vermont

vermont was wonderful. we arrived thursday night. ella slept the whole way there and j. and i had our first three hour car ride in complete silence so as not to wake the baby. it's so tough for j. to do that since he usually talks a lot.

my grampa was there. his hip is bothering him, so he seemed older than usual. he will probably get the hip replaced and then be back to his spry 85-year-old self.



friday a. brought naomi over to play with elenora. the girls are so cute together. we took them around the neighborhood in their strollers and ella kept leaning out of her stroller and reaching towards naomi. then they crawled around on the floor of the family room and competed for toys. naomi is faster than elenora (who doesn't have brothers to contend with!) and she can stand unassisted for a few seconds. they both still have a limited amount of hair, but naomi is olive toned and her hair looks longer than our ella, who is so fair.


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in the afternoon j. and i took elenora downtown and just walked around the city. it was so quiet down there.


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saturday morning we met up with c. and r. at sugar and spice for a tasty breakfast. then we took ella to the farmers' market where we met up with a. and her kids. i love the farmers' market. a. got us some maple cheddar spread, and we also bought a chipotle hot sauce that is fantastic. i got samples of bread and cheese for ella to munch on, and she was sitting on the edge of her seat pointing at things, talking, and petting dogs. i love seeing her in various social settings because she has so much personality and is so outgoing.

the pointing thing is new. she does that a lot now.

after the farmers' market we went back to my folks' house and had thanksgiving with my uncle and aunt and grampa and parents. my parents are about to sell their home, so this will be our last thanksgiving in vt. we gave elenora some turkey ground up in mashed potatoes and peas. she loved it. that was her first taste of meat. she also ate other new things this weekend including stuffing (just a few croutons), watermellon and cantelope.


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here is elenora with my uncle p.
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sunday we took ella to church. she just sat with us in the pew, and she was so well behaved. the best baby in the world. during the music she kept pointing at the tapestries and the ceiling fans. then during the sermon she just sat on our laps looking at her books and playing with a couple of toys. she barely made a peep. then my mom carried her around to show her off to all of her friends after the service.
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here is ella with her mimi and poppy:
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we're home now. the only down side of the weekend was that somehow we lost all of j.'s keys. they were on the floor of my parents' family room yesterday morning and by the time we arrived home they had disappeared. we now are down to one car again, since i can't even find the spare key for j.'s car and the doors of the car are locked. we're dreading how much this is going to cost, as we just don't have any money for this. my car is sputtering as of this past week, and it really needs to be looked at, but again there is no money.

so i'm walking to work.