On our way to NCA

The night before we went to NCA (and Disney), we stopped by the mall to pick up a pair of dress shoes and a sport coat ... Eden Brooks helped me try on clothes and told me to take this photo.

 

Wednesday morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and drove to the airport for our 9:30 flight. Both girls did wonderfully - and Lydia even got a nap on the second flight!

Before her nap, she screamed "weeeeee" on take off, like it was some sort of ride. Eden Brooks, the pro flyer, also enjoyed all aspects of the flight including being able to draw, color, write words, and eat pretzels.

I'm sure the airport is a crazy place for an 18-month old - so much stuff to climb on, climb under, and explore!

When we arrived in Orlando, we were met at the airport by Rick, our driver. He led us to a town car, Ashley's first ride in a chartered car, and Lydia's first forward facing ride...as you can tell, it was like a roller coaster to her.

Happy Halloween!

Ok, so I just wanted to make sure this post was up before December arrived. Seriously, though, I've been waiting on one more picture -- the only one somehow of CC that was taken on Halloween -- but I'm still waiting to get it from a friend. Guess I'll just add it in later.

Anyhow, CC was able to drive down and join us for our Halloween festivities. We surprised the girls with her arrival when we picked them up from school. I wish I had gotten a picture of Miss E's face when her CC walked in the door.

Before school, there was of course a little PBS watching ...

Halloween night, we headed over to Keegan's house for our annual trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Unfortunately, Graham had an awful cold and couldn't make it out that night. Thankfully, CC was there to make the trick-or-treating and playing with friends actually work. E's Glenda gown was awesome ...

... and her wand had a Glenda name-tag taped to it just in case people asked her who she was :)

I added extra fabric to a dress she already had. Somehow the other puffy part of the sleeve fell down in the photo above, but let me tell you this dress was huge. I figured if she wanted to do pink and sparkly we just might as well go for it. Plus, it was adorable to hear her asking (in a Glenda voice), "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

There were a ton of kiddos at this pre-trick-or-treating pizza party. Here are some of them ...

{Lydia's classmate Rylan is in all white with the pink bow. 

She walks around their class saying Lela all day.}

So different than a few years ago when it was just E, Keegan, and Conner. At least we got one picture of the future newlyweds ...

E was antsy to get going and thankfully so was her friend Brantley. Brantley's younger sister is in Lydia's class, so both girls had a friend along for the fun.

 

Overall, it was a really fun night. Lydia was a great sport and even went up to a few doors. We could not have done without CC's help!

sunshine

One-hundred-fifty-nine-twenty-eleven questions

At bedtime tonight, I went in to talk about E's day. When she's in the right mood, these talks can end up going in many unexpected directions and can take a long time. She comes by it naturally (I love 10:00 talks), and I love these bedtime convos with Miss E.

Usually, we're both lying on the bed, sometimes she's lying with her head on my hip looking up at the ceiling as she talks, and I never know what jewel of thought will pop out of her mouth. Her questions tonight took us through weddings, about being a flower girl and what you do for that, who is in weddings and what they're called, why you don't get to pick out what you wear cause the bride picks it out (she asked if anyone ever gets to pick out their own clothes), how Mama II is Beverly's mom ("So, when she goes to visit, she is visiting her mom?"), other mom's and dad's in our extended family, being engaged, having a fiance, she asked why people wait a long time to get married once they decided to get married. Somehow she asked if the people who are going to get married are friends. I said they were special friends because they've decided to get married, and she confirmed that they are indeed friends. She said she wanted Graham to be her husband and was very sad when I told her he was already her daddy so he couldn't be her husband ... "But I don't ever want to live without him." I told her that was fine. Lots of families live with grandparents and parents and grandchildren in the house. Then she said, "So, people get married to their friends. I'm going to marry .... ... ... ... Keegan. I think I'll probably marry Keegan. Maybe." I told her she didn't have to decide that for a long, long time.

At some point, she wanted to know how babies were born and asked me to tell her the whole story of how she was born, everything that happened at the hospital. Craziness. She wanted to know how babies come out (in case you're wondering, I explained the stomach muscles pushing like squeezing a tube of toothpaste - weird, I know, but it works and she liked the explanation). She wanted to know about medicine and whether things hurt. She had decided she never wanted to have babies because she remembered someone telling her that babies are sometimes cut out of a mother's stomach. So, I explained that, and how medicine helps and the body can in some ways make its own medicine and that the hurt goes away and that having the baby is the most amazing, wonderful thing in the entire world. To which she said, God is the most amazing thing. So, I conceded the point and told her having a baby is the most amazing thing in this world.

After about 45 minutes, I told E she could have one more question and she asked, "How does everything get built?"

Seriously. She meant everything in the world. So, I told her about people going to school and learning what pieces go together to build houses and cars and lights and computers and figuring out new ideas and having other people teach you. She asked if boys and girls build things. So I told her that yes boys and girls learn how to build things and that she could even learn how to make a computer some day, that she might be a computer engineer. To which she responded, "How do they build computers?" Try answering that one.

As I was about to get up since that was her last question, she said, "I just have one more question to ask you, something very, very important." So of course I had to let her continue ... "How was God made?"

Seriously? That was her "just one more thing" question. So, I asked what she meant, and she said, "I just don't understand, because everybody is born and everything is made by somebody. So, who made God? When did God start? Because, he doesn't have a dad, right? I just don't get it." So, I told her God has always existed. She wasn't quite satisfied, so I asked her if she wanted me to get her Daddy to see what he thought. She agreed.

By the time I walked into the den, told Graham the situation, and then had him go back in her room, she was asleep.

p.s. Random fact ... ... E's current favorite number used to mean an outrageously large amount is One-hundred-Fifty-nine-Twenty. Sometimes, she'll extend it with an "eleven" added on the end.

Christmas card attempt

 this is Rapunzel coming after me (the bad person) with her sword

we tried again ...

Well, we tried again to get a quick family photo. Not completely successful but fun nonetheless ...

Her first football game.

Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,

Where health and plenty cheer'd the labouring swain,

Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,

And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd:

Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,

Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,

How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green,

Where humble happiness endear'd each scene!

--Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, A Poem

So, we were finally able to take Eden Brooks to see the place where her mom and dad met, where my heart still is, and where it still feels a bit like home ... Sweet Auburn indeed!

We left Baton Rouge on Thursday and drove to Mobile, spent the night, and left on Friday minus Lydia (who tells us she had a grand time with Nona). We arrived in Auburn on Friday after lunch and headed to the bookstore for some proper attire. When we walked in, E promptly asked where all the books were - smart girl. We then headed to a raptor show, where EB got to see tons of owls, falcons, and other birds including Spirit, the eagle who flies on gameday. But more on that later.

Since the game started at 11:30 on Saturday, we headed to campus early to get pictures...

EB was, of course, attached to Kathryn, her new best friend...

They had a blast playing in the bushes of our old building...

...and we had fun catching up with friends.

Margaret couldn't believe it has been nearly 10 years since Ashley and I got married (and longer since we were in her classroom). Time flies.

The Gonzales family stopped by as well, and EB and little Arthur hit it off right away. (They were born like 2 weeks apart).

Ashley kept saying how strange it would have been for 17-year-old Graham and 17-year-old Arthur to know that this day would be in the future.

In the stadium it was ... loud (though she had ear muffs she did not consistently wear them).

Arthur and Alison had an extra ticket, so Ashley was able to go with us!

Perhaps the most fun part was watching EB sing the songs and get excited when Aubie came into her view.

Watching Spirit fly...

Hiding from the sun (it was REALLY hot)

Perhaps EB's most favorite part was drinking a real Coke. She asked to have it in her usual way, very carefully:

EB: Is it a special occasion?
Me: Yes.
EB: So I can have a Coke?
Me: Yes
EB: Yeeeeaaaahhhh!!! (and lots of jumping)

Her being silly and saying it was not a good drink...

We made it to halftime and saw the band then headed to lunch with the Gonzales family.

Overall, it was a success - EB asked if she could go back whenever she wanted ... OF COURSE!