Things I Love Thursday

• Taking the girls on our daily, post-nap walk around the block to see all the spooky/scary Halloween decorations our neighbors have added to their yards to accompany the standard pumpkins, cornstalks and bales of hay. The creepy additions include: huge spiders, black birds, rubber rats, giant webs, McCain/Palin signs, bats, mummies, ect.
• Listening to Avery put words together into her first mini-sentences. I asked her to go find her shoes in the mudroom and put them on, "No Mama, shoes car" she said. Oh, I forgot we left her shoes in the car when we got home. I asked her to pick up her puzzles and put them in the drawer. She said, "No Mama, upstairs Ma-maw." Clearly she had a date with her grandma and couldn't be bothered with my request. Me: "Avery do you need more water?" Avery: "No Mama, chocho milk yes (nodding emphatically)." If you're wondering, "Do all of Avery's sentences begin with 'No Mama'?" The answer is, "Yes, just about!"
• The fabulous dessert I ordered at Lulu's dinner in The Pearl. I cannot stop thinking about it. It was a take on S'mores (homemade graham crackers, toasted marshmallow, and chocolate fondue). Seriously...

• Having a healthy family again. Okay, semi-healthy at this point--and I'm grateful for our lingering coughs and minor-drippy noses. The point is: everyone is feeling better and in much happier moods!
• The prospect of picking up my mom from the airport tomorrow for a 5-day visit. Linda is heading back to California for 7 days and we are getting Nana in exchange... these little Jones girls are lucky, lucky!
• Avery wearing her hand-me-down cap "gangsta style" and thinking she is super cool! We put it on and she immediately turns it this way. Too funny.

• Watching Leanne Marshall of Portland win the 5th season of one of my favorite Bravo series: Project Runway. Yippy!
• Adding fresh sweet basil from the garden to a fall bouquet snipped from the yard--Thanks Grandma Lulu for the inspired idea; it smells as great as it looks.

• Welcoming new babies to the world with homemade crafts (little cards below). Congratulations Jamie and Angela on your third addition: Breslin David. (I know right?, what a great name! His older sister and brother are Brooke and Blake--too cute.)