Halloween 2010

We had a lovely Halloween this year. I am excited to share Eisley's {creative? weird?} costume with you.

This was her third Halloween. In 2008, for her first, newborn Halloween she was a pig.
Last year, Halloween 2009 she was Alice, of the Wonderland persuasion.

This year I decided to make her costume to represent her nickname: Piggy Pie.

She wore a pig hat & a pie that I made out of felt with my trusty sewing machine. Most people didn't "get" it, but we had fun telling those who asked. Plus it was fun to see her as something other than the trashy witch & cartoon characters all the other kids dress as. This was probably the last year I will get to decide for her...
I would also like to share this recipe for pumpkin seeds. We carved 4 pumpkins & ended up with 4 cups of seeds. They did not last long... {and tip: I tripled the seasoning sauce but left the amount of seeds the same, as many other reviewers advised. Yum!}
I love decorating for Halloween but feel like I didn't get enough of it done this year. We did put up lights, though!
And I still had the gall to label myself "Queen of Halloween". Via doormat, no less. Oh, the audacity!
In a completely half-hearted attempt to spread Halloween cheer while taking The Pie trick or treating, Justin & I sported... ears & a hat. Oh yes, Queen of Halloween, I am.
The Pie, on the other hand, really did exhibit Halloween cheer to the fullest extent by jumping into a pile of freshly raked leaves in full costume. {She always has to be the best at everything. It gets old, the little show-off.}
We went trick or treating around our neighborhood with The Cousins & Gramma Jan. With the Victorians & bungalows in our old Denver neighborhood, it really made for quite the picturesque trick or treat outing. {And I'll be honest here, I was totally loving having a chance to get to walk up to everyone's door and peek in their house without having the cops called on me for being a Peeping Tom. Just one more reason October 31st is one of the best days of the year...}
Strange lady who followed us the entire night, taking pictures:
Just kidding, Grandma, glad you came along :-)
As shown below, The Pie's cousin, Indy, is usually a blur of mysterious fairy dust. Sometimes you can get a clear view of her figure from the corner of your eye...
When the Piggy Pie had enough {candy in her bag, that is} we headed back to the house.
Where Pappa and Grandma were waiting {for the dinner, that is, that we had promised them for watching our house when the trick or treaters came soliciting candy. We made this, this, and drank Blue Moon's Pumpkin Ale. Yum.}
It was a lovely Halloween.

The Creative & Amazing Photographer

On Tuesday we went with Great Grandma Sander & the three cousins from Justin's side of the family to get portraits for GG Sander's Christmas cards.

We were fortunate to have that sort of creative, artistic photographer for our session. He directed the kids so wonderfully, and as you can see {below} we got some really amazing photographs. I want to give you a recap of how professional and creative he was in directing his subjects - I only hope I can recreate the magic of the session just a little bit. Here are some of the brilliant directions he gave as he was working his magic:

"Okay, Eisley, give me your best vampire look for this shot -
YES! Show me those fangs! Work the fangs!"

"Noah, you're drunk at the bar and a beautiful woman just sat down next to you, show me drunk lust - YES! Perfect!"
"Eisley, I just informed you your puppy is dead - you're shocked and in disbelief, give me shocked!"
"Okay for this group shot, I want to capture the essence of family. Eisley, you just passed gas and you think it's funny. Grandma and Moriah, act repulsed, but Noah, I want to see you pointing the finger at the offender. YES! GOOD!"
"Turn around, Eisley, and scowl at Noah for pointing you out.... Noah you're uncomfortable now, show me uncomfortable! Moriah, you're worried!"
"Eisley, give me disgusted! You're grossed out, you're gagging! Work it! YES! BEAUTIFUL!"
"Noah and Moriah, give me sleepy... but, Eisley, show me delighted - what's over there? - show me how great it is, yes! Make us wonder, intrigue us! What's over there and why do your cousins not care? YES! WONDERFUL!"
"Moriah, I want to see sophisticated, thoughtful, good! But Noah and Eisley - you're unsure about what's going on to your left. Yes! Amused yet awkward! That's great! BRILLIANT!"

"Eisley look poignantly upwards, yes, you're thinking about God and life and deep thoughts. More deep thoughts, show me more! You're pondering the meaning of life! Moriah! Box your little brother's ears - YES! WORK IT!"
"Eisley, you're sucking on a lemon! Show me how sour it is! More sour! More sour, it's unbearable."
"Let's get Grandma back in here, Grandma, I want you to watch adoringly as your grandson picks his nose... Eisley, I want to see the 'my puppy just died' face again! PERFECT! Moriah, you're in control of the situation, you're calm amid the chaos - YES! BRILLIANT!"
As you can see, it was intense, artistic and insightful! We just went in for a Christmas card shot, but what we got was just pure art!

Okay I've had my fun... but really, we did get some good ones...

{The Cousins}

This past weekend the rest of my family took off on a last minute trip to California for my cousin's wedding. While it was unfortunate that Justin, Eis & I couldn't go with, we did have the pleasure of having The Cousins {Ayla & Indy} stay with us. For Eisley, having two playmates was heaven on Earth.
They helped out a lot, like doing Eisley's hair in the morning so I didn't have to. :-)
Justin made French toast, which went perfectly with a rousing game of Peek-a-Boo.
Eisley loves her big The Cousins so very much.
We walked to the new playground at the park a couple blocks away. Ayla pushed Eisley, which was fine until Eisley noticed...
that Indy held Daddy's attention. That made for one very jealous Eisley.
I'm so happy for Eisley that she has a whopping 4 cousins living nearby. My one cousin lives in CA, and so obviously we don't get to see each other enough. So it makes me very happy that Eisley will have a lot of close family as she grows up.

We love you, The Cousins!

Labor Day

So we went on our first real family outing to Nanna and Pappa's house yesterday. Eisley got to hang out with Ayla and Indy. Ayla calls Eisley "The Cousin", and was apparently under the impression at one point that Ayla and Indy would each have their own... maybe someday!

So we got some good pictures of Eisley and her maternal side of the family.

Here's Eisley eating with her Pappa:

Auntie Bea and Nanna Jan with Eisley:

Auntie Bea, Uncle Noah, Ayla, and Indy with "The Cousin":


Ayla and The Cousin. I couldn't get enough of these adorable pictures of these two cuties: