Halloween 2012

Well, our Halloween didn't go quite as planned, but we still ended up having a good time.  It's all about the pictures anyway, right?

My friend Lisa, who is an A/G missionary, was flying into town to attend a conference for pastors and missionaries under 40.  The conference started today, but she flew in yesterday and spent the night with us.  Unfortunately, she flew into Love Field at 4:30.  That meant dealing with rush hour traffic on our way back to our side of town.  We decided to meet Michael for dinner and what should have been a 25 minute drive, turned into almost a 2 hour drive.  We got to the restaurant at 6:15 and ate as fast as we (or Olivia) could.  Then we still had to drive about 15 minutes to our part of town.

Since we live in an apartment, we decided just to choose a nice local neighborhood to go to.  Our friends had invited us to go with them, but the timing wasn't going to work out.  The first place we went to ended up being gated, so by the time we finally got to a place to trick or treat it was 7:15--long past when all the other one year olds were trick or treating.  Oh, and Olivia had only napped about an hour all day...as opposed to her usual 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Not as planned, but we were determined to have the experience and get a few pictures.

Luckily we chose just the right neighborhood!

Since it was dark out, Michael was using the flashlight on his phone.

I desperately tried to get her to hold the bucket that I made, but she wasn't interested.

Everyone LOVED her costume!

She loved it when the people let her pick the candy from the bucket.

Of course she has no idea what candy is.  She just liked transferring the item from one bucket to another.

Olivia went to Lisa right away at the restaurant.  Very out of character for her.

She just really liked Lisa, and even let her carry her for part of the night!

She was a trooper for how tired she was.

The bowls that had hands and made noise intrigued her, but she didn't want to get too close.

Yay for candy--that I don't get to eat!

Don't be fooled by the sweatshirt and sweater.  I thought it was suppose to be in the low 70's/high 60's. It was actually 80 degrees out. Which is why I relinquished camera duty.  Michael was melting carrying Olivia in her hot costume.

Love her!

All in all, we were out for about a half hour.  The people loved Olivia and were VERY generous.  I would have been happy with a handful of candy.  I just wanted the experience and the pictures!

If you remember from last year, Michael is a little OCD about Halloween candy.  He made sure to photograph it. Then he sorted it and photographed it again. :)

By then, Olivia had gotten her second wind and was ready to party.  She sat and put every single piece back in the bucket.

Then as we sat around chatting and eating candy, she carried the pieces from the bucket over to Michael who was laying on the floor.  Even though she didn't eat any candy, it brought her great joy! :)

So the night didn't go exactly as planned, but it was still fun.  One for the picture books! :)

P.S. Yes, she has Halloween pajamas.  I did not go out and buy her these just for the occasion.  I found them at a consignment sale back in August and they happened to be the size pajamas I was looking for.  I paid $3 and she has been wearing them ever since.  She will keep wearing them until she grows out of them.  I'm not that crazy! :)

Stinker

We are going to take a break in our giraffe-fest for this cute little series of pictures.

We were playing in Olivia's room last week, and I happened to have the camera because I was taking pictures of something we were doing.

She got up and went to her crib to try to get her paci.  She tries to sneak them out whenever she can.  However, on this day they were pretty far in the crib.

She was determined.

She kept switching arms, bending her legs, and trying anything she could think of.

I laughed and told her that paci was for night night and that it was too far in and she wasn't going to be able to get it.

She kept on.

After about 5 minutes of trying, she somehow managed to get just the right position where the very tip of her finger could touch the paci.  She ended up getting it.

She stuck it in her mouth, laughed, and gave me this stance.

 Then she turned around and took off down the hallway!

I guess the laugh was on me! :)

Fall Festival

Our church had a fall festival on Sunday night.  This was our first time attending, and it was much bigger than I had anticipated.  It went on for 3 hours.  We were to help out for the second hour, and we left after that, so the first hour was all about Olivia.  We headed straight to the toddler patch.

She played a few games.  Of course she is too small to know what was going on, but she had fun anyway.

 Back to fishing

 It sure is fun being one! No rules!

Cutest in the patch!

Saying hi to her friend Cammy

Next, she went on a pony ride.

This was all FREE!  So awesome!

She is all about horses say "neigh" and in line she was excited.

When I put her on the horse, she wasn't so sure.

I walked with her and a few steps in she gave me a look and a worried noise and I thought it was going to be all over.  But then that noise turned to a laugh.  I think she liked it.

There was a petting zoo too, but the line was a little long and since we had just done the farm the day before, we just skipped it.

Next up was the train ride.  She says "choo choo" when she sees a picture of a train, so we thought she'd enjoy it.  She did!

She ended the night with a wagon ride with her friend Cammy.

The Little Gym Halloween

So in case you aren't interested in seeing an adorable little giraffe, you may want to skip out on this week's posts.  By weeks end, we will have sported our cute outfit 3 times.  Of course, I have to share all of those experiences with you guys! :)

I love her costume!  She has gotten so many compliments on it already, and we haven't even gone trick or treating yet!  I actually saw this particular costume years ago and always thought it was so cute.  Last year I saw a little girl wearing it, and pointed out to Michael that I had always loved it.  When it came to picking out her costume for this year, I looked and looked online.  I wanted something that was a) super cute and b) something that would reflect that she's a toddler.  The days of princesses, super heros, and cartoon characters are ahead of us, I know.  But while she's still "a baby", I wanted her to look the part.  As I would search for a cute costume, I'd show Michael ones that I liked.  After showing him 5 or 6, we both agreed that the giraffe was the cutest.  Plus, we thought it was fitting since it's constantly brought up how tall she is.

The Little Gym had a Halloween party last week, and that was her first time to wear it.  She has been having some seperation anxiety lately, so she was unsure about the sitation in some of the pictures.

Checking out a little boy who use to be in her class--neither one were too sure of the other!

Climbing the obstacle course

Not sure if she wants to let go of mommy's hand--not because she can't climb, but because she doesn't want to be too far away!

Ta-da!

She played a few games

She jumped on the air track, climbed through a tunnel, and screamed her way down the slide (that whole, not being held by mommy thing!).  Then she threw a fit when I tried to take her picture with her teacher.

She really does love Miss Christi!  I promise.

Pumpkin Patch-Take 2

We finally made our family trip to the local pumpkin farm.  Once again, Olivia loved it.

She decided to skip her morning nap, so she was zoning out towards the end but we still had fun.

Feeding the longhorn

and then goats

and the sheep

She giggled the whole time!  I got a really cute video.  I am going to have Michael get it on youtube and then I will upload it to the blog.

We had some food left for the cows, so it was back to feeding the longhorns for us. This time Olivia gave it a try.

Checking out the scenery

After a quick lunch, we checked out the hay maze.

Olivia was our guide. She seriously led us from the beginning to the exit without hitting any dead ends or wrong turns.  Michael said she must have my sense of direction.  I don't think I'm that good with directions.  He's just not good with them. :)

A lady near by commented that she was "a girl on a mission".  

That pretty much sums her up! :)

Don't mind the layers.  We are in need of a winter coat and a new hat/mittens.

I was waiting until it got cold so that I could get the right size.

It literally went from the 80's two days ago, to a gradual shift yesterday, to the high 50's today.

Thankfully her hat from last year still fit alright.  I have no idea how, since it's a 6 to 12 month hat.

More scenery

Pumpkins!

Boppa took her on the "train" ride while we waited for our turn on the hay ride.

By this point she was pretty tired.

Family picture while waiting to get on the hayride

Hayride!

 Yay for fun family days!  I love these two!