Pumpkin Fun

Of course, pumpkin carving wasn't nearly as fun for Abby as it was for Steve and I, but we are pretty sure she still had a good time. Abby and I made her pumpkin a Blue's Clues pumpkin, so she was excited about having a dog in her pumpkin, especially when we lit it up with the candles. We also made a traditional-ish jack o'lantern. Of course, it couldn't be totally normal so we gave it a Michigan "M" for one eye and Steve gave it teeth for ears (an incisor and a molar, in case you are wondering). He didn't have that pumpkin done in time for us to take it's picture, so we only have Blue to show you today.

We left Abby with her babysitter Kitty on Tuesday and she has been talking non-stop about it. She must have had a great time because she keeps telling me about Kitty reading her books and keeps asking if Kitty is coming. I'm so glad we have someone to watch her that we all like a lot.
Here is Abby's pumpkin lit up. Carving it was quite a trick. I have a lot of knives and drills to wash as a result.

Abby exploring the insides of the pumpkin (after I had done all the yucky work).

Pumpkin Carving

We are carving up Abby's pumpkin tonight and she and I already gutted it so that it would be ready to go when Steve gets home. Now we just have to figure out how Abby is going to carve it. She said it had to be a girl pumpkin, so it will need to be something cute. I'm sure we'll have lots of cute pictures tomorrow - that is if Abby will actually do cute smiles instead of her cheesy ones.

We had a first last night - Abby's first time wetting through the diaper and soaking her sheets and mattress. I'm glad we made it over 18 months before it happened, but it was still no fun to clean up. We just put the last load of blankets into the dryer, so hopefully by bedtime we can get the bed back together. It was not the way I wanted to start a busy morning, but hey... sometime you just can't make it all night.

Pretty Pumpkins

We found another pumpkin when we were cleaning Abby's closet yesterday afternoon and we think it is much cuter than the one her Daddy helped her carve the other night. But, our new little pumpkin is getting too small for our big girl so we are hoping she doesn't grow too much in the next 8 days or she won't be able to wear her pumpkin suit on Halloween.

We also found lots and lots of clothes that we needed for Abby to wear since she is too big for a lot of the things we had out. She outgrew the size 6-12 months stuff from Baby Gap, Old Navy, and Gymboree, so a lot of the really adorable Christmas things we have she is now too big for. Bummer. Luckily the one dress I actually picked out and bought by myself is one size bigger, so she will be able to wear it this holiday season.

Abby has been doing lots and lots of playing with her dad when he gets home from work so that she can have more playmates than just me. Last night while I was doing dishes they must have been doing something really fun ~ there was a whole lot of laughing going on.

Happy Jack O'Lantern

Our pumpkin is now a happy, smiley faced jack o'lantern. First I had the terrible job of gutting the pumpkin. It was gross. And it was cold, even though the pumpkin spent all day inside to get warmed up. Abby and Maize both wanted to get their hands on the pumpkin guts. Abby was successfully blocked, but Maize got a few mouthfuls out of the pan. Steve got to carve Abby's pumpkin for her. Abby and I drew the face on it first so that he would know what it needed to look like. It was only his 2nd time carving pumpkins (that he could remember at least). Abby watched her dad use the sharp knife to cut out her pumpkins face. Maize used her trickery to steal both the eyes that were cut out and ate them up. What a silly dog.
Abby had a great smiley pumpkin when we were all done with one tooth, since it is her first Halloween. And we gave her pumpkin dimples, since Abby has a dimple and she thinks it is pretty cute.
Happy Halloween a few weeks early. If you happen to be in Sault Ste. Marie and drive by our house you will probably see this big smile looking out at you.

Some New Pictures

This is a happy girl wearing size 12 months pink pig pajamas ~ thank you to Aunt Hannah and Aunt Emily for getting Abby these really cool jammies. Abby is still spending a lot of time chewing on teething rings, but those little teeth don't want to come through quite yet. Hopefully sometime really soon. Abby is now wearing both 9 month and 12 month sized clothes and we've packed up all the littler stuff and all the summer gear (except for a few 12 month sized outfits in case we get our stuff together and get down to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Hodges this winter in Florida).

We had a crisis yesterday ~ we used up all the bibs except the Michigan State bib. We really didn't want to use it on our little wolverine, but we did need something to catch her drool. She had to yell "Go Blue" when we put the MSU bib on. Also... someone needs to let the engineering department at MSU know the real dimensions of a baby's neck, since we had to tie the bib in a knot to get it to stay up. We got right to work on the laundry and by lunch time Abby was back in a pretty pink bib. Now... we don't want you all thinking we hate Michigan State, since it is the great university that Great Grandpa Harley, Great Great Aunt Barb, and Great Aunt Denise went to. We just love Michigan more is all. And we really do cheer for the Spartans against any team except Michigan. But at Abby's tender age we can't afford team loyalty confusion. She'll understand when she is older that you can love Michigan and still like Michigan State sometimes.





























And... it is fall and Abby has her first pumpkin to carve into a jack o'lantern. We aren't going to get to it this weekend, but probably by next Friday it will be carved into a two toothed baby pumpkin. Abby likes her hard, orange buddy. Unfortunately the photographer couldn't get her to smile this morning without being silly, so the photo isn't centered quite right. And... Abby has a new trick she is trying hard to master. She is now waving all the time, but we haven't quite mastered waving on command. Coming soon though...

Now off to a fabulous Friday. Tomorrow Steve is taking us on a color tour to Mackinac Island! One of the dental hygienists in the office has some inside connections, so we should have a great day.