Get Carried Away

Here she is in all her YouTube-a-licious glory.
First, singing and dancing in her Infantino carrier to "What I Like About You!"

Then, A-girl "talking" (she's really just mimicking us saying "dada" but we were excited!)

Do we have the best baby, or what? :)

Nick and I had some lovely family time this morning with the A-girl... a walk around the lake, breakfast at Bagels and Brew, and looking at puppies (JUST LOOKING, as Nick warned me before we entered the store. Nevermind that they had a puggle on sale). On the walk, we explored this topic and thought you might find it interesting.
A little background first. My dad plays the Lotto every week, and has for as long as I can remember. When he had his knee replacement surgery, my contribution to his recovery was making sure he has current Lotto tickets. And he always plays the same- 1 with our current ages, 1 with our birthdays, and 3 quick picks.
The other day, my dad was telling me that when he wins- yes, WHEN- he will be splitting the money evenly as we all put in a few bucks every once in a while in case its a lucky week :) He'll require we each give a certain amount to the church so they can finish their building project, buy a reasonably priced house, pay off all debt, and then invest so we can live off the interest and not have to work if we don't want to.
Now to the conversation Nick and I enjoyed. First we lovingly teased him for counting his chickens before they hatched, and then we began counting our own chickens. Would we still work? Nick said he would continue in youth ministry. (Side note- I LOVE that despite the fact that his job isn't the best paying, he is already doing what he loves, and it allows him to watch our daughter the majority of the time. My heart is singing.) And then the real question- how would not needing the money change how you do your job?
Would the people or things that bother you now still bother you? Would you put up with the same crap knowing that you could stand up for yourself without fear of being fired? Would you take more risks and chances, willing to go out on that limb that could make or break you?
It made me think long and hard about how I go about my job. If I could still do what I do without being away from my babies for 40 hours a week, I would keep my job. My change would be that I would be a little nicer to myself, and not stress so much about the little things.
How would you change what you do if you no longer depended on the income?

Halloween came and went and the A-girl was none the wiser. No trick or treating this year- we know who would have ended up eating all the candy she would have hauled in :) But we did dress her up to embarass her later in life as all good parents do.

We now call her, "Our little pumpkin who didn't like being a pumpkin." She was too long for the costume and her little legs were scrunched in the bottom, so she only spent about 15 minutes charming people before we freed her from the fabric prison.

On the eve of All Hallow's Eve, we carved pumpkins at my moms house.

A-girl is putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, and tried to fit the pumpkin in as well. It didn't go as planned.

So we had a laid-back, candy-less Halloween and I couldn't have been happier than to spend it with my two favorite people in the world.

Hope you and yours had a great Halloween!