Bumpy Pumpkins

I hope you're getting pumped for Halloween... we certainly are. Nora learned the word "pumpkin" a few weeks ago, but now that they're everywhere we turn, we hear it a LOT. She loves the pumpkins and, of course, the black cats that have popped up with all the seasonal decor. She's even taken to wearing a Halloween dishtowel as a cape (very Rossing-esque):

To feed the pumpkin frenzy, we went to Livonia's Wilson Barn to get ourselves some jack o'lanterns on Saturday. They also had a small collection of farm animals to check out -- including a Grey Goose named "Vodka." Nora was happy to see the animals and so excited to see all those pumpkins! She spent a long time touching one after another and pronouncing them "bumpy--" another new word.

We finally settled on three, including a nice warty bumpy pumpkin for dad. We plan to go to a pumpkin carving party the weekend before Halloween, so if I have pics of the finished goods, I'll post them after that.

This weekend we popped Nora on our scale to see where she was... a whopping 27.5 pounds! She's definitely getting big. Here's a comparison -- this is a picture of Nora at a different pumpkin patch this time last year:

This week I ask you to say a special prayer for Brett, and particularly his knee. The Detroit Marathon is next Sunday, October 21 (start is at 7:15am). One of his knees has been giving him some trouble, so he cut way back on the training he'd wanted to do to give the knee a chance to recover. He's still in great shape to run, but is concerned about the change in his training schedule and about the knee injury in general. He has new shoes (already being broken in!), a new and better knee brace, and a new-found appreciation for the inflammation-fighting properties of ibuprofen.

As it turns out, we'll also be cheering for my sister Genny running her first Detroit marathon. Wait, you say, didn't she just run a marathon? Yep... but since the Chicago marathon turned out to be so crazy with the hot weather, she didn't run as hard as she'd trained to run. She felt better with her training this year than the last few years and instead of "wasting" it, decided to jump into another race!

Also, I have another prayer request... for several months we have asked for prayers for my aunt and uncle's adoption of their daughter Marissa (bottom of this page). Things are finally clicking into place! Please turn up the juice on your prayers that the next few weeks go smoothly and they are able to bring their little girl home to the family that already loves her so very, very much.

I'm sorry that this post is lacking a lot of energy... I don't have much myself! I think Nora passed off a cold virus to me this weekend and I spent a few hours each day moving little landscaping rocks (more tedious work than I would have guessed). So, I'm off to bed... good night!

PS: I ALMOST FORGOT! A few posts ago I'd joked about how it would be later rather than sooner when Nora attempted to say "Genevieve." I was wrong! Yesterday she was looking at pictures and telling me who everyone was (as long as they were named Granpda/ Grandma [one word for both at this point], Beth, Tucker, Mama or Daddy) when she pointed at the picture of her Aunt Genevieve holding her and said -- to the best of my phoenitical abilities -- "Fayfayvf." It doesn't look like much, I know, but we're getting pretty familiar with her code-talk and recognize new words pretty quickly when she throws one out. I tried not to overreact (she gets self-conscious if you make too big a deal of things), and calmly asked, "Did you say 'Genevieve?'" She nodded, and said "Fayfayvf" again! Aunt Chino, your name is next. :)