Happy Halloween!

It's been a busy week of prepping for Halloween. First, there were the annual Halloween cookies to bake!

This year I went with pumpkins, owls, cats, hats, tombstones, ghosts and candy corns. I didn't know how I was going to bake and frost the 100+ cookies with a now-walking baby, but Grace, for all of her months of not sleeping, decided to cooperate this week (possibly due to the seasonal flu booster and H1N1 shots she got earlier this week) and took two solid naps each day. Amazing! Almost the best thing about this busy Halloween week! (Perhaps we've finally got this sleep thing under control!?!)

Then, there were the "glorious" pumpkins (remember the ones not from the pumpkin patch) to carve. Our Safeway "beauties" were transformed into a cat and a devil.

Next, there was Grace's 'Mommy & Me Halloween Extravaganza' where even the dads were included! I was in charge of snacks and, admittedly, went a little over board supplying the treats. I dragged a box the size of a small coffin brimming with goodies - meats, cheeses, crackers, juice, Halloween napkins and plates...and of course, COOKIES!!! Best part, seeing the kids in their very first Halloween costumes!

Grace and her buddies - checking each other out.

Penguin.

Bumble Bee

Doggy & Penguin

And finally, most importantly, there was the Halloween card to tend to.  For something so simple, it sure took a lot of leg work...

But finally, the moment was captured.

Hope you have a safe and memorable Halloween!

Look Who's Walking!

It's official folks! Grace took her first steps yesterday!

I can't believe she is walking.

Hmmm....Christmas is going to be interesting.

If we make it through without a broken ornament or a tree toppling over, I will call it a success.

Mashed Potatoes

We went out to dinner last night and ordered Grace her own bowl of mashed potatoes.

All I could think about while she stuck her hand in the bowl and smeared the taters everywhere was what she was going to do on her first birthday when we presented her with her own sweet and delicious birthday cake! I can't wait!

Aquarium

Last week, we were able to sneak away to Seattle where we took Grace to the aquarium for the first time.

I haven't been to the Seattle aquarium since college for a sorority dance. I'm not going to go into too much detail about that night, but I will say the Seattle Aquarium no longer permits Greek events on their premises.

I didn't think this trip to the aquarium would be all that fun because Grace would be too young to understand what was going on.

I was wrong! While she may not have understood,

she definitely loved it!!

As for me, this visit to the aquarium, with daughter and husband in tow, was exponentially better than the last! Can't wait to go back!

Looking through the glass at the tide pool.

It was so fun touching all the critters.

I could've stayed here ALL day!

Looking at the jellyfish.

Hard to tell in the picture, but she is looking at/touching an octopus...through the glass of course.

Feeling a (fake) octopus tentacle.

Um...need I say more as to why I don't swim in the ocean?

So many pretty colors!

Losing-it at the Otter Exhibit.

These guys were so cute and playful.

I REALLY could've stayed here all day.

Grace, me, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

Did I mention I can't wait to go back?!

Happy Birthday Lindey Lu!

Lindey turned six today.

She was pretty excited about it.

The good news?

She did not require one trip to the emergency vet in the past year! 

I did think she had a stroke a few weeks ago after I found her scuttling around on the floor not able to use one of her paws. However, after jiggling the treat jar, she came a-running...using all of her limbs.

Problem solved.

Chasing a Boy...I mean...a Toy...ERRRR

I still remember the first boy I liked.

Frank Corzine.

He was the tallest boy in my preschool class and I could see his head over the coat rack.

Love at first sight!

So I am fully prepared for the boy-girl interactions to occur early...long before they probably even know what is going on. But I wasn't prepared for the game girls-chase-boys (oh you know you played it at recess in elementary school!) at ten months old!

Originally, Grace had been quietly playing with this toy by herself. The little boy came up and started playing with the toy with Grace but it quickly digressed. He announced "MINE!" and then ran away with the toy. Without hesitation, Grace followed. This exchange occurred about six or seven times. I was able to capture this little snippet on video.

I was surprised by Grace's reaction. She didn't get angry. She didn't cry.

She just never gave up!

Pumpkin Patch Bust

I've been looking forward to starting a family pumpkin patch tradition. I still remember the pumpkin patch I went to as a kid so I was looking forward to providing that kind of memory for Grace. As with any good family tradition, it of course, starts with a cute outfit.

These pictures were taken before leaving for the pumpkin patch.

Everyone was still all smiles at this point.

Even though we live IN THE MIDDLE of farm country, I thought it best to drive an hour to pick out a pumpkin. That long drive would be just the right amount of time to create a spell-binding build-up that would make this the most memorable pumpkin-picking-extravaganza of all time. We get loaded up in the car and set out on our merry adventure. Or so we thought...

Grace cried and fussed the entire way to the pumpkin patch. Not having napped before we left, I was absolutely positive she'd fall asleep in the car on the way there. Strike one.

Upon arriving to the pumpkin patch, we were greeted by an unattractive smell, not to mention a handful of unattractive pumpkins. Strike Two.

Next to spending a fraction of a minute in a shopping mall, I think this pumpkin patch was the next closest thing to Hell that Court has experienced.

He was a "real happy" camper. Strike three.

If that look doesn't say "It's time to go...now!" then I don't know what does!

Oh but wait! There is more!

We still have an hour long drive home...with a 10 month old who has still yet to nap. She must fall asleep on this leg of the trip you say?

Nope.

Not for a second.

Not for a nano second.

She just cried and fussed the ENTIRE way. It was like she knew the pumpkin patch was going to be a bust and she was warning us on the way there. On the way home, she was just rubbing our noses in it.

But wait!

No...there can't be more you say? This is already the worst pumpkin patch adventure of all time.

Court and I think we know of a pumpkin patch in, of all places, our home town.

Nooo...you don't say.

There is a pumpkin patch within less that a five minute drive of your house?!

The key word folks..."think." We "THINK" there is a pumpkin patch in town.

So we pull off the highway...Grace is still crying...and start tearing...I mean...driving through the country roads trying to find a pumpkin patch that may or may not exist...trying to salvage this excruciating experience and make a GOD*#$# family tradition!

After fifteen minutes, we give up. We tuck tail and head for home.

Now mind you, I've had a vision of making this the best pumpkin patch experience ever so I am near tears. Grace IS in tears and Court can't believe he just spent his only afternoon of not working to live the story we now live to tell.

As I am wallowing in my failure at being the world's-worst-pumpkin-patch-picker-outer,

Court takes off in the car. I know not where he goes...

...the next thing I know, he has returned...

BEARING PUMPKINS!

He knew pumpkins was what I wanted (really the photo op is what I wanted) and by God,

he was going to deliver!

He went to Safeway, got the fixins for pumpkin pie, a flu shot and you guessed it...

PUMPKINS! (When he goes, he goes big!)

Our sad pumpkins....all the way from Colorado. Go figure!

At least I got some photo ops...

Look no hands!

Not the memory I was looking to create for Grace's first Halloween but now, after looking at how the day unfolded, just going to a plain old pumpkin patch and picking out a perfectly shaped pumpkin would have been sooo cliche.

I mean, anyone can go to a fantastic pumpkin patch and pick out perfectly wonderful pumpkins. How many people can pick out and travel over an hour to the worst pumpkin patch in probably the entire world?! This definitely will be a memory we will never forget!