One of the best things about baby girls? Dresses!!

I love baby girl clothes. Unfortunately it's hard to take pictures of babies when they can't sit or stand up by themselves! Rand took this picture and did a great job -- I will showcase his photography skills in another post.

Apparently, dresses also taste good.

Visit from the Fishers

We had a great visit a couple of weeks ago when Grandpa, Grandma, Margie, and John came out to visit. It's always so lovely having them around!

Ella and Grandpa

Baby Eleanor and Grandma Eleanor

Grandpa, Rand, and a tipping-over Ella


We found a fun little ravine to walk in -- complete with dirt, mud puddles, and rocks!

Ella chillin'

Rand and John playing at the park

Picnic lunch at the train park in Scottsdale

Mom and Dad even took us out for an adults-only dinner at Texas Roadhouse! Here's dad with his super-cool-and-refreshing drink.

The pumpkin patch!

Last week, Rand, Ella, and I went to the pumpkin patch and we had an awesome time. Lots of photos to follow!

Rand declared almost every pumpkin to be "his favorite" and had a great time running around and picking them up and carrying them around.

Right inside the entrance they had a big tub of baby chicks. Rand was fascinated and even held one!

This was probably the highlight of his night: next to the chicks, they had a grinder where you could grind the food for the chicks. Rand ground so much food that the chicks will probably be fed until Christmas.

They had the three houses of the Three Little Pigs....

...and a big huge box of dried corn kernals to play in. Rand had so much fun in there!

Rand was my trusty guide through a corn maze.

Ella fell asleep. This was my view.

We found some hay bales to climb on and pull apart.

Ella awake again! She's still a little dazed from sleeping.

I tried to get a picture of the two of them, but I couldn't spot Ella and hold the camera far enough away.

Another great game -- the rubber duck race! Rand liked to collect all of the ducks -- he has about six in this picture -- and then have me pump the water so he could follow them down their little lane and plop into a big tub at the other end.

Keeping it interesting!

Rand's mission in life is to make sure that I'm never bored.

Yesterday he was taking a bath when he came out (dripping and naked) and informed me that he was taking a pretend bath. I said something like, that's great, now get back in the tub, and didn't think about it again....until I went into the bathroom and noticed that the floor was COVERED in water, the rug was completely soaked, etc. Ah-hah.

We've left places twice in the last week (the art museum and the bookstore) because he was throwing a tantrum. Hopefully he will soon get the message that when I say "shape up or we leave" that we will actually leave!

Daddy taught Rand how to act like a monster -- it's very cute how he growls and stomps around.

On our way to the pumpkin patch last week, Rand informed me that he didn't like pumpkins, but he did like goldfish. "Goldfish are quiet," he said. Somehow I missed the memo that pumpkins are really noisy.

I was cleaning up the house last week after the kids were in bed when I noticed something was weird about our dining room table! It's made of metal, and Rand figured out that his toy trains would stick to it. They looked like some odd species of chrysalis.

Butterflies

One of the best presents that Rand got from his birthday was a butterfly kit from his Aunt Katie. He had so much fun watching the caterpillars grow into butterflies! He wanted to check to see if the caterpillars had turned into butterflies multiple times a day. Rand especially liked to have the caterpillar cup sit next to his plate while he ate dinner. Ewwww.

We made butterfly food out of sugar water and dipped flowers into it. Then we put the flowers on the floor of the butterfly house and watched the butterflies eat. Very fun.

Then came the day when it was time to let the butterflies go....Rand had a fun time trying to chase them out of the house, but once he realized they all flew away there were a few tears. He wanted to know if we could chase the butterflies back into their house. He's recovered since then and everytime we see a butterfly outside he asks if it's one of his butterflies. And I always say yes.