Trick or Treat...well just Treats!

Happy Halloween! I can't believe it is basically November. Where did the month go? We had a great end to the month. Lenna was a cow for Halloween. On Friday Lenna and I headed downtown to meet dad for lunch and then go trick or treating at his office. Lenna received her very first piece of candy in her bucket via dad. However we still haven't fed her a candy bar. Dad did give her some of his crunch bar in small pieces to her today though.
While at Dad's office we ran into our friend Leah. Luckily her mommy took a picture of these two. (PS Jen I took this pic off your fb). These girls are only a month apart. I hope they are friends when they get older because they are just so much fun.The night before Halloween I told Jared we needed to carve at least one of the pumpkins. So I grabbed Lenna's. After cleaning the guts out, I placed my safety glasses on and began to drill. Personally I think everything is better when you use power tools! Since I had an eye accident a year or two ago I always wear safety glasses when using power tools. Jared thought it looked so much fun he asked if he could drill some of the pumpkin. I gave in. Here is the finished product all lit up. It is Minnie Mouse if you can't tell.On Halloween Jared was Mickey Mouse and I was a caution cone.
Lenna was pretty happy most of the day even without having as much sleep as she normally gets.In the afternoon we headed over to the eastside for our friend Leah's costume party. We had such a fun time seeing all the other babies all dressed up in really cute costumes.
After all that excitement we headed home, and waited for trick or treaters. I didn't think we would have more than 20, but life surprised me and we had 41! That is a lot for us. Lenna is sound asleep, and we are hoping we aren't getting up at 5am with going back to standard time. We as adults understand time changes but Lenna who is on her own schedule doesn't quite get that yet. Oh well, it will all work out. Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!

Toys

I seem to be blogging a lot right now. I think I will blame my boredom and time for blogging on the rain. I feel very confined with it raining. I can't go on as many walks, opening the blinds doesn't bring in light, and my house is much smaller then grandma and grandpa's that we just went to visit. Plus when we go out to do errands I feel it is a major task since now I have to get Lenna in and out of her coat to make sure she doesn't get cold (and rained on), and I take all her gear into the store which includes the cart cover, the diaper bag, and toys to entertain the little one; it all makes me feel like a pack horse (not to mention my child is in the 95% in weight so she is heavy to carry from the car to the store). I should probably try to figure out what I can take out of Lenna's diaper bag to lighten the load. Anyway all this means a lot of time at home. So I have pulled out a lot of new toys for Lenna, and she is loving the toys. I remember when she was a few weeks old and she didn't do anything on her play mat. At that point I wondered how long it would take her to want to play with toys. Well I guess the answer is not long, because now she loves all sorts of toys. However, her favorite is the classics. Seriously. I can give her all types of toys but her favorites are the stack rings, the balls, and the blocks.

Here is a collage of her playing with the stack rings.
Here are the blocks. She likes to take the lid off and pull all the blocks out. That is her form of playing right now.
Here is a video of her playing with the ball. It is really hard to play with her and hold the camera. So sorry for the crazy camera motion.

She also loves to just roll around. She managed to roll so much she had toys on top of her and under her without any of my help!Lastly I had a few people ask to see my hair. This is the picture I took with my phone to send to Jared right after I had colored it. In real life it looks shorter probably because in this photo I am holding the phone at a weird angle to capture the color over the cut. Now it is time to prepare to watch flash forward. Later gators!

What Lenna is up to

Since dinner is prepared and ready to be put in the oven, my house is relatively clean, and Lenna is taking a late afternoon nap; I figured I would take this opportunity to blog since grandma loves to get pictures and blog stalk.

I took a few photos of Lenna when she reached 7 months 2 weeks ago, but with our trip to Utah I forgot to post them. Here is my favorite because she is playing with her favorite ball. Yep, that is right, Lenna loves balls. She will play with any ball for minutes straight. (Minutes is a long time since she is only up for about 2 hours or less at a time). I wonder if she is going to like trucks and cars too. Hopefully she will still like to get dressed up all girly even if she likes toys that are more for boys. Here is another 7 month shot. I had gone in to the laundry room to take stuff out of the dryer. I had left her on the other side of the room and when I walked and saw her completely on the other end of the room in she gave me this look like "Ooo see look I can move everywhere, especially when you aren't looking." Child proofing is slowly happening at our house.
Yesterday I put Lenna in her Witch onesie. She was suppose to wear it to witches but I never got the chance to put it on her since we were going everywhere so fast.
Lenna is really starting to give more and more of her opinion. She gives me attitude picture shots like below, and she wiggles everywhere to get out of things she doesn't want to do. The hardest thing right now is changing her diaper since she is moving all over the place. Unless I distract her with a toy then I have a few seconds to get a clean diaper on her without feeling like I am wrestling a pig.Lenna is also very flexible. She wants to be sitting up on her bum as much as possible. She knows she can't get to this position on her own so once she is there she will bend in half to reach toys just so she can stay in the sitting position. Today I watched her for a good 2 minutes lean back really far and lung forward to grab a toy that was literally just out of reach. After watching this I took pity and moved the toy closer, but then she didn't want to play with it. She is one silly girl.In the last few days she has gotten pretty good and picking up her Gerber Puffs and putting them in her mouth and actually eating them! (PS thanks Meg for giving them to Lenna she really likes them and it keeps her quiet at church!) I think Lenna likes eating even if she is a really loud eater. She still has no teeth, but one day they will come.

In other news we had play group at our house so I moved the furniture in the living room around. It is amazing how placement of furniture can change the whole atmosphere of a room. It will probably go back to the old way, but right now I am enjoying the change. I must be on a change mode because I changed my hair to short and brown a week ago and I am enjoying that change too. I will probably change it back to blond but for the moment I am enjoying the closer to natural look. In addition I really like that I don't just put my hair in a pony tail every day too!

I also discovered that I really enjoy shopping for grocery deals. I am not a coupon fanatic, but I do enjoy finding coupons I know I will use and watching it reduce my price. Today we went shopping for groceries and saved 43% so on my 38 dollar purchase I saved 29 bucks! I also realized that every time I go grocery shopping I buy ice cream. This is probably not so good for my hips. Maybe I need to up my work out for more than 30 minutes, or give up ice cream...the longer work out seems more feasible.

We are also really looking forward to Halloween. Here is the card Lenna sent out to her Great-Grandparents and other family members. She is going to be a cow for Halloween. (PS Thanks Laura for lending us the cute cow costume).We have a few parties, and on Friday we are going to visit dad at his work with Lenna all dressed up. I love Halloween and I am kind of sad to see it be here this weekend since then I will have to take down some of my decorations...luckily the pumpkins stay up till Christmas decorations come out =) Yay!Happy mid-week everyone!

Retail Therapy and the Phone Fear

I have decided that I must be on a shopping therapy session. I don't know if it is the rain or if it is the lack of not having tons of people around, or if it is because the people I normally hang out with are sick. Nonetheless I am definitely on a shopping roll. This is probably good and bad. I got some new clothes which frankly I needed; mainly to "update" (whatever that means) my style. The good thing is that it has forced me to clean out many items from my closet. Some of these items come from high school days. Though I enjoyed wearing them during high school that was 7 or more years ago and it is probably their time to head to the DI. Other items on my shopping adventures are not so needed which means the shopping sessions are not so good. For example Jared and I headed to the rummage sale at Lake Side High School this last weekend. I found many items like Christmas decorations and frames, plus I found these tulips that made me think of my mom. So she is getting them next time I go to Utah.
Also at my Kohl's shopping adventure I found this huge candy cane. It reminded me of my coworkers that decorated our row at work. We were called candy cane lane and I just had to get it.
Now shopping is great but I don't have all that much storage space or space in general in my house, and really I don't need most if not all the stuff I have gotten. Probably the most humorous to me is the only thing I really need I haven't bothered to go shopping for; which if you are curious it is a bottle brush since I broke my current one. Thus my new goal this week is to seriously look around my house to see what I don't ever use and send it to the DI. I am definitely not going to stop shopping, but maybe I will try to stay away from the stores minus the grocery store for the next few days.

Does anyone remember these awesome phones? My parents had a few of them. Actually I think my mom still has one that works. I even remember when you actually had to go in a circle to call the number and not just push the buttons. Dialing long distance took forever, but I digress.Anyway I am totally afraid of the phone. I hate calling people (except my mom). Seriously today I gmail chatted with Jared for like a while getting up the courage to call my doctor's office to phone in a prescription for me. The funny part is when I finally went to grab the phone I figured out that some how the mix up all got fixed and I don't need a new prescription after all! Yep that means I successfully avoided having to use the phone!!! Some people have phone fears of calling people. However my phone phobia goes both ways; calling and receiving phone calls. I am a text messaging and email fan. I am trying to get over my phone phobia by making it a point to call someone at least once a week that isn't a family member and I hope one day I will be able to pick up the phone with no fear. But this week is not that week.

In other news Lenna has decided naps are too boring. Since she has figured out she can move around in her crib she would much rather do that than sleep. However moving around is exhausting and since sleep doesn't occur melt downs happen. I think I will need to pay more attention to when she is ready for a nap so when I put her in her crib she just falls asleep.
Okay I am off to work on one of my many unfinished projects. Adieu!

Wrap up of Utah Trip

We had so much fun hanging out with Grandma Princess and Grandpa Stud all week long. It is really nice to have other people around to entertain Lenna, baby sit Lenna, and to have someone to go shopping with. Lenna was an incredibly happy baby except for one day where she missed her afternoon nap. If she decides to keep this personality/behavior up I will be one happy camper. But we will see how it goes now that we are back home and it is just me to entertain her.

Doesn't she look like she is having fun playing with Grandpa Stud?
Grandma Princess entertained Lenna a lot while I changed her pants and other random times.
Lenna in grandma's pumpkin patchClassic stair picture.Saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa at the airport!Does anyone ever wonder why no one ever says bad things about their trips? I think everyone has bad moments. We started and ended the trip with delayed airplanes. I thought Lenna would be not doing so well, but she slept on both airplane trips! Also my parent's bathroom filled with mud while we were there. So I helped clean up. The phone company apparently punctured some pipe. It was messy and my parents were irritated but it is all fixed now! Lenna had a hard day when she didn't get naps, and she pooped a ton more then normal. Have I ever mentioned I don't like changing poppy diapers? However, over all the trip was great! Lenna slept great, ate great, and we enjoyed spending time with family and friends! While in Utah Lenna learned how to sit better and know it is okay if she falls onto her back. She is working at and is getting better at holding her own bottle and getting it to her mouth. She also tried the Gerber Puffs and she has decided after a few tries that she really likes them. She is growing up so fast these days!

Since we have been home we went shopping and picked up my engagement ring. For the last 2 weeks I have been wearing my anniversary ring which is a half size to large. My engagement ring had some loose side stones, but every time they tried to fix it the problem would appear again. So they just gave me a whole new band (in the same style of course). It is amazing how clean and new it looks. I forgot how dirty my ring gets as I wear it.Lastly Lenna is working on grabbing small items. The only problem is she hasn't figured out she can put them in her mouth. But here is a video for you to watch!

This afternoon I discovered Lenna rolling around in her crib. Looks like the crib bumpers will be coming off very soon, and before I know it we will be lowering the crib mattress. Anyway hope everyone has a great weekend. We are off to Costco to grab the Halloween cards I designed!

Field Reporting for Dad

Since Daddy isn't with us on vacation we thought we would post some pictures so he could see how Lenna is growing up this week, plus we have been busy girls!

The airplane ride was a success. I will be honest I was really nervous to travel with Lenna all by myself. I arrived at the gate to find the airplane was delayed and I was bummed. But luckily Lenna fell asleep while I walked up and down the airport terminal. Then when I went to gate check the stroller/car seat they said the load of the airplane was very light that I could take Lenna on with her car seat on board. It was the best thing ever! We got our own row and I only paid 5 bucks for my ticket! By the end of the airplane ride Lenna was pretty tired as you can see in the following picture.After arriving in Logan we settled down for the night to get ready for the next day. Once Lenna finished her morning nap on Friday we headed to Salt Lake to go to Witches and shop at Tai Pan. At Witches people thought Lenna looked like such a great cute Witch that we had people we didn't know ask if they could take pictures of Lenna! I thought it was funny.

I think Lenna looks like the musical Wicked billboard in this picture.Aunt Megan and Grandma Princess helped entertain Lenna while we had dinner.Here is all of us at Witches
Here is my mom and I enjoying our time at Witches.Lenna didn't really care about the witches that were set up. She was more interested in the people dressed up like witches.Lenna loved riding in her stroller.

She had a great time with Grandma Princess in front of Witchy Poo.The problem with wearing a witch hat all night long is the crazy hair you get after-wards.

Also while in Utah we were able to stop by and see Grandma and Grandpa Cook. This means Lenna has been to all 4 of her Great Grandmas houses! She is a lucky girl to have that many great-grandparents alive. She loved visiting with them and just kept smiling at both of them.
Today we went to AnaBelle's baby blessing. It was great to see both my brothers at the same time. I love them both very much.
Also today Lenna's cousins Trey and Jack came over to visit. Lenna loved Trey and at one point in time he had her giggling so hard it was so so cute. I am very glad I got a video of it. Jack was cute with Lenna too. Jack kept trying to share things with Lenna, but sadly I didn't get a picture of that. Lenna loves her cousins.

That is all I have for right now. Have a great week everyone! (PS Lenna and mom want dad to know we miss him very much!)

Da-Da-Da-Da

Greeting from the rainy Northwest. Lenna is getting more toddler like every day. She is starting to get into everything. She especially loves getting into things I don't want her to play with. I guess child proofing is starting to happen! If I am not in the same room as Lenna, when I come back into the room she is always some where different then where I placed her. The other day we were packing for our Utah trip and she decided to get herself under her crib. She thinks it is funny.

Lenna has also learned how to say da-da-da. She started doing this last night. Right before we put her to bed she seriously said da-da-da for 40 or so minutes. I asked Jared why he wasn't recording this since it sounds like his title, but by the time we got the flix camera out she wasn't really talking. So in the video below which is just for the noise you hear more ya-ya-ya with the occasional da-da mixed in.

Yesterday we went on a fun adventure to Kingston via the ferry. I got to eat crepes, my friend got to get a toy for her 1 year old, in short tt was a win-win trip for everyone involved! Today Lenna and I spent most of the day shopping. We went to Fred Meyer because the ball popper toy was 1/2 off but they were all out.
On a side story while at Fred Meyer I was walking with Lenna in the cart and this old lady says "Oh how cute" then proceeds to tell me to stop multiple times. I don't know about you but I find it a little odd when I am moving at a fast past that someone tells me to stop so they can play with my baby. I just told the old lady we were in a hurry and couldn't stop. I don't mind people coming up to Lenna when we are stopped but to ask me to stop just seems weird. Also while checking out I had a 6 year old keep saying "look mom, look...the baby is so cute." Seriously Lenna is a ham!

Okay back to the ball popper subject. Well I was determined to get 1/2 off on this toy. I had bought it for Lenna already at Walmart a few weeks ago. So I decided to drive up to Walmart with the Fred Meyer weekly ad and ask if they would do a price match. I also had a manufactures coupon. The sad part is the manufactures coupon that I printed didn't work. I don't know why it just said invalid, but the happy ending is they priced matched! Which means I saved 10 bucks on this toy! Woot for saving money on toys!

Lastly for this post; I finally finished a project that I started on I feel like forever ago. The idea started back in June, but I didn't actually start until the end of August. Anyway I had an extra bridesmaid dress due to the unfortunate event that someone was unwilling to come to my wedding, so one day I tried on the extra dress. It mainly fit except it was about 8 inches to short for me. Here is a picture of my lovely bridesmaids. I think they all look cute.
Anyway after doing some asking around Jared's sister had the extra fabric, so that I could add to this extra dress I had. After getting the fabric in July I wasn't super sure what I wanted to do exactly. But a few cuts later and a bunch of time on the sewing machine I fixed me a new dress that fits! The best part is the length. I always have a hard time finding dress that are long enough. It is a little bit fancy but I think I can still wear it to church!In other news my witch hat is ready I just need to finish packing and off to Witches Lenna and I go! I am way pumped! Have a great week everyone!

Fun Weekend Happenings

This post probably has more than enough pictures, but then again I blog really for my mom to see Lenna, so pictures are good for Grandma! This weekend was a busy fun weekend. Friday we went to the zoo to check out the animals. Lenna I thought looked all grown up in her green sweater. She is looking more and more grown up everyday.
At the zoo we went and saw the bears. I rarely go see the bears, but they were both awake and close to the viewing area so it was fun to see them!I am not really sure if Lenna liked the bears. She definitely could see some of the animals because she is now riding forward facing in her strollers. Maybe she just looks scared because her lovely friends were entertaining her so much. However she in all honesty loves being entertained and was giggling while Esther played with her.The last few days Lenna has decided to take naps from like 3-6pm so it has given us an extra hour in the evening to take her out and about. Friday night we took advantage of her late nap to go out to eat. It has been a long time since we have been able to go out to eat and sit down. Lenna enjoyed playing with her toys and sitting in a high chair like a big girl.The next day we went up to Snohomish county to go pumpkin picking! We picked a certain farm because they had a pumpkin cannon. The cannon was definitely worth it! It was also fun to go pick out the pumpkins from the field something I had never done. We had a great time.
Lenna was basically distracted by all the orange things on the ground and we had a hard time having her look at the camera.A really hard time she just wanted to look at the strange orange things.We tried to get her height but she was to distracted by the rocks under her feet to stand up straight. She kept wanting to bounce up and down. Please note she is over 2 feet tall in real life.So she became almost my height.
We all got a pumpkin! This is the one I picked for myself.We put the kids in the farm animal shot. I just laugh every time I look at this picture because Lenna looks so silly.Dad had Lenna help with the pumpkin cannon. You can see the pumpkin we picked to fly in the video below.


Today Lenna got to wear a new dress. It is 12 month size! Sigh, my little girl really isn't little. I thought she looked adorable, but then I always think she looks adorable. Lenna managed to keep her shoes on the entire time we were at church! Maybe she really will be able to wear shoes!Other than the pictures we enjoyed doing yard work, watching a movie, going to a chili cook off and watching football this weekend. Jared also tried to kill our gopher. We have had gophers for the last 2 years and we can't seem to get rid of them. Maybe one day. Hope everyone had just as fun of weekends and we hope everyone has a great week!!!