Fall Festival

Catherine Ellis attended her first fall festival on Friday and had a blast!! It was so much fun to walk her through the stations and see her discovering all sorts of yummy foods that she's never had (cotton candy, powdered donuts) and see all her friends dressed up in their costumes. I am so thankful that she is in school where I work - I feel like I get to be a super involved parent and right now she still loves that!

We had a big bouncy and 15 other stations - she played for over 2 hours in the bouncy after all the big kids had their turn and the cotton candy just kept her going. I think its safe to say cotton candy is now her favorite food - it was a HUGE hit! That and the powdered donut station. I've got two videos from the festival and a few pictures - enjoy!

This is a video from the bouncy - it was dark inside so it's hard to see but as you can tell she's having a blast! Notice when Annie pretends to bite her hand as she sticks it through the net - when she's running she looks down to make sure both hands are still there - priceless!

This video is of the donut station - a donut hangs from a string and you're supposed to eat it without using your hands - Catherine Ellis didn't quiet understand the concept, but she indeed found a way to eat her donut - check it out:

And a few pics from the festival - thank you to the YWCA Junior Board for putting on such a wonderful event for our kiddos!

What is this blue stuff?

Whatever it is - it's yummy!

A blue mouth is a happy, sugary mouth

Enjoying face painting for the first time

Exhausted from all the fun!

Pumpkin Carving

Friday was a big day for Catherine Ellis! She attended her first fall festival and loved every minute! Not to worry, I'm working on this post for Sunday. For now, we're pumpkin carving. She was so worn out from the festival that we didn't get to carve our pumpkin Friday night - so we carved it first thing this morning - she had a great carving with her Daddy! Halloween is one of David's favorite holidays - and she seems to be right on board with it too! This was her first pumpkin carving experience and she thought it was all great until we got to pulling out the insides - not so excited about that!

Preparing to carve


One eye carved ...


Careful Dada


Two eyes carved


Helping Dada

Having fun

Ready to cut the top open

Gooey inside

Not so sure I want to touch this

I'll try just one touch

So proud of my pumpkins

Cat Cat's pumpkin from school

Let's see if the inside is cleaner now

Yay for clean pumpkins!

I heart Halloween!

My new 'too cool for school' pose

And last but not least, a video of our spunky CE with her pumpkins - she was so proud of her work!

Roll Tide!

A few weekends ago was Bama weekend for the Cain family and we spent a Saturday tailgating in Tuscaloosa with some of our favorite people! It's always so much fun for me to go back to Tuscaloosa and reconnect with co-workers and students from my time in Student Affairs - what a great campus and a place that David and I love - although differently - to go home to!

This was Catherine Ellis's second trip to Tuscaloosa (the first was for Coco's wedding in March), but her first Alabama tailgating experience! She had a blast! We were fortunate enough to join the infamous Reamey tailgate on the Quad and Catherine Ellis had just as much as we did people watching!

David has been to a couple of games - but I've not been since the Auburn Alabama game back in November of 2008 - the stadium has expanded and is beautiful - they've done a great job! David was excited to finally see the new south end zone and of course we had to take Catherine Ellis on the Walk of Champions - she was in awe of the stadium - certainly the biggest building she's probably seen in her short life!

The new south end zone

Cutting up with Daddy

Amazed by the Walk of Champions

Daddy and Catherine Ellis in front of stadium

Taking a break on the steps


After a quick climb to the top

Hey Mama .. and what we affectionately call the 'ah oh' face ... ah oh what's she about to do!

The climb down with Dada

Now who is this man?

Catherine Ellis and Aunt Coco - oh how CE loves her Coco!

The other fabulous part about trips to Tuscaloosa are the wonderful friends that I have that either live there or visit during football season - what a joy it was to meet up with Erica, Corrie, and Brandi - all fabulous women that I love dearly!

Brandi, Me, Erica and Corrie - thanks Dave Crutchfield for the awesome pic!

And too soon it was time for the girls and Daddy to head in to the game. Catherine Ellis was partied out and you all know Tuscaloosa is good for a big party! Catherine Ellis and I headed back to Birmingham while Daddy cheered on the Tide - what a fun weekend indeed!

One beat baby!

Update on Summer

I wanted to update you all on Summer's progress and thank you for ALL the prayers! She is making great strides! They have started a Caring Bridge page for her - please visit it to watch her progress and keep the prayers coming - I know the Vaughns appreciate them so much. Thank you again for taking a few moments of your day to pray for Summer and her recovery. I know the prayers are sustaining them as they head into the days ahead of recovery and rehab.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/summervaughan/journal

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Prayer Request

Please pray for a dear friend of mine from college - Summer Vaughn. Without getting into the details - I want to provide as much privacy as possible for them, but also soak them in prayer - she has had a stroke and after a couple of days being monitored in the hospital is back in ICU this morning with some of the same symptoms on Friday when she had the stroke.



The Vaughns are young parents with two small children at home - a 2 year old and a 10 month old. Please pray that God will continue to watch over them, provide the doctors that are caring for her with the knowledge to make the best decisions for Summer and for strength, grace and mercy for Summer and her family. Thank you for adding her to your prayers - I'll keep you all posted as I receive updates.

18 Months

Happy 18 months sweet baby girl! A year and a half of joy and happiness - hard to believe we're counting down to 2! You are busy as a bee these days and a hand full to keep up with, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Life is exciting when you are around - that's for sure!

October 9, 2010 - 18 months

Tradition is that we'll list 18 fabulous things you're up to with one to grow on:

• your vocabulary has caught on fire - you're repeating most everything anyone says - some of our favorite additions this month: luv you, (la ew), come on, let's go, sit down, (it dow), snack (ack), banana (bada).
  
• potty training has begun - at school! They are so impressed that you're so interested in the potty and Mommy and Daddy are pleased with an early start - time will tell if your interest continues.
• your memory is amazing - once you learn a skill or how to work a toy, you don't forget. You may not have seen a toy for months and are able to recall how to work it immediately.
• you continue to work on family members and recognizing people you see on a daily basis - this month we've added: Drew (dew), Stella (David's Aunt Stella), B (Megann's Aunt Betty)
• when we ask you how old you are - you'll hold up your index finger and say 'one' - it's super cute!
• you're quite the helper around the house - you love to 'clean up' and you'll even chant 'clean up, clean up' as we're picking up, you help clean up spills, help feed the dogs and help Mommy cook sometimes.
• you've identified yourself and come up with your own name - as we know and have been told by MANY people, we didn't pick the easiest name for you to say (or some worry to spell, not us, we think you're brilliant) - and have deemed yourself "Cat, Cat" - we love it and you do too.
  
• you LOVE ice! Ice is one of your favorite snacks - when you come to visit Mommy's office we have to visit the ice machine and get a cup of ice.
• you're a little on the bossy side (no idea where she gets this, just kidding!). When we visited the doctor on Thursday he didn't even step in the door before you looked him, pointed to his seat and said "sit down".
• you are extremely clear about your likes and dislikes - we're struggling a bit with food - seems you only want certain foods on certain days, but we're fighting the good fight and determined to stick with a healthy diet.
• at school your naps have gotten shorter, not longer and your teachers are working furiously to get you back to longer naps - you typically only sleep one hour or an hour and a half - no longer. At home, on a good day you'll sleep 2 to 2 1/2 hours - we'll take it - but hope that you'll eventually go to longer naps.
• you love baby dolls - Honey is with you a lot these days and you're very particular about where Honey sits when she is with you.
• you can throw a ball - not far, but a throw is a throw.
• you love to brush your teeth and did well at your first dental screening - every night you brush your teeth for several minutes.
• you pay more attention to the TV than before - you have a couple of favorite shows, but right now Mr. Moose (Nick Jr. narrator) and Backyardigins are by far your favorite.
• you hug and kiss your friends when you get ready to leave school - such a sweet girl.
• school still excites you - you often run to your classroom and sign in - most of the time not even looking back to tell Mommy bye bye - I have to remind you!
• dancing is a favorite past time -you've always loved music, but now even if you're in your car seat you bob to the music you like and dance your little heart out when music is playing.
• you are starting to pitch fits and Mommy and Daddy are scared about the approach of the terrible twos - we've never seen anything like a Bates-Cain fit - watch out world!

"I pray that the Lord will bless you . . . as long as you live."
Psalm 128:5