Welcome Autumn!

Autumn means hay rides...

Neighbor Rick has taken Vivie and the neighborhood children for multiple "hay rides" in the field behind our house. So much fun for the kids!

Never a dull moment when eating out with a toddler.

Walking uphill to the "Balloon Glow" in forest park. Hands in pockets.

yes, literally a balloon glow. The next day, Felix and I went to the "Balloon Race". It is one of the largest one-day balloon meets in the US. The event attracts more than 60 hot air balloons of different shapes and sizes from around the country. I was surprised at just how loud and hot these were! We arrived at the tail end of the night and when they started deflating the balloons, it kept you on your toes not to get under them as they came down! yikes.

Felix's Birthday Breakfast

His Birthday Massage :)

The train stops here.

This photo reminds me of a story I heard on NPR: In china, passengers of an airline actually had to get out of the plane and assist while pushing the airplane off the runway! It doesn't seem so bad to pay for check-in luggage when you hear that story...

"Thank God it was only a 20-ton, medium-sized plane," one airport worker told The Sun. "if it were a big plane, it would have knocked us out."

keepin' busy at the playground

last time sleeping in her crib. sigh.

We surprised her with her toddler bed one evening a few weeks ago. She was so excited!
She ran in and hugged her bed!! "I love my big white bed!" she kept saying.

bear hugs to bed - love at first sight

The first night she slept through. We switched her because she was protesting her naps lately and her ability to climb in and out of her crib - combined with the dangerous back bends she was doing while having a tantrum in her crib - were just too unsafe to keep her in there.
With the new bed, there is still the occasional nap fight. However, with the door closed she mostly calms down and either plays in her room quietly or eventually climbs back into bed and sleeps. Regardless of which she chooses, it gives me some time to recover mid-day. Let's all keep hoping her naps continue...for my sanity. :)

her love affair with Santa and Christmas continues....

We've been keeping her busy!
Our Little Suzy Homemaker:

(what housewife doesn't spend some time on the phone chatting it up?)

before I forget...she has a special song that she sings every once and a while over the last several months.
It goes something like: didle didle didle didle dooo.
a little bit like yodeling.
Also, when she runs, sometimes just her left arm will swing back and forth...keeping her right still- and making for some quirky cuteness her parents adore.

talking about quirky cuteness:
my cousin Brian is normally not the bunny ear flaunting type...pulling up to our house on his motorcycle with the nickname "rocket man".

such a nice visit...Amelie couldn't keep her paws off him! and Vivienne transformed into the shyest toddler on the planet...She was so timid that just mentioning Brian the next day had her running to the nearest corner. (I have to admit I thought of using his name the next time she had a tantrum to distract her....but didn't, haa ha - not that mean.)

Vivienne's first day of "school". She will be going 2 mornings a week to possibly free up some time so that I take on a part-time job. Its so fun to have her come home with crafts/art that she has done and she tells me about her day.
I will know more about the part-time job soon.

buddies on the farm.
Funny story: At purina farms we were offered to help milk a cow. I unabashedly said "Yes!". The cow was up on a platform contained by a fence. In order to get Vivienne in arms reach of the cow I had to kind-of place my head in the fence. (Let's say for humor's sake: inches from the utter) I quickly realized, how ridiculous of a position I was in and how easily it would be to get squirted with milk once Vivie went for a squeeze.
I remained dry- thankfully.
Although next time we have a cow milking opportunity thrown in our laps...or faces for that matter!
- Vivienne will have to be old enough to reach up there on her own as not to risk the emabarresment of her all to eager mother.

our lookouts

dressed to impress

yes, she sleeps though the night...but you never know just where she is sleeping in her room.