Hope everyone had a fun-filled Halloween this year. Eliot dressed up as a puppy-dog and you can probably tell from the picture that he wasn't super enthusiastic about the floppy ears.
Eliot was quite pleased with our Jack-o-Lantern and enjoyed identifying it's eyes, nose and mouth.
At the ward Halloween party Eliot split his time between running around with the big kids and visiting the snack table.
Eliot has discovered a love of crayons. He enjoys coloring with them, of course, but sometimes it's enough to simply sort through all of the interesting colors. He takes them out of the box and puts them back in--working on his hand-eye coordination. By the way, since when was there a color called 'Macaroni and Cheese'? I guess it's been a long time since I last saw the inside of a crayon box.
This picture captures two of Eliot's favorite activities: cleaning out the cookie dough bowl, and playing with Daddy. He and Spencer have great fun rough-housing in the evening and it's so fun to hear Eliot's squeals of laughter coming down the hall.
Eliot loves pie and asks for it by name. So far pumpkin, apple, and cherry have all met with his approval.
These past few days have been sunny and beautiful so we decided to take advantage of the weather and head out of town today to do some apple picking.
We boarded a tractor-pulled wagon that took us on a scenic little drive down into the orchard. If you zoom in on the photo above you'll see Spencer and Eliot right in the middle of the wagon.
Good times were had by all and that evening we enjoyed a caramel apple pie with our supper. Now I'm dusting off all my apple recipes and looking forward to apple butter, apple cake, apple pancakes, etc. I welcome recipe recommendations :)
When I told Spencer that I was going to put up a blog post this evening he asked me what I was planning to write about. In all honesty, I wasn't planning on writing much. I just wanted to offer up a few samples of the divers activities of a certain little boy (and 'little boy' is really becoming a more appropriate term for him every day) since arriving here in Toronto.
Eliot enjoyed his first Happy Meal the other day.
He has been getting more use out of our exercise ball than we ever have.
He's been preparing to wow them on the basketball court.
He's been helping Mummy bake.
He maintains an abiding love for balls, cups ("bup") and bowls, and doesn't leave home without them. You just never know when you're going to need a bouncy ball.
He has been getting out to the park almost every day and loves to swing ("sing!").
Now that the dust has settled from our move and I have a little more time on my hands I've decided to blog about some of the things I've appreciated in the past little while but didn't have time to write about. First on the list is this past summer with Eliot.
So, some of you might be saying to yourself, "Nora and Spencer have been up in Toronto since Sept 1, why is she just now saying they're 'all moved in'?" Well, that's because I just now feel "all moved in." Like with most other population centers, space is at a premium here in Toronto which means that our new apartment is somewhat smaller than our last one. This has made unpacking something of a challenge. Or, as my mother would say, like trying to stuff 50 lbs of potatoes into a 20 lbs bag. But the upside is that it has served as a keen test for my organizational skills as well as an effective sieve for all the needless junk we'd been hauling about with us simply because we had the space.
So now after feeling like an over-stuffed storage locker for about a week, our little apartment is starting to feel like home. Just in the nick of time too, because Eliot is, as I type this, on the road with my parents making his way across the border. We can't wait for our little guy to arrive. Then it will really be home.
Spencer and I have taken a few excursions in the city and I've been impressed with what I've seen. We took a trip down to Toronto's lakefront and had a lovely walk that included stumbling across a vegetarian food fair. There always seems to be something going on here. The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing and while we haven't come across any celebs, word is the place is crawling with them. All in all, I'm really pleased with my new Canadian digs and looking forward to getting to know this city over the coming year. 
Today was a big day in our little household. For some time now Eliot has been sporting, as Spencer so aptly put it, "a flowing mane of golden locks." 
