Happy Halloween!

love,
Llama Llama Red Pajama,
her mama,
and her hard-working, rushing-home-just-in-time-Papa.

p.s. When people gave Wugs candy tonight, she would give them a piece already in her trick-or-treating bag back. Such a giver! I LOVE THIS GIRL.

Things Wugs learned this Halloween season.

Pumpkins.

She definitely knows pumpkins.

Bats.

She digs those bats I made.

Ghosts.

She loves up on her sweet homemade ghost

Leaves.

After all, when else will we have a chance to hang up fall leaves? Not in Florida.

Gourds. Honest. She pointed them out to me when we were at the Academy of Sciences last week.

For next year: witches and spiders.

p.s. Mila likes to pull that chi iron around our apartment like a dog on a leash. I promise she has real toys, they're just not as exciting to her. Go figure.

Then and now.

 In the 1st picture, she's turning her nose up at homemade applesauce. 

Applesauce. It was delicious and velvety.

In the 2nd photo, she is inhaling the roasted seaweed from Trader Joe's

which I now buy no less than 10 bags of at a time.

Isn't there a scene in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

when Grinchy is stealing all the gifts

and all you see is a hairy green hand snatching something away?

I see flashes of that as we're barreling down the road,

me handing sheet after sheet of seaweed every 1/2 mile

to keep happy this chubby, little, and demanding hand

that's peeking out from around the car seat. 

p.s. Sorry for the weird haiku-like format. It is driving me nuts as well but I really want to go to bed now instead of trying to battle html.

Things that have made me smile the last couple days.

The way Wugs smelled like butter after downing a Miette graham cracker (nicknamed coma cookie by my friend for the stupor that ensues).
Thinking about having a little girl to dress for Christmas Eve mass.
Wugs choosing broccoli over anything else on her plate for lunch (and believe me there were some not-so-great options).
All-day playdates with our favorite people that are so fun you can't help but pass out for the ride home (giving Mama a peaceful drive from San Francisco, thank you Wugs).
Mila literally stops to smell the roses these days.
Texas Roadhouse rolls (we are all fans here).
Steve watching the World Series with the chair pushed right up to the TV screen.
Online yarn shopping.
Halloween costumes. Done!
Having coffee at home that's better tasting than the stuff I could buy out.
Mila's animal sounds. Lately her MEOOOOOOOOOOOW has given her baaaaa BAAAAAAAAA a run for its money.
Steve surprising me with kolaches from Weikel's Bakery in La Grange, Texas.
The animals that intimidated Mila at Ardenwood today: the turkey and rabbit. Not the huge horses. Not the cows kicking up dust.
Helping Papa to push the stroller.
Wugs walking around in her new suspender-ed waders, looking like the newest crew member of Deadliest Catch.
Finger-painting. Watching Steve try to suppress his cringes at the potential mess.

Perfect start.

I got to sleep in an extra hour this morning. When I woke up Steve was just putting my coffee on the table. and bacon. and runny eggs (how I like them).

We all love his days off.

Countdown.

One week to go, lots of costume dress rehearsals going on around here. A certain someone walked around with a tail all afternoon.

Immortalized (in doll form)

Sunday morning we skyped with everyone in Italy and they saw their dolls. I made them for Wugs' birthday while Italy was still fresh in our minds from Angry Chicken's awesome tutorial, except my bodies were just drawn on with a fabric pen. I figured Mila would have fun coloring them in when she's a little older. For now she's busy just holding and kissing them...we say give Nonna love and she runs over to grab her Nonna doll. The sweetness is almost too much to bear.