Big Girl

This baby is getting big too fast.  She finally outgrew her baby tub and transitioned to the big tub.  We got her some foam letters, and she was in heaven.  She can scoot around and chew on the letters and splash to her hearts content. 
She is just getting so big and so fun.  She loves to sit up in the shopping cart, and just like her momma, she loves shoes.  Just look at the pure delight on her face. 

Halloween Fun

The week before Halloween, Dan and I babysat his brother’s 4 kids. It was a crazy week, but the kids were pretty good for the most part.  While we were there, we took the kids to Thanksgiving Point.  They were doing a Barnyard Boo.  When we got there, we found out they were also doing a scavenger hunt, so we scavenged away.  It was pretty fun, and Gwen was loving being outside with all the animals.  We took her for her first pony ride, and she was LOVING it!  She was squealing, and laughing the whole time she was on it, and it was so funny to watch. 
After we were all farmed out, we headed over to the dinosaur museum, where they too were doing a Halloween themed scavenger hunt.  Gwen was pretty tired, so she just crashed in the stroller, and it was pretty adorable.  It was a fun day!
A few days later, we were out in the back yard raking up leaves and got some pretty cute pics of Gwen.  We’ve had such nice weather lately, and it’s so fun to be able to enjoy Fall!

Annual Halloween Party

We hosted our annual Halloween Party on October 20th.  It was a blast, and perhaps one of the most fun parties we’ve had.  Dan is usually in charge, cause, well, let’s face it, he’s better at it.  He planned some really fun “Minute to Win It” games, and we had a blast watching everyone try and accomplish the task.  I was laughing the whole night. We did the games in the back yard, and the weather was perfect.  Dan and I dressed up as Hippies, and in true hippie fashion, I didn’t wear shoes.  That’s how nice the weather was.  We had a fire going in our fire pit, and it was so much fun.  Dan and I spent the week prior preparing by making all the treats, which included cake pops, bones, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, witches brooms, and more.  We are so glad that everyone could make it!  This is one of our favorite Halloween traditions, and we look forward to it all year round.  After the party was over, Dan said to me, “So, what should we do next year?” Ha!  He is a funny boy.  We can’t wait for next year.

Birthday Boy

My love turned 28 on October 19th.  He took the day off work, so we got to spend the whole day together.  It was so fun to just have some extra time together.  My sister-in-law Darby watched Gwen for us so we could go on a little lunch date, and it was wonderful.  Dan chose Wingers, and we had all you can eat wings & fries.  And since it was his birthday, they threw in some asphalt pie for free.  I think we waddled out of there cause we were so full.  After lunch, to aid in some digestion, we went to the new Sheels store to see what the hype is all about.  It was huge, and pretty cool, but I don’t know why it’s SO crowded all the time.  Gwen loved helping Dan open his presents and thought the boxes and tissue paper were pretty cool toys.

Later that night, we had some family and friends over for cake and ice cream.  Dan isn’t really a cake fan, in the traditional sense, so every year when I make him a cake, I feel guilty, because I know he doesn’t really like it and it’s more for everyone else, when it should just be for him.  So this year I branched out.  I bought a bundt cake pan and made him a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing.  I won’t lie, I was pretty proud of myself.  I am not a great baker.  My cookies always turn out flat, and slightly crunchy, my cakes aren’t that impressive, even from a box, but this time, everything turned out perfect and I was so happy!!  It was a fun day, and I am so glad that we got to celebrate the most wonderful man in the world together.

8 Months!

Well, another month has come and gone, and G is now 8 months old.  Where does the time go?
Gwen has been such a joy to have in our home.  She brings such a fun happy spirit, and can always make us smile.  She is learning and growing like crazy, and I swear she gets bigger every day.  It’s breaking my heart.  I love watching her grow, but I hate that the time is going by so quickly.
Here is the list of things Gwen is doing/loves at 8 months old:
*Eating.  I think this is her favorite past time.  She would probably eat all day long if I’d let her.  I think we may have a compulsive eater on our hands.  Her favorite food is spaghetti.  She even knows how to slurp the noodles.  Lock the cupboards!!
*Her exersaucer
*Sitting up playing with toys
*Being held.  She loves to be close to us all the time.
*Snuggling in bed with us on the weekends
*Jabbering and squealing.  She is such a chatterbox!  All day long she’s chatting me up trying to tell me some big story, and it is adorable.  She looks so intently at me and will just jabber away.
*Smacking her lips.  Whenever she sees anyone eating anything, she looks at me and starts smacking her lips.  I’m pretty sure it’s her way of telling me that it’s not appropriate to eat and not share.  If I don’t respond quickly, you can bet she’ll start screaming.  This girl loves her food!!
*We finally put the swing and bouncer away.  She was just getting too big.  She’d try to sit up in both of them, and would nearly tumble out.
*She loves to sit on the counter in her bumbo while we are making dinner.  She will just chat with us, and eat her snacks while we are cooking.
*She’s started cackling.  It’s hilarious.  She sounds like a little witch.  It’s her laugh, and also her fake laugh, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if she is really laughing, or just being courteous.  It’s just about the funniest sound you’ve ever heard.
*She’s still just our tiny girl.  She only weighs 14 pounds, but she sure is chubby!  She’s got rolls and cheeks galore!
Oh…I died my hair brown, and isn’t that little ruffle bum the CUTEST!?!?

Pumpkin Patch

We took Gwen to a local pumpkin patch for the first time.  She was loving all the pumpkins, and being able to be outside.  We got a couple pumpkins to carve, and one for this really cute photo shoot idea I had which includes putting little miss G in the pumpkin, so we had to find one big enough to fit her, which wasn’t hard.  They had so many big pumpkins!!  (They turned out adorable…you’ll have to wait and see…)  It was so fun to go and start this tradition with her.  Having kids makes these kinds of things so much more enjoyable.  We are so excited for all the new traditions we will get to start.