Visit with Merrill

Elsie had fun visiting her friend Merrill and playing with her cool toys! She loved the play house, repeatedly exclaiming "Mine." Guess we still have some work to do on sharing...

Tea party ladies?

Posing with Daddy in her new dress made by G-G-Ma.

Cheese!

Making Pumpkin Bread

Yum!! We made some pumkin bread recently. Elsie loves helping in the kitchen, especially when she gets to wear her apron!

Time for Elsie to mix.

Happy Halloween!

This was Elsie's first year trick-or-treating! It was a big success! Elsie went as an elephant - this was actually her assigned "vocabulary word" for her school's Vocabulary Word Parade (I guess a Halloween parade is not educational enough). Elsie has a stuffed elephant that she sleeps with at school, so Elsie is a big fan of soft, fluffy elephants!

I have candy in my pumpkin!! I am so excited!

Wow! Can I have this?

Let's go back out for some more candy!

What exactly did you put in the pumpkin? Better not be healthy... Elsie didn't say much at our neighbors' houses. She just smiled really big and inspected what was just placed in the pumpkin. We'll have to work on the manners for next year.

Heading back home.

Dad - let's inspect what is in the pumpkin.

Oooh. Pretzels! "Oooh" is one of Elsie's favorite words at the moment.

Elsie picked M&Ms as her first candy, because she is so familiar with the characters on the bag - they are located throughout the Bullard house. Papa Pete was so proud (he used to work for Mars).

Elsie got to eat a bag of the regular M&Ms (we'll save peanut for next year). She shared the M&Ms with both Mommy and Daddy.

Elsie's favorite words are now "candy" and "costume." I wonder how many more times we will have to pull out the elephant costume in the month of November.

Fall weather = new sweaters!!

The best thing about Fall weather is new sweaters! Grandma Jan knit Elsie this beautiful sweater for this season ... and probably for a few more seasons!

Elsie loves going on walks these days.

Playing out back with Mom and Dad!

Elsie's hairnet

Every once in a while, I find an extra hairnet in my pocket when I get home from work. Elsie just thinks this is fantastic!

September day at the Phipps Farm

We spent a short weekend at the farm in September. Elsie was loving Maizy (except for all of the licking, of course) and tried to help Maizy get the animal out from under the pallets. Elsie tired of that game after about 15 minutes, but Maizy stayed there for a couple hours!

The grandkids all helped Grandma Jan dig up some potatoes for dinner.

Leah and Elsie had a lot of fun playing together. After dinner, they just ran around the house squealing!

Labor Day picnic at the Bullards

The Labor Day picnic was moved from its traditional location at G-G-Ma's and G-Papa's to the Bullards to allow for swimming. Unfortunately, it was a cool day!

The Phipps ladies - so stylish in our sunglasses. Elsie is slightly obsessed with glasses!

Kathleen and Elsie hanging out.

Even though it was cold, Mommy, Elsie, and Kathleen all took a swim.

Kick, Elsie, kick!

Wheee!

Elsie shows everyone how to get the bean bags in the hole!

Elsie and Kate admiring the trees.

Here is a piece of mulch, Uncle Pete!

We had a bonfire to keep warm. Elsie reminded everyone that the fire was "hot."

Meeting new friend, Maya, at the Bullards

After DC, we drove back to PA to the Bullards. We had a fun play date with my high school friend, Carolyn, her husband, Brad, and her daughter, Maya. We had fun swimming, eating lunch, and hanging out. By the end, it looked like Maya and Elsie had become friends!