Great-Grandma Tressa Johnson

My great-grandma died this week. She was a wonderful person who lived a long life. 104 years and 10 days. She was sharp as a whip until the end, belived in eating at least one fruit and vegtable a day, plus a glass of milk. Emily probably got her red hair from Tressa, even though it has been white all of my life! I think we can all be inspired by her life. I am glad I had the chance to know her.

Greatest Picture thus Far

This has to be the best picture our camera has taken yet. Robert is so handsome and Emily is too cute!

Fall Festival

We spent Sunday evening helping and enjoying our church's Fall Festival. I think it was a big hit with Emily. We went down the slide with her a couple of times. I got my hair "done". Emily watched the Praise Puppets, she loves them, they sing and dance. She requested more after each act. I helped with an "Apple Bobbing" booth. Did you know that actually bobbing for apples is against health codes, so we use paper water.

Pumpkins!

We ate a pumpkin and carved some pumpkins. HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Playing Catch

A new game we started playing, I think it would be fun in the pool as well!

HUG

Emily likes to hug her baby

Cookie's for Fall

I have spent Emily's afternoon nap today icing cookies. I envy many cooking blogs, how they precisely take pictures of each step, adding fun baking quips along the way. I can't seem to find my camera until the end... I made some sugar and gingerbread cookies for the Fall Festival Cake Walk, treats for Robert's class on Monday and a couple for us to eat. Maybe they will let Emily crawl in the cake walk so she can bring home more treats! Above we have gingerbread mummys, ghosts and pumpkins.

Library

Today we went to Toddler Time at the library. It was so fun we attended the 9:30 session and 10:00 am session. Ask Emily about all the songs she learned and the book we read. I think we will try to go regularly since she seemed to like it.

Emily also has a new bump on her forehead. My tooth and her face intersected at warp speed this morning. I will post a picture of that later...

A little Delaware

Our friend Shag stayed with us this past weekend. He was perhaps the only cheerful and upbeat part of the crushing Texas/ISU game! Here are some pictures of Emily getting to know Shag, they last saw each other a year ago...

Pumpkin Patch

We visited Black's Heritage Farm Pumpkin Patch with some friends. It was not how, I as an adult, pictured a pumpkin patch. All in all the kiddo's seemed to have fun. I would have preferred that the pumpkins were not growing in the middle of a soy bean field!

Let's walk...

This is an frequent scene in our house lately. Emily walked, three little "toddles" on Oct. 11 (I think for Lynne's birthday present). She has yet to duplicate, but we practice a lot!

Too cool for school!

We were out cruising on the last hot day in October, it will probably be the last time Emily wears this outfit!

A love for Budgeting

I think that most people think negatively of having a budget, or they think you are poor if you live by a budget. Our family has lived on a budget for several years. This month we put a camera in our budget. It really is that easy! It is not the $$$ SLR camera on my wish list, but this new digital camera will help us capture a more mobile Emily. We bought our old digital camera five years ago, which makes it ancient as far as technology goes. I am glad to have this replacement, and glad to have a budget to make it so easy!

Letter to the editor

Check this out!

Robert's letter to the editor

Robert has been published. He mentioned that they edited out some of his original content. This made the Sunday paper.

Robert has also been published in the Iowa State Daily.

Iowa State Daily Editorial

poor Bo

We often find Bo in this position. The baby proofing has limited Bo's freedom a little. We always give him the opportunity to go upstairs with us to tuck Emily in for bed. Sometimes he hangs out downstairs for a while, (I think he thinks we'll will be right back) then finally he wants to come up. Of course by then we are mid diaper, or something, that causes us NOT to rush to open the gate for him. He tucks himself on the topmost step, props his head on the ledge, and *sighs.

...it Glows!

As some you you might know I have a recent passion for garage sale-ing. It is a great way to buy baby clothes, I love running across a really good sale with lots of little girl baby Gap items! Two weeks ago, Em and I went down the block to see our neighbors sale. We didn't find any clothing but there was a hefty Christmas section. I purchased a new in the package, Rudolph Red blinky nose. To my surprise Emily loves wearing it. She finds it, says uh,uh,uh,uh,uh,uh, until you put it on her, and then she crawls around the house with it blinking away. She even tries to put it on herself. Too cute! I think we need a reindeer costume now.

The wedding of the year!

We had a wonderful time sharing the past weekend with family. Chelsey is officially my new sister and has a new last name, Johnson! I loved seeing my little brother so happy. I will post some pictures of the rehersal, I don't have any of the big day as we were busy! Many thanks to everyone who helped watch Emily. She loved playing with all of her Auntie's, Grandma's and Grandpa's.

Rehersal