Friends are like pumpkins...

be sure you pick the right ones!!!

I have been blessed to have some truly wonderful friends. I have been in a total funk lately with lots of things crashing down around me, but my friends have buoyed me. I have received so many phone calls, e-mails and notes from gals just to make me smile. I hope that as Libi grows up she "picks" the right friends too!

I also picked the right man-- and boy did he score points today!! I have been really craving a Razzmatazz from Jamba Juice. I mentioned it in passing yesterday that I thought I would stop and grab one on my way to my meeting this morning.

I walked into the store and noticed one of my former students from my very first long-term sub assignment was working there-- it was nice to see him. I went to the cashier and placed my order-- the girl cocked her head, looked at me through squinty eyes, and said, "What's your name?" I told her who I was and she walked away from the register to the mixing machine and she said, "You're paid for!"

Super confused, I stared at her until she handed me a note written on register tape. It said, "Hey Honey! Have a great Communications Team meeting today! Love, Me." I was so touched that he took time out of his busy day to make mine a little better. I think I'll keep him!

Speaking of friends.... Libi has been quite chummy with Madison lately.

I got to see them interact a bit today while I was waiting to chat with Miss Carole. Madison noticed that I had my camera, so she tried to get Libi to pose-- it was so sweet!

Then they were off to play the preschool version of basketball.

When I went for pickup I saw this darling bulletin board in Libi's new classroom. Not sure which ghost belongs to my monkey, but they are all so cute.

It was kinda windy this afternoon so the kids weren't outside. When I went into the room I found Libi sitting with Madison and Ben and they were all reading. None of them noticed me, so I had fun just drinking it all in. I have to admit, I am so happy that Libs gets along with Amy and Wendy's kids-- it's so nice to really know some of the parents of her friends.

One of the really fun traditions at SCLP is that the scarecrow brings a pumpkin to the school for each child.

Today Libi got to pick hers out... it was quite a choice!

Here is the newest addition to our pumpkin display!
My "boo-tiful" little girl crashed not too long after I grabbed her from school.
Our normal routine after preschool is a little playtime and then upstairs for nap. Today Libs just wanted to sit with me on the sofa. I have been working like a fiend on the photo directory and when I stood up to grab some pages from the printer I came back to a sleeping boo-ty. I didn't have the heart to disturb her by carrying her upstairs, so she took her whole 2 and 1/2 hour nap on the sofa.
Ron and I just celebrated the 18th anniversary of our first date on Monday. We went to the Homecoming Dance at Canyon High School on October 26, 1991. Sadly, I was swamped with MOPS stuff on Monday so we postponed our celebration until today.

I finally took Ron to Karma! It was funny to have a restaurant/cuisine that I was more familiar with than Ron. We had a very nice dinner with lots of good conversation! I'm so glad that we still have so much fun together when we go out!

Trunk or Treat with Miss Elliott

This afternoon we did a trial run with the Elliott costume.

There are so many different components of this costume-- some of which we didn't get in the mail until today, so a trial run was necessary.

The costume was darling and totally authentic, right up to the lantern Elliott holds on his tail.

The feet gave Libs a bit of trouble, so some re-working was necessary.

If you'll notice her face you will see that she really didn't seem to mind-- she was thrilled to be a dragon....."Roar!!!"

I think my favorite part of the costume is the pink tuft of hair on top of the hood-- such a great touch!

Tonight we braved the cold to do Trunk or Treat at VUMC. You know it's cold when Courtney covers up her darling Minnie Mouse costume with a blanket!

Libi was so excited that Jesse the Cowgirl was there-- Paige wasn't so excited to pose with a dragon.

I was so thankful that Libi had a really warm costume, but she was still cold. If the weather is like this again on Halloween we will have to bundle up more underneath.

Libi chased this bunny around...

and was happy to discover it was her friend Cora!

Libs is all about the candy this year, but we only let her have it one piece at a time!

You can see our cold, but happy family here!

Many of my Skippers were at the event including Sydney and Madison.

Nicholas made such a cute turtle!

Miss Ellen really threw an amazing event!!!

As a special surprise we got to see Miss Sarah who was Libi's MOPS care-giver last year. Libi has missed her so much this year so she was really excited to see her.

For dinner we gave T*Bo's one more try. Libi was super happy when they gave her a toy called Wiki sticks to play with.

Thanks Daddy for taking us out for a yummy meal!

Candy Corn Girl

In honor of the holiday, Libi has been wearing lots of Halloweeny outfits.

Today she wore a darling ensemble of candy corn tights, a black skirt, and a candy corn top. I'm very lucky that Libi doesn't complain about the outfits that I choose for her. I know that this won't last forever, so I'm savoring it now.

Libi has been super affectionate lately-- hugging all of her friends before we leave school. On this day I caught my daughter trying to kiss some boys on the yard. I am trying to discourage this for many reasons: 1) It's flu season and boys have germs 2) Not all boys want to be kissed 3) Daddy won't like this!

Libi was at the top of the slide when the teachers rang the bell. It didn't matter-- she stopped and put her hands on her head.

When the bell rang again she came down the slide...

"Whee!!",

or should we say, "Whoops!" as she ran into another little boy.

Fall Dance Class

I made the executive decision to send Libi to dance class in her pumpkin princess outfit.

You see, in late summer when we began to discuss Halloween costumes the converstaion went something like this:

Mommy: What do you want to dress up as for Halloween.

Libi: A goose.

M: Really??? You were just a mingo last year. Let's do something else. What else would you like to be?

L: A pumpkin.

M: That's too boring-- how about Elliott the Dragon from Pete's dragon.

L: OK Mommy!

Maybe the conversation wasn't quite that short or focused, but you get the point.

To make up for the fact that I am anti-traditional Halloween costumes, I purchased the pumpkin princess outfit from Gymboree.

Now that we had the costume, we needed a place to wear it... and then it dawned on me-- it kinda looks like a dance costume. BING!

The light bulb went off and I had a plan!

Libs looked so sweet and she blended pretty well-- except for the orange coloration.

She was a total flopper in dance class today. Instead of just bending over and touching the ground she threw her whole body onto the floor!

Look at this amazing leap-- she has a gift!

Next they did the most adorable thing we've seen-- they danced in partners.

They swayed back and forth to a waltz and held hands the entire time-- so cute!

Have you ever seen a cuter tap-dancing pumpkin??

We had to stop by Rio Norte to let Daddy see the costume AND so she could show off her dancing skills to one of Ron's classes.

End of our Stockton visit...

Libi had a few last minute costume fittings before we got on the road.

Jammy did another amazing job on this year's Halloween costume! I am so lucky to have a mother who sews who is willing to sacrifice countless hours to make her granddaughter look cute! Thanks Mom!!

On the way home Libi slept for 10 minutes...

Yep, 10 minutes on a 5 hour drive!!! We tried everything: a binky, soft music, candy as a bribe-- nothing worked!!!

I even tried to mellow her out with some Wiggles on the iPhone. No dice!

I don't know why I didn't try this before, but I used the diaper bag camera to do a timed portrait of all of us. It took a few tries to get it in the right spot on the dashboard, but now I'm an expert. Move over arm-length photos-- Heather can now do car portraits!!!