The Best Candy-Giver Ever

I stand corrected. Gabi's favorite part was definitely giving out the candy. She kept saying, "More kids are coming from the neighborhood. More kids are coming. They need to get their candy." Ed tried to snag a mini Twix and almost lost a hand. She was a Nazi about the candy. "It's for the kids, not for you. Maybe they're coming."

"We have to give all the candy to them. We're not empty."

I think we've had 60-80 trick-or-treaters. I love that. My parents haven't had any in about 10 years. At one point, there was a huge gaggle of them-- about 20. They were having such a good time. Isn't that fun? And the big kids were so patient with Gabi when she was handing out the candy. It took her awhile.

Halloweiner!

Oh my goodness! I did not think that Gabriella Lilisol would be as into Halloween as she was. When I made her costume vest several weeks ago, she put it on for about 4 minutes and then didn't want it anymore. I prepared myself that she probably wouldn't really want to dress up. I could not have been more wrong.

This is how the day went-- Ed took Gabi with him to drop off a cake for the cake walk at our church. She saw all of the things being prepared for the festival and was soooo excited! She told Daddy that she couldn't wait to go to her party. When he corrected her that it wasn't her (birthday) party, she refused to talk to him. "I'm not talking," she said. Well, that's a first.

Ed woke her up from her nap to go to the festival. She was not interested in getting up until he said it was time to go to the party. She eagerly got dressed in her costume and was very proud of the result. She even sported that hat. That was the first surprise. The next was that she stayed at the festival for 3 1/2 + hours without complaint and loved it! I thought she'd poop out a long time before that. Then we drove home and she was rearing to go Trick-or-Treating! She got her pumpkin basket and off we went. I thought she'd only be interested in going to a couple of houses. Strike 3. She would say "Trick or Treat," "thank you" and turn around and say, "We need to go to another house." Are you kidding me? We went to about 6 houses. And now she's helping me hand candy out to the trick-or-treaters. She had an excellent day!!!

Did I mention that the weather was glorious!?! It was! It's been raining for a week straight and we've had some flooding, so it was wonderful to be outside in the sunshine and the cooler fall air. I still miss the Midwestern autumn. I love the changing colors, the football games, the smell of burning leaves and bonfires, hot dogs and s'mores cooking and bundling up in layers. I really miss all of that. But even the shift in cooler temps and the crispness of the air got to me today. I love being reminded of the truly simple pleasures.

Almost 4 months in

Next Saturday will mark 4 months on the waiting list for a referral for Baby Yobo. Please continue to keep Yobo in your prayers, as we'll as his/her birthparents. Please also pray for his/her foster family. Yobo is likely already born and living in this world. We pray that s/he's healthy, loved and comforted by those providing for him/her for now.

And if you could manage a prayer for my patience, I'd be much obliged.

Sorry... Blogging Hiatus

I apologize for my absence... sort of. We've been very busy with multiple October happenings. It's a crazy month of pumpkin patches, visitors, festivals and overall busyness. I also have a lot of pictures on my camera that need to be downloaded. Unfortunately, I've been letting my co-workers use my camera at school and I often forget to bring it home. I haven't had a lot of foresight lately.

My work assignments have also shifted which causes me to be off of my home campus once a week. It doesn't seem like much, but I'm only working 4 days a week this year. This has wreaked havoc on my tiny brain already. I'm not the kind of person who can manage such simple chaos. But I'm trying.

Let's see... do I have any funnies to tell on Gabi?

• She got in trouble for running into a friend repeatedly with one of the little cars at school. The teacher scolded her 3 times by saying, "Stop running into your friend with the car Gabi. He doesn't like that." Gabi ignored her. Finally, after the 4th reprimand, Gabi looked at her and said, "It's not a car. It's a truck."
• She told her daddy that he "made a nice project."
  
• She refers to her girly parts as her "Gi-nut." That one kills me.
  
• She can spell her name. Gabi, not Gabriella. But still.
  
• She's consistently using very big words like thermometer, temperature, neighborhood.
  
• She recently painted her pumpkin all by herself.
  
• Every time we go into a store now, she points something out for a baby and says, "Oooh, Obo will share it with me?" (Obo=Yobo)
• She can tell you her birthday.
  
• She loves Sunday School.
• Tonight she told us that she would wait for us in the car while we went to our Sunday School meeting. Really?
• She can recognize letters by whose name it belongs to. For example, any time she sees the letter J, she says, "It's Joseph." All of the letters relate to a friend at school.
  

We have a lot going on in the next month or so. We have fall festivals, Halloween, and get-togethers this week. GG and Grumps will visit early November. Ed will travel for work. I will travel for a conference and then Thanksgiving will come and go. Whew!! Life is at warp speed these days, isn't it?

Other Funny Pics from Nana and Papa's Visit

The things a Papa will do for his granddaughter

Balance Beam at the Gym
Greeting Daddy after work

Swine Flu and Other Catastrophes

Nope. Not kidding. Ed contracted the swine flu and then passed it along to me. He's always been very good at sharing. He's been in bed for 3 days. On Sunday, his fever rose to 103.9 and he was miserable with body aches and chills. I did not feel well on Sunday, but didn't have a fever. Actually, I had completely different symptoms. For the last 2 days, we have been collectively pathetic.

As if that wasn't enough, Gabi fell near the fireplace last night and just about broke her little nose. It swelled up and her eyes were purplish this morning. She does not exactly look like herself. She looks more like a caricature of herself. Poor baby!

A Preview

I don't have time to upload a lot of pics tonight, but there are a couple too cute to delay. Gabi's Nana and Papa are visiting and we've been busy, busy. And last night we celebrated Edward's 35th birthday. More on that later...