After we lit the pumpkins Brianna got all excited. (I don't think she remembers her last Halloween so...) Here she is peeking inside them to see their "pumpkin fires." (Apparently, we've missed adding the word candle to our vocabulary so far.) :) Oh, wait, you could probably see the pumpkins better if I turn the lights off...

...there! That's better! Oooh..aaah.

Cheese!
Counting the pumpkins that makes 4 big grins in this picture. Check out Bree's Halloween shirt she's wearing special for "All Hallow's Eve." It's got a jack o'lantern, a witch, and a black cat on it! She's not wearing pants though since she decided those were optional for a messy pumpkin carving session.

Here's Bree doing her Vanna White impression: "See our lovely pumpkins!" Really though I think she was patting her kitty pumpkin on the head. The monkey sitting there on the daddy pumpkin was a gift from Savannah, who had come over to visit last night.

Sharing a mischievious smile with Jack (O' Lantern).

Just before bedtime, Bree helped blow out the "pumpkin fires." She went off to sleep talking about Halloween, pumpkins and candy. (Which as for the latter is odd since we're not big candy-for-kids fans and we haven't even talked about that much as a major component of this holiday. But it's something she seems to have picked up on anyways. I guess the whole candy-kids combo is inevitable this time of year, oh well!)

Scopes

Brianna has recently discovered her daddy's binoculars. He has a very small pair that he keeps with all his outdoorsy gear. They're the pocket kind you can tuck away and then pull out when you see something far off that needs a little extra scrutiny. :) Well, Bree found them the other day and went crazy for them. She calls them her "scopes." (I suppose because she's thinking of a telescope, which I think she's seen on some of her TV cartoons.) So, she'll walk up to one of us and say, "Hey, have you seen my scopes? Where'd my scopes go?" Once they're located she'll sling them around her neck and go marching around the house, holding the binoculars up to her eyes and examining the apartment up close. (Actually, I'm a bit grossed out by exactly what lovely things she might discover that way. I mean, I clean the house and all but toddlers do seem to find all the little bits you miss...esp. with "scopes" to help eyeball all the knee to ground level parts.) It's a bit of a different activity for a 2 year old I suppose, but keep in mind her science nerd Daddy who peeks through "scopes" all day. :) Oh well, it's gotta be pretty educational and, she likes it. So, no harm done and it keeps her occupied for quite some time. She does look pretty funny though creeping around the house staring around through her "scopes."

Back to Basics

Okay, so I know that the last few posts have been a lot of pix and not a whole lot of content. My excuse is that the past week or so has been super crazy-busy and I've had a lot of fun pictures I wanted to post. But, it's time to get back to the Brianna basics and give you a few fun toddler anecdotes and Bree-isms. So, here ya go:

The other day while at the park, Brianna and I saw a puppy go by, which, is nothing new. And, as usual Bree pointed and said all excitedly, "Oh look Mom, a puppy! A cute puppy!" Then she added something new she hasn't said before, "Mom, I want a puppy. Go to the store and get me one okay?" Aack! The great kid vs. parent puppy debate has started already! At least while we're still living here I can use the excuse that the apartment doesn't allow dogs. But, I might have to get more creative once we move.

Travis, Brianna, and I decided that pizza sounded good for dinner a few nights ago. We found this place nearbye, Marcello's, with the best pizza! So, Trav was carrying Bree as we were walking into the restaurant and he asked her, "What kind of pizza do you want? I think a pepperoni and mushroom sounds good." Then Bree looked and him and said, "Zackly (exactly), zackly Daddy." I guess she thought that sounded just about perfect too. And, she really did enjoy it. About a half and hour later while she was chowing down on her pizza she was going. "Mmm. Mmm. Yummy peppi-ownees (pepperonis)."

Once we got back from pizza it was dark outside. Now that it's getting later in the fall it gets dark sooner. Still, Brianna isn't outside after dark very often. So, when she spotted the moon in the sky she got all excited. "It's back! It's back!" she exclaimed pointing up. "The moon is back! Daddy, hold me so I can reach it!" And while Daddy held her she did try to reach up and get it..but to no avail. Maybe next time. :)

HallZOOween

Even thought the official day hasn't even arrived yet, it's been all about Halloween around here the past few days. Since Halloween itself actually falls on a Tuesday, since we don't want our 2 yr old out real late, and since we don't want her to have a whole lot of candy, we're not planning to do much that evening. (But, we still want to get our money's worth out of the costume!) So, instead, we've been enjoying going to a few daytime events. We had our own party yesterday and today we joined up with Scott, Hannah, and Kadyn at the MN Zoo for HallZOOween! It was a great time! There were a ton of little kids all dressed up and all the zoo staff were in full costume too. They had stations set up for the kids to "trick-or-treat" at with candy and prizes. So, we strolled around and got to see the animals, and the gals were thrilled with their little goodie bags. All this before lunch and nap time even. :)

Kadyn was a fairy princess. Check out that fancy dress, and the wings and wand!

Of course, Brianna was Buzz Lightyear again. She looked just as adorable and she liked it just as well the second time around. Here she is giving a space ranger salute! (Okay, not really, I think she's itching her ear, but doesn't it look like a salute?)

Buzz and the Fairy Princess got the royal treatment and were carted around in their own personal "carriage" (the wagon).

After awhile, the Fairy Princess decided she'd rather walk (isn't she a pretty princess?)...

...which left Buzz riding in the wagon alone, keeping a close guard on her goodie bag.

Here's Scott trying out the monster teeth Kadyn got while trick-or-treating at one of the goodie stations.

After trick-or-treating awhile, Buzz needed a rest.

But, a space ranger's work is never done. She was soon up and running again...
To Infinity and Beyond! (ZOOM)

One of the last things we did was check out the band the zoo had set up. They were singing a lot of fun kid-type songs. Brianna immediately decided she was a groupie and ran up to watch at the very front of the crowd. In this shot the band was singing "The Bat Rap" and had asked for some backup "rappers." So, Bree was hoisted up on stage as a "rapper." Here she is doing a crossed arms rapper pose that the band helped put the kids in just before the song started. During the song she was jumping up and down and dancing and you could even see her lips saying "bat rap!" Too funny!

Here she is getting down with her bad Buzz self. It was sooo cute. In fact, at the end of the song as the main singer was helping Bree off-stage she said, "Oh, this is what I call BC, which means 'Beyond Cute.'" After cutting a rug on stage though, Brianna was getting pretty tired, and both lunch and nap times were coming up, so we took off soon after. But, Bree left happy with a little bag of treats to show for her morning.

Halloween Party!!

Finally! The day Bree has been long awaiting arrived! Today we hosted a Halloween party in the party room of our apartment complex for our playgroup. We had 16 moms and their tiny, costumed little kids over for some Halloween fun and treats. With all those friends over, there was a very wide variety of costumes to be seen. The kids all looked so adorable! Brianna was super excited to get to show off her costume and the other moms thought it was pretty funny to tell her, "To infinity and beyond!" and send her zooming around the room. Even though the party didn't last long due to afternoon naptimes, the kids still got to play, color, dance, and leave with a few goodies. Overall, a good time was had by all I think.

TA-DA! Here she is in her world debut, Brianna as the girl Buzz Lightyear! It was just as great as I thought it would be! Hee hee! Everyone thought she was pretty darn cute, esp. the pigtails. And, I was pretty pleased with the way my home-made cardboard and construction paper wings turned out. :) Needless to say, she's the only girl Buzz Lightyear we've seen so far. But, I'm actually very glad my little gal knows what she likes and who she is and is not afraid to be herself!

Aside from Buzz, there were lots of other great costumes too.
Take Skylar, who was a clown.

We also had a cow, and a Tigger, aka Colby and Andres.

And this is Ivy as a dinosoar.

Here's Grace, (my friend Becca's daughter) also as a dinosaur, except green.

And here's Raggedy Anne.

A CareBear and a chicken. The chicken (who is Alex, Dawn's son) is looking a little upset in this one though.

This is a shot of the "Bat Bells" we made the kids. At the party we had kind of "stations" set up for the kids to do different types of activities around the room. The "Bat Bells" were for the kids to take and shake. (They're actually just black paper cups with jingle bells suspended inside them, and some jiggle eyes and paper wings glued on to complete the bat look.) The kids seemed to have fun with them. Bree was calling them "Batty Bats" like The Count does from Sesame Street.

Another "station" was "Mr. Pumpkin Head" where the kids used Mr. Potato Head parts to make faces on a pumpkin. Here's a few pix of the kids in action with Mr. Pumpkin Head. Buzz and the monkey especially enjoyed it!

Dawn and Alex, along with Colby and his mom, spending a minute coloring a Halloween picture page.

And finally, a shot of everyone chillin' and enjoying the party. We had a great time and it seemed like all the guests did too. It was a lot of fun!

A Little Warmer Weather

It's warmed up just a bit here the past few days. Enough so that you don't really need a full coat to go out, just a nice warm sweater. So, since taking a nice walk is one of Brianna's favorite things, her and her daddy took off for another outdoor adventure this afternoon. As usual, Trav came back with some darn adorable pix...

So cute in her little stripey sweater. Doesn't she look so grown up in this pic?

She's ready for her close up... I always have to include a cute headshot with her big blue eyes in there. (And, at least you can see them now. I finally trimmed her bangs up and out of her eyeline.)

Making the ducks fly! Brianna loves to chase them until they fly away. You can see how much fun she thinks it is by the look on her face. She does it every time we take a walk around the apt. :)

PEEK-A-BOO!

Another shot of her running through and crunching the leaves. Bree has really enjoyed doing that this fall. And, I have to admit, it's still one of my favorite things to do as well!

A cute one! I like the way her hair is in this shot.
A windblown beauty...

Clifford's Mom

It’s no secret (if you’ve been reading this blog very long) that Bree ends up going to bed with quite a few friends every night. Bear and Green (her two favorite teddy bears) are a given but other than those two the cast kind of changes from week to week depending on her mood. Recently she’s also insisted on having “Clifford” in bed with her as well. “Clifford” is a little stuffed red dog Brianna got from Grandma Dee-Dee. Since he’s red, she promptly named him Clifford after, well, Clifford the Big Red Dog (duh). Clifford’s been one of the important bedtime players for a few weeks now. So, when Bree asked for him tonight it was no big surprise. What was kind of a surprise though was when she also suddenly asked for “Clifford’s Mom.” I wasn’t exactly sure which of her little stuffed friends she was referring to, but soon saw she was pointing to a slightly larger stuffed dog who’s brown with darker brown spots. Not exactly sure when this happened but I guess our Clifford now has a new mom. Congrats to the newly formed family I guess..although that means just one more extra thing in Bree’s little bed. I’m not quite sure how she manages to have enough room to actually sleep in there…..

Bunnies Everywhere....

Well, you know what they say about bunnies... you start out with 2 and end up with a million. I guess that's true for drawings of bunnies too. See, Bree has a notebook with a picture of a bunny on it that she got in her Easter basket months ago. Naturally, in perfect toddler reasoning she thinks that we should only draw pictures of..bunnies..inside the bunny notebook. And, that's all that's drawn in there (aside from scribbling which is Bree's contribution-she thinks she's drawing bunnies). I swear I've drawn a bunny on pretty much every page in that darn little notebook. Every day Bree will hand it to me saying "Mom, draw a bunny!" As soon as I've finished drawing one she'll turn the page and say, "Mom, draw a bunny right there," and point. I usually have to draw around 5-6 bunnies before I can beg off making any more. I think we're gonna have to buy a new notebook to house all the bunnies at the rate they're "reproducing."

Photo Montage

Okay well, actually Brianna and I had kind of a tough day today. She spent most the day feeling rather crabby and was bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of the day. So, for once I couldn't really find our one happy or cute moment to talk about. Instead, I was looking through our photos and found a few cute pix from other days when we weren't so crabby. :) Oh well, guess we'll start over tomorrow. Anyways, here's a few random photos from the past few weeks....

I love this one! It just looks like a happy childhood shot to me... Bree's got the paper-plate mask we made the other day around her neck. (I've been trying to do an afternoon craft every day since the weather's been colder. We were actually making jack-o-lantern masks and this is what hers ended up looking like...) Here she had insisted on wearing it to go help us do the laundry. She did wear the mask on her face quite a bit, we just couldn't manage to get her to hold still long enough to get a pic of it!

Checking out the shark at the MN Zoo. Man! He's scary looking. But, Brianna was just staring at him through the glass without flinching.

Running through the fall leaves with such abandon. Here, she was on one of her walks around the apartment grounds with her daddy.

This was one day when Bree woke up and decided she needed to spend the morning in just her diaper. She does that a lot lately. :) I think this one is just full of little girl sweetness.

Do the Twist

On one of our many baby song CD's we've got the song "The Twist." I think it's a catchy tune and everytime it comes on I try to get Bree to dance with me. So, I dance around like an idiot while she stares at me. I had just about decided that Brianna just didn't like that song, or at least that she didn't appreciate it as being on the level of say, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "The Muffin Man." Today she surprised me though by singing "The Twist" almost word for word. She had just needed some inspiration was all. She got it this afternoon when she was standing on the computer chair and using her hands on the desk to push herself back and forth, making the chair swivel. Suddenly while doing this she breaks out with, "Come on baby..do the Twist! Come on BA-BY, do the Twist. Do it like this! The Twist!" She sang it for about 5 minutes and despite my best efforts to keep a straight face, (so she woudn't feel embarassed), every time she said "Come on baby!" I would snicker. Oh well, it didn't bother her at all. My baby is not one to be shy at all! I can just see future karaoke incidents now....

A Day at the Orchard

This weekend Travis, Brianna, and I joined other families from my mom's group and went out to a local apple orchard. We got to walk through the orchards, play in a pumpkin patch, and do all kinds of fun stuff on the farm. It was a little chilly out, but we all had lots of fun!

The orchard was set up quite nicely for visitors. They had apple cider and doughnut stands, hay rides, a little petting barn, and these little wagons to haul the kids around the farm in. So, while all us poor adults had to walk the toddlers got pulled along in luxury. Ivy, Bree, and Skylar are in the wagon. Another friend, Erin, and her son, Finn, were also there but aren't in this picture.

Ivy, riding along in the wagon.

Since it was cold, I dressed Bree up nice and warm. She's actually wearing one of my stocking caps underneath her coat hood. The hat was too big for her and the flower kept flopping into her face all day. :)

This is a nice shot of my friend Melissa and her daughter, Ivy, who were also there with our group.

They had these tiny tot-sized tractors that the kids could ride on. Brianna loved them! Later we actually went on a hay ride pulled by one of the big tractors..she was so excited by that too!

Then Bree and I needed a rest so we took a little break on a few hay bales.

Even though we were technically at an "orchard" they still had brought in some pumpkins for people to buy. Here's Bree surveying the pile of pumpkins. She wasn't really into the big ones though...

Instead she just carried around this little striped pumpkin (or is it a gourd?) around for most the rest of the time we were there. She kept saying "See my stripey punkin (pumpkin)?"

We were there so long Bree turned INTO a pumpkin! Okay, obviously not really. Isn't she cute as a pumpkin though? She didn't last long after that..it was cold out there! But, we had a really fun time. :)

A Scary Chocolate Bunny

So, I've mentioned before that Bree is having some nightmares and trouble sleeping at night recently. She's gotten to the "afraid of the dark" stage. But, leave it to her to give it a totally different spin. Don't get me wrong, she started out by talking about monsters in her room. Rather run of the mill. Then, if you recall she insisted there was a pretend tiger scaring her in her bed. (How do you get rid of a pretend Tiger I ask you?) But I have to say last night topped them all so far. Brianna woke up terrified and screaming for her daddy at around 2:30 a.m. He went in there and actually had to spend around a half hour calming her down, reading to her, and snuggling her back to sleep. When he finally staggered back into bed I said, "What was that all about?" "Oh well, apparently there's a really scary chocolate bunny in her bed." he told me. "What??!!" I asked. "I dunno," he said, "That's what she told me. She kept insisting there was a mean chocolate bunny in there." Well, there's one I've never heard of before. But we all know how vicious those darn chocolate bunnies can be huh?

Quality Time with Daddy

Last night I left Brianna at home with Travis and headed out for a Mom's Night Out with a few of my friends. This isn't a new thing so Bree actually took it pretty well in stride when I left. I went off and had a good time but of course was curious to hear about what had happened while I was gone. So, this morning I ask Travis, "So, what'd you guys do last night?" He tells me, "Well, Brianna says 'I'm God!' now." "What!!??" I said. I'm thinking, well great! I mean, that's not swearing or anything but it just sounds wrong for a 2 year old to wander around going "I'm God!" I was actually about to say what the heck are you telling her when I'm gone when, (lucky for him), Trav elaborated and said, "Yeah, you know. She says I'm God. We were fencing last night." Aha! Bree-speak again... "I'm God" = En Guarde. Besides having a fencing match apparently they also did some country swing dancing with cowboy hats on, watched home movies of Brianna when she was younger, and had a cup of hot chocolate together. (The hot chocolate was a big hit and Bree was referring to it as her coffee.) :)

Party Time!

My friend Becca and I are having a Halloween party for the kids in our playgroup. Today we got together to try and talk about the details and also to put some of the trinkets together that we want to hand out to the kids. Well, for some reason Brianna was really into it and was getting all excited. "Party time!" she was saying. "No baby, the party isn't until next week," I had to tell her. But, the concept of next week doesn't mean a whole lot to a 2 yr old. So, later in the day when her daddy walked in the door from work she raced up to him and said, "Daddy! Becca Becca and party time!" To which he asked her "You need to go potty?" because in Bree-speak "party time" and "potty time" sound an awful lot alike. Anyways, after Travis figured out she was talking about party time I had to explain that we had worked on getting the Halloween party stuff ready and that it's not until next week. Actually I was a little bit surprised that Bree would even be that excited since I'm pretty sure she doesn't even remember any of her Halloween experiences yet. I guess she does remember going to a few birthday parties this summer though, which might explain her enthusiasm...

Once again though, I underestimated her memory and stubborness because sure enough, wanna know what she said first thing this morning? As I walked into her room to get her out of her crib she said "Mom! Party Time!" (Oh no! The return of the tiny party animal!)

Bree-isms

Here are a few one-liners that made me smile today:

"Mom, I'm not goin' anywhere!" (After having me tell her we need to hurry and get ready so we could go hang out with our playgroup.)

"Hey, give me a big ole' kiss!" and then after getting a kiss "Do I have lipstick now?" (Turns out that she only wanted to kiss me after I'd put on my lip gloss and only so she'd get some on her own lips!)

"Oh, my cama (camera)! It's lost, it's lost. I can't take it!" (Did I mention she also threw herself on the floor at this point? This after she'd spent all of 2 minutes looking for her daddy's old camera she sometimes plays with.)

"Mom, I'm askin' you, can I have a cookie? Daddy said.." To which I clarified "Dad told you to come ask me if you could have a cookie?" and she said "No Mom, I'm asking you!"

(Geesh, was that kinda short?! Sorry, I guess I've been slacking off a little lately. Well ya know, people to see, things to do, a house to clean, a kid to raise and all that... What? You didn't think stay at home mom's have lives too? You should see my day planner: breakfast, playtime w/ Bree (stack 3 blocks only to have them knocked over repeatedly, make a plastic car go vroom, color a picture and realize 10 minutes later that I'm still happily coloring while Bree's wandered off), do the dishes, lunch, do the new dishes from the lunch mess, naptime, vacuum, snack time, vacuum again since there are now crumbs all over from snack time, wipe handprints off the wall from snacktime...) :)

The Games We Play

So, Brianna's been into a few new games lately. One of them isn't so much a game I guess though... She's been asking constantly to have one of us help her log onto starfall.com. It's this pre-literacy website that has a fun little activity for each letter. You click on the letter and it makes that letter's sound with pictures of things that start with that letter, etc. Bree is nuts about it! Anyways, today I was giving her a bath while her daddy was in the living room, sitting down with his laptop. She was sure he was going to be having fun without her and from the bathroom Brianna called out "Daddy, don't do ABC's without me!"

Another game Bree's been liking lately is to play "monster." (Just in time for Halloween!) She'll put her little hands out in front of her and start running after you while saying in a deep "monster" voice, "I'm gonna get you!" She could play that one for hours.

Hide and Seek is another new favorite around here. We've been trying to play this one for awhile now but Bree's finally old enough to start getting the idea. In fact, she gets it too well. She totally freaked me out the other day when I turned around from making the bed and didn't see her anywhere. Since our apartment is fairly small I knew she had to be around somewhere, just perhaps getting herself into some trouble. Well, I quickly walked through a few rooms calling "Bree? Brianna?" Until...I heard a small giggle coming from behind the rocking chair. "Brianna?" I asked. "I'm hiding!" came her small voice. She'd managed to wedge herself into the corner behind the chair. That seems to be the only place she goes when she's hiding though. Makes Hide and Seek easy for me... Now, whenever I can't find her I'm sure to hear her little giggle behind the chair. But, I play along..."Where's Bree?" I'll ask...

Fill in the Blank

I seem to have been doing a lot of "collection" type entries lately that are sort of lists of the cute things from throughout the day. So, why stop now?? :) Here's a few funny, short little stories from our day today:

Driving in the car this morning while running errands I was playing some of Bree's toddler music for her. When the song "Under the Sea" came on Bree listened very nicely and once it was over she said "Mom, let's watch Little Mermaid okay?" I was kind of amazed that she would make that kind of connection, that THAT particular song was from The Little Mermaid, especially since she just watched it for the first time a few days ago. It's kind of scary how good her memory has become!

After Brianna woke up from her nap today I picked her up and said, "Okay, let's change your diaper." "No, no change my diaper, I'm fresh!" she insisted. "Well," I said, "let's just take a look and make sure," I said. "Mom, poopy or fresh those are the choices," she informed me. "You're right, those are the choices," I said. :)

Once she got a clean diaper on (turns out the choice was poopy) Bree went straight to playing pretend in her room. At one point, (I don't remember what I was saying), I was talking to her and called her Brianna. "Mom, don't call me that! I'm Grammy 'Ranna right now."

After dinner tonight Bree wanted a cookie for dessert. (Actually, she wanted a cookie before and during dinner too, but that's another story...) She hadn't eaten very much dinner and was trying to convice us she was done and ready for her dessert. "I want a cookie!" she declared. "Hey, hey you guys, Mom and Dad, I want one!" (She went on like this for a few minutes.) Finally, she started to get a little frustrated. She put her little hand up next to her cheek, pointed her index finger, squinted her little eyes and said, "I WANT A COOKIE! I said it, I want a cookie!" We just laughed at her and she had her cookie a few minutes later, after we made her say please.

Finally, tonight I was trying to ask Travis a question. I had a million things on my mind and as I leaned over to ask him the question I sort of forgot what I was going to say. "Do you..." I trailed off. Bree took this as an opportunity to fill in the blank (as she does so often lately) and quickly finished my question off with "know the muffin man?!" Trav and I were both laughing at that one. Just goes to show you she's quick on her feet and always listening! (gulp)

Poor Baby

I felt so sorry for my poor little baby today. She had to wake up to find her Grammy Deb gone this morning. (Deb had an early flight out). Of course, we didn't want to spring it on her so we told Brianna last night, as the three of us tucked her in, that Grammy Deb wouldn't be there in the morning. Still, she woke up today and asked for her. "She's not here baby, she left," I told her. "Why'd she go to Idaho?" Bree asked with a frown on her little face. So, I had to explain to her that Grammy missed Poppa Roger and so forth.

And, on top of no Grammy to play with today Brianna has a terrible cold! She's been sniffling and coughing and has a sore throat. She's wandered around the house today talking with a deep man voice (well okay, maybe more like a 12 year old boy whose voice is breaking). Poor baby! More than once she told me today "Mom, I'm not feelin' too good." It's the first time she's been old enough to tell me when she's sick and feeling yucky but it just breaks my heart since there's not much I can do to make her feel better. So, since we'd had a busy weekend with Grammy and needed a slow day anyways we just spent all day in our PJ's, hanging out. And, despite her being sick I think we managed to have a pretty good day...

We built a "fort" with a couple chairs and a blanket and spent some time in there. We colored in the fort, had pretend tea, and used a flashlight like a spotlight on the bottom of the blanket. After the novelty of the fort wore off Brianna had a brief spurt of energy and spent a half hour or so in her Buzz costume, jumping off one of her little chairs onto the floor. I wasn't too thrilled with this activity and every time she climbed up there I was saying "Hey, be careful please!" Well, apparently I forgot to say it one time because Brianna climbed up on the seat of her chair and was just standing there, staring at me. "Mom, say those words!" she demanded. I really had no idea what she was talking about "To infinity and beyond?" I guessed. "No! Mom, say the words!" "Um...ready set go?" I guessed again. "No Mom! Be careful. Say those words!" she told me. "Okay, be careful Brianna." And, with that she jumped off. :) Pretty soon though her little energy burst wore off and we did a slower-paced activity, making paper plate halloween masks. I made mine into a jack-o-lantern mask. Bree scribbled all over her plate and I cut eyes and a smiley face into it. I put my mask on first and Brianna said "Put mine on too Pumpkin!" It made me smile and kind of surprised me until I realized...I literally looked like a pumpkin.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty nice day for my little sickie and me.

Takin' Grammy to the Park

I can't believe it's the last day of Grammy Deb's visit already! As usual it's flown by but as usual I think we managed to cram a lot of fun stuff in there like the zoo, eating out, and watching Bree just be herself and hang out at home too. Of course, it wouldn't be a full visit unless we took Grammy Deb to do one of Brianna's all time favorite activities...the park! (I don't know what we'll do when it gets too cold to stay outside for long.) We had a great time showing Grammy one of our favorite parks, Parker Lake...

Brianna's favorite part of the park was getting to ride this blue seahorse. Her feet didn't quite reach the foot rests, but that didn't stop her at all. We actually had to convince her to get off it and try something else. Doesn't she look adorable though?

After a long time riding the seahorse Brianna went down the slides for awhile. Here she is at the top of the slide, getting ready to go down. Actually, I guess there's not much action in this pic but I just like it anyways.