This time of year in Omaha is so pretty!

Yesterday we went trick-or-treating in the Old Market with friends. Annalie and Elliora are both peacock princesses this year. Let’s just leave the fact that peacocks are male out of it, mmkay? Because look! Cutie-pie peacock princesses!

This morning before Ben took Aurora over to her mom’s house, I put her hair up in two ponytails, which she thought was pretty neat.

I like this shot because you can see Annalie’s blue nails and Elliora’s patience with her bossy big sister.

I look like I’m modestly covering my chest, but really I’m just resting my hand on the back of the bench in a weird position. It just looks like I’m a maiden aunt unaccustomed to showing so much décolletage.

Happy Halloween, all!

P.S. I’m not far away from 10,000 comments (real ones, not counting spam) on this blog! I think the 10,000th commenter is going to win a piece of pottery of their choice, or maybe something crocheted, just to thank you all for the great comments over the past four years. So keep those comments coming, YOU could be lucky #10,000!

On Monday, we went to Village Inn so Annalie could have chocolate-chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast, with extra whipped cream. And bacon.

I fed Elliora some mushy bits of potato from my hash browns, and with every bite she actually giggled. I think the girl likes potatoes. (Then again, she’s liked everything we’ve fed her so far, including applesauce, mashed bananas, pear sauce, oatmeal with cinnamon, sweet potato, potato, carrots, beans, avocado, ground beef, watermelon, and a taste of my garlic bread when she grabbed it out of my hand and gnawed on it.)

We hung out at home for a while that afternoon, watching Elliora make faces.

That evening we had a family (and almost-family; Annalie asked if Rachel and Jeff could come too and since she was the birthday girl we granted her request) party at WheatFields. Believe it or not, that was entirely Annalie’s idea. She wanted to go to WheatFields and have fondue for her birthday dinner. And not the weenie kids’ fondue that comes with toast and mini-corndogs and fries and a little dish of cheeze-like sauce, no sirree. She wanted the real fondue that comes with melted gruyere and a candle to keep it warm and ciabatta cubes and an assortment of vegetables. We were happy to grant her wish.

And Grandma Carol and Grandpa Tom were there! Troy’s mom and stepdad were originally planning a trip to Nebraska later in the summer, but they switched their plans so they could be here the same time as us and meet Elliora and celebrate Annalie’s birthday with her. Wasn’t that awesome of them? We were all very glad they were able to be there.

It was a really fun party—lots of talking, laughing, and eating with a bunch of fun people. Come to think of it, those are the basics of any good party, whether you’re 7 or 17 or 77.

Annalie took a bunch of pictures with my camera at one point. Here they are:

She’s getting really good! I especially love the shot of Troy and Elliora, and the self-portrait. I think we’re going to give her my pink Sony Cyber-shot pretty soon, but at the rate she’s going we’re going to be buying her a DSLR for her 8th birthday.

WheatFields conveniently is a bakery as well as a restaurant, so when it came time for dessert Annalie and I walked up to the front and she picked out the cake she wanted (Karen’s Ooh La La Cake, chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse and whipped cream, topped with chocolate ganache) from the glass case. I had forgotten to bring the sparkly green ’7′ candle, so I asked our server if they had candles we could use, and she assured me she’d take care of it. I love WheatFields so much. (If we ever do move back to Omaha, it will be no small factor that WheatFields is here. It happens to be right next door to another major factor now in Omaha’s favor, Trader Joe’s.)

We sang, Annalie blew out her candles, we ate cake. Then Annalie, my mom, Troy, Elliora and I stopped at Red Mango for some frozen yogurt at Annalie’s request. My mom took the requisite birthday family portrait on a bench outside. And we went home. It was a good day.