Fall Festival

Saturday a few of my friends from preschool came down to the valley to go to a pumpkin patch. Since Aunt R had flown in to visit us for the weekend, she came with us. C and her son S all also came for a few hours of fun. It was very fun. We went through the corn maze, watched a pig race, had a picnic lunch and did many other things. C even had fun in the corn box.

C and S filling up the dump truck with corn.

We all went on a hayride together.

I sat with two of my friends and shared food with both of them.

S was starting to get a little tired by the hayride, plus the corn launcher was near the start and he was not a fan of that!!

C helped Aunt R feed the goats.

Aunt R and I had a race around the trike track. I think I won !)

Queen of the hill!

Today after naps, Aunt R and I carved the pumpkin we had picked at the Pumpkin Patch.

I'm not sure who's scariest.....us or the pumpkins!)

Rollarskating

A few weeks ago I went to my first rollarskating birthday party. It was one of my preschool classmates, so it was just at the Y's rink. I think I did pretty well. I stayed up on my feet most of the time and went around 4-5 times. The rest of the time I was running around the lobby with my friends.C came along also and hung out in the lobby playing with balls and crawling around trying to get to the rink where all the action was.

Then just yesterday, Cousin S had his birthday party at a rollarskating rink. The skate wheels were a little looser, so I had to have help skating--Aunt R, M and Uncle B all took turns helping me.

Pizza/Movie Night

M found a pizza dough recipe in the cookbook for her bread machine. So for the last 2 months, we've had pizza & movie night every Friday night. M even lets me make my own. Finished product.






Making sure I get it just right....

Donate....

M decided recently that she was sick of her hair. And since she was going to cut quite a bit of it off anyways, she might as well go the full length and donate it to a good cause. So after some research she found Pantene Beautiful Lengths only required 8 inches versus other programs that required 10-12 inches of hair. So Saturday, M headed to the salon to cut her hair.One side down, one more to go....
Now time to even it up.

All finished!

After seeing M donate her hair, I decided that I could donate my carseat to my little sister. She was getting a little long and heavy for her infant carseat.

So glad to be in the bigger carseat. She's not quite ready to be forward facing yet, but at least she has room to grow in the carseat!

My last time sitting in the seat....

Moving up to the booster seat and real seatbelts!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today. M likes this particular place because it feels more than a county fair than just a pile of pumpkins in some store. There are vendors selling crafts and food, a barn with people playing all sorts of music, a petting zoo and of course a hayride. There is also a barrel train ride for the little ones like me. I drove this barrel all around the grounds!

C and I both had a good time. We didn't actually even get a pumpkin because we aren't planning to carve one for a few weeks, so we'll just get one a little later. But the day was still fun.

Afterwards we headed to P&G's for supper and C got to eat some raspberries!

Daddy's girls....

A few weeks ago, D stopped on his way home from work and picked up flowers for his girls. M got 2, but C and I each got one flower.Aren't they gorgeous? D says its because he loves all his girls. We love him too.

The next day, while I was watching TV before church, M came and did my hair. My teacher at school braided my hair a few times and I was upset I had to take it out for bath. So M said she would braid my hair for me.

I sat very still for M while she did my hair. I think I look pretty cute. M finally took it out 4 days later when I took another bath!! But it kept my hair from getting so tangled up while I slept.

9 Months

C is growing up so quickly. She is starting to find her voice and make her needs and wants known to us. The first time she signed for us, was while playing with this balloon, she signed "more" when it went out of her reach and she couldn't yet move to get to it. 9 months old!

Reading books together.

On the move.....

C started crawling right at nine months. Now there is no stopping here. She now makes her way down the hallway to the kitchen from the bedrooms. Here's a video from her first days of crawling. Notice the butt lift into the air. We're not sure if it is to get traction on the floor or if she's trying to stand.

Honorary Squirrel

Labor Day weekend I became an Honorary Squirrel. How you ask? Well by climbing the Deadman's Lookout Tower of course! It was only about 5 miles from where we were camping, so Saturday afternoon M, D, C & I headed to the hill to start the climb. It was pretty tall!!

But I made it all the way to the top all by myself. D says I was using my hands and knees a little bit near the top, but nobody had to carry me up.

The whole fam!

The volunteer at the top gave me my special card, making me an Honorary Squirrel.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing in our new lounge chairs. Enough room for both C and I.

Hanging out by the fire with D and G. Too bad fall and winter are coming and we won't be able to go camping again until next summer. Side note: M was hoping to get out once more in late September or early October, but due to the extreme fire danger we have been in--2 fires within one week near our city--Larimer County just put a open fire ban on. It's just no fun to camp without a campfire, so I don't think we will get out again. Besides it was really cold overnight in our pop-up camper even with the heater running all night!!

Gramma's Benefit

On Friday evening, some friends of G's who own an art gallery in town showcased G's work with proceeds going towards medical costs and cancer research. When G first was diaganosed with breast cancer 3 years ago, she started taking a watercolor course that a local artist offered free to cancer patients. Since then she has continued to paint, attend classes and has flourished in her skill. When the cancer came back this spring, she continued painting whenever she got a chance. Here is just a sampling of what she showed. G had 22 original pieces and lots of prints made. M&D let me pick out which one I wanted. I picked a flower piece and M&D picked a bird painting for C to have. M also got a print of the lilac (which is her favorite flower!!).

Even her sisters got involved by sending her a beautiful boquet of flowers since they couldn't be there. But about 200 people stopped by during the 4 hour open house. Lots of pieces sold that night and by the end of the weekend all the originals were sold. G had to reorder a bunch of prints, because the gallery wants to showcase her all month.C and I with G, sporting our pink for breast cancer awareness. G was feeling pretty good that night which was very good since she was in and out of the chair all night talking to people and showing off her talent.

G--we're so proud of you!! And you are in our prayers everynight before bed. LOVE YOU!!!!

Fun in WY

About a month ago, M's college friend C moved to WY. We finally made it up to see her 2 weekends ago. At first we were going to pick them up and head to some hot springs. That was before M realized they were another 80 miles away from C's house. So instead we stayed at their house and played. The double stroller was perfect for C and I when we headed to the park just before leaving. S and I became fast friends. OK, ok....so I was very friendly. I'm not sure S knew exactly what to think of me!! But we had fun together. We played in the backyard until it started to rain on us and once it stopped we drew with chalk on the front steps. Had supper and played at the park. What an afternoon!
S and his dad C.

M and C.

We had lots of fun together and with them only being in WY for a year while S's dad interns, M is hoping that we can get together a few times. Maybe next time we can actually make it all the way to the hot springs and make a whole day of it rather than a few hours in the afternoon.