While we waited for Dada to get home the other day

Oh my gosh, the roundness of that head has me smitten!

I want to rub it all the time, especially now that it has fuzzy hairs on top.

I could just eat him up, he's so sweet and rolly.

And whenever I nibble on those cheeks he gives this little sweet chuckle.

He is a chuckler.

Ella was an outright laugher when she was his age but he just gives this sweet chuckle.

^This picture exactly sums up major differences between these two.

Fenton loves to get his hands on things and just observe them, figure out how they work and how they're shaped, you can practically see the wheels turning in his head, "What is this thing? What happens if I do this? And what if I twist it like this?"

Ella, on the other hand is the master of social interaction.

She knows how to get a smile out of you and how to charm people and is curious to see how you will emotionally react to different things she does.

When she was Fenton's age, she rarely showed interest in toys but when she did, she would whack it as hard as she could against the nearest object to make the loudest noise possible.

To this day there are basic baby toys that she doesn't know how to work because she doesn't care, but I'm sure Fenton will learn how to use them fast because he's fascinated by objects.

Still sporting a monk's mullet in the back and a rather excellent bald spot.

  Seriously, I could eat him.

"I Want to Wash My Hands, My Face and Hair With Snow"

That song has been stuck in my head for days now since that snowstorm that swept the country hit our town.

Living in a place that doesn't see much snow, it was a happy and beautiful surprise.

It was the first time that Ella had EVER seen snow and she was enthralled!

Luckily, my sister-in-law had just barely given us a snowsuit, it was perfect timing because I don't even own a heavy coat for Ella since we don't ever need one here.

Whenever we would walk through the snow E would start hollering, "Ball! Ball!" As in: I want to make a snowball!

Because, of course, that is the first thing her dad taught her to do in the snow, make a ball and throw it at something.

He took her outside to play and she was in heaven!

(I tried to embed a video in this post of Adam' throwing snowballs at Ella and Ella exclaiming that snow is "yummy!" but my computer is struggling with life, so here's a link to it instead).

^The first time she went out to play in the snow, she grabbed an empty spice jar and a spoon and started digging in it.

She loves filling up her empty spice jars (that she conveniently emptied of their spicy contents all over the stairs so that she could fill them with better things).

 ^Baby enviously watched Ella playing, wishing he had a snowsuit in his size.

 Fenton and I stayed inside and happily blew bubbles and drooled while discussing the yumminess of milk.

E+F

That little man with the massive cheeks, or the "tank," as his doctor refers to him, sucks on his fingers to soothe himself, that or his "magical" blanket.

He has a gorgeous blanket that a friend of mine made for him, that seriously works magic because he will be fussing and then I hand him that blanket and he stuffs a corner of it in his mouth and the next thing I know, he's out cold.

This little chunker is a quiet one.

He rarely talks, he leaves that to his jabber-mouth sister.

When he's happy he does this little silent happy pant and when he's sad he does some grunchy grunts and puckers out his bottom lip.

But it's a special privilege to get to hear him coo and talk.

When he does, it's adorable! 

He focuses so hard on moving his little mouth just right.

When Fenton falls over from a sitting position on the couch, onto his tummy Ella alerts me of this by saying, "Oh Finn! She's coming, Finn! She's coming!"

That's my cue to come. 

And someyimes I ask Ella, can you get Fenton some toys?"

And she says "yes" and runs over to the toy bin to select some and carefully hands them to him.

We got a little crafty one day after nap time and made an Indian hat, which E modeled for me in only her diaper.

Also, she is REALLY into coloring these days (see bottom right corner of picture above).

She can show you every part of our home where she has done a coloring "no-no," which includes tile floors, the kitchen table and books.

She gets very serious and points at the mishap and says over and over, "color no-no. No-no. No-no color."

And let's talk about Toy Story for a minute.

It's kind of a big deal in this little apartment of ours right now.

That and fishy crackers.

Hand her a baggy of crackers and put her in front of Toy Story (she prefers to stand as close to the TV--or TD, as she calls it-- as physically possible) and she's happy as can be.

I have never had to worry about Ella watching too much TV before because she seriously has never cared to watch anything on it.

And then a couple months ago I put in The Letter Factory and for some reason it hooked her and now she loves "moves" (movies) and Toy Story 3 is her favorite of them all.

I'll go in her room in the morning and among the first things that she tells me is, "Woody. Buzz. Yee-haw!" 

We watch it approximately 1.2 times a day.

And finally, I really love this talk by Elder Oaks called Weightier Matters.

It is very thought-provoking.

We'll call this post, "Fall," because titles don't get more unique than that

Halloween happened more than a month ago and yet here I am finally posting pictures from it.

In my defense, we've been busy living life over here. 

And sometimes I forget why I like blogging and it just becomes a frustrating monotonous journal that is not fun to write or read.

And so I slack at it, because what's the point when it becomes boring for both you and me to look at?

And then I start reading old posts from Harper's Happenings and I remember why I love to blog and how I want to capture the personalities of these sweet kiddos through pictures and words so that I can always remember what they were like and what life was like right now, and then I open up iPhoto to see what my next post should be and I have like a bajillion pictures from all different events and there is no way to tie them all together, so I end up posting them in a hodge-podge post like this.

We will tie all these pictures together by saying this is a post about fall.

Probably my next six posts will all have that same exact theme.

You guys, this girl!! 

I can't even get enough of her!

I see her everyday and yet I still find myself just staring at her some days like, 

"How did I even get a girl as hilarious and full of character and magic and ridiculousness as you? 

How?!"

Although, let's keep things real here, on those same days I also have times where I look at her and think, 

"How did you go from such a happy little fairy girl to a monster child in less than 2 seconds? 

This is insane."

The terrible twos are real, you guys.

But for the most part, as long as she is rested and fed and not sick, she is pretty fab.

And her love of leaves has me smitten because only a child could be so endlessly fascinated with such a common everyday thing.

These pictures were from our trip to Salt Lake and it was so crazy windy and leaves were scattering all over the place and Ella thought it was the best thing ever.

She threw a tantrum when we had to leave (please notice that accidental pun).

And this is Halloween.

Yes, we dress up as a coordinated family because we get a kick out of things like that.

Ella thought Halloween was the greatest thing of all time.

I mean, we walk up to random homes, knock on their doors and they hold out a bowl full of candy and ooh and ahh over her while she takes handful after handful of candy and they just keep saying, "Oh you are just too cute, take more! Take as much as you like!" 

Until I finally say, "You're done! Next house."

Where we go get more candy.

That she will never eat because by the next day she's forgotten that we have it.

Best holiday ever.