Potpouri

If you could tap into the smell of this blog it would have three scents: baby lotion, sweet apple sauce and fresh pumpkin. You will understand the reason for the three flavors as you read on.


First of all...baby lotion. I can't say it enough...I love little girls! As I went through Ellary's clothes that no longer fit her, those dainty little summer outfits painted pastel colors and embroidered with ruffles, I couldn't help but recall just how small she really used to be. I also thought about some of my first memories of her and just how fun it was to dress her in a new outfit every day. It may sound cheesy and almost superficial, dressing her as if she were a doll, but maybe it's just a mother's way of reenacting a childhood activity that has now become a reality. Anyways, I took a picture of some of my favorite outfits (most provided by my mom, Nana, and the girls' adopted grandma in Bloomington, Grandma Stangas. Thank you!)



While I packed up Ellary's old clothes, Alyson and Kourtney played checkers on the floor of Alyson's room...in their tutus may I add. What fun it is to be a little girl! Playing dress up and participating in a friendly competition with your sister...How much better can life really get?

Now on to apple sauce. A couple days ago Kris was holding Ellary and eating an apple at the same time. She pulled his arm close to her so she could get a taste of the juicy apple and guess what...She loved it! She couldn't get enough of it. Thank goodness she doesn't have any teeth yet otherwise she would have taken a huge bite of the apple the way she was going at it.

Kris fed Ellary some baby apple sauce after becoming ferocious with the apple. She gobbled it all up. Ellary is really enjoying solid foods, and she really loved having her daddy feed her.

On to fresh pumpkin...Like most of you, we carved our pumpkins this past week. Alyson and Kourtney both drew faces on their pumpkins and Kris and I cut them out. It was a fun Family Home Evening activity that I am sure will be repeated next year.

Happy Halloween Everyone! Hope you have a safe and fun time trick-or-treating. We will be sure to update you on how ours was, and also fill you in on the ward activity we had this past week in which Kris dressed up as Merlin and was the M.C.

Alyson's Latest Field Trip

Alyson's kindergarten class took a field trip to a pumpkin patch last week. They got the chance to take a hayride, pick a pumpkin, an ear of Indian corn and a gourd. Then they ate donuts and drank apple cider and got to feed some goats and sheep. It was so much fun! Be sure to check out the video at the bottom of this post...

Our Trip to Utah

We spent some time at the beginning of the month with family in Utah and attending the Brigham Young University Annual Accounting Conference. First Kourtney, Ellary and I left October 4th and returned October 14th. Kris and Alyson arrived a little later on October 8th and returned to Michigan on October 12th.

The pictures below will give you a good idea of some of the things we did while we were there. Some events that are not documented by pictures in this blog include going to Temple Square in Salt Lake City with Nana and Oma, watching my niece Jordann get her senior pictures taken, helping my other niece Aubrey get ready for the homecoming dance, going to a corn maze with my sister and her family and making 24 loaves of zucchini bread.

Ellary fell asleep on the flight to Salt Lake City.

Kourtney and I played card games during our layover in Minneapolis.

This is my sister, Renee and her family.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm and Hayride. What a great day!

Here we are in the Thanksgiving Point Atrium (Kris and I sat at this very spot just before he purposed to me in the Thanksgiving Point Restaurant over 9 years ago)

Cabela's (sporting goods store) near Thanksgiving Point

We watched the fish be fed pellets, worms and gold fish at Cabela's.

I had to throw a picture of Ellary into the mix. Here she is as we wait for the fish to be fed.

We watched my nephew Eli play volleyball and then the kids played at the school playground.

Koco is on the teeter-totter with my brother-in-law's niece, Kassidee.

Kris, and the girls and I went to a park near my sister's house the morning after he arrived to SLC. Later that day we met his mom, and my mom in Provo. Alyson and Kourtney spent time with Oma in Provo for two days while my mom visited me and my sister in SLC.

My sister Renee, Kourtney, Ellary and I went to Temple Square. It was a beautiful, warm day and also Kourtney and Ellary's first time there.

This first picture is for my friend Bill from Bloomington, Indiana who had the privilege of sitting on the Tabernacle organ bench as the choir sang many years ago. I hope you get the chance to see this picture, Bill.

It also snowed twice when we were in Salt Lake City. Kourtney loved the snow. Here she is playing with her cousin Joshua.

Thanks Renee, Mom and Oma for making our trip so much fun!

Two New Traditions

We have two new traditions in our family.

1. We read an article from The Friend magazine each day when Alyson gets home from school. It's a good way to transition from school time to home time, and we all benefit by getting a healthy spiritual boost.

2. The second tradition we have established is for Alyson, Kourtney, Ellary and I to have a "girls" night each Tuesday evening. While Kris is at bishopric meetings, the girls and I paint our fingernails and toenails and play games like "eye spy" as we wait for them to dry. I imagine this tradition will evolve into facials and make overs over the years, but we will take one step at a time.

Ellary's First Taste of Cereal

We performed a test at our house today that reminded me a lot of high school biology.

THE SUBJECT: Ellary.

THE HYPOTHESIS Ellary is ready to eat, and will enjoy baby rice cereal because she is showing several signs that she's ready for solid foods.

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS: she has been grabbing at our food while sitting in our laps at dinner time, and making adorable smacking noises with her mouth and tongue while watching us eat.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Ellary, bib, bumbo seat, baby rice cereal, baby spoon, bowl, pumped breast milk, camera, feeder, and photographer.

THE VARIABLES: (1) Ellary's somewhat disdain for her bumbo seat (she still needs a little support to sit), and (2) her infatuation with bibs or any other remotely loose fabric around her face.

FEEDER: Me.

EXPERT PHOTOGRAPHER: Alyson (she stayed home from school today because she's not feeling well.)

RESULTS WE OBSERVED...see for yourself.

Happy subject: ELLARY

So far so good. Subject even reaches for the bowl of cereal...

Subject opens mouth to receive the cereal...

Subject tastes cereal...and...

Subject spits it out.

Results following our second...third...fourth...and fifth attempts...

Ellary was somewhat relieved (and somewhat annoyed) when her face was all cleaned up and we took a little break...

Remember that variable I mentioned about her infatuation with her bib...well, after Ellary made a mess of her first bib, she decided to play with then try to destroy her second one...

NEW HYPOTHESIS FOLLOWING OUR TEST: This may take a little more time and work than I originally thought.

Our Three Girls

Alyson had her first kindergarten field trip to an apple orchard yesterday. She had so much fun picking apples and riding the bus with her friends. Alyson felt so big! She also got to bring home a bag full of apples, so she and I made some yummy cooked cinnamon apples after dinner. Now Alyson can't wait to make some more as a treat for family home evening on Monday night.

Now a little bit about Kourtney.

I have really enjoyed spending time with Kourtney and rediscovering some of her wonderful attributes while Alyson has been at school. She is so much fun to talk to sometimes because she can say some of the cutest things. She is also an expert story teller and song composer so she keeps us well entertained.

I have to tell you about something she told me last week as she, Ellary and I were walking home after taking Alyson to school last week. We were having a quiet walk home (it was about 8:50 am, still a little early for me) when Ellary began babbling away in her stroller.

Kourtney and I listened to Ella for a while, then Koco spoke up and said "Ella's talking to me."

"What is she saying," I asked.

"She says she told Heavenly Father she wants to be big just like you and me."

My heart melted. I love it when our girls say things that remind me of a bigger picture than just the present moment. I just wanted to pick Kourtney up and look through those big, beautiful brown eyes so I could see the world as wonderfully and innocently as she does. What a special girl!

Now on to Ellary.

She is feeling better than she did last week so she has begun to sleep in her crib at night instead of the bassinet. Ellary seems to really like the freedom of rolling around now that she has more room. When I checked on her around 1:30 last night she was laying on her stomach, so I attempted to roll her over onto her back. Just as I touched her, Ellary raised up with her arms, looked right up at me and gave me the biggest, wide-awake smile I have ever seen. What a happy face to have at 1:30 in the morning! She is such a delight! I will post more pictures of her room shortly. It's one of my favorite rooms in the house.

(We don't let Ellary sleep with a blanket anymore because she doesn't like the covers on her feet. She kicks the blanket off so hard that it doubles on to her torso. Then she pulls the covers over head where she can't get them off.)