To Our Fans in Albuquerque

We got another package in the mail on Friday. It was from our friends Mitch, Jess, Emma and Kaitlyn in Albuquerque. Emily was excited to open the package and see all of the neat stuff for her brother. Emma was also really thoughtful, and added in a present for Emily; Emily really liked the cool purse, necklace and headbands.

Thank you Emma (and the rest of the fam) for sending a present to Emily and her soon-to-be baby brother.

Happy Halloween!

The entire month of October we've prepared Emily for Halloween.

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We decorated the house, and talked about all of the decorations.

She got a Trick-or-Treat pumpkin bag, and we practiced knocking on our door and giving her candy. We explained Trick-or-Treating many, many times throughout the month so that she would understand for the Big Day.

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And, over the course of the month, we've tried-on the different Halloween Costumes with the constant comment from her "I don't like it."

So, because she was so "I don't like it" with all the costumes, we had on standby: Elmo, Snow White, Monkey and a Rescue Swimmer costume...but...
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The big question this year was:
What is Emily going to be for Halloween?

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Her costume was going to be a surprise to us all.
What was her day-of choice for a Halloween Costume...???

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She ran at the sight of a dress for Snow White...she wouldn't even try that one on.

No Snow White.

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Was it Elmo...?

Nope...not Elmo.

Was it the Rescue Swimmer?
Nope...not a rescue swimmer.

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Was it a monkey?

Well...it didn't look like it at first.

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But, then she changed her mind, and Emily was a monkey this Halloween.

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So, we took our little monkey out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It was about 7pm, and dark outside. Luckily we've had beautiful sunny weather the past week, and the clear skies stayed-put for Halloween Night - perfect for a night out! It was still dark outside, but there were a lot of kids out; I think we had about 40-50 come to our door.

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(I should probably mention that although we had clear skies it was still 35 degrees outside...and snow is forecasted for the remainder of the week. Yes, it was COLD!)

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Emily was a little shy to go to the door. She wouldn't say "Trick or Treat" to the people, but she had no trouble holding her bag out for the candy...and then she would say "Thank you" when the candy went in her bag. It was sweet.

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We visited about 6 houses in total. It was cold and I don't want her eating a lot of candy. So, we let her get a "feel" for Halloween and then we went home. Once home she was excited to dig into her 'pumpkin purse' and start eating the candy she got.

In the end, she had a really good time and next year will be a whole lot easier!

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Nigh...Night!

First School Performance

Emily had her first "school performance" on Thursday. They had a Fall Festival where the parent's were invited to come and watch the kids sing and dance. It was kind of a cluster with a room FULL of toddlers and babies, but she participated...somewhat.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved pumpkins. I wasn't sure how Emily was going to handle this...she's been carting around her little pumpkin this last week as if it were her new baby.

How would she handle it when we cut it open??

She did really well and had a smile on her face the entire time. She wasn't too keen on getting dirty, so it took her a while before she stuck her arm in the pumpkin to pull out the seeds with her fingers.

In the end, she had a great time carving her pumpkin.

The next little dilemma was lighting the pumpkins.

She thinks that the candles are "birthdays" and that she must blow out the candles once they are lit. (She sings Happy Birthday and everything; it's cute)

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So, we will have carved pumpkins this year

...they just might not be lit. (lol)

The Boxes Keep Coming...

We opened more boxes last night. This set came to us from Grandma & Grandpa Crandall, Grandma & Grandpa Mendolia, Aunt Ann, Aunt Carol & Uncle Gary, Scott & Melanie, Diney, The Inces' and the Bennett's.

I think I'm still amazed that we're getting surprise shower gifts, and that we're actually having a baby. We only have 6-8 weeks to go, and up until now, I just haven't prepared anything for his arrival. But, after all this, I feel much more prepared! This shower has really made me excited to have another baby on the way! Thank you so much!

Here's some pics of some of the latest gifts. This time we had a little help from the Soon-To-Be Big Sister...

And here's a pic of Emily testing out her brother's crib:

3 Days of Boxes

Well, after the initial surprise that everyone sent a present for the new baby, we finally decided to open what we had received thus far. We had three-days of boxes, and got gifts from...Jamie & Melanie, Great Grandma & Grandpa Humphrey, Matt & Katie, Ted & Marie, Tom & Denise, Susie, Chrissy, Aunt Josie, Alicia & Allen, Shaun & Jenna, John & Cindy, and Aunt Karen.

(Our weather has been up-and-down the past week or so...so, if you've sent something, I'm sure its on it's way - we get socked in with fog at times and no planes land on the island; this includes the mail plane.)

I'm sad that we weren't home to be able to do this in person, but here are some pictures of the totally awesome gifts we've received for the new baby thus far:

We did receive more packages today and I'll post pics of those when we open them tomorrow.

Thanks again for everything!

We just can't thank you all enough!

Something like this means so much to both of us,

and it definitely helps us to be more prepared for the new baby's arrival!!

(Only 6-8 weeks to go! - personally, I think he'll be early...we'll see!)