Some Pictures

Amelia practicing her goat feeding skills. She really practices hard because she wants to be the best so Dad will trust her to feed his goat, Earnest.

We had so much fun having Uncle Joe come down for the weekend. Amelia loved having him around and loved to snuggle, play with and watch him. It was funny trying to feed her when he was around because she would just stare at him. She would open her mouth for more food, but she'd forget to chew or swallow because in between bites she was just watching him in a total trance. It's been so rewarding and fun to see how much she adores her Grandma and Grandpa Checketts and Uncle Joe. I love living close to some of our family - it is so special.

I put pigtails in her hair last week for the first time and I think she felt pretty cute :) Although if she's not distracted, she'll pull them out - which as you can imagine, leaves a not-so-adorable pair of horns.

A couple of months ago, I saw a tutorial for these cute wall hangings and I decided I wanted to make them too. I love having bright, homemade "artwork" hanging over her crib. Yeah! I finally did something crafty that turned out!

I also recently made Amelia this purse, since she has a love of purses, bows, necklaces and all things girly. The other day she saw my purse on the ground and walked over and put the strap on her shoulder and tried to walk around with it. It was so cute and was another reminder of how much she is watching and absorbing everything we do! So, on Friday I decided to make her a purse of her own that she could actually carry without falling over. I used an old apron for the material (mom, it's the one you gave me in my Valentine's day package a few years ago...) and found an iron-on cupcake to finish it off. She loves it and if you tell her to get her purse and shopping cart she will grab them both and walk around looking very important :)

Cake, pumpkins and lemons

Oh my

We brought some cupcakes up to Edy and Gordon's house on the weekend so we could celebrate Amelia's b-day together. Once again, she enjoyed the frosting, presents and attention (she is her mother's daughter, after all).

She may only be 1 year old, but she's been around long enough to know that fun things come out of bright colored bags at grandma's house.

In other news, my pumpkin harvest was forced to come early this year and my crop, although I love it, is not what it could have been.

In light of a wonderful and uplifting conference weekend, let me tell you the parable of the moldy pumpkins.

It all started out so lovely. The vines were spreading like crazy and I had 8 growing pumpkins and blossoms and bulbs of future pumpkins popping up practically every day. One day I started to notice a white dust-like substance on the leaves. Being an optimistic and novice (i.e. clueless and careless) gardener, I thought nothing of it. Nothing, that is, until all my pumpkins started dying and my future pumpkins quit growing! Out of all of the potential pumpkins on my vines, I only managed to harvest 4 because of this nasty mold. If only I'd caught it sooner, or done the things necessary to prevent it all together, we could have had such a nice pumpkin patch...

Now, I'd like to liken this to sin in our lives...

Any questions?

Moldy pumpkins notwithstanding, it's been really fun to have a garden this year. We have enjoyed so many meals from our own backyard like this grilled pizza with tomatoes, zucchini and pesto (made from our garden basil). Yum!

The largest pumpkin was 41 pounds with the second coming in at 38 pounds.

Lemony-yum

When I told Andrew I let Amelia eat a lemon, he said, "You're so cruel!" So, before you decide to comment and tell me I'm so cruel, let me tell you that she WANTED to eat the lemon. In fact while she was eating it, she started screaming and pointing for the other half. Also, as you will see, she kept going back for more. She likes lemons. Apparently that twisted, pucker face means "Yum, that's delicious. I'd like some more please." See for yourself.