Last season's sweater fits better this season

Six months old, last November



Yesterday, 17 months old





I want to just kiss those 6-month old cheeks right off!

Pre-Halloween Weekend

I hope everyone else is taking advantage of the cooler temps outside.

Friday night the new "urban" neighborhood down the street held an outdoor showing of Casper (newer version with Christina Richie). Tons of families came out to enjoy a picnic dinner and let the kiddos run free on the lawn before the flick:

Ella and her dad:

Making friends:

Rolling around on our blanket, under another blanket:

Me, attempting to get a pic of Ella and I together but ended up with this instead:

Ella, chilaxing with a glow-stick and some animal crackers (why are they called crackers? they are totally COOKIES!):


Saturday we went to the Arbor Day tree planting for the city which was hosted at our local park. No pics. I felt a little bad because we went to play, but there was a call out for volunteers. There were plenty of people so the guilt subsided quickly.

Sunday we attended a UT sponsored Halloween festival for staff/faculty families. It was soooo much fun. We got to see some of Zach's co-workers with their children and play some games, too. They had two stages set up, one for performances which ran pretty consistently with everything from troupes of girls hip-hop dancing to a cool drum performance. The other stage had a mad scientist (professor) conducting crazy experiments with little volunteers. There was plenty of candy for all. Ella even sat through getting a star painted on her cheek!

Ella, convincing her dad to ditch his nap for the party:

Fishin' for candy:

Our little flower ran into Snow White AND Cinderella at the party:


Ella is a flower this Halloween. My girlfriend and I made the costumes for our girls together. Kudos to Martha for these no-sew gems.

Ella has become quite the celebrity the past few days. She was filmed at the movie screening to appear ? and then a photog asked to follow her around at the UT event to possibly appear in the Daily Texan. If her mug doesn't appear anywhere, I think she can live with our own growing file of pics her dad is archiving. I'm pretty sure she'll never be interested enough in herself to sit down and view the thousands we have collected to date...maybe HER kids will want to see them someday...

My Ode to Craigslist

Okay, so you KNOW about my love of thrift shops so it is probably obvious that I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Craigslist. I have an affinity for gently used items, especially vintage, that no one else can purchase when they tell you, "Hey, I like that...where'd ya get it?"

{Note: the link to Craigslist is MY Craigslist, here in Austin. Just click on your (nearest) city on the right side of the page. You don't want to drive to Scranton for a beat up, old chair, do you?}

Here are some recent finds:




I LOVE these chairs! I got a set of four on Craigslist. Imagine them with a fresh coat of shiny black paint and some updated fabric and wa-la...Art. This is my plan, but I'm limiting to myself to a heavy, canvas fabric in a dark color with a pattern. This is harder to find than I thought...'specially when it has to be on clearance...eek!


I can't say enough good things about this little 'ole IKEA loveseat. It COMFORTABLY sits two and converts into a bed for overnight guests...not your Grandma's futon, eh? Any cookie crumbs and cat hairs you see on this couch are all mine. I bought it in "like new" condition for half the price you would pay at Ikea. LOVE IT!

The other *Spectacular* thing about Craigslist is that you can sell your old junk there, too. I have unloaded a lot of stuff with mostly good experiences. Some people give you a haggle on the price and terms of retrieving, but YOU are selling it so YOU have the last word : )

Good Tips: 1. Only accept cash for items you are selling. 2. Remember that you are dealing with strangers so keep alert when retrieving items or if someone comes to your place to pick them up. 3. When there is something good, at a good price then you have to be the first one to respond to the seller, so check often when you are searching for a particular item.

Happy Hunting!

This and THAT...

Yes, I know the "THAT" in my title is very dramatic. No reason, really, everything has been pretty, darn great around here. We are loving the weather! Here are some park pics from the end of last week:

Aunt Charley and Ella on the swing:


My bohemian child:


Ella, Joshua and Miss Tabitha:


Tabitha and Ella, close quarters:


Note: Ella eats apples...WHOLE! I love this trick because she works so hard for about 30 minutes to get every scrap of apple and hands me back the stem with a tiny portion of core and a couple seeds. I am certain she has eaten some seeds and there is an apple tree sprouting in her protruding belly as I type!

News Flash: Friday night I went out...and by out I mean, OUT..with the ladies. Soooo much fun. Unfortunately I didn't snap any pics of my beautiful gals/fellow moms hanging out, but I can tell you that it has been too long since the last girls night out! We started at Cork & Co., a wine bar where Amy had made reservations and moved on from there to listen to a DJ spin some tunes at Red Fez where we continued the GAB-fest. Look at this lovely I ran into:



Yep, it is Susan! We were so stunned to see each other we just snapped some photos as evidence and went on our way with promises to see each other again soon.

Saturday the fun continued when Shanto and Aaron stopped by for some Ella, burgers and hanging out around a fire:

Shanto and Ella:


Zach, the Fire Marshall:


The FIRE:


Ella staying a safe distance from the flames with the help of four adults:


Shanto spoiled us all with a coffee cake full of apricot preserves and toasted almonds...YUM! Poor Ella just ran around in circles yelling at the top of her lungs, "HOT, HOT, HOT" because of the smoldering barbeque pit and flaming chimenea. She always has a good time when there is company to show off for. The more Shanto and Aaron soaked it in, the more she would dish out.

See what I mean?

New, cute Ella pic

Yep, she is ALWAYS this adorable AND she gives kisses now!