Daddy's Little Helper

After a rainy, cold October, November has started off with wonderful weather. Casey and Liz finally were able to get around to raking up their leaves and Ainsley decided to help. She loved raking her leaves into little piles - which we would then be ordered to run into - and she had a great time playing in the big piles Casey put together.

Cinderella Loves Halloween

Ainsley really figured out Halloween this time. She discovered that all she has to do is knock on a door and she gets free candy. What a concept! But, while the candy was fun, the real treat was dressing up as Cinderella.

Ainsley shows off her Cinderella costume before heading out to
trick-or-treat

Ainsley and Casey pause for a quick picture.

After trick-or-treating, Ainsley stopped over at Mike and Heather's house to play with her friend Evelyn. Mike and Heather were nice enough to give Ainsley some dinner - and even after all of candy, she still managed to eat a little bit. Ainsley and Evelyn had a great time and we had a lot of fun hanging out with Mike and Heather.

Ainsley loves the "Toy Story" movies. Liz's mom found an old Woody doll that Liz's brother Matt got from a girl friend in high school and gave it to Ainsley more than a year ago. Ainsley loves her Woody. Last year at Christmas, she added Slinky the Dog to the mix, and just recently Buzz Lightyear became part of the gang.

So, naturally, when we saw that the movies were being re-released in the theaters in 3-D versions, we figured it was time for Ainsley to go to her first movie in the theater. (We just went to "Toy Story 2," the favorite of the two.) A bit overwhelmed at first, Ainsley ended up having a great time. She even kept her glasses on through the whole thing. She has already asked us when we'll be going back.

First of many ...

Field trips, that is. Ainsley's preschool went to a pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago, and Liz tagged along. Getting 20 3-, 4- and 5-year-old kids to and from a pumpkin patch reminded Liz why she did not choose to become a teacher. But, seriously, it was a very beautiful fall morning, and we had lots of fun until Ainsley woke up from her nap later that day with a fever. (Thankfully, it came and went so it wasn't anything terrible.)





Ainsley and her friend Nate on the bus together. Liz was pleasantly surprised when Ainsley decided she wanted to sit with Nate on the bus. They laughed all the way to the pumpkin patch. (She did decide to sit with Liz on the way home.)









Ainsley in the actual pumpkin patch. We were told to pick out a pumpkin that fit in your hands. Ainsley was quite proud of the one we found. Although, Liz ended up carrying hers and a couple of other kids' pumpkins back to the tractor that took them out to the patch.








The kids got to meet some farm animals and go down a slide while they toured the pumpkin patch. (Nate is behind Ainsley. They were quite the pair for most of the morning.)

Take me out to the ball game...

Last weekend was the Royals final home stand, so Papa suggested that all of us go out to the ballpark on Sunday. We had a great time -- it may have been one of the last warm days of the year -- and Ainsley discovered the kid area at the stadium, including a new found love of merry-go-rounds.

Improvements at home sweet home

A couple of weeks ago, we enjoyed a visit with G and Melmo. They drove out so G brought along his tools and served as a handyman all weekend -- we redid the tile in front of the fireplace (and by we, I mean my dad did all the labor and I handed over some tools, followed instructions, etc.), installed a ceiling fan in the guest bedroom (much to the happiness of the guests staying in there that weekend and all those to come) and fixed a peeling spot on the ceiling (gotta love old houses). He also helped fix up some other odds and ends around the house.

(Now if we could just get Liz's dad and stepdad to visit more often, we'd never have to fix anything! On Liz's mom and stepdad's last couple of visits, he took on our backyard and made some major improvements. He also has helped with several indoor projects. At some point, we'll start absorbing some of this knowledge...)

However, it wasn't all work and no play. We did sneak in a trip to Union Station and Crown Center where G and Melmo had not been yet, which included watching for trains in the bridge above the train yard and lunch at Fritz's. We got a couple of great pictures, but they're on G and Melmo's camera, so we'll post them as soon as have them.

So You Think You Can Dance....

Ainsley's first haircut ... finally.

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided it was time to get Ainsley's hair cut. We had a bit of a crazy August so we had to put it off, but finally we made the trip out to a special children's hair cut place called Shear Madness. Ainsley did a great job, and she said she looks forward to next time when she'll pick out a red lollipop!

Ainsley liked sitting in a pink car while getting her hair cut. She also liked that a show about princesses happened to be on too.

Layers and bangs make for a whole new girl!

We didn't fall off the face of the earth...

Just life getting in the way of blogging. Anyway, we will try to post more regularly as summer ends and we start fall. We look forward to a fall of house projects, pumpkin patches and football.

Meet Hooper!

One of the ways we worked on potty training with Ainsley was by promising her that we would get a dog when she stopped wearing diapers. Although the potty training hasn't stuck 100% yet (but she's almost there), Casey and Liz had a pretty bad week and decided to start looking for a dog.

The original plan was to get a dog that was at least a year old and had already gone through its puppy phase. That plan did not last long.



Thanks to the help of Casey's dad's co-worker, we ended up finding this guy at a rescue. Ainsley already loves Hooper and wants him to sleep in her bed every night - just as long as he doesn't chew on her toys.