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It’s a good thing I finished Ellie’s stocking a few weeks ago. It only took me 2 years.
I still can’t decide if I like it or not, but Samantha likes it so that’s a good indication that Ellie will. She thinks it’s silly that Santa is popping up, and the bells are fun.

This Christmas is a shaping up to be a little different for us.  We were planning to be gone most of the week after Christmas visiting various family.

However, Ellie has had a high fever since Thursday 12/22 at 5pm.  We visited the doctor Friday morning and discovered that she had a moderate ear infection in one ear.  Then, the worst hit later that morning.  We’re still in the midst of it, although there were a few hours this morning when I thought the worst was over and our little girl came back.  Otherwise, she’s sluggish, puny and pretty dog gone pitiful.

So, I pray your Christmas is healthy and happy.

I took both girls to the doctor this week for some check ups.  Samantha had a 4 year check up, and Ellie had her 18 month check up (is she really already that age?).  I am reminded why I don’t take them together.  I hardly remember what we talked about, and certainly didn’t remember to ask any of my questions.

The doctor tried to look into Samantha’s ears first thing, which she has always been resistant to let anyone do.  She has always been very sensitive about sounds or ANYTHING in/near her ears.  So, Ellie went first so she could be the example for Sam to watch.  Ellie is still long and tall, but is evening out a little.  She’s a little slow on speech, but can understand a surprising amount of what we tell her.  It’s surprising to me, but I’m sure it’s normal.  Just the same, it’s that amazing?  Sam was the same way.

Samantha’s check up went well too.  The doctor asked her 4 safety questions (which he told me were the top 4 unfortunate accidents – or worse – for children) like “What do you do when you get into a car?  Buckle up.”  And so on.  She knew all of the answers and gave a good High Five to the doc.

The nurse came in and gave Ellie her 2 shots.  She was consoled very easily.  Then, a strange animal that I had never seen showed up.  Was it a bucking bronco?  Was it an octopus, with 8 flailing arms?  Was it a growling wolf, showing its teeth?  Was it a screeching owl?  All of the above.  It was my Sam.  She got 5 shots (ouch).  She knew she was going to get them and backed herself into a corner, displaying the above said tendencies when it was time.  The nurse asked me if I needed some help to pin her down.  (She is surprisingly strong for her age and always has been, but at this point, I’m used to being a bit forceful when needed.)  The sounds coming out of her were from a possessed horror movie.  It was unreal.  I had never seen anything like it before.

Glad that’s over.  Until next year.

As usual, Halloween was even more fun this year. Samantha ran up to each door with great gusto and yelled as loud as she could “Trick or Treat!” Unfortunately, she never rang the doorbell first. When the door was finally opened, she forgot her manners when a bowl of candy was in front of her! Ellie rode on Daddy’s shoulders, so didn’t get into it a lot and was still tuckered out by the end of the night. It was also Brian’s first time at true Trick or Treating and I think he enjoyed it too!

Samantha painted a pumpkin again this year, and it looks almost exactly like last year’s.

And as usual, I carved my pumpkin.

And our little ghouls were Wonder Woman and a lady bug.

Naturally, we headed down to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch this year for some pumpkin patch fun. It took longer to get down there than expected, so our actual time at the patch was a little short. But, we still had a great time scouting out our pumpkins. Samantha and I walked the whole place looking for the perfect pumpkin, while Ellie was content with a graham cracker in her hand.

Hm. Which one?

(This was originally posted a while ago, but got partially lost in the hard drive crash.  I’m just getting around to fixing and reposting.)