Halloween

Halloween was SO much fun this year! From the moment Avery woke up, she wanted to know how long it would be until she could take a nap. That's because we told her that after her nap, it would be time to put on her costume. In Ben's words: You could cut the excitement in our house like a knife.

Avery and Ella both loved their costumes. I was a bit worried that Ella might not want to wear her antennae, but I was so wrong. I should have known that if Avery was wearing one, Ella would want to wear one, too!

It was a great night, and we had so much fun experiencing it through the girls!

our two cute little bugs

getting some energy before trick-or-treating at the Franks' house

the group - it's our annual tradition

Avery saying, "Trick-or-treat, please!"

Ella really got into it once she realized people would give her candy for saying, "Ticky-tick." After they handed her a piece, she would stand there and want them to open it for her.

showing off her stash

one sucker just wasn't enough

Happy Halloween from the Conklins!

Recap of October

Wow! How in the world is time flying by so fast?? October was a whirlwind, so I thought I'd give a recap of some of the main things that happened with the girls.

Ella (18 months now) spent the month trying to keep up with everybody. Now that she is walking, she has this new little determined personality emerging. She knows what she wants, and gets frustrated when she doesn't get it. At the top of her "wants" list is: being anywhere mommy is, and playing with whatever Avery is playing with. Here she is dancing with Avery:


She is growing so fast, and my formerly tiny little girl is now in the 50-75th percentile for her age. One of my favorite things about this age is how even though she doesn't speak many words, she understands almost everything we say. When I tell her it's time to change her diaper, she heads straight to her room. If we ask her to do or get something, she does it. She speaks the basic beginner words and she also babbles and repeats our sounds constantly. She's a chatterbox! She also has decided to begin signing! She has wonderful manners, and is great at saying please and thank you in sign language. Here's something we see a lot at our house:

Sometimes we get a special little sneak peek at what the terrible twos may be like with Ella, but it doesn't happen often. When it does, well, we chuckle and know we can handle it. We survived Avery's at that age (and if you knew Avery then, you know what we mean!) This is Ella's "I dare you to catch me" look:
While Ella is no longer technically a baby anymore, she is our still sweet and cuddly angel.


Avery was super busy last month! She is loving school and has made some special friends. Every day she talks about Antonio. "Antonio is my best friend. Antonio stood beside me in line today. Antonio played with me at the playground." We were beginning to wonder who this Antonio is. When we went to school for Avery's Open House a couple weeks ago, the very first thing her teacher said to us was, "Avery has quite the crush." Come to find out, they call each other boyfriend and girlfriend, say they are going to get married, etc. Wow....we are in trouble aren't we?!? Well, I got to meet Antonio last week, and was able to snap a picture of the two lovebirds.


I entered Avery's picture (just for fun) into a contest for the cutest kid in Cy-Fair contest. Well, she made it to the top 15 out of hundreds, and was invited to a photo shoot for the cover of Cy-Fair magazine! This is what she wore to the shoot:


It was a lot of fun, and she felt very special. She is going to be in the Nov. issue somewhere, so everyone who lives in the Cypress area, look for a free copy of Cy-Fair magazine in a few weeks!!!

I admit that right now there is more fighting than peaceful moments between the girls, but I can already see what a sisterly bond they have. Ella looks up to Avery, and Avery can be very protective of Ella. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of them together (my computer crashed and I lost all of my recent stuff), but here's a glimpse of what I do have. My two favorite girls....