A Wild West Halloween

We used a cowboy boot and cowboy hat cookie cutter to carve our pumpkin... then added holes with the drill.

I was up against some serious distractions, but we managed to get the pumpkin lantern finished.

Then we made some rice crispy treat pumpkins and decorated them with orange icing and CANDY CORN.

Peyton Lee Bittinger

Our first niece.

While sweet Peyton was making her entrance, we kept her big brother Dylan and had a big cousin sleepover.

Ella, Ben, Dylan, Ali

Passing the time at the park.

movie night!

Fall of the Leaf

Go tuba man!

And the annual leaf drop in Celebration, FL.

I sat by a lady visiting from Minnesota... she couldn't understand the big deal about the leaves. She kept trying to explain to me that they are a nuisance to rake, etc. It's all perspective I suppose.

Terrible picture, but we just loved the authentic German music... complete with costumes! We danced and danced... funny how kids help you dance uninhibited in public

A tired little buddy found a nice resting spot.

Ella Munchkin is One

Ella Grace Bittinger, 1 yr.

In somewhat of a reverse order, Ella dear was a ship's captain...

An entomologist (her favorite thing all day)...

An orange grove worker...

An airline pilot...

A grocery store cashier...

And a Sheriff. Yes, we took her to the Children's Museum for her special day.

These were her birthday gifts awaiting her this morning. The crocheted giraffe I made for her and special crayons the kids and I made for her. We melted broken crayons into an old muffin tin so they would be easy for her to hold and use. She l.o.v.e.d. them both more than we even anticipated! She wouldn't let go of "Raffy", the giraffe all day.... my mama heart swells at her appreciation of homemade ;)

She needed a little encouragement to open the gift wrap.

Ali's idea was to make her name out of munchkins for her cake and this also became the inspiration for her name above.

And here we are at the beginning... or in reverse order, the end!

Happy Birthday Ellabeaner!!