November Wrap-up

It astounds me that November is almost over. That we will be officially kicking off the holiday season this week. So although not a particularly fascinating post, I make up for it with lots of pictures. Here are some November occurrences that I wish to document:

We have a boat load of leaves here in Maryland. I love autumn right up to the point where all the leaves fall and I have to clean them up. And in the spring time I gaze up at the massive trees in our area and think about how all of those fresh little leaf buds will be my nemesis in about 6 months. We have yet to truly tackle the backyard. We just close the gate and hope it will all disappear.

But raking leaves does usually lead to some cute pictures.

Samantha has hit some developmental milestones this month. She has improved her skills of getting her slimey little paws into everything.

She is obsessed with putting things on her head.

(If you find yourself enamored of my faux brick kitchen floor and lace kitchen curtains, don't worry you're not alone. They are the new thing. You see, we Bowcuts are trend setters. We're sometimes met with raised eyebrows when we introduce such radical new styles, but others come around. You'll see.)

And Samantha is perfecting the art of talking on the phone--I assisted her in getting the phone in kitchen. When she picked up the phone and put it to her ear, she said "Da Da". I thought that was rather darling--she knows her Dad is often on the other end of the phone during the day.

And she actually took her first steps last week! (Walking pictures will follow in a future post.) Crawling is by far the preferred mode of travel, but I'm slightly relieved that her legs do work properly and I won't be carrying my child on my hip indefinitely.

We also had a fun package arrive in the mail--this beautiful bouquet of exotic flowers! Brian's parents recently spent 3 weeks in Hawaii and ordered this gorgeous bouquet of proteas which will be gracing my Thanksgiving table. I've never seen anything like them.

Also gracing my Thanksgiving table will be Brian's parents! They arrived on Saturday and we get them for the whole week!

And finally, Ella's first violin recital. I surprised her with a new dress and the combination of getting to play on a stage in a new dress was a dream come true.

She had both sets of her grandparents in attendance.

She performed with the other students in her level and also did a solo. I was unsuccessful in downloading the video (I'll try again later), but take my word for it, she was a star.