Chili Cookoff

Danny and Erin opened up their house once more for the yearly chili cook off.

This year, there was some new competition.  It was tough voting.  My decision came down to 5 chills and I could only vote for 2 :(

1st place- Hilliary with a sausage/maple chili

2nd- Grant with a hearty chili 

(I was impressed with Grant's because of the chili taste achieved with using just fresh chili peppers and no other seasoning besides salt and pepper) (it was incredible the next few days)

3rd- ?, with a Green Chili chili, it was so tasty!

sizing up the competition

Perfect fall day

Piñata time!

 waiting for it to bust...

 ... and go!

 How cute is that little dirty rear end

 

Magic mountain.

Every kids loves it.

 I love this picture!

 Pin the tail on the cat

Thank you Danny and Erin, for yet another great event!!!

Halloween part 2

The Nims arrived a week before Halloween.  

So one ambitious Saturday morning, Grant and I decided to drive down to Batesville before we even got out of bed.  We lucked out because that was the day the campground was having it's Halloween activities.

Trick or treating at a campground is fun and efficient.

Pumpkin painting

Cora was serious about this.

Her masterpiece

Costume Contest.

They all look so happy to be standing there ;)

Happy Halloween

We had another fun year Trick or Treating.

This year they dressed up for 3 different Halloween festivities.  

I'll start with October 31st!

We started at 6:00. The kids were in the shower by 7:10.

While they were cleaning up, Grant and I took our "share" of the candy. 

 We then put the candy back in their bags, took them out of the shower, and they never knew ;)

Trunk or treating at our church.

NINJA JOSIAH

ELEPHANT LILLIAN

  I was originally going to just do her eyes and cheeks.

Then I thought, "what the heck" and ended up shadowing her whole face in!

 

You won't feel bad for her, after you see how fancy she was another day!

MONKEY CORA

Hope Everyone had a good one!

Here we go 2's

As I get older I increasingly find myself more like my mother.  

For Instance.

When my mother introduces me to a stranger as "my or the baby" 

They clearly can see that I am:

1. not wearing a diaper

2. taller than my mother

3.  old enough to look about 30

So this becomes a birthday post about Cora right. about. now.

Cora is 2!

My BABY is 2!!!

 Yeah, she is no longer a baby.  She is now an official toddler.

A two year old.  Big GIRL.

No matter how much I try to slow down time, keep giving her a "ba-ba" at night (don't judge), try to talk for her, keep her in diapers (never thought I'd say that), she just keeps growing!

Look at this sweet face.

 When she saw these twin babies there was no changing her mind.

She carried them all around the store with her.

 She was having so much fun at Toys r Us

She ate a HUGE birthday lunch!

In conclusion.  

Just as I will always be my mother's baby...

  Cora will always be my baby!

It won't matter if she's 2, 22, or 52.

I will continue to call her my baby. 

Happy Birthday Cora!

btw... as of this week we are finally officially bottle free :)