It's been one of those busy months where I don't actually take many pictures. Far and away the most exciting thing to happen this month was the arrival of our new nephew, Mr. Hoyt! We also bought
Our Land, celebrated Halloween, and did far too many dishes. (I did not pictorially document the dishes thing).
The kids, enjoying their precious computer time. Cheyenne and Elliott like to play Minecraft together, so Cheyenne (and two siblings) sit in the blue chair, and Elliott plays on the computer.
Elliott is always good for interesting faces and noises as he plays computer games.
Matching sisters, with their matching doll dresses. I actually only bought these dresses because they were cheapish winter dress with long sleeves! Imagine!
And then, the real story. We went up to Vaughans' Friday night, so we could be there for Hoyt's triumphant homecoming Saturday. Elliott and Marilla got first cuddles.
With his White cousins.
I love Elliott's reserved-but-delighted smile.
Rilla is holding him so carefully.
I think Lincoln is overwhelmed with the responsibility and instructions from his overanxious mother.
Cheyenne, enjoying it immensely.
As was her mother. What a sweet armful!
And a nicely shaped little head.
Uncle Evan gets some snuggles.
Overseen by Elliott.
Aunt Tori is clearly delighted.
While Hoyt brings out Aunt Livie's dimple.
Ashley letting Lincoln check out the pictures on the camera.
The Daddy, holding the baby!
Owen had already wormed upwards of 70 cows (I can't remember the exact number, though I actually helped with the process!), castrated 21 bull calves, and butchered a cow that day. He was probably glad to sit down for a bit with the baby.
Precious Gilbert holding Hoyt.
Love, love, love Gilbert's expression.
Keeping Hoyt's head from bumping the wooden arm.
Yup, three pictures in a row of Lily holding the baby. But they were all too cute in some specific way to delete any of them.
Orianna, the practiced baby holder.
I hope Hoyt was wanting adoring girl cousins by the bucketful. There is actually 12 Vaughan grandkids now, evenly divided among the genders, but for some reason the girls seem to be in the majority! All those braids and whirling skirts make it hard to overlook them.
The new family of three!
Uncle Justin cuddling!
While Lily still looks on adoringly.
There seems to be a Lily/Hoyt theme here. Grandma Jill had already held Hoyt in the hospital, but she seemed just as delighted the second go-round.
And then, back to our exciting life in CNY. Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? We drive by them often in Clay, and the bottom part of the tree has dark bark, but where it limbs out, the bark seems to be stripped off and it's much lighter up there. I'm stumped, which isn't surprising considering the paucity of my dendrology knowledge.
We had some lovely visitors, who never complained about the cramped conditions of the guest accomodations.
Awful glad to have these folks around!
Then, Halloween. Lincoln was a giraffe (again). There is nothing so lovely as a $3 garage sale find that can be used every year for 5-6 years.
The kids starting the parade at school.
Such cute little owls! It looks like someone cleaned out their scrapping stash to make their costumes.
The world's cutest pumpkin in the middle there, complete with snazzy autumnal tights.
She never saw us as they paraded around, despite our frantic waving. She must have been FOCUSED on that parade!
I liked the leaves this class drew. I'll have to get Livie to whip me up a couple.
Elliott DID see us, and he was simply delighted.
I wish I could have recorded his "flapping"-- his default method of expressing excitement, but especially fitting when dressed as a bat!
He is so adorable!
It's hard not to feel rather special when someone is that happy to see you.
Lincoln demanded I take a picture of his giraffe tale, as we waited in Cheyenne's gym for the second Halloween parade of the day. (Have I mentioned how excited I will be when they're all in the same elementary school next year?)
I thought Elliott would appreciate this costume of a creeper from Minecraft.
The school's principal dressed up as Felonious Gru, the villain from the move
Despicable Me. I've never seen the movie, but everyone tells me he played the part to perfection. The teachers were all dressed as Minions, but I somehow managed to not get any pictures of them.
Another Creeper.
Miss Cheyenne, who was attempting to be a vampire (note the mouth trying to close over fangs), but looked more like Queen Elizabeth I. I was just happy that she picked her costume out without any assistance on my part.
"Steve" from Minecraft.
Tess waving to Lincoln.
Tess's sister Carly, dressed as an angel for trick-or-treating that night.
The kids with Tess. Elliott was "Dragon Man", utilizing the superhero costume Aunt Bet had bought him for his 7th birthday. I made the "D" logo for the shirt (I am currently accepting commisions). Rilla was a princess, Lincoln the aforementioned perennial giraffe, Cheyenne segued into the queen costume, and Tess was something that I forget but was pretty.
Cute friends.
The whole gang! Actually, it was raining and I was feeling like a wuss, so I drove the three little kids to a select group of houses while Cheyenne and Tess did the hard-core trick-or-treating with Tess's family.
And, since I uploaded pictures from last Halloween close to a year ago, and it's "draft" designation has been reproaching me since, here's the pictures from Halloween 2012!
The bleachers where we sit to watch the kid's parade. I always have a heart attack, trying to make sure that my purse, camera, phone, and child don't fall the loooong way down to the floor.
See? Giraffe last year, too. When his cheeks were chubbier and he was so wittle!
Rilla last year. Note the sadness of the costumes compared to the owls this year. Yup, the new UPK teacher seems a bit more on the ball.
The only picture I got of Elliott-the-spider. (See the blue glasses peeking out in the middle there?)
Rilla, waving during their song.
Cheyenne the kitty-cat, during her parade.
This costume last year was great-- the old lady who sat on the miniature dog. I couldn't resist a picture as I followed him in.
The poster he carried for the Lost Dog reward.
Pumpkin carving last year! (Despite the fact we grew 5 lovely pumpkins in our garden this year, I was too lazy/busy to do any carving this year).
Carly and Cheyenne last year.
The most creative costume I saw last year. Incidentally, our move meant our trick-or-treater count fell from 130+ to *1* trick-or-treater. Certainly cheaper, though now we have to eat the leftover candy ourselves. (Awww, shucks.)
The haul last year.
Marilla was a princess last year, too, apparently, though this year the outfit was pink, not purple. Dress up clothes are lovely things to have on hand.
Three little trick-or-treaters.
Another year, and they're a little bigger, but still the cutest kids in the world, from my decidedly biased viewpoint.
