Addie was really excited about her find: a huge sloppy leaf. I asked this kid how old she is the other day and she replied, "Two." Then I asked her how old I am and she said, "Six." Apparently daddy is "six", too. I think it's the biggest number she knows, and she knows we are old. I love asking her questions with no idea how she'll answer. 2 year-olds are the best.
Addie has been really into eyeballs lately. We had a book from the library about a ghost that takes his eyeball out to look at stuff. We read it million times. She tried to take her own eyeball out and we had to explain that only ghosts can do that. Then grandma took us out for a day of fun, which included lunch, and she got a ghost cookie with frosting eyes. All she could talk about was how she ate "ghost eyes", she thought it was so hilarious. Then Aunt Clare made the above Oreo eyeballs and Addie just loved them. She has one in her mouth in the photo. Also, if you ask her what her favorite animal is she'll tell you, "Ghost!"
Addie went as grapes this year and had an awesome glow-in-the-dark pumpkin bag. This was on the way out the door to Trunk-or-Treat. I was a Frenchman, meaning I wore a beret and had a mustache. Addie wanted one too, but grapes don't usually have facial hair. I was glad our French neighbor didn't see me, although he probably would've gotten a kick out of it. Addie had a tricky time reaching for candy around the balloons and then dropping it in her bag. She caught on quickly to saying, "Trick or Treat!" and, "Thank you!", but not so quickly on the "one piece" part, although most people were giving two anyway. A little boy in our ward ran up to me to tell me he had the same trick-or-treat bag. He took it to school and "got booed." I thought maybe he was informing me that our bag was social suicide. When I asked him why he got "booed" he said, "because there were ghosts there." Oh, okay. Not really related to the bag, but he just happened to be holding it when a ghost said, "Boo!" Phew, I'd hate for my 2 year-old to already be uncool to elementary kids.
The Thursday before Halloween we were lucky enough to have Uncle Eric and Aunt Megann, and Uncle Tyler and Aunt Clare come to our house for dinner and pumpkin carving. Our Jack-o-Latern was a ghost with eyes, per Addie's request. Addie didn't really want to help carve pumpkins, she just wanted to play in her house with Clare.
It was a lot of fun having all of us together! Addie got a little pumpkin at the store earlier that day because she was being whiny right next to the manager who happened to be stocking little pumpkins. He gave her one and she immediately devoted her entire attention to it instead of whining. Thank you, Jacob! She carried it around the rest of the day.
Every year, due to our giant 100 year old tree in our backyard, we spend about 2-3 days raking up leaves. Addie, still into hiding, found the perfect spot to hide from daddy.
Surprise! I am so amazed by her ability to lay so still for so long, although she was the only breathing pile of leaves so she wasn't to hard to find.
She was the designated Leaf Cruncher, which meant her job was to sit in the garbage can and smash down all the leaves by stomping on them. Jason was the Leaf Blower Operator and I was the Raker/ Shoveler. Usually we put our leaves in bags but this year they gave us a can. Too bad we have to borrow the neighbor's can and still not have enough room for all our leaves. We can easily fill another two cans with the leaves still out there.
Another awesome hiding spot. It took Jason a good fifteen minutes to find her.
I made Addie (and her doll, Molly) some slippers this year because I couldn't find any that I liked well enough or that would stay on her feet. These were so easy to make and custom fit, so I thought I would share my source in case anyone else out there is having slipper dilemmas.
I went to this blog: Making it Fun and clicked on the Cloth Shoe Tutorial on the right side. I used this pattern but made the slippers out of fleece, adding an extra layer of fleece on the bottom for cushion. I also put a layer of jiffy grip (the stuff on the bottom of footie pajamas) as the sole so she won't slip. You can find it at most fabric stores, you just have to ask. I traced Addie's foot and made up a new pattern since the ones on the tutorial were too small. I added the ears and face from an idea I found on flickr somewhere, I wish I knew where. Anyway, they cost me all of 80 cents to make since I owned some of the materials already, and I made them in one evening (plus the doll slippers).
I also sewed Addie some mittens from a tutorial I found here: ikat bag: mittens. I knitted her mittens last year and they took so long and she never kept them on. These mittens are much warmer and she actually asks to wear them, which is good. If only she would keep her pajamas on like that. These were pretty easy to make too, but I recommend making your own pattern instead of using hers because I think the patterns show up smaller than they are supposed to be.All in all, a fantastic October and a pretty swell outlook for November, too. Especially if it stays in the 60's or warmer.
