Cinderella's Carriage

Poor Emily. Her reward for being an awesome friend is that we constantly rope her into projects and hair-brained schemes. Recently she let Damon know that she had a sewing machine and knew how to use it. Big mistake. When he decided that we needed to concoct a pumpkin carriage out of our wagon, his first stop was JoAnn's Fabric Store and his first call was the Raney house...

She looks happy there in the sweatshop, huh?  We even withheld refreshments and refused to pay her, so she would get the full experience.  Can't you just hear the "whirr" of the machine when you look at this picture?

Damon did eventually help.  A little. 

Our finished product: CinderStella's chariot awaits!

Jack-O-Lantern

On Halloween morning, Stella and I carved a jack-o-lantern together for the very first time...

To prepare for our activity, we read Liz Curtis Higgs's book The Pumpkin Patch Parable.  It is an awesome story for kids that uses a jack-o-lantern to illustrate how God cleans all the yucky stuff out of our hearts and makes us His special works of art...

For our jack-o-lantern, we used Stella's pumpkin from the WeeCare Pumpkin Patch.  Unfortunately, this pumpkin had been dropped several times, which led to a large rotten spot on the bottom...

At this point in the carving Stella was not real sure how she felt about our project...

She tried to keep our work area neat...

We eventually cut the bottom out of the pumpkin, too.  Stella helped remove the pieces we carved out for the face...

We got it!

Posing with our creation.  He had a little trauma to his lower lip...

Two cute little pumpkins on Halloween...

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Cille rolled over from her back to her tummy today for the very first time.  She was sick yesterday, but woke up bright eyed and giggly this morning.  While Daddy and Stella were still asleep, I played with her on the living room floor and she showed me her new trick!  Hooray for you, Cille!  I am so proud! She also had her 4 month check-up where she measured just shy of 26 inches long (making her a pretty tall girl) and weighed in at 13 pounds, 9 ounces. 

Boo at the Zoo-Part Two

We did finally make it to the actual zoo on the night of Boo at the Zoo...

Cille was very impressed with the event...

Family photo in the Scarecrow Patch...

The entire entourage...

Alice made a special trip all the way from Wonderland to join us...

Cille said, "Who needs candy?  These fingers taste like sugar!"

Stella dug up this nifty eye patch in a pirate's treasure chest...

Such a cute little kitty!

"Halloween is fun!"

Cheesin' with Tinkerbell...

I've heard of having the bear on your back, but...

Stella enjoyed the "younger kid" games much more than the toddler area.  Check out this action shot...

The froggie catapult was lots of fun.  See the frog in the air?

All three of them really enjoyed the singer performing at the pavilion...

I love how animated Damon is while singing this song about a crocodile.  If you had told me 9 years ago when I married him that he would one day be singing and dancing on a stage full of toddlers and loving it, I would have thought you were crazy.  Parenthood really changes things...

Stella dancing with her "True Love"...

After all that dancing, it was time for some candy!  Stella was very polite while Trick-or-Treating.  She always knocked and said "Thank-you"...

She also liked her candy "purse"...

Even Wendy was there! 

We all had a great time and were worn out by the end of Boo at the Zoo...

Boo at the Zoo-the photo shoot

On October 23, we attended Boo at the Zoo with Mawmaw and Pawpaw.  Since we have tons of extra costumes around our house, we decided that the girls would dress as kitty cats and we would be their vets.  Stella was tres excited...

Such a happy little cat! 

Well, maybe she's over the pictures...

Hero shot...

Two little kitties...

Stella is done sharing the spotlight...

She is done with pretty much everything when two of her favorite people show up...

Cille's turn...

This is actually her first time in the grass...

Stella did not realize that I was only taking Cille's picture like that because she can't sit up by herself.  Stella wanted to take a picture lying in the grass, too...

This is so much fun! (Daddy was still getting ready...don't worry; he'll join us later!)

Which weighs more, Cille or the pumpkin?

Stella accidentally rubbed some of her whiskers off on Mawmaw, but she was happy to use some spit and her finger to clean them off...

Mommy and her littlest pumpkin...

I'm not sure what Stella was doing in this picture taken after she shed her catsuit.  Maybe shaking her hips; she likes to do that.  We're not sure who taught her how, but she claims it was Grandma Tonie...

Apparently, Stella also wanted to be a farmer for Halloween.  She and Pawpaw planted the indian corn...

All those pictures wore Cille out...

In contrast, Stella just got more fired up as the evening wore on...