Fun days with friends

The past week or so brought us a friend, Phyllis, from Chicago and some coffee time with Stacey. All in all, we are just happy to finally have some fall weather and cooler days. Ken is working on finishing up the deck dad was helping us redo...he has a lot of screws and a few boards to put in yet. I am busy making houses for my photos, goal of 10 new photos by the end of the month. Travels start back up on Halloween weekend with a conference in Memphis for SPESC. Violet will attend the first day or so, after which Ken will come get her and bring her back to Nashville for trick or treat with the neighbors. This year we got wax fangs to hand out to keep us from eating all of the candy!
Big girl at the coffee shop

Fun with Phyllis

On Ruby and her feelings for Violet

Today, I headed out to the bank to do some minor business and left Violet home with Ken. He also had to take care of some business and put Violet in her Bumbo seat to play with her pals on the mat. When he came back into the living room, he found Ruby near Violet looking at her. Turns out, Ruby was waiting for Violet to thank her for the "gift" she brought in to her tiny baby...a dead squirrel...recently killed and lovingly presented to Violet on her play mat! Ken yelled at poor, thoughtful Ruby and took the dead beastie outside. Violet seemed to have missed the whole thing as purple giraffe was really interesting to her. The mat is being cleaned ala Silkwood. The squirrel has been buried. I was seriously gone all of 10 minutes.
I think it is quite evident that Ruby likes Violet. It is a big job to catch and kill a squirrel, especially with all of the escape trees we have in our yard. That is catch number 2 for sure, 3 if you count the one Ken found that was just a pile of squirrel fluff...kill #1...that we know of. We hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
Oh, and there was no blood to be found...we figure it had a heart attack and some major internal injuries from being tossed about for fun when it was caught.

Tiny Foot

So tiny and perfect.

My other baby

Ruby has been neglected lately so I thought I would show you her general state of being. She has been doing well lately, not trying to run away, less lonely, still a little clingy, and she does whine until she gets a walk in the mornings. She really doesn't need to whine...it isn't like we have forgotten at all since Keona died. She is just a little high strung. Post walk, she is out sleeping on her dog bed in the living room, dining room, or in Nani's old haunt, the bedroom on the big bed. She will likely start moving out to the back porch again soon as it is cooling off again...finally!
Play with me?
If not, I will play with myself!
playing with the hedgehog carcass near Violet.
I LOVED the new toy Kiki and Mila sent to me...I chewed it up!

All smiles these days

Ok, this kid doesn't stop. As long as she is standing up she is a happy girl! Violet also enjoys laying and kicking, but standing is her favorite. And I did do some reading on what appears to be an old wives tale...that kids shouldn't put pressure on their legs at this age or they will be bowlegged. Whew!
(Oh, and these are out of order, but I can't figure out how to change the order on the new slide show system...I am working on it!)

Jumpey Seat

Alright, we tried this one about 2 weeks earlier than the box said was appropriate. She really didn't get it. Maybe without the footy pjs? I think she will be there really soon, but there was absolutely NO jumping going on and mostly she just fell over into the side. I think the fact that her arms don't come over the top is part of the problem. Look for updates on this one.

home time

Checking out papa.

Tired on Grammy's lap.

Sad and tired...or time for a meltdown!

New Dolly from Rowe.

Weird hair texture dad!
Some highlights from our home time during my parent's visit.
Violet seemed to know them right away...or she was just happy to have new people to entertain her. She had a great time with the constant love and attention. She is starting to really play with her toys and is getting more human every day!