She has another little bruise on her cheek...

She likes to talk... mostly saying "DAHHHHHHH" and sqeaky bird noises.

She is still happy most of the time...

And just yesterday she was began walking very fast... she's really getting the hang of it!

Countdown to 1st Birthday!

Today we start the 10 day countdown to Ellen's big day! Today she tried to keep up with her cousins and brother as they played outside all afternoon. She is totally walking now, which I love because she can now wear these cute little dresses with tights.

Lucas Makes a Difference

Jeff and I were bummed that we didn't have it together enough to vote on voting day, but then our next door neighbor, Will, came and told us that the polls were actually open until 7:30. So we loaded up the fam and made the very short drive to our assigned voting location. This nice lady saw Lucas standing with me and and told him that he could vote too! So she helped him fill in his ballot. I don't know who or what he voted for : ) And thanks to Ele for taking this illegal picture with her phone!

Flu Season

Luckily we don't have the flu, but 75% of our family has had something in the past 2 weeks. Right after we got home from ATL, Lucas got a fever one day and I thought we were in for the long haul of sickness, but he was only down for about 5 hours! Immediately following LB's fever, Ellen had one for about a day. Then a few days later Jeff woke up with a fever and now has strep throat. So that is my excuse for not blogging for the past week. I don't know how single moms do it. I'll be happy to have my healthy husband back this weekend to enjoy this awesome fall weather.

And, I nearly forgot to say that the kids got their flu shots this week. I'm always on the fence with that, but we decided to this year. Anyway, I was dreading it because I was scared for Lucas and the fear that he'd have when he saw that needle. Every year before he's still been babyish and may not have realized what was going on. When it was time for the shot he was still giggling and talking to the nurse. I told him to "look in my eyes, look in my eyes" as she gave him the shot. His eyes got wide for a second and he thought about crying, but then it passed and we praised him for being so brave. After that he was SO proud of himself. And I was proud of him too : )

Atlanta in Autumn

We went to Atlanta a couple of weekends ago to visit some college friends, but were lucky that we worked it out so that we saw most of our family too! These pics are in reverse order (I've been blog slacking and have lost my touch). I'll add comments tonight...

Walking

The bird just started walking more than she is crawling. Her walk is still a little wobbly, so she kicks it into a high gear spider crawl is she needs to get somewhere fast (bottom in air, hands and feet on ground).

11 Month Old Terror

"Who, me?"

What toilet paper looks like after it's been pulled off and rolled back up.

Triathlon Weekend

This weekend was Jeff's final race of the season. He improved his time from last year and moved up in the rankings... we are proud of him! Sandy came in town for the race to support Jeff and help with the quick trip. It was a fun weekend.

As usual, it turned into a Lucas focused trip! Before dinner on Friday we made a stop at the beach so that Lucas could play in the sand. This is what I intended...

... and this is what actually happened : )

Ellen wanted to get down, but we could only deal with one wet and sandy child at a time!

The weather was cool and breezy. I like the beach better that way... it was nice.

After pizza and a jump in a local bounce house that was setup near the restaurant, we snuggled in for a good night of sleep before Jeff's race. Lucas was thrilled that they had Noggin on t.v. He was so focused that he didn't even notice that Sandy styled his hair like this...

Our plan was to get a room with two full beds and to have a cot on the floor. When we checked in they told us the cot was a fire hazard, so we had to figure out how to make it work with two full beds and 5 people. I ended up with both kids while Jeff and Sandy shared a bed. It was not the best night of sleep that I ever got. When we woke up both kids were horizontal and Ellen was cuddled around Lucas's head like his head was her bunny - so cute! She moved before I got that picture, but here is an idea. I had been kicked out of the bed a few minutes prior.

We stayed a mile away from the race site, which was awesome. Jeff rode his bike there at 6am and Sandy and I followed with the kids an hour later. Here we are on a bridge with the sun rising behind us.

We got to the race just in time to see Jeff come out of the water. Poor Lucas was sad that Jeff didn't talk to him (he didn't see us) and is still talking about it! Next race Jeff will have to carry him across the finish line or something special like that. Jeff got to wear his wetsuit since the water was below a certain temp.

Here is Jeff at the start of his bike ride...

And here he is finishing the race. Great shots, I know... I'll do better next time.

And here is how the kids watched the race. Ellen asleep and Lucas snacking. This was my view of them...

sleeping bird

Next year hopefully our post race picture will be one of both us racers and not just Jeff... depends on if Ellen is sleeping through the night.

post race picture

Raleigh

Raleigh is starting to feel like home. We've been here 9 years, so it's about time! My Atlanta friends will be sad to hear this, especially my sister, but I just love it here and think we'll be here for a while. Lucas also loves it here. He'll tell complete strangers that his home is brown or that he has a squirrel in his room in his home. And he refers to the park that is closest to us as his park. The house I was born in was special to me too... I never really felt a connection with the house we moved into when I was 9 years old. Anyway, since the weather has been cooler we've been touring a little more of our neighborhood in our double trouble jogging stroller. The other day we stumbled upon this waterfall and I felt for a few minutes that I was hiking in the mountains. This little spot that we found was the site of the Lassiter Mill in the 40's and 50's. People used to come to this spot to vacation, or so the sign said. It's neat the 60 years later my little Lucas is exploring the grounds : )

Silly Poses

Lucas in an outfit that he picked out and a droopy shoulder, eyes closed pose...

And Ellen with a whole carrot that she gnawed on for an hour...

Cookout at Charles's House!

No Nap Lucas

The turkey has dropped his daily 2-3 hour nap, but still needs one every few days. We can all tell when he needs one, even him, so we just go with it. This day he had fallen asleep in the car and transferred to our bed for a couple of hours. His sleeping has changed so much. When he was younger I used to tiptoe out of his room or it would take me 5 min to get off of the bed after putting him to sleep in fear that the movement would wake him up. Now if he closes his eyes, it's all over. Sometimes he'll fall asleep as we are pulling up to a park and I couldn't wake him up if I tried... we just turn around and go home. And we can also get him out of the car seat and tell him that we're taking him to bed for a rest with no complaints. He appreciates sleep now.