Fall and all its joys

Things have been a bit busy here in the north(pole). I keep taking pictures of things I want to blog about, but I never seem to have the time to put them up. So this is kind of a concentrate post of what we have done this fall. I say that like fall is almost over. Why? Because we have a snowstorm on the way, the wind is trying to knock the house over right now, and I am bundled up in a thick comforter because my house is freezing cold.
Ella is keeping us on our toes by getting into everything possible. She certainly has a mind of her own and sometimes doesn't understand why we wont do things her way. For example, we went to Walmart to get a ceramic space heater (did I mention it has been cold?) Ella did not want to ride in the shopping cart. Instead she wanted me to help her walk around the store. Cute? well, yes, it was cute to see her big step around the aisle, but I wasn't about to break my back bending over to help her walk just then. I do it at home but there is something about crazy college kids careening around with shopping carts that make me nervous.
She also has decided that she loves to eat dirt. We spent the last few warm days outside drinking in the sunshine. I was weeding and Ella was crawling around stuffing various twigs, leaves and dirt clods into her little mouth. Don't you just love simple pleasures of life?