Happy Halloween 2010

What a fantastic weekend. After all the fun Lauren was having trick-or-treating at these events I convinced Jeff that we needed to take her to a few houses on our block. We hadn't planned on it, and he didn't want to because the Steelers were on. Lauren and I talked him into it and we went to about 5 stops on our street, she got some pretzels (yay!) tons more candy for Jeff (dairy and peanut items) and a zip-loc bag of cut vegetables.

Ready for more?

Charming this man with her sweet looks. He gave her at least 6 candy bars. I didn't have the heart to stop him although they were all chocolate. Jeff totally scored on this one!

See what I mean about the squirrels? My poor pumpkin!

Sorting and counting her candy. The smarties and lolllipops were the clear winners. She really wanted the candy bars, but was easily distracted with smarties. I sadly had to take away most of her loot- but lets be honest, I would have never let her have that much candy anyway.

Boo at the Zoo

Trick-or-Treat

The Giraffes and elephants are her favorites right now. There was a 3 week old baby giraffe and she has been talking all day about how we saw the momma kiss the baby. She was also eating sweet-tarts (thus the pursed lips- scared I am going to take something away).

Sweet face

She loved this bear in the gift shop

Today was another amazing day, I traded shifts at work to take her to Boo at the Zoo. We got there before 9am, but they were letting people in. We were just getting going and we could hear the lions roaring LOUD! We hurried over there and both the male and female lion were standing in plain sight roaring loudly. It was so neat, it was cold so you could see their "breath" ~ it was amazing!! I didn't even think to grab my camera or phone to take a movie until it was all done. Lauren does a pretty cute impression, though.

The zoo was really fun, although it got really crouded and there was not really any "activities" besides a lot of trick-or-treating. I definitely rate The Children's Museum much higher for their entertainment, but the zoo is always a good time.  Lauren was so well behaved all weekend and I just enjoyed her so much. 

Trick or Treat Street at The Children's Museum

Friday we went to trick or treat street at The Children's Museum ~ Quack Quack!

The posed shot.

Bowling was her favorite game

There were tons of games, and everyone got candy as a prize

I was watching the Trick-or-Treat stations and only planned to take her to ones with "safe" food for her. She quickly learned what they looked like and had to hit them all. I was so surprised she got the hang of it. She would say "Trick-or-treat" and then "thank you" in her sweet little voice. They gave out tons of stuff she couldnt have, really weird stuff for The Children's Museum croud- jawbreakers and 3 bags of peanut M&Ms. I did let her have a huge sucker and watched her closely, this was her favorite.

We rode on this train- yes WE, not HER. She freaked out and I had to ride with her. Therefore, this picture is not of her riding the train, kinda hard to take a picture when she was on my lap. She loved it though, so it was worth cramming my huge butt into one of these little cars. 

We had literally THE BEST day there, she was happy and had so much fun. She was mesmerized by a Ronald McDonald magic show and was friendly with other kids.  Her ducky costume was a hit and she was so happy and proud. What a great day!!

Leaf Pile

Thanks Grandma Karen!

If it weren't for Lauren's grandma veryl and grandma karen, she would probably go naked!!

(you aren't believing that, are you? Anyway, thanks again for another cute outfit!!)

Puzzles

I found these wood puzzles at ALCO for $1.11 each (they had 25% off toys last Saturday am). They are the best, I didn't know until I got them home that they have the full picture on the puzzle board so she knows where the pieces go. She is loving puzzles right now!! We will bring these back to ND with us so she can play puzzles with Grandpa Bob.

Graduation!

Yesterday was Lauren's first official day in the Toddler II room at her daycare, it is for 2-3 year olds. Her teachers had talked to us in August about her being ready to move up early, and her weekend nanny Terri is a teacher in Toddler II and agreed. They even think she might be interested in potty training soon. The manager at the daycare told us she wouldn't move until January, but all of the teachers rallied and got her to move it up to November 1st. This week was supposed to be "transition week" and she was going to visit the toddler II room for gradually longer periods each day. Well, she happily spent the entire day there on Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday she was officially moved up!


The toddler II room is bigger and has a slide in it and fishy tanks, they work on potty training and drunk out of regular (not sippy) cups. She regularly brags to us about her "big girl cups" and offended her daddy last night when she pointed out that his milk was in a big girl cup too. She seems calmer and happier when we have been picking her up from Toddler II, the kids are more mature and organized, its much less chaotic. She even has been trying out the potties in thier room. So exciting for my little pickle!!

Peggy's Premium Edamame

LOVE this Edamame. I get it at CostCo and it comes in little microwaveable bags. It is the best I have found and makes a great snack or addition to dinner. Lauren and I are big, big fans! What would I do without CostCo and all their tasty little treats?

Carving Pumpkins

This weekend we carved our pumpkins that we got at the pumpkin festival. I am always worried to carve them too early, because the squirrels eat their faces out.

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Silly Girl



this one is mine...

oohhh... at night with candles in them...

showing baby the pumpkins. I love her sweet face in this one, she is so pretty, I can hardly stand it!

Love this App

Colornotes. I love this app for my phone. I keep a grocery list, lists for packing for trips, I have Xmas "wish" lists for all three of us- everything on these notes! Since I always have my phone with me, I can add something to the list whenever I think of it, so my lists are always up to date. The best part? You can easily email it and print it as a check-list with boxes next to each item. Love, love, love it!! What is your favorite App for your phone??

Guitar Hero

We suck. Seriously, suck!  Jeff got a Wii game for his birthday from his mom and dad, and then we got Guitar Hero as an anniversary gift from them. This weekend we broke it out and were so excited!! Well, we are really bad at it and always get booed off stage. Is it really this hard or are we doing something wrong??

Boo at the Zoo

So, I switched my schedule around and will have next Sunday off (although I am working till 11pm saturday) so that I can take Lauren to Boo at the Zoo on Sunday. I also have thursday and friday off, and Friday we plan to hit The Children’s Museum of Denver - Events - Trick or Treat Street. Not sure about trick-or-treating, I am concerned about her food allergies and I think Sunday she will wear her costure and pass out treats at our house, probably. She is going to be a ducky, she picked it out herself and calls it "quack, quack".  The costume is made for babies, and doesn't really fit her- but she put it on in the store and wouldn't take it off. This is the biggest size it comes in, so we are stuck- I might make some modifications, but I am really bad with a sewing machine. Here is a blurry photo of it, I will take better ones. I leave her costume is sitting out, and she often wants to wear it, this is over her GB Packer cheerleader dress. I was thinking about putting a white turtleneck and white tights or pants on her and calling it good. What do you think??

Date Night

Thursday night Jeff and I had a DATE!! WOOOHOOO!! This was our anniversary date, just about a month late.  We are not very good about getting a baby sittter, but we had Michelle come over an went to an Avalanche Hockey game. We had front row club levels seats, and it was super fun~ you have a waitor to bring you nachos and beer, yeah! 'Bout time, I say. We might have to do this more often : )

Halloween Cookies

Why dont we make this kind of mess more often?

I just gotta knead it a bit more....

Oooohh.... almost done

Final Product- Delicious!

Tractor

Giving Elmo a ride on her "tractor"

Winter Park Today

Hunting

Heading up to the mountains with the hunter

Presents!!

Is it Christmas? Her birthday? Nope~ this would be Halloween. She got two packages of Halloween goodies on the same day, she has the hang of opening stuff and it was super fun. Notice her hugging the package of "special treats" ~ halloween oreos that Aunt Susie spent a fortune to ship to her- it was worth every penny! Thank you Grandma and Susie!

Art Desk

We gave up on finding the art desk of my dreams and got this cheap-o one that is very easy to pick up and lug from room to room.

Egg cartons make good paint-holders, no clean-up!

We set up studio in the front yard, and got to work!

can you believe the concentration she puts into it?

...and she is off!! A good reason to do this outside...

The gallery. When she was done painting we walked around the fence looking at her pictures and discussing them like we were at an art gallery.

The Marathon

Last weekend while Jeff was out of town, Lauren and I had lots of fun. I ended up finding a cowbell for Lauren (dollar section at Target- who knew?) and we went to the Denver Rock-and-Roll marathon on Sunday morning to cheer on the runners~ I had a good friend who was running her first half-marathon so we went to support her. Lauren had a blast clapping and cheering people on and ringing her cowbell, and so did I.  I wish I would have got a picture of her, she looked so cute. But it took all of my attention to keep her from running into the crowd of runners, she wanted to take off with them so bad!

Diaper Rash

Lauren has a killer diaper rash and we are all struggling. I never understood how bad a diaper rash could be until this week, yikes! Jeff is home with her the last few days and has some interesting techniques for dealing with her pain. She clenches and cries when we change her diaper, so he puts a diaper cream tube in her mouth to bite down on to get through the pain- what a goof ball. She totally does it though, last night she started to pee (which hurts and makes her cry) and she was yelling cream!! Jeff ran over to her with the cream, stuck it in her mouth and hugged her till she was done. I am still laughing thinking about it- what a goofy dad he is.

I love Legos!

Lauren is really into Legos this week, last night she took a bath with them and then had to sleep with the green ones, this morning I used them as a bribe to get her teeth brushed. Then she was running around singing a song about “I Love Legos” and I caught the tail end of it with my phone. (Once the camera started, she kinda stopped the song, figures). The funny thing is that our close friends are at LegoLand in CA right now, I didn’t even know such a place existed, but they are having a great time with their 2 year old. We might have to make a trip out there sometime- check out Laurie’s blog for her LegoLand adventures.

Had to have it!

Last week shopping I saw these cute tights at the Gap outlet and loved them- they have a teddy bear on the butt!  They also had the little denim skirt that Lauren has and I love, and I thought about getting it in a bigger size. Neither was on sale and I had no coupon, so I didn't get them. I just cannot pay full price (even if its only $9 for tights...) anyone else like that??  Anyway, I got a 25% off online purchase coupon, and realized neither item is online, must only be at the outlet. So I ran back to the outlet mall and paid full price, I knew I would kick myself for cheaping out on these! Cute, huh?

Dont worry,  I will post pics of her wearing them, I was just too excited....

Calcium

Lauren takes calcium because of her dairy allergy, and I wanted to share a tip. She LOVES the Lil Critters chewable calcium (they contain vitamin D, too) and would ask for "more, more calcium" all the time. I was taking them too. But, they are kinda pricey and not super easy to find. Target makes an Up and Up generic version that is virtually the same and much much cheaper. I think the target ones are slightly less tasty, but still delicious. Lauren and I take one twice daily!

Baby Oranges

Lauren is obsessed with clementines, or Baby Oranges as we call them.

All done! More, more, more????