Happy Halloween!

I had to work today and I wasn't sure how the night was going to go. However, Erin watched Brielle at our house and she took 2 really good naps (2+ hrs!) When I got off of work I called Matt to find out where he was. He had gone over to Julie's for dinner and to trick-or-treat with the cousins. I was a little bummed because I was hoping to have her home when I got home, but it all turned out. I had Matt meet me at my parents house and surprise them. It was SO dang cute. The door bell rang and there is Brielle standing on the porch holding her candy bag with a great big grin. She walked around the door and came running into the house. My mom gave her candy and she grabbed onto it and would let it go. Needless to say the chocolate melted. We trick-or-treated my parents street and had a great time visiting and showing off our little witch. She loved grabbing candy and holding it. She was right in her element being outside, which by the way was BEAUTIFUL weather and a full moon.

A funny story to share. We were coming down from G.pa and G.ma's Ross's house when I saw some kids trick-or treating by the Bentley's. We were in far enough up and in the dark we looked like shadows. I thought it would be funny to make some scary noises. I made a few and you could hear this little girl ask, "what was that?" Matt thought he would pipe in and make a few more noises. All of a sudden this little girl starts screaming, drops her bag of candy and takes off and the rest of the group starts to scatter. It was SO funny. I thought my mom was going to wet her pants, she was laughing so hard. I was surprised her rib didn't hurt her (she broke it laying Brielle down for a nap). Needless to say we all got a pretty good laugh.

We packed up from my parents and headed over to our neighborhood. We really were not too sure where to go since we had never trick-or-treated in our new neighborhood. She I thought we would go and see some church families. We started and ended with the Jolley family. We love hanging out with them and Brielle has such a good time with their little girl Kayla. We were having so much fun we didn't go home to almost 11. Brielle was so full of energy she was running all over the house and playing. It was an incredible night and I couldn't believe how much fun Brielle had.

Apple Hill

We have been going to Apple Hill since I was about 2-3 months old. We didn't go as often when we were teenagers because of sports related activities. Last year I barley got to go because I was 8 months pregnant and the doctors weren't too sure if they wanted me to be that far from a hospital. However we did go because I wasn't a high risk pregnancy and my OB wasn't too concerned. This year was exceptionally fun because we had Brielle. At first I was a little nervous on how the day was going to go because she woke up and her gums were REALLY swollen and two teeth had broken through. She looked so funny and she reminded me of a vampire.

He had to take a little detour from our usual routine so my mom could get some pictures at a museum. Brielle liked hanging out in the forrest area with the water and the bird noises. She enjoyed the outdoors and was excited to find her two rocks for her hands.

Our first stop was new for us. We had always driven by but fir some reason this year we stopped. It was a really cute place, it had some shops, food and an area for the kids. Brielle enjoyed the wood cutouts of the animals. She LOVED being outside and the weather was a little chilly, but if you were in the sun it felt good. We had a pretty good lunch there and moved on to the next place. Our next stop had the train ride and the pony rides. Last year the train wasn't running so we were excited it was open this year. However we went to pay and they said they were closed for the moment they had to work on the train. Unfortunately we hung out for awhile and finally gave up. We went across the street to the pony rides. We were the only ones there so they let us pet the horses. Brielle was so excited and laughed every time the horse moved it mouth to try to eat her hand. After we warmed up to the horses we tried to ride the pony. I let her sit on the saddle and she immediately leaned for ward to pet the main. The I made sure I held onto her one arm and we started to walk with the pony. Oh my goodness I couldn't believe the excitement that came out of Brielle. She just lite up and started laughing. She grabbed onto the horn of the saddle and laughed for a good 30 seconds. Then enjoyed the ride and started laughing again. It was the most precious moment, one I will treasure for a long time. I think I have a little cowgirl on my hands. Maybe we need to look into investing in a horse.

Our last stop we feed different animals. That sheep Brielle is trying to feed is trying hard to get the food she has in her hands. We had a good time. I always love going to Apple Hill and going with my family is even better!

Fall time!

I try and get Brian to take pictures every time he comes into town. We make such a great team. I typically do the posing and the location and he works his magic with the camera. I am so grateful for his willingness to put up with me. He sure does capture some beautiful shots. I wanted some outside pictures with leaves so we took pictures at Idlewild Park and had a great time. Brielle was really tired and not wanting to smile much but we managed to get some decent pictures.

Happy Birthday Norma

Today we celebrated Norma's birthday. Julie had everyone out at her house and had dinner. It was fun to be together with everyone and Brielle enjoys having her cousins to play with. My camera wasn't working right and so most my pictures didn't turn out. But here are a few to remember the day.

My little witch

She was really interested in her dress this morning. It was pretty cute.

Brian was kind enough to do a photo shoot of Brielle in her Halloween costume. Brian was a trooper and got up and did it even though his stomach was killing him and he wasn't really feeling up to par. Brielle was a little tired herself and working up to nap time. However I think we got a few good pictures. The coloring off on some of the pictures, Brian had his camera on the wrong setting and didn't catch it until we were done and I didn't really know how to fix it. They are still cute.

Our famous Halloween Party

I feel this picture describes how our nation really feels about our current President.

One of these day I am going to learn to try my costume on BEFORE the party so if there is something wrong I may be able to do something about it. This is not the first time my outfit hasn't been the most modest even if on the package it looks like it will work. Luckily someone suggested to put a black skirt underneath it. It all worked out.

The happy parents!

The Taylor cousins.

Brielle looks so old in this picture. I bought the dress with anticipation she would be walking. I am so glad it all worked out! She looked AWESOME!

For the Halloween Party this year I didn't have to work the day before the party. This allowed me to have SO much time to prepare food. I found some really fun recipes that were Halloween themed. Erin was a trooper and volunteered (really forced) to help prepare the food. We slaved away in the kitchen from early in the morning Friday until late that night and back at it Saturday. I also found out how unprepared I was because I had to go to the store a millions times for ingredients....err. We had a GREAT time together and were pretty proud of how everything turned out. However, we did have one disappointment....our shrimp skull fell apart before the party even started AND I was hoping to have everything done at least an hour before the party but once again I was working on food, and not dressed when people started to show up.

I was very surprise with how many people we did NOT have. In years past our house has been PACKED. Normally we don't have enough places for people to sit and it is a little chaotic. This year it was a smaller group and we had seats for everyone. I think our final total was around 85 people. It was amazing the difference. Almost everyone stayed and visited where in years past the party was done by 8:30ish but this time I think the last people that left was around 9:30ish. Even Matt and I were able to visit which was really nice. The weather was perfect so some people were able to visit outside. We had several adults watch the kids break the pinata this year. The Haunted House was a huge hit again this year. Matt did an amazing job and everyone complemented him on his work. It still remains the biggest hit for the kids.

Things I learned this year. I had WAY too much food which meant a lot of leftovers. I don't think I will make the fudge again because no one ate it. I don't know if I need to double the shredded pork but the meatballs were a huge hit. I also need to find a better set up with the food because i don't think people realize that all the food in the kitchen is for the party. If I am going to do carmel apples I need smaller apples. I need to set an age limit for the pinata because the older kids took all the goodies and many of the little kids were sad. I enjoyed having a smaller group and think we will try to keep the numbers down. I loved the fact that we pushed the couch over and put another table in the living room. The trash situation was better this year but I am still wondering why people don't throw their plates away. Maybe I need a bigger trash can??