total, she was probably locked in a total of 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity to her and to us! Now, every door in the house with a twist lock has a large piece of tape over the entire knob to prevent any reenactments of Sunday's adventures.

Pumpkins & Pudding

We carved our pumpkin today with Emmy. She wasn't quite sure what to think of pumpkin guts, but did manage to stick her hand inside the pumpkin a couple times. Keith was looking forward to toasting the seeds, but Emmy decided to decorate the deck with them instead (much to Keith's dismay!). After dinner, Emmy got a treat...chocolate pudding and raspberries! Yum!

Pumpkin Hunting

We visited Lunsford Farms on Sunday in search a good hayride and the perfect pumpkin. It was a chilly day, but sunny and it really felt like Fall. We took a bumpy hayride past the fields, tobacco barns with leaves drying, a "spooky forest" and a short stop at the barn. Emmy got to see some farm animals up close, and laughed when the Mama cow let out a very loud MOOOO! We picked out pumpkins, and Emmy found one that suited her (she didn't say "heavy!" when she picked it up!).

Garrett Weekend Fun!

We had our friends, the Garretts, in town for a weekend visit. Highlights included some time at the local childrens' museum, feeding the ducks at Duke Gardens, playing pegs-n-jokers, visiting a local farm to pick out pumpkins, and just having some fabulous fun with our friends! Jen & I went to see The Secret Life of Bees on Saturday night while the guys held down the fort with the kids and played Wii after putting them to bed. It's definitely a chick-flick, and stays pretty true to the book. Worth a look!

First Cake!

I finished my first cake tonight. Unfortunately, my orange frosting came out a little more peach than I intended, but I think it's a good first attempt at cake decorating!

Home Repairs Stink!

This has been the year for major (read: expensive!) home repairs. When we returned from our anniversary dinner Saturday night, we didn't have any water. When you turned on the faucet, not a sound, not a drop. Keith went under the crawl space to investigate, and saw there was zero pressure on the water meter. We had the water guy come out Sunday, and had to drop some major cash to have the well pump replaced. He looked on the old one, and it was the original one from when the house was built in 1988! Let's hope our new pump serves us as well! We've had some pretty disgusting looking water around here due to stirring everything up in the well to get the new pump in. It's starting to clear up today, and we're in the process of cleaning up the iron stains everywhere. Red clay dirt = red, iron-rich water! Our poor water softener if working overtime! We are hoping our repairs are done for this year!

Big Girl in the House!

Emmy pee-peed in the potty for the first time this weekend...I just knew you all would want to know. She was a little perplexed by the whole thing.

Celebrating Five Years

Today is our fifth wedding anniversary. We celebrated by getting a sitter last night, and going to dinner at the Melting Pot. They have fabulous fondue, and we overindulged in all things yummy. It's a great place to go for a special occasion, but not a place for kids or a quick meal. We had some time to consider how much we have accomplished in 5 years...moved to NC, bought a house, both have good jobs, had a daughter, special trips taken, great memories made...it's been a good 5 years.

New Obsessions

Well, it's taking a little longer to get out of the house these days, as our daughter has become fixated on several items, and can't possibly leave the premises without wearing or carrying every single one of them. She simply MUST wear her pink fleece jacket, and it simply HAS to be zipped all the way up. It doesn't matter that it's 75 degrees out, and she's sweating. She will wear this jacket all day long at daycare...zipped to her chin. She is very into hats right now, and seems to have chosen a favorite blue one that looks like an old man hat. She's GOT to have Miss Kitty (stuffed cat), and "Blue" (stuffed elephant), and Pinky (pink crocheted cape). It's quite a chore to buckle her into the carseat when she's clutching all three so tightly!

At night, she WON'T lay down unless Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon are in the bed with her. (We love that she loves her books.) She's totally infatuated with the little patchwork quilt that Mom/Grammy brought her from Indiana. She's GOTTA be covered up with that blanket to go night night.

She's becoming a little OCD about cleanliness, and starts crying if her hands get dirty at mealtime. I try to reassure her that we'll clean up at the end, when everyone is "all done". So, she dumps her plate on the floor and yells "ALL DONE....CLEAN!!".

She's suddenly VERY interested in the potty seat. She pulls her pants down and wants to sit on the potty. So far, she's done nothing IN the potty, but has stood up and peed on the floor. If she is sitting on her potty, she insists that you also sit on the toilet. She'll point at the toilet and say, "Mommy! Potty!". Unfortunately, trying to re-diaper her after these little escapades is quite the challenge. She will come up to me now and point to her diaper and say "soggy" when she's wet. I always call her Ms. Soggybottoms when her diaper is really wet. It's so funny what she picks up.

She is all about showing the love to Amos. The poor cat is being perpetually tackled for hugs now. She runs up and yells in his face, "HUGS", and then falls on top of him to give a squeeze. It's pretty amazing that he sits and takes it. When he's had his fill, he flees, but for the most part, he stays put. Riley wants no part in this love-fest, and runs at the sight of Emmy.

Happy Birthday, Grammy/Mom!

We hope your day is filled with all of your favorite things!

Love from all of us!

Little Helper

Hoosier Visitors

We had a wonderful visit this week with my Mom and Gram from Indiana. They drove down last Friday, and stayed until Wednesday. Emmy had a ball playing and coloring with her Grammy and GeeGee. We bought a new kid-sized table and chair set, and Emmy insisted GeeGee sit with her to color. She would point to the empty seat beside her and say "GeeGee!". Good thing Gram is so short! On Monday, I took the day off, and we had lunch at Parker & Otis in Durham. They have such great lunch sandwiches, and all kinds of desserts, baking items, seasonal candies, etc. It's fun to walk around the shop after you fill you belly. (Don't shop when you're hungry!). Afterwards, we headed over to the Duke Gardens and fed the ducks. They swarmed around Em once they discovered we brought bread.

The weather here has turned to Fall, and the leaves are just starting to change color. We're in the early stages of Autumn, my favorite time of year. The nights are chilly, and daytime temps are averaging mid-70's....perfect! I have brought out my Fall decorations, and am thinking of where to go to find a pumpkin this year. Emmy can actually help empty the pumpkin guts this year when we carve a jack-o-lantern. She will be a tiger/cat this year for Halloween.

I'm giving a lecture at the PA school on Monday about anemia, and in December will give a talk about Chemotherapy. I enjoy being a part of PA education, and would love to expand that role in the future. Still dreaming of doing the PA Teaching Fellowship...we'll see what life has in store for us next year.

Keith took Em to her swimming lessons at the YMCA this morning, and is now outside power washing the house. Everything was filthy after the home repair, and we're almost back to normal again. We still need to repaint our bedroom walls and stain the deck. We are considering putting hardwood floors in throughout the upstairs, and updating the small upstairs bathroom. After the home repair, we aren't anxious to have the house torn up again anytime soon!