Happy Halloween!

Sunday, the mall had a "Treat-o-Ween" kids' event that we decided to go to--we weren't sure Emily would want to go door to door on Monday night, so this was sort of a test run.

Her costume was complete with a cute little black headband with bumblebee antennae, but Emily would have nothing to do with it--I at least put these little ponytails in her hair. Unfortunately, they didn't last long either.

She wasn't interested in collecting candy, but did enjoy running around the mall with her pumpkin bucket on her arm.

Gymboree is one of my favorite stores for kids' clothes--they have such cute styles, and the clothes are well made and always fit Emily well. They also have a little kids' section in the store with cartoons and fun chairs to play in, which Emily likes.

She's always a little overwhelmed in the Disney store!

It was a fun afternoon, but convinced us we didn't need to go out Monday night--Emily could not have cared less about the candy!

More Fall Fun

I don't remember if I ever posted that we did decide to enroll Emily in the Gymboree Play & Learn class for Toddlers 16-22 months old. It's every Saturday morning at 9:00 AM, and we all have a good time going. In addition to the class, enrollment also gives us access during "open gym" time, a couple of nights a week and on Sundays for a couple of hours. It's a nice way to start out our weekend together.

After class, some friends of ours invited us to go with them to Country Days Corn Maze Saturday afternoon. George was our neighbor when we lived in Charlotte the first time, and he and Amber got married right about the time we moved to Atlanta. They have a 3 1/2 year old boy, Bryce, and a 22 month old girl, Skylar. We really haven't spent enough time together since we moved back for Emily and Skylar to get to know each other well, but Emily always enjoys being around other kids.

We got there a little before they did, so we rode the wagon from the parking lot to the corn maze area where there was a playground and some games. It was really chilly, so we bundled up--Emily loved swinging on this tire-horse,

and she sat in my lap to ride the cow train!

There were 12 semi-private campfires, and Amber had reserved one for us. It's a really cool setup, because you can bring all of your own food and drinks, and you have the campfire, picnic table and benches for two hours at a time to cook and eat. We had hot dogs and s'mores (Emily's first time for both--even though she only had a tiny bite of the hot dog). She really enjoyed helping Daddy cook the hot dogs more than anything.


She just really loved spending time outside, and seems to like the cooler weather because she gets to wear jackets and coats and say "cold! cold!" when we go out.

Playing with the flashlight was loads of fun too!

19 Months Old: What's Happening

Mick and I think Emily is the smartest, sweetest and most beautiful little girl we've ever been around, but this month, it seems like more people are beginning to realize that as well :). We've started receiving compliments on Emily's manners and her personality this month. One morning this week, her teacher told me the mother of a little boy in her class was talking about how smart Emily was, and said "her mom must work with her a lot at home." There's nothing I've ever heard that made me prouder than that! What's funny is that we don't think about it as working with her, but we're constantly talking to her and she's learning new words and phrases. I'd say she easily has a 100 word vocabulary, but I think I need to be keeping track of her words a little better so I know for sure. I started making a list and quickly thought of more than 80 words off the top of my head that she uses without us prompting her. Mick has been working on the alphabet with her since she was a newborn--she says "A-B-C" and "1-2-3" but doesn't go past those yet. There aren't many things we say that she doesn't repeat, and she knows shapes, colors, and (of course) animals. She's even told us "love you" a time or two, repeating us.

Her favorite phrase right now seems to be "oh no!" and she'll say it any time she sees something broken or torn, or if anything seems out of place. It's so cute, and has taken the place of "uh oh."

Emily rarely wants to ride in the stroller when we're out and about. She would much prefer to hold hands and walk. When she gets tired, she'd rather be carried than have to be strapped in. Fortunately, she doesn't protest the stroller too much when it's been a long day and she's tired.

She moves with great confidence, no matter what she's doing--climbing, running, jumping or dancing. It's amazing how quickly she seemed to progress from crawling to cruising to walking to sprinting!

She loves animals, and I can't help but think part of that is because of Gracie and Bella--she's completely fearless, and thinks every animal wants to be cuddled like they do.

Emily is also getting better and better at crafts, and I hope that doesn't change (since I love it as much as she does)! I really like that she gets to make so many art projects at school. Here are a couple of her fall creations!

Obviously, she had some help with the jack-o-lantern jar candle, but she sure enjoyed painting pumpkins this month!

Em continues to be a good eater, but there have been some nights when she doesn't want much of anything, and we think it's because of her teeth coming through. Here's an after dinner shot one night when she wsn't shy at the table--which is quite apparent by the stains on the front of her shirt!

She's been very healthy this fall (I'm almost afraid to write this), and we're hoping that her little immune system will stay strong this winter.

Every month gets more and more fun with our little adventurer, so we're really looking forward to the rest of the fall, and finding some things to get into this winter!

SC State Fair!

Mick and I started talking about going to the fair a few weeks ago--I realized the SC State Fair was going on in Columbia, which is only about an hour and 20 minutes from us. We left early on Saturday and got there not long after the gates opened. There was so much to take in, but we did our best to try it all!

Emily learned to milk a cow at one of the agricultural displays.

Then we got a great view of the fairgrounds from the ferris wheel. Emily loved going way up high!

On the rides we couldn't all three fit on, Mick and I took turns riding with Emily, and the race cars were first.

Daddy and Em stepped up to play some games, and she got the ball in the winning cup on her first try!

The nice thing about some of these games was that she had as good a chance of winning as we did.

Everyone was so nice to her, and most games gave prizes even when she didn't win--although for $3-5 per game, we probably paid for ten or twelve of their prizes :). Emily came home with a stuffed pig, doggie, cow, penguin, bear and giraffe.

Some of my favorite things are all the things that really make it a fair...the ferris wheel, of course,

and all of the crazy food! Seriously, deep fried kool-aid?!?

And check out these burgers--we actually saw people eating the doughnut burger--a cheeseburger between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts! I wouldn't have thought you could ruin a KK doughnut, but now I'm convinced I was wrong.

We didn't try anything crazy, but Emily needed some ice cream for sure.

She was exhausted after lunch and slowed down enough for a snooze with one of her prizes, a little stuffed doggie.

When she woke up, she was ready to go again, so we headed for more rides. The flying bumblebees with Daddy,

then the carousel,

and finally the big fun slide! She loved this one so much they had to go down twice.


We were a little spoiled in the morning because we got there early and didn't have to wait at all, but the later it got, the more crowded the grounds became, and we needed to get home to Gracie and Bella, so we left around 4:00.

It was such a fun day, and we'll definitely be back next year!

Better Than Stickers

Emily is crazy about stickers, but I recently discovered these vinyl window clings are even better! She can move these over and over and they don't stick to each other.


She now has bugs and flowers all over our back doors and oven doors!

Decorating

We decided to stay around home on Sunday and do some decorating outside. Emily got to paint the pumpkins we picked out yesterday,


and we both had to change clothes when she was done :).

Here's our finished product, complete with a ghost!

PUMPKINS!

Emily is pumpkin crazy this fall--she exclaims "punkin!" every time we see a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern, so we decided to head down to The Hunter Farm this afternoon in Weddington, which is really close to us.

There was a wagon ride that took us down to a barn with animals for her to see.

She saw little pigs and snorted at them,

got to feed a baby goat

and some very hungry sheep.

She got her fill of pumpkins, for sure,

and tried to pick up every one there. We only brought home three (they were included in our wagon ride price), but she would have filled the bed of Mick's truck with them if she could have!

By far, her favorite thing was the pony ride though.

She got to ride this sweet little pony named Tinkerbell. We were a little uncertain about it at first,

but boy did she hang on and love it. She said "neigh, neigh" the entire ride.

There was also a miniature maze for the kids,

and she loved running through that too.

Her favorite part was when she escaped from Daddy and he chased her through the maze.

It was a great afternoon with perfect weather--she needed to kick back and relax on the way home, so the shoes came off :).