Jennifer Woodbury

Happy Halloween!

I can't wait to take Ella trick-or-treating tonight. This will be the first year where she gets the concept (kinda sorta). Last Friday she got to have a trial run. There was a little Halloween parade in our town where the kids went trick-or-treating at some of the local shops, and then the parade ended at a park where "Amazing Andy" the magician put on a show for the kids.

Ella was a little unsure of this whole parade concept - think major meltdown just as it was about to begin - until she realized she was getting candy. And let me tell you, this little girl is a sneaky one. Somehow she knew that if she waited until after the parade, I would probably only give her one piece of candy and make her save the rest for later (which really means "save the rest for mom to eat while you are napping"). So she made me give her candy after each trick-or-treating stop, knowing that I would give in because I didn't want her to have a meltdown in the middle of the parade route. Why do two-year olds have to be so smart?

Here's my little bumblebee trick-or-treating:

Stopping for a candy break (I believe she's working on a mini Crunch bar here):

Ella thought the magician was HILARIOUS. I have so many pictures of her laughing and smiling (I'm sure the Tootsie Pop had something to do with that as well). I think I might just hire this guy to come perform at my house whenever I want Ella to actually smile for a photo, since none of my other tricks seem to be working these days.

I hope everybody has fun tonight!

Road Trip

Last weekend we took a little road trip north to Boston to enjoy a family getaway and see the fall colors. Ella was our very own personal tour guide:

We saw a little bit of downtown Boston and took a drive around Cohasset, the little town Matt lived in during his middle school years. In case you're wondering, Cohasset's claim to fame (or at least, their claim to fame back in 1987) is that such notable movies as Housesitter and The Witches of Eastwick were filmed there. That's your random trivia fact for the day. We ate plenty of good old fashioned New England fare, including lobster, which Ella kept telling me looked like a frog. Before we drove home on Sunday we made one last stop at Walden Pond. It wasn't quite as peaceful as I'd hoped with a sleep-deprived and hyperactive 2-year old in tow, but it was still beautiful and we even managed to distract Ella for a few minutes by looking for rocks to throw into the pond.

While we were in Boston we also got some family photos taken by the very talented Jamie Hammond. Since practically everybody else I know has had their pictures taken by Jamie during the past year, when I heard she was coming to the East Coast I knew I had to have some from her too! Here are a few of my favorites from her blog. I can't wait to see the rest!

Looking at Pictures

"You looking at pictures Mom?"

This is what Ella asks me whenever she sees me on the computer. In fact, I'm pretty sure she thinks the computer is actually called "looking at pictures". It has a much nicer ring to it than "spending too much money shopping online" or "procrastinating what really needs to be done by checking e-mail and reading blogs," don't you think?

Also, every time she sees that we are pulling into the parking lot of either Target or the mall she asks, "We go ride the elevator?" And I just tell her that yes, in fact I did bring her here for the sole purpose of riding the elevators and escalators (they are both called the same thing in Ella's mind). I mean, who goes to Target to shop anyway? It's really all about watching your shopping cart go up and down that cool cart escalator while you ride alongside it on the regular escalator. Obviously.

Some other Ella-isms:

• She has become much more interested in playing with her Fisher Price Little People lately. It's so fun to see her imagination at work. But I just love how she calls them "guys." For example: "I'm playing guys Mom!"
• Whenever she takes a bite of something she doesn't like, she hands it to me and says "That's Mommy's." Isn't that nice?
• She has always been independent, but she has become even more so within the last few weeks. Her new mantra is: "I can do it! I can do it!"
• One of Ella's dolls has a pacifier, and Ella always calls it "put the lid on." I honestly have no clue where in the world she came up with this name (I swear I never said anything like this to her during her pacifier days), but if only she knew what truth she was speaking!
• Ella's favorite color is purple, and therefore anything that she likes is called "the purple one."
• If I am in another room and Ella hears even the slightest bang or clatter, she will yell "You okay Mom?"
• I love hearing her repeat back all the things she hears from me on a regular basis, like "Good job Mom!" or "You so pretty Mommy!"
• Although Ella still doesn't have much interest in the potty, you'll be happy to know that her favorite baby does use the potty, with Ella's help of course. I suppose it is a step in the right direction. Ella has also been boycotting naps for the past week or so (heaven help me), but while she sits in protest in her bed singing a medley of songs, she does make sure her baby is lying down and covered up with a blanket. At least someone is getting some sleep around here.

Don't Tell Anyone...

...but I think I am actually starting to like the East Coast. When we moved here in January, I wasn't such a fan. You may recall a few complaints about the weather. Obviously, January was the worst possible time to move here, especially coming from California. I told Matt that it really would have helped his recruiting campaign if he could have planned this move for September. Because let me tell you: fall in New England is awesome! I mean, as if the changing leaves weren't reason enough to love it, you can take a tractor ride up to an actual apple orchard and pick your own apples! That, my friends, is one thing you can't do in California. Well, maybe you can, but I've never heard of anyone doing it before.

This is definitely going to be a new Woodbury family tradition. We picked a bunch (I guess the correct term is peck) of gorgeous Golden Delicious and Jonagold apples. Ella learned the fine art of "twist, twist, twisting" the apples off the tree rather than pulling.

Once we got home we had to figure out what to do with all those apples. We ate a few of them plain, I sliced a few up and dipped them in caramel sauce, and then I finally got up the courage to bake an apple pie. I've never made one before, so I was a bit intimidated. I come from a pumpkin pie baking family, so something about adding that layer of crust on top frightened me. That and the fact that my cookbook informed me that it was "crucial" that my apples be sliced to precisely 1/4 inch. Talk about pressure. Yes, I did pull out our huge 25 foot tape measure and actually measure one of my apple slices to use as a guide for the rest.

It could have been a total disaster, but my pie actually came out of the oven looking pretty good.
And when Matt tasted it, he actually called it the best apple pie he'd ever eaten. That may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but I have to admit it was a very tasty pie. Maybe it was the fresh-picked apples, or maybe it was the fancy pie dish I felt it was necessary to spend too much money on. Whatever it was, this pie has been good enough to make up the majority of my meals for the past two days. Add another new tradition to the list.

A Hallmark Mommy Moment

About 30 minutes after Ella went to bed last night, I hear her calling me from upstairs:

"Mom? Hey Mom!"

Matt and I look at each other and think this is really strange, because whenever she wants something after she's gone down for the night, she always asks for it by crying.

I go into her room expecting that she's just going to ask me to sing her one last song. Instead I find her standing in her crib with an outstretched arm.

"I have a boog" she says.

She hands me the treasure she's just excavated from her nose, says "Nigh nigh!" and lays back down.

Isn't this the kind of thing every woman just dreams of when she becomes a mother? Matt found it quite hilarious that I am the one who got the boogie call, since it's usually him who Ella calls out for at night (since he's the one who puts her to bed). I guess moms are just special that way.