arrrgh, matey

more halloween fun later. for now, here's olivia the pirate acting like a crazy lady after a crunch bar.

pumpkin patch

monday night we took olivia to the pumpkin patch. i thought it would mostly be a quick little stop where i could get some obligatory pictures, but boy was i wrong. apparently olivia has learned about the pumpkin patch from somewhere. (maybe the dora halloween episode she's watched about 14 times?) as soon as we got out of the car she was trying to get down saying, "yeah! yeah! yeah!" so we put her down and off she went. she wanted nothing to do with us and refused to let us get any sort of decent picture. but it was fun seeing her have so much fun. even though she might have been sweating to death. apparently 87 degrees at 7pm is not a good time to force your child into a sweater. she was a good sport. pretty sure she was bugged that all she got were 2 tiny 50 cent pumpkins instead of the monster ones she was trying to pick up out in the field. doesn't her face in the carseat shots say it all?

sunday fun

adam had a few things to do right after church on sunday and we were in one car that day (someone t-boned adam on friday--for another post) so olivia and i were waiting for him. here's what she found to entertain herself. who knows where her shoes are and please note her addiction to the binky. good times on sunday afternoon with 8 year olds in the gym. we are so reverent.

nigh-night mama, nigh-night

so, many of you may already know about olivia's walking dilemma. here's a rundown if not:

i'd say she probably took her "first steps" at least 2 months ago. since then she's had spurts of days where she is all about it, then days where she reverts 100% back to crawling. for the past month, she's probably walked 30% of the time. for the past 2 weeks specifically, she's probably walked like 60% of the time. and the past 2 days? she's up to like 90%. so i think we're on the home stretch here at 15 freaking months. yeah. i was a little panicked about it but the doctor told me she is otherwise developmentally totally fine and that some kids simply see crawling as the faster way for longer than other kids. she could tell i was a little worried i think because she asked me to say all of the words olivia uses (i counted 10) and she said the average 15 month old has 3. hm. don't know about that. whatever. anyway, i'm just glad my 26 pounder is finally seeing the joy that is walking. because i'm pretty sure i can't carry her much longer.

anyway, lamenting about the anti-walker is not the point of this post. with her new found freedom, she is obsessed with walking around stores. inconvenient stores like pier 1 and old navy. but, i just let her, because she's pretty good at just cruising around touching all the clothes and she is too big to wrestle into the stroller at my current size. today at old navy she was toddling along just fine and apparently she got a little tired, because i turned around to find this:

i knew it was nap time, but apparently she needed to remind me.

68 degrees!

you might think olivia is smiling so big in these shots because she loves the swings. true, but i think she's smiling because we are finally at the park and NOT sweating!

we've had two park days in the past 72 hours that have been basically heat free. we are a happy family.

in other news, see below to find out what happens when you leave your lunch in your child's reach when you go downstairs for 10 seconds......

delish, mom! please note this is after she REFUSED to eat her own lunch.

halloween 2009

binky + dora = mom can try on earrings for olivia's pirate halloween costume AND take a picture without so much as a blink. how do they look?? i figure i can get her fully dressed (eye patch, head scarf and all) this way on halloween and maybe have a better chance of getting one good picture before she starts ripping the costume off her body and into shreds. sounds like a good plan to me! it's all for the pictures anyway, right?

read all about it

1- three cheers for adam who got out of a $545 ticket yesterday. no, i'm not married to a criminal. he swerved around a car who slammed on the breaks for a stopping bus so 1- adam consequently did not stop for the bus (big fine) and 2- he was "following too closely" if he had to swerve around the car in front of him (another big fine). leave it to adam to leave a 14 minute conversation with a cop in jokes with NO ticket.

2- the orlando heat and how much i am hating it right now is being overshadowed by some lovely new arrivals. 2 H&Ms and a nordstrom rack... none of which we currently have... all in the next couple weeks! could be trouble.

3- did you know you can text 911 now? well, only in iowa so far. i've always wondered why this hasn't happened sooner. i heard about it on the radio this morning and they said it should be making its way around the country soon. but don't worry, not before 911 call center employees get lessons on "texting lingo" so they can accurately and appropriately address problems. kind of funny. l8r sk8rs.