Halloween!

October sure was a busy month capped off by getting to go on our first trick or treating adventure!  I struggled with Maree's costume - she was too big for 18 month costumes, but a lot of the 24 month ones were too long!  AND most every little kid I saw, was either a zoo animal or a lady bug, so I'm glad I ended up going a different route with the cupcake!! (Granted, Grandpa thought she looked more like a martian than a cupcake.. which is partially true haha)

Apparently decorating for Halloween in our new neighborhood is also a must - they go ALL OUT. I've never seen anything like it - it was like the Christmas Vacation Halloween version.  People had tombstones, coffins, fog machines, tailgates etc. Each house seemed to have a different adult beverage station, and a separate candy station - keeping both parents and kids happy! While it was a lot of fun to see all the festivities, Miss Maree was not in the best of moods - quite cranky actually... hopefully next year she will have more fun!

My little cupcake

Off we go!

I would rather walk, thank you! 

We missed the memo that adults dress up too

Daddy and his cupcake!

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday, Gayle and I took Maree & cousin Madeline to a pumpkin patch!  This place was HUGE and had so many cool things for kids to do -- in a few years, it will be so fun to watch the girls really be able to play!  But, because a 1 year old and a 17 month old are still a little bit too young, we stuck to the younger activities.... the dog show, the pumpkin patch, the train ride, and the petting zoo!

Maree was interested in the pumpkins that Nana would hold, but none on the ground

Nana and the girls!

Bottle break on the train ride

Cousin Madeline & Nana on the train

Oh boy, I want to touch you!

Nice goat

Wait a minute.. what is on your head?!

Cousins!

It was a fun day... I think Gayle and I were even more worn out than the girls though!  It will be fun to make this a yearly tradition and watch them be able to do more and more :)

Midwest Trip

Traveling back to the midwest always makes me so happy!  I flew in at the perfect time... the trees were  BEAUTIFUL!!! I hope Maree will get to make future fall trips.. so she can see how beautiful her birthday month really is (Arizona doesn't do it justice!)!

Sara's Bridal Shower
The first weekend I was back I was able to help throw a shower/bachelorette party for my best friend Sara!  It was SO good to see her... Baltimore & Scottsdale are quite far away & the 3 hour time zone difference makes it hard to talk too :(  But, it was great to see her and we had a great time & kept it pretty low key so Sara would be able to actually "talk" to her friends rather than bar hop... I think we are all getting old!!  Here are a few pictures from the big day!

Pedicures to start off the shower

Sara's favorite cupcakes

The "winning team" of toilet paper bridal dress making

The Gallingers
Brett & Tara were nice enough to let Maree and I stay for pretty much an entire week!  Maree had SO much fun playing with her bigger cousins... she changed a lot in the time we got to spend with them!  I can tell she finds me incredibly boring in comparison to Anna & Caylee!!  I also learned from this trip that we apparently need a dog - everyone we went to see had a dog - and Maree LOVED them.

Playing together 

Wrestle time... looks like both Brett & Maree have Anna pinned!

Dance parrrrrty! 

Harlan
I even made it back to my hometown (Harlan) to get some professional pictures taken of Maree - and I was able to get to see my favorite Harlan family.. the Christensens! Now that the "kids" I babysat are all grown and out of town, I somehow picked the right day to be in town because I got to see Nic, Sadie, Rees & Cass!  Makes me feel old thinking that I used to babysit Sadie when she was 4...

Nic, Maree & Rees

Sadie, Maree & Me

Suzy, Maree & me

Missouri Wedding
The final part of our trip concluded with my cousin Tom's wedding! Unfortunately it rained the whole day, but everyone still had a great time!  Little Maree was such a trooper... she had been off on her nap schedule pretty much the whole trip.. so that night she was SO tired, but so lovey/cuddly... all she did was sit on grandpa's lap.

The only kind-of-smile we got out of her that night

She sat like this for 2 hours - loves her Grandpa!

Brett, Mom, Anna & Tara - Love my family!!

Cousins Bobby & Tom 

So tired Daddy... lets go home

One Year Old!

Miss Maree has had a big month!! We moved into a new house just before her birthday and then a few days later we flew back to Missouri/Nebraska for 10 days!  So, because the first two weeks of October were honestly crazy, we "delayed" her birthday, until now!  We wanted her to have the opportunity to smash/eat a cake so our friend Mary Kay made her this! :)

The birthday girl not really loving her birthday hat/outfit

what is this & why are you all looking at me?!

If I take a bite... will I get in trouble??

Mmmm, that IS good!

Our little family of 3!

Nana & Grumpa

This ended up being the most practical place for cake eating... or I guess playing!

1 year update:

• She is walking full time - crawling has totally gone by the wayside 
• She has 7 teeth
• She's 25 pounds & 32".. and graduated to a forward facing carseat!
• She still LOVES her bottle... I don't know how I'm going to break her of this 
• She can high-five like crazy - this was of course taught to her by her dad
• She loves to play "catch" - anytime she sees a ball she immediately tries to throw it.. this is usually fun, except for when we are at music class and she is chucking things at other kids!
• Her personality has FINALLY come out.. she giggles/laughs/smiles so much more (this literally happened almost overnight - I think it is because she was around my nieces for a whole week!)
• We also finally got professional pictures taken of her.. hopefully those will be available soon!

A "preview" picture from her photo shoot... I don't know if there will be a single one where she smiles...

SOMETIMES she does grace us with a smile though...

She still prefers to NOT be on grass

Hi everyone - I've finally figured out the wave!

Out little climber LOVES to find her way into everything.. I can just hear her thinking..
"Oh, I might fit in here.. One leg in... almost in... Success!!"