What goes on in that pretty little head?

On Saturday morning, I packed up Ella in the car for a ride downtown to watch her daddy's band play at a cafe over breakfast. (She ate very little and danced a whole bunch.) When getting off the expressway exit, you can't help but lay eyes upon one of our most magnificent Catholic churches. You can't miss it.


"That's not my ah-men, mama. That's other people's ah-men". This isn't the first time she's said this from her perch in the back seat. I'm struck by the fact that she is sooo much my child in that she recognizes and appreciates architecture - especially in churches (oops, I mean ah-mens). More than that, I'm comforted that her 'ah-men' community has such a solid place in her day-to-day living. She knows where she belongs. We're doing what we said we would. We are planting the seeds. And so yes, I got a little choked up by this.

Not to be outdone by all this, she went on to tell me, "I go to the Mosque. That's an ah-men, too", at which time I nearly hit a curb. What our girl is referring to is the International Festival we attended two months ago at the Mosque in our community. "And I went in the bouncy house at the Mosque, mama". Ahh, yes. Part of the Festival included that, pony rides, a petting zoo and incredible food (which all three of us devoured).

It was a perfect opportunity to talk to her about all the different ah-mens around us. She lost interest in record time but dang, I have no problem telling you all I was proud. She seems slightly more in-tune with her spiritual surroundings than most her age. Perhaps we all knew this when she took to shouting out "Ah-men!" during worship at a very young age. Today, she does that AND claps and shouts "Yaaaayyyy!" at the end of a song if her daddy has provided a particularly good beat along the way.

Today we geared up for our Halloween neighborhood parade and party. We have a wonderful mom's group in our neighborhood, yours truly now the co-president for the next six months...because I've got so much free time. It was a sight and we got lots of pictures and video to come. Of course, tomorrow is our night to trick-or-treat. Weather reports are not that great. I have a feeling she's going to spend more time in our arms being frightened than going door-to-door. After carving pumpkins with her Aunt Kathy, Bobby and Jack last week, she crumbled into tears when we lit the pumpkins and turned out the lights. (Will re-think that move next year!)

Until my costume pics are ready to post, I'll leave you with a few pictures from Katie. Ella went home with KatieRoz after school on Friday. Very. Big. Deal. They spent nearly 11 consecutive hours with each other that day. We are delighted to report that the pushing/hitting/bossing did not get out of hand :)

We topped off the evening with bath-time and beauty shop, a concept new to Roz. Ella's long hair requires the hair-dryer - something Roz doesn't have to worry about just yet (although her hair IS catching up quickly!). So there I was with both of them nestled on my lap. Big fun!

Happy Halloween, Ella-Land! Be safe and check back soon for costume pics :)

H, L & EML