Happy Halloween!

If you weren't able to guess Rhett's costume from the hat, maybe this will help? (That's Rhett's cute second (?) cousin Ally.)

And if not, maybe this one will give you a clue?

And the biggest hint of all (it's written on the bag).

Yep, our little candy corn loved Halloween. We trick-or-treated at his Aunt and Uncle's house, Grandma and Grandpa's house, and a dozen other homes for fun. When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, his cousin Carolina was there. What a sweet vampire she made!

Turns out that Rhett loves knocking on doors. (Does this mean he'll make a good missionary?!) What you see here is his single fisted technique. We also saw a double-fist door knock which proved pretty effective. He liked to invite himself into other peoples' homes. And at one house, he even gave away one piece of candy. Good thing he got three in return.

And considering we stopped at less than a dozen homes, we think he did pretty well. One pound and ten ounces later...
Here's hoping for one sleepy baby tonight!

Even 867-5309 Must Be Better than What I Have

Last April my Dad generously added my sister and me to his cell phone plan. Chuck and I had cut back to only one phone so returning to two made us feel quite luxurious. This is the good news.

The bad news is that my new phone number came from a shady source. The previous owner not only had multiple debts (as noted by all the calls I get from collectors) but she was also either a prostitute or drug dealer. These are the only logical conclusions given the patterns of calls I receive. (Hmmm...apparently selling your body and/or drugs does NOT pay! I must remember to tell my Young Women.)

What's happening is that about once a month, I'll get a series of 15-20 calls from a few different phone numbers within a very short time period. Sometimes I'll answer the calls and tell them to stop calling me. Sometimes I just let them go to voicemail. Either way, it's annoying.

I don't understand why these calls come in waves. The only scenarios I can create are (1) someone is giving out my phone number as a joke. You know, boy meets girl in a bar and girl gives fake number. But then why is that number passed around to so many people? Or (2) maybe it's given during drug deals. I don't know why this one makes sense, but I like to think it's true.

Another thing I don't understand is that these people sometimes leave messages. Do they not listen to the voicemail recording that says, "Hey, you've reached Erin..." Uhhh, ERIN, not Brenda, nor Sophie, and certainly not Chad. I'm pretty sure my voice is girly-enough to not be mistaken for a Chad, right? But alas, that's happened.

I've since changed the voicemail message. To those of you who call me on purpose, I apologize for the semi (okay, really) rude intro, but hang on and you'll be quickly returned to the nice version of me.

Scenes from a Run

Sometimes I really love where I live. Fall will do that to me.












And the best view of all:

Made by e

Some recent projects:

A backpack for Rhett. I'm still more in love with it than he is, but it'll come.


Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bags (thanks cousin Nicole!). You can't see it, but they're lined with a cute Halloween print flannel.


Pillowcase

Oven Mitts (via this tutorial)

Boo!

Smocks from Pillowcases


And of course, Rhett's Halloween costume. You'll have to wait for that, but here's one hint.

I Can Totally Relate to This

What's Wrong With This Picture?

a. My husband's sweatshirt: a token of his devotion to a team that (sorry chuck) sucks.
b. The tree behind us: some leaves are green while some are not. What's up with that?
c. The dry sidewalks: I mean, we've had straight rain since Wednesday afternoon, why should Mother Nature stop now?

Answer: C. It has, no exaggeration, been raining (and record-setting cold) since Wednesday afternoon. I thought it would never stop. I thought I'd have to run in wet, squishy shoes for the rest of my life. I thought I'd be stuck inside my house with a toddler until Rhett canoed himself to kindergarten. I thought wrong. Thank goodness.

Deep Thoughts, by Chuck and erin

Which fictional TV character's life would you most like to have?

Although many were tempting, for some strange reason we both thought about characters from Seinfeld. I think I could definitely handle Elaine's life and Chuck would enjoy being Jerry. Others that we tossed around were Pam from the office (for me). I would have to be old Pam though, before she was a salesperson. I would love being a secretary, and working with crazy people would give me such good stories. Chuck thinks he'd also consider being Alex P. Keaton. I think he could pull it off.

Happy Pumpkin Day!

I love traditions and wish I had more of them. So when I came up with Pumpkin Day, I knew it was a winner. At least, I hoped it would be a winner.

My idea was to go to a real pumpkin patch, not one where they set out already-picked pumpkins on grass. I wanted a Real Pumpkin Patch, where you had to actually rip the pumpkins off the vines. (Little did I know that pumpkin vines hurt! Oh well, still worth it.) Once we had picked the pumpkins, we'd feast on pumpkin soup and finish with pumpkin pie.

Our afternoon went just like that with the happy additions of a free hay-bale maze trip for Rhett and an awesome hayride around the farm for all of us. There's still time for all of you to celebrate Pumpkin Day too!

He played with Chuck's hat for the entire 40-minute drive.







This is what happens when you tell Rhett to "give the pumpkin a hug."

We thought pumpkin soup would taste better than Rhett Soup.



I'm really proud of Chuck for being open to pumpkin soup. It helps that it wasn't half bad!

Rhett having his very first (and only) bite of pumpkin pie.

P.S. Thanks Jess for the suggestion of Larriland Farms. We obviously loved it!

Weekend Trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown

Can you believe that we won a trip to Williamsburg? And all we had to do was sit through a three-hour sales pitch for a time share! What are the odds, right?! Crazy.

We managed to have a great time, despite the sales pitch. In fact, even that wasn't that bad. I mean, how can anything that offers free donuts be 100% bad?

Rhett has just started to understand why we wave at things. Here he's waving goodbye to the horses that announced George Washington (seen in the background).

He was being a bad boy. Chuck also spent some time in there and I did some time in the leg stocks.

Rhett and Chuck watching some little band.

The sole family picture taken all weekend (minus the real blurry one of us in a dug-out canoe). Doesn't Rhett have the face of a fourteen-year-old in this picture? I love the little person on his finger.

And if you were wondering, no, we opted not to purchase the time share. No trip to Cancun next year for us. Sad, I know.

You Know You're Sleep Deprived When...

...you lie in bed in the morning thinking the following:

"I know that hot dogs come from pigs and steak comes from cows. But where does sliced turkey come from?"

Seriously. I did this.

And yes, I realize this picture has nothing to do with the origins of sliced turkey, but I don't care. I like it.

And the Doctor Says He Has a Big Head!

What does he know?!

Blogging Lite

I wish I had a better excuse for my lame posts this week, but truth is, my life has been pretty lame. I'm having one of those weeks where I wish my life wasn't my life, you know? I saw this "Intervention" the other night about an addict from Salt Lake and I was almost crying (alright, I was crying) at how much I miss Utah. There was snow on the ground and the mountains looked beautiful. It just made me feel sorry for myself.

Then I remembered: I had a baby. Honestly, how different do I think my life would be if I was living in Utah right now? Considering my status as a mom, I don't think it would be that different. I couldn't be taking my desired backpacking trips in the Winds or the Tetons. I couldn't be skiing all the time (can't afford to). I'd probably still be taking trips to the library, running, and waiting for Chuck to come home. With the exception of occasional dinners at my parents' house instead of Chuck's parents' house, honestly, my life wouldn't be that different. I'd just have a better view and less humidity.

So now I have to stop feeling sorry for myself. It's a little easier when I look at this little guy enjoying his very first pillow. He seems to be getting the hang of it. (And yes, we really did wait 18 months to give him a pillow in his crib. He has yet to get a blanket, however.)


Cousin Emily, I hope this is honest enough. I don't have it in me to reveal nine more things. Forgive me, please?