Happy Halloween!

In honor of our move to Marietta, Henry was the "Big Chicken" for Halloween! For those not familiar with this famous Georgia landmark, the "Big Chicken" is a KFC restaurant that sits under an enormous wooden, mechanical chicken. Gus likes to say that it protects Marietta from invaders. I'm not sure that's true, but people in Marietta tend to use it as a directional reference point. For example, our house is about seven miles east of the Big Chicken, except on Halloween, because we have our very own little Big Chicken!

We started the evening with the neighborhood Halloween parade. (We truly hit the neighborhood lottery as far as Halloween celebrations are concerned.) The parade concluded at the clubhouse with a pizza party, and would you believe my little health nut likes pizza? Then we made it to three houses for some trick-or-treating before heading back to our house to pass out candy. Henry had the most fun swiping candy from the bowl and hiding them around our porch. Thank goodness he doesn't know how delicious candy is yet!

Our Family of Pumpkins

This year's jack-o-latern did not involve any naked babies (I couldn't find a pumpkin large enough to hold Henry). Instead, I thought Henry should be actively involved. I figured knives were not a good idea, so we painted our pumpkins, and he loved it (as long as the paint wasn't on his fingers). There were lots of tears when it was nap time and the paint was taken away. I think this was his way of telling me that we need to be doing more art projects!

I painted our very own family of pumpkins too: A tall, skinny one for Daddy, a shorter, rotund one for Mama (pregnancy is the only acceptable time to use the word "rotund" when describing me), a small one for Henry, and a mini one for Baby Mak. Henry's masterpiece also decorated our porch for the trick-or-treaters.

Now I get to look forward to next year when I'll have a smaller baby to stuff into a pumpkin again!

A trip to Michigan for Nonnie

Gus' Nonnie passed away last Thursday. She was 97 years old, and we flew to Michigan this weekend to be with family and remember her long, happy, blessed life. We are thankful she was able to meet her three great-grandchildren. Nonnie will be missed, but we feel blessed for the many years God gave us with her and for the weekend we had with family honoring her life.

Those great-grandchildren certainly enjoyed being together this weekend. I didn't get many in-focus pictures of Ella and Henry because they were always jumping or running somewhere together. They even gave each other nicknames: "La" and "Honey". It was pretty darn cute to see them finally play together, and now we get to look forward to Mila chasing them around one day soon. Henry also enjoyed some of Michigan's finest foliage in Grandma and Papou's backyard.

Henry is 18 months old!

We're out of those monthly onesies, but I figured the 1 1/2 year milestone was still worthy of its own post.

Likes: Saying my letters (I can recognize and say every letter except H...go figure), going down slides, reading books (my current favorites include The Very Hungry Catepillar and the A to Z Fruit and Vegetable book), going for morning walks with Mama, saying new words like it's my job (recent additions include doctor, play, slide, button, and spoon), eating kettle corn, beans, cod, cheese, raspberries, pretzels, and apples, counting rocks and acorns up to 3, going to gym daycare (I run in the door to get to the play kitchen), playing with Mama's iPhone, sleeping in (most days it's 8, but sometimes it's 930!), and riding in my wagon.

Dislikes: Having food or dirt on my hands, eating meat, being told or shown where to walk (and no, I will not hold your hand!), wearing socks, going to music class (because they give me a fun instrument and then they take it away!), and shopping of any kind.

Growth: I weigh 28 lbs., and I am 34 and 3/4 inches tall. This puts me in the 80th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. My doctor said there are no worries about my lack of meat eating, as it's clearly not slowing me down at all! I'm one long and lean veggie loving machine!