I know, I'm a slacker...

but it's been a busy month. Here's one picture to brighten your day--I know it made me laugh out loud. (This is Ella's Dora wig from a couple of Halloweens ago, btw.)

Your Cute Halloween Fix

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. These kiddos certainly did. We only trick-or-treated on our street, but still ended up with gobs of candy between Ella and Egan. Luckily they're not old enough yet to care too much about it, so they ate a few pieces and then we put it away in the pantry. Out of sight, out of mind. Enjoy the photos!

:: Egan the monkey, Nico the cow, and Ella, aka Fifi, the French poodle ::


:: Think this might be my favorite costume yet ::

:: A little blurry, but a lot cute ::

:: Love those ears, love those lashes, love that Nico ::

:: Egan wasn't at all interested in paparazzi this Halloween. He actually even took a swipe at the camera. I think maybe he went easy on us during those so-called "terrible twos" so he could really slam us throughout age 3. :) ::

:: Ella is the complete opposite in terms of taking photos--a total ham ::

:: Showing off the loot post-trick-or-treating ::

Hiking last weekend

So it's fall, almost Halloween, and that usually means a trip to the pumpkin patch. But D & I weren't especially looking forward to it since we've been for the past four years. I suggested a hike somewhere we hadn't been before and the Es thought that sounded like a good idea, so we headed to Great Hills Park in northwest Austin. We had gorgeous weather, tasty snacks, and a playscape midway through the hike that EEN were very happy to play on (well, Nico really spent more time practicing climbing the stairs than playing, but he still had fun). Here are some pictures (those of you on facebook have already seen some of these, but there are new ones too.)

:: The best of the posed group shots ::

:: Egan crossing a creek (notice his tongue and the foot that is already in the water--we crossed so many little creeks that at some point he just stopped caring about whether he got wet) ::

:: Ella jumping off a huge boulder--she said this tied with the playscape for her favorite part of the hike ::

:: Egan jumping--he said he was pretending to be a bird ::

:: Sweet smiley Ella ::

:: Dijar checking out the creek ::

:: Nico stayed awake for the whole hike (and Ella typed this whole sentence--yay, Ella!) ::

:: Egan wouldn't let me take his photo in this little cave unless he got to hide behind his rock ::

:: On the trail ::

:: Rock climbing ::


:: One of my personal favorites ::

:: Another good one ::

:: Crossing another creek, this time via roots instead of rocks ::

:: Checking out a really neat limestone-sinkhole-kind-of-thing ::

I forgot about these pics...

I just realized I never finished posting the rest of the Colorado vacation pictures. Here are the last set. We spent one day hiking, wading, fly fishing, etc, along the Chalk Creek. This place is a couple of hours from Colorado Springs. We would never have found it if D and I hadn't been channel surfing and seen photos of the place on Dateline (the story was "The Murder at Chalk Creek"). We didn't find any bodies, but we did find a very nice waterfall and a cold creek to play in.

:: The best of about ten photos Janie took trying to get five people to look and smile at the same time...four out of five ain't bad ::

:: A series of photos with approximate dialogue--It's too cold ::

:: Okay, we'll go without you ::

:: Wait for me! ::

:: Fly fishing like Daddy ::

:: Our in-house photographer ::

:: Back in the car ::

New haircuts for Ella and me

Ella has been asking for a haircut for awhile and we've just never gotten around to it. I finally got a much-needed haircut myself this morning and that spurred Ella to insist on me cutting hers this afternoon. Here are some before and afters.

::Ella's waist-length hair::


::Admiring herself in the mirror post-haircut::

::Catching me watching her admire herself in the mirror::

::Showing off the ponytail that's missing::

::New haircut=happy Ella, fewer tangles=happy Ella and happy mama::

::Me and Ella Belle::

Happy birthday to Nico!

We had Nico's first birthday party yesterday. We managed to keep him awake through the whole thing and he seemed to really enjoy himself. Here are some photos.

::Think he's getting ready to make a wish?::

::Nico loved the plate almost as much as the cake (well, maybe because it had cake on it...)::

::Full and happy::

::But not too full for just one bite of this yummy candle::

::Time for clean-up::

This boy is a berry-eatin' fool

Nico loves food (gets it from his mama, I think). He's not picky, either (definitely doesn't get that from his mama). He eats his veggies like a champ and really doesn't refuse much. I taught him the sign for "more" the other day and now he uses it constantly, always in reference to food. I think his favorite foods right now are berries, especially blackberries and raspberries. He does like to share if you're interested. :)

It's still hot in Texas...

but the water coming out of Barton Springs is definitely not warm.

And one more photo, just because...

Look at my little Nico! He's all grown up (and all bruised up, but that's another story). Hope his smile makes you smile too.

Our latest experiment...

The Es have enjoyed being scientists for the past few weeks as we've watched our tiny tadpoles metamorphose into frogs. The last couple of days have been especially exciting, because they're sprouting legs all over the place. It was difficult to get a good photo, but the one below shows a few of the stages: on the bottom right is a large tadpole with only a tail, on the bottom left is one with a tail and two back legs, and then right in the middle is one with all four legs and still a little stub of a tail (if you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see the details a lot better).

The vase/aquarium sits right in the middle of our kitchen table, and we had a long discussion today at lunch about when they technically become frogs. Egan says the ones with little tail stumps are already frogs, while Ella says they're not frogs until the tail is completely gone. Anybody have a definitive answer?

The long-awaited zoo post

We're enjoying the cool weather too much to spend lots of time inside on the computer, but I know if I don't hurry and get these up, I never will, so here they are. (The first few pictures are mine and then there are several from Janie. I'm sure you can see the difference in quality. :o))

::Egan and Janie on the carousel::

::Egan touching the parakeet when the zoo worker wasn't looking::

::Nico after a couple of hours of being pushed around the zoo::

::Dad and Egan before we went in::

::Ella feeding a giraffe (I think this was her favorite part of the zoo)::

::Nico before he got too worn out::

::Egan on his pony ride...I think her name was Sunny::

::Ella on her pony ride...this one was named Amiga::

::Ella carefully feeding the parakeets::