Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful to/for/about:

• Nana - and her unbelievably over-the-top-AWESOME-costume-making-skills! Many, many compliments on the costume. One (green-with-envy) mom said that the costume looks every bit as good as the costumes folks at Disney wear.
• My Daddy (E's Papi) - for being a Fireman. Elizabeth's classroom is studying the letter F this week, primarily firemen. For show-and-tell today, we made a photo book of pictures from when Papi took Elizabeth to the fire station. She loves reading her book. (And, to be fair to everyone else in the family, she has told me that she needs a book about her and Grandma, her and Nana, her and Papa, her and Aunt...EVERYONE she is related to... That's a lot of frickin' books!)
• Trick-or-Treaters - some 175+ of them (in 1 hour of trick-or-treating). Some really cute kids. Some ridiculous parents that were trick-or-treating with their babies to come score some free candy...but my favorite had to be the 4 high school boys that were dressed as terrorists - with bombs taped to their chests. They were trick-or-treating for Unicef, not candy. They not only made me laugh, but it was a good to see some younger kids doing some good for others!
• THE BEST next door neighbors, who brought me a cup of "Witch's Brew" (hot apple cider) while I stayed behind to give out candy. It hit the spot!
• Elizabeth - who was most excited about trick-or-treating! She was my very favorite trick-or-treater...she stopped by three times to get candy. (I think she was afraid that I was going to give out all of that candy from the 5 Sam's Club bags that I bought for the occasion.)
• Getting to hang out with our friends, the Koeglers - Jason, Sarah, Campbell, & Will. Sarah reported that Elizabeth's costume got tons of compliments from adults and kids alike...so many that she has called dibs on Will getting to borrow the costume for next year.
• My family coming "home" today. Elizabeth & I will be going to Sutton tomorrow to see Grandma, Papi, Aunt Anne, Uncle Sean, and Alex! Yippie!

Happy Halloween everyone!!! :-)

Elizabeth gets a haircut!

I am so far behind on blogging, I forgot to post about Elizabeth getting her first haircut! She got her first official haircut over a month ago, September 20th.

Shame on me (let the screaming & crying begin since there is shame on me...I love that shame on you still works...)

Connie Abruzzino was kind enough on a very, very busy weekend (her niece got married in the eastern panhandle area...when she & Danny got home their freezer had quit working...they had to go to Clarksburg to replace the freezer...and then she cut Elizabeth's hair...on a Sunday, no less.) She was not only sweet enough to take the time to give E her first REAL* haircut, but she insisted on sending E back with a package of cookies (as opposed to just giving her a cookie)...and refused payment, despite Elizabeth's attempt to slip her some cash.

Also, don't think that we were punishing our kid (especially after looking at how pensive she looks in the first picture - of her getting ready for the haircut.) I can't remember the last time she got as excited about anything like she did to get her haircut.

The cut is super cute, and it makes her curls stand out a bit more. I still don't know what to do with Elizabeth's hair as it is sooooo thin. (My hair is ridiculously thick, so I'm going to have to consult with the women in my family for what to do with a thin head of hair.)

* Explanation of the "real" haircut. Since Connie's handy-work got Reid off of the hot-seat, I can now explain to everyone on the WWW what a sore spot with me the haircut issue has been. When I was in New Orleans for work just a few days shy of Elizabeth's first birthday, Reid took the kitchen shears to Elizabeth's hair. Yes, that would be the same shears that I use to open a package of bacon, or to cut up some raw chicken...so completely sanitary... (Reid has been made painfully aware of how miffed I was over the issue - not only the nastiness of the situation, but that I missed out on this "first.")

Catching Up (AGAIN!)

Wow, how is it that I get so far behind on the Blogging thing (not nearly as far behind as Anne...or even worse, Reid!)...so here's to catching up (a very hodge-podge post):

• Elizabeth Funny: A few weeks ago after E's bath, I was attempting to put lotion on her. She was squirming all over the place (as she hates the lotion ritual, but with eczema, it's not a ritual that we will relinquish...). So, she was squirming all over the bed, I had lotion all over my hands...when I was able to grab her by the ankles to drag her into the position on the bed where she was supposed to be. She-who-doesn't-like-to-listen said, "Ouch, Mommy! You broke my heart and hurt my feelings!" I'm picturing her Oscar acceptance speech right now...
• Sean-e-Boy had back surgery...came out with flying colors. Is rehabbing quite well, too! So well that Anne, Sean, & Alex (and Mom who went to NYC to help care for Alex during Sean's recovery) will be coming to WV next weekend! Amazing!
• With the kitchen looking much improved these days...the dining room is starting to call my name...must get rid of the hideous flowery 1989 wallpaper in there...but there is soooo much woodwork that I will need to protect, making this a difficult project, I'm sure. And if this wallpaper is anything like the crap-o-la in the kitchen, it will be put up with super-glue...would love to have a dining room face-lift before Christmas, though, so we'll see!
• Elizabeth is going to be a Panda for Halloween. Nana made the costume (with an assist going to Papa for the head). It is over the top. Seriously. Will get pictures up of her in the costume (she wasn't so much cooperative when I tried last weekend.)
• Reid & I will be Don & Betty Draper for Halloween. Mad Men is
  
• I met Newt Gingrich and didn't hurl on the spot. Amazing, I know! He's shorter than I expected...and very soft-spoken in private (also didn't expect that.) Reid & Jason Koegler did an outstanding job putting the event together, especially on such short notice! Speaker Gingrich's canned speech was quite good (yes, I'm actually saying that), where he mostly talked about history and leadership...until the Q&A session at the end...when he got off his canned speech topic and onto topics in which we disagree...
• How on earth is WVU ranked 23rd in the nation? I love my Mountaineers & all, but this may be a stretch...
• WL beats UC at UC in OT... I looooove it! UC folks are so freakin' arrogant, and honestly, I'm not sure why. I took my SAT test there...went into some large auditorium-like classroom, and was handed a slab of plywood for my "desk." This piece of plywood didn't attach to anything, I was just expected (and was forced to) put this crappy piece of plywood on my lap in an auditorium and take the SATs. And I can't count the number of times I've practiced or played hoops in their gym. It was always a disgusting experience. The showers were vile - so much so I wouldn't take off my tape or socks...and would wear flip-flops into the showers hoping not to catch the kooties from some nastiness on the floor. Their arrogance has always baffled me...so I'm super loving that their fans were already making space in their trophy cabinet for their conference championship - some even counting on the national championship...and got beaten by West Lib in OT on their field...and it was their homecoming. To quote SNL's Linda Richmon, "I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it!" Now come on Toppers...just take care of business these next two weeks! (And in the post-season, of course!)
• I've been neglecting a few things (like the dining room...and if anyone would believe it, household-chores, but that would be a lie since I'm not that much into them to begin with) to scrapbook a bit...need to get my scrapbook space better organized as Elizabeth has a bunch of her toys (go figure) in the floor of my scrapbook space...thinking that wide plastic drawers might be what is needed...easy for her to put her stuff into...and for me to get the gifts and other stuff that I have down there that I need to store in a more organized fashion.
• Now I know what Angie meant when she said that the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics would get old..."B says b, B says b - every letter makes a sound B says b." If it weren't such a good educational toy it might be in the trash right now!