Halloween

Esme had a great time for Halloween.  She was much more aware of what was going on this year.  For weeks, every time we drove by a house with pumpkins on the front step, she would say "There's a Happy Halloween house!".

Early on we thought maybe she would be Handy Manny for Halloween because she loves him so much.  We had a giraffe costume (Annika and Laurel's hand-me-down) that I thought would be cute.  But when you asked Esme what she wanted to be for Halloween, she said "a witch".  And so she was.

With the neighbor boys

She was very cute as she went from house to house.  The only downside to the whole night is that she was scared of anyone dressed up like anything scary.  She once screamed (a blood curdling, horror movie scream) when we walked though a fog machine and her hat fell off.  She thought for sure that someone GOT her.

Her innocence is what made this year so much fun.  She was the cutest witch in St. Michael!

Crow Hassan

This is our family... 

...in motion.

Dreams

I'm not sure why, but I love that she's looking at Christmas catalogs.  :)

Annie

Today, Esme came up to me and said she was playing with Annie.  At first I thought she said "Ernie", Aaron's brother.  But nope, she clarified that Annie is what she meant.  A few minutes later she came over from playing and pointed beside herself and said "I'm playing with Annie".  Naturally, I said "Hi, Annie" and Esme giggled and said that she and Annie were picking flowers with Annie's mom.  Then she (Esme) pretended to pick a bunch of flowers.

Later we went to the grocery store and as I was getting Esme out of her car seat, she told me that Annie wanted to come a long.  And so she did.

I'm not sure what age kids have imaginary friends, but for Esme it's right now. :)

Thrill of the chase

Everything is a chasing game right now, we're forever running after Esme.  Time to get dressed?  She runs and hides.  Diaper change anyone?  Running.  Hiding.  And watch out if you bring out the camera - she's gone!  And she's not going to make getting pictures easy for anyone.

This is particularly fun difficult since I took a photography class and am trying my darnedest to take pictures in manual mode.  By the time I've figured out the light, there's no little girl in the frame anymore!

Here's a few of what I got today.

Bad lighting

love Cricket in focus and everything else (including vacuum) blurry

I had to bribe her to stand still long enough to get this picture of her "Happy Halloween Socks"

Better lighting, but kind of looks like she's going to eat the door handle

And now she's done...

Beautiful Hair

Everywhere we go, everyone always comments on Esme's hair and how beautiful and curly it is.  I have a feeling, sadly, that the curl is starting to go away a bit.  I'm holding out hope that it's losing a bit of its' curl just because her hair is getting longer.

At any rate, I love her hair.  It's perfect.

Playing with the neighbor boys

Every single day Esme asks to play with Darla, our neighbor.  Really what she wants is to go over to Darla's house and play.  Their toys are better, the boys are there and of course Darla's there too!  She even sort of likes Jeff. :)

Tonight they were all about playing video games on the driveway.  Esme loved it! :)

Love Nathan's expression :)