Lyndsey's favorite Chanelle face!

Chanelle does this scrunchy face. Funny thing is: hearing Lynz laugh about it is almost as awesome as the face itself!

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Self-explanatory (1:24 of silly)

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Funny Girl

Oh, Elysse. You make me laugh.

There haven't been as many "Elysseisms" as there used to be, but oh, her mannerisms. This little girl has personality. It cracks me up. (Most of the time.) Her little shoulder shrugs and head shakes are hilarious, though she never knows why I'm laughing. Anyway, the funny little things she does are hard to describe here, so I'll share one recent Elysseism.

There were two ambulances parked outside the Y as we were coming out from her swimming lessons.
E: Are those firetrucks, Mom?
L: No, those are ambulances.
E: Why are they here?
L: Someone must have gotten hurt.
E: Are they the bandaiders?

Too cute!

What kind of fairy?

This year for Halloween, Elysse wanted to be a pumpkin. A purple pumpkin. Not much luck with that, so I found a cute idea online for a pumpkin fairy. At first I wasn't sure if there was such a thing as a pumpkin fairy. Reality check... There's no such thing as fairies! (Except for the tooth fairy, right?) I convinced Elysse that that was what she really wanted to be, though I still had to prompt her for a while when people asked her what she was going to be. It ended up that we had enough fabric for Chanelle to be a pumpkin fairy, too. So here they are:




Halloween is definitely not my favourite holiday. The last time I dressed up to go trick or treating was grade five... that's a little while ago. We didn't even do anything with our pumpkins until Jay and Christy and the kids came over to go trick or treating, and Jay said he saw one with Mr. Potato Head parts. So we got out Mrs. Potato Head and a Sharpie, and that was the extent of our pumpkin decorating.


One fun part of the night was visiting Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Lowell at the hospital. Grandma more than doubled the amount of candy the kids had in their bags at that point. The kids enjoyed their visit, though Elysse kept saying to Grandpa, "Grandpa, I think you're a little bit old." What do you say to that?! Yes, Grandpa is a little bit old, but he seemed so much better than the day before. Grandma and Grandpa might not love this picture, but I know there are some family members that will appreciate a picture of them. Grandpa was smiling the whole time we were there.


(Elysse also said loudly the other day, "That lady has funny hair." We were less than 3 ft from the lady with the funny hair, and she really did have funny hair! But of course I told Elysse that wasn't a very nice thing to say because it might hurt someone's feelings. But it sure made me smile!)

So Halloween is done (thank goodness), and now it's on to thinking about Chanelle's birthday. And I guess Christmas is coming up, isn't it? Someone actually told me today how many shopping days there were left. ?!

Happy Hallween!

Elysse is getting good at drawing. Here is one of her Halloween drawings (a replica of the stickerbook cover).

Here are our pumpkins… not really even jack-o-lanterns. And yes, those are Mr. Potatoe Head parts on the pumpkin.

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Water Baby!

Chanelle loves her baths. She's getting good at listening when you tell her to sit down (not that you'd be able to tell by this picture). Only thing is you have to tell her 20 times per bath.

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Potpourri*

I was stuck on a title, since I have a few things to write about, then it came to me! At the gym last night, I watched Jeopardy while on the crosstrainer, and one of the categories was "Potpourri." (Surprisingly, Jeopardy passed the 30 minutes pretty quickly!)

First, here is a picture from our walk today. It's nice to have a bit of fall since we went straight from summer to winter (seriously, +33 degrees and less than three weeks later, SNOW!).

Chanelle isn't quite walking yet, but she did take about 10 steps to me this morning, so she's close! She has learned how to sign "all done" when she's done eating, so that's been great. And it's pretty cute. And here she is playing peek-a-boo:



And here's Elysse, just before her first dance class (which she loves, by the way!):


Now I need some help. For the girls' first Christmases, we got them these bracelets, hoping they will be something they can pass on to their daughters:

Then for Elysse's first birthday we got her this painting:

And now I'm trying to pick one out for Chanelle's first birthday. Here are a few options:

1. Birds and Poppies - I just love this one.

2. This one is called "Happy Tree" - I love that, too!

3. Happily Ever After - Love the title and idea, but will she outgrow the princess theme?

4. This picture is actually lime green, and how can that not make you happy? (Right, Natalie H?) And it has a butterfly, which I will explain the significance of in the next one.

5. And this is Pink Butterfly - my great gramma loved butterflies, and therefore I love butterflies, and I want them to remind the girls of my great gramma and the other women in our family.

So tell me which one you love/makes you happy/you think Chanelle will grow to love - please!

*And speaking of potpourri, one of my favourite smells is the homemade potpourri my mom used to simmer in the winter. And since winter came early here, I had to think of one upside! So for the last week or so, I've been occasionally simmering sliced orange, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and whole allspice (and water). It smells so good!! (And to be honest, I'm also trying to rid the lingering curry smell in our house - I think it's almost gone!)