Crazy Halloween Fun 2010

Well, it was crazy, it was COLD, and it was filled with friends, family and lots and lots of goodies...

I'll let most of the pictures speak for themselves, because well, I'm tired, and cold...
The festivities began with the school parade, which was held inside for the first time since we've been there (at least 5 years) due to yucky weather. Here is my strep throat ninja...unable to march in the parade since he was sick, but sporting his newly acquired authentic yellow belt, and insulin pump underneath it! He has been one busy young man...


and my ladybug, who was dressed for an outside parade....She kept pulling on her costume saying "Take off, Mommy! Hot!!"

and my scary werewolf...His costume seemed to be well-liked, despite my thought that it would be too scary for most little kids, including Grace. She was really okay with it, unless it was hurtling toward her...

And then on to Nana's house for pumpkin carving with the cousins...



Picture time!
















And then some fun friends came! Medusa, Captain America, and a hippie and a witch!
We had fun with the food (and tried to get 'em excited about something besides the candy...)

we tried mummy meatloaf this year....
and lots of brains.....

getting all bundled up to go....







and we're off...

our first stop, our neighbor's house. gracie was a little tentative....



until she got a reeses...that's my girl.

getting the hang of it now..."tick-teeet! tank-tank!" :)
crunching the leaves...

and then, look who greeted us when we got home to warm up! never a dull moment around here!


i can't help but think he looks a little more like a rapper in this pose, but it was the best close-up shot....;)


and then, for the long-awaited...
surveying the goods...
and organizing....

and trading...
and...digging in!Halloween 2010. it was cold, it was crazy, and it involved WAY too much sugar...
but it. was. good.

The Icing on our Cake (22 months!)

Poor little girl....still no baby book, and no beautiful scrapbook, but still,
SO. VERY. LOVED.
Just when we think she can't possibly get any more fun, she surprises us yet again...
She is everything that I ever dreamed a little girl would be...
Our 22 month old is fascinated with flowers, especially ones taller than Daddy...




and, although not pictured, recoils at her brothers rubber rats ("Go way, rat! P.U.!")

Most of the time she can be found carrying around an armload of stuffed animals, her taggie and her back-up taggie...


I have had fun in her room over the past couple of months. Here is her newly installed ballet bar...


and tree that I painted in the corner of her room. (although I think it still needs a little more tweaking...)


She is actually quite good at getting her little leg up on the bar...that is, until i get on her little tutu, get her room straightened up, and get out the camera...then she does anything BUT ballet...like play peek-a-boo!
hides by her rock-rock chair...

hangs from her bar like the monkey that she is...
and lies in a little heap UNDER the bar...


she loves to assume random "yoya" poses...


and she hosts fantastic tea parties...



she enjoys stories on the "poop-pop" and is often productive while on there...(yay!)
and i had to attempt to capture her most favorite pasttime at the moment...transferring little beads, buttons and various other small, brightly colored objects from one container to another....
this takes up a MAJOR portion of our day-and her fine motor skills are progressing nicely.
so much so, that she was almost too fast to capture at this, most of the time!








she is a great traveller, so long as taggie, elmo and her thumb are along for the ride. although, i realized yesterday that i might need to switch over to classical music. i turned down the radio to hear what she was saying, and realized that she was singing along to the song...artist: lady gaga, lyrics: "i not your baby, i not your baby."
the irony still stings, on so many levels...




-She says "thank you" (tank-tank), "no, thank you" (no tank tank) unprompted
-knows all her colors
-knows about 5 shapes
-knows 'big' and 'little'
-knows 'heavy' and 'light' (?!)
-sings "row row row ya boat" , "tinkle lil sar", "ring aroun' rosie" and "yain, yain, go way..." (as well as her newest song from above)
-says "oh no! humpty-dumpty!" when she or someone else falls down :)

Some other favorite expressions:
cha-pop=lollipop, popsicle
sha-RAY!=hurray!!
more TAY!=more of whatever we are doing (not sure where the last part came from!)
'oh WOW!' when she enters a room and sees something different
oh-TAY, mommy!
'hi, my name gracie!' (G-C)
and we've been hearing a lot of "my" and "mine!" recently
'NO, jo-jee, STAY!' when he infringes on her personal space...

and she is getting quite good at stringing several words together...just within the past couple of days we've heard:

"NO JA-JA! get DOWN! MY bed!!!"

and this one, which is a good indicator of how her eating habits have changed recently:
"No rice, Mommy! P.U.! Stinky poop!"

She has lost her taste for rice, apparently...
But continues to enjoy her cake...


Thanks for brightening our world, sweet little girl. And being the icing on OUR cake...