Happy Halloween!

Here's the big Halloween recap. It's been a long week full of lots of fun. Laina has had a lot of opportunities to dress up in her costume. I think Laina has enjoyed it all but is probably ready to move on to the next holiday!

Laina dressed up as a dancing fairy. When I asked her over the summer what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween, she told me "a dancer" so that was the plan. But then her outfit turned out to be the outfit she wears every week for dance class so I decided we should spruce things up a bit. We added a crown, a wand, fairy wings, sparkly silver ballet flats, some hot pink lipstick and glitter makeup to her face and there you have it - - - our dancing fairy!

We went to a Halloween party at the YMCA last Friday night.
They had a cute craft area where Laina made a fun ghost painting.

They also had hayrides that took you over to "trunk or treating" where people decorated their cars and passed out candy from their trunks.
Each car was decked out in a different creative theme!

Last Saturday night we attended Pumpkinfest.
The town lines the streets with tons of carved pumpkins
and all the area businesses hand out candy to the kids.

Laina with a bunch of cool pumpkins carved by some of the area school kids.

On Halloween Eve Laina and Daddy carved our pumpkin.
Laina wasn't too fond of scooping out the pumpkin guts!

Daddy's masterpiece!

Laina and her Jack-O-Lantern

Ohhhhhhh, spooky!

On Halloween morning we frosted and decorated
the brownies we baked for Laina's school party.

Here is Laina playing Halloween BINGO with her friends at school.
Antonio won the 1st round and Laina won the 2nd round.

And here she is playing
"Pin The Stem On The Pumpkin" at the party.

In honor of my little fairy, I put together a fun gift bag for Laina filled with
Tinkerbell goodies, including the new movie which just came out this week.
Here is Laina opening her gift before trick or treating.

Here we are Trick or Treating at our next door neighbor, Robin's house.

After the fun, back home, exhausted!

And now we're ready to snuggle on the couch and watch the
Tinkerbell movie with mommy in her skeleton gymmies.

Whew! And now its all over! All in all I think Laina had a great time. Today was a long day with lots of sugar, no nap, a lot of activity and a long movie at the end of the night.
Laina was pretty wiped by the end of the day.
Hopefully we tire her out and she sleeps in for daylight savings this weekend!

We hope you all had a Happy Halloween too!

Random Thoughts

Last night for dinner I made sandwiches using homemade meatballs and sauce. Laina came running out into the kitchen as I was cooking and said "what are we having for dinner Mommy" and I replied "meatballs". She looked at me and said "meatballs AGAIN mommy...AGAIN?" First of all, I haven't made meatballs since last winter sometime since its not a very summery dinner. But seriously, to hear her pull out her little attitude, as if I feed the child meatballs for dinner every night, was just hilarious. Mind you - she ate her whole dinner and then some.

My three year old daughter used the word "font" correctly in a sentence this morning. I think I've been doing a little bit too much desktop publishing around her.

Laina is turning into quite the fashionista. I think my obsession with Gymboree is catching up with us. Last night I was hanging up a dress in her closet and she said "what's that mommy" and I told her it was her Christmas dress. She lit up and said "my gonna look BEAUTIFUL in it!" The funniest thing is that I'm so NOT into clothes for myself - but when it comes to dressing Laina up...look out! On Sunday I returned home from a quick trip to Gymboree and I asked Laina to try on her new clothes to make sure they fit so I could wash them. She looked at me and said "fashion show, Mommy"? I just giggled and thought to myself...having a little girl is like having your very own dress up doll.

I've been feeling older lately. Laina's teacher Stephanie is leaving the daycare and tomorrow is her last day. She's looking for a new job and she's currently in college working toward getting her social work degree. She's decided to get out of childcare and look for a job in the social work field since she is close to getting her degree. She's interviewed for a position and she put me down as a reference for this job. I'm happy to give Steph a reference - she's a wonderful person who has taken fabulous care of Laina over the past two plus years. It's cracking me up though that I've been asked to provide the reference. When did I become the older person whose opinion matters in the world?!?!

On the subject of feeling old, my niece Nicole got her permit this week and she's officially driving. My nephew, Ryan has been driving for a year or so now. How did this happen? They were just little babies and now they are out driving and looking at which colleges they want to apply to. With the election coming next week, it dawned on me that for the next presidential election, 3 out of my 4 nieces & nephews will be able to register to vote. Wow.

We're getting very excited for Halloween here. Laina has a Halloween party at school tomorrow and this afternoon we will be making frosted brownies to bring as a treat to the party. Tonight Joe and Laina will carve our pumpkins - I will watch, take pictures and then roast pumpkin seeds! We've been reading "Winnie The Pooh's Halloween" before bed. Tomorrow Laina gets to wear her costume to the party in the afternoon and then out for trick or treating. Should be a fun day for her! Pictures to follow, of course.

The Dancers...In Costume

This week in dance class, the kids were allowed to come in costume for Halloween. Here's a cute shot of Laina with all the kids in her class. I have better Halloween pictures of just Laina in her costume which I will post soon but for now I thought this was a sweet one to share.

Tossing Your Kid Into A Bowl Of Candy Corn!

Does it get any better than that? Ha ha ha! I just finished up a Photoshop class. You may recognize this photo from a few posts ago where Laina was in a big pile of leaves which was pretty adorable...but I decided to make it even more fun and crop her right out of the leaves and plop her in a big bowl of candy corn. Now wouldn't that be a fun trick or treat...to get Laina in your bowl of candy? Ohhhh, this photoshopping stuff will be fun! Hmmmm, whose head should I put on whose body??? ha ha ha!

Trick Or Treat!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today was Laina's first school field trip! They went to Harris Farm and I got to go with them! We had a great time. We left school at 9am and drove over to the farm. We had our own tractor ride waiting for us that took us to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. It was an actual pumpkin patch and the pumpkins were still on the vines (as opposed to a bunch of pumpkins being tossed into a field where they are rotting by the time you get to them). The tractor ride then took us to see a bunch of turkeys who were a riot. They came right up to the tractor and they "talked" to the kids. Then from there we rode over to pick out Indian corn. The kids had a great time seeing the pretty colored Indian corn. Then the tractor took us back to the barn and we got to go see the baby cows and the big cows. One baby cow was just a couple days old and could barely stand itself up it was so new! The kids all enjoyed feeding the cows. Laina had a super fun time - and I just loved every minute of it. I love her two little friends, Evan and Antonio and it was fun seeing the three of them interact together out in the "real world". I also enjoyed spending time with her teacher, Stephanie. Steph will only be teaching at Laina's school for one more week and I'm heartbroken to see her go. We LOVE Steph and it was so nice to be able to spend the morning with her. Here are some cute shots of Laina with her buds.

The whole crew heading out to find their pumpkins

Antonio, Evan & Laina in the pumpkin patch

Laina chose a beautiful pumpkin

Evan, Antonio & Laina on the tractor/hayride

Steph & Laina visiting the cows

Steph, Laina, Antonio & Evan with the Harris' dog

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!

Laina and I planned a fun birthday celebration for daddy. Yesterday we picked out a balloon to give to daddy today. I asked Laina if she thought we could hide the balloon and not tell daddy about it until the morning when it was his birthday. She told me she would keep it quiet. We even walked around saying "shhhhhh". Then, at the end of the day when daddy got home from work Laina ran up to him and said "we have a balloon for you daddy!!!" She hasn't learned the fine art of keeping secrets yet!

This morning we got up and I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then, because daddy didn't have any court today he was able to join us at music class. Laina thought that was pretty cool to have daddy there in class and Joe enjoyed seeing what we do in music class. After I picked Laina up from school, we frosted the cake we baked yesterday and then Laina decorated it with sprinkles. We had a yummie dinner of stuffed peppers (Joe's request), chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for dessert and then daddy opened his presents (new Merrell's and a couple of books).

Laina was very cute and had some definite ideas on what makes a good party and insisted that we buy balloons and party hats. All in all I think daddy had a nice birthday.

Laina enjoying chocolate chip pancakes this morning.

Daddy with his balloon eating pancakes.

Laina decorating daddy's cake.

Laina with her masterpiece.
She was pretty bummed out that she had to
actually eat dinner before we cut the cake!

Daddy with the card Laina picked out for him.
It has Mickey on it - go figure!

Laina and daddy ready to enjoy cake.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!
We love you very very much!!!

Another Great Fall Weekend

Brrrrr.....fall is in the air for sure! Here are a few photos of Joe & Laina playing in the leaves in the backyard. It was chilly but Laina had a great time. She loved tackling daddy and I love the last picture where you can see her bracing for the leaves that daddy has just tossed up in the air.

Joe and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday! On Saturday evening, Amanda came over with Evan to babysit Laina and Joe and I went out to dinner in Portland and then to the Merrill to see the musical, Chicago which was just great. We had a really fun night out.

On Saturday morning, Laina and I got together with my friend Kate and her little boy Mitchel who is 15 months old. Doesn't he have the most beautiful little boy eyes you've ever seen? We went to a great playground near Kate's house which was fun for Mitchel...a toddler and Laina...a preschooler. It had "big stuff" and "little stuff" and the kids had a great time running around and playing. It was wonderful to see Kate. Hard to believe, but I haven't seen her since just after Mitchel was born!

The Baby-Razzi

Grammy & Grampy got Laina a digital camera for her birthday and she's just been clicking away. She has a blast with it and I haven't really been paying much attention to what types of pictures she's been taking. She brought it to me yesterday because the memory card was finally full so I downloaded the pictures to the computer today. First of all, the memory card holds over 400 pictures - go Vtech, huh! Her pictures are so funny to look at. There are a lot of cut off heads, a lot of pictures of various Minnie and/or Mickey Mouse things from around the house. But mostly there are a lot of pictures of Laina's own feet as seen in this shot here. My budding photographer!

Hot Coffee, Extra Cream, One Equal

Ever wonder if your 3 year old hears every little word you say? Let me tell you, they do. Tonight Joe and Laina were playing with baby dolls. Laina told Joe that her baby doll drinks "hot coffee, with extra cream and one equal". Well that would be EXACTLY what I order at Dunkin' Donuts drive through. It is so funny to me that she has completely retained my coffee order in her little brain.

In case you were also wondering whether there was a full moon, the answer to that is yes as well. How do I know this? Because it has dramatically changed the temperament of my sweet little girl. For the past two days my daughter has been under the spell of this full moon and I'll be happy when it passes along. Today Laina had dance class and I was sitting in the waiting area with all the other moms and 3 of them all commented on how their sweet little girls were also under the spell of the full moon. Here's hoping tomorrow brings a less challenging little Laina.

We had a fun weekend - busy but fun! On Saturday morning we went to the corn maze. You walk through this large maze cut into stalks of corn. After the corn maze, you can take a hayride down to the pumpkin patch and pick your own pumpkins. They also have a small petting zoo, rides and a playground. Laina had a great time. She thought the corn maze was cool but when it started taking us a while to get through it, she wanted to be picked up and so we cut that activity short.

Laina in the corn maze

Close up in the corn maze

Mommy & Laina with the corn

On the hayride

On the tractor ride

With the pretty pumpkins

After the corn maze we drove over to an apple orchard and went apple picking. We snagged some yummy apples which we've been eating all week. Laina enjoyed the wagon ride through the orchard, courtesy of Joe. She loved plucking apples off the trees and was great about gently placing them in the bag. Her all time favorite part though was the warm apple cider doughnuts at the end! Yum!

At the apple orchard, in a pile of pumpkins

Loving the wagon

Plucking apples with daddy

On Sunday, we drove down to MA for Baby Emily's baptism. I am honored to be Emily's godmother. It was a lovely ceremony followed by a fun SPG gathering. Laina ran and ran and ran all afternoon and after no nap for two days she was EXHAUSTED! She still can't pronounce Emily's name and still calls her "baby Enemy". She also called the priest "the police". Kids are cute, huh.

Joe and Laina at the church before the ceremony

Ohhh, baby Emily is adorable!

Auntie Nee, Uncle Mike and Baby Emily

Peter, Emily and I

Laina and I after the ceremony

Running around with her friends

Having fun with Olivia

Ring around the Rosie with Gianna, Tess & Liv

Big hugs for Olivia....LOVE her braids!

Auntie Amy playing "monster" with the girls