Trying to Get Family Pictures - Attempt #1

One Sunday afternoon, I decided that we needed to start working on family pictures. So we headed up a canyon to get some pictures with all the fall leaves.
Livie was extra cute and enjoyed playing in the leaves and especially on this fence.

I love her cheesy grin! This is the smile we usually get when trying to take her picture.

Sigh, guess we will have to attempt family pictures again. Dave and Livie sure look great, but I really don't like how I look. Thank goodness we are starting this early so I can do a few attempts before deciding on Christmas card pics this year.

Our Weekend

Finally, on Saturday we were able to spend some time together as a family. Dave has been working lots of Saturdays and having Drill weekends. So I thought we had better take advantage of the time we have together. We decided to have a special Halloween dinner and carve pumpkins.Livie LOVES pumpkins! She is always wanting to carry them around the house.
Dave and Livie picked some of the last of our tomatoes for dinner.

For dinner we had monster faces. Cheesy stuffed shell eyes, salad hair, cherry tomato nose and red pepper mouth.

After dinner, we started carving! Livie really enjoyed pulling out all of the seeds.

I love this face she pulled every time she reached her hand in to get the seeds!

We really had such a good time. And Livie was glad to be spending some time with her Daddy. I love this time of year and all the fun activities that come along with it!

Just a Little Sunshine

Some days can be really stressful. This morning Liv decided to dump a whole (yes brand new) box of cereal (Cap'n Crunch) on the floor and couch while I was in the shower. It doesn't sound too terrible, but then she proceeded to spread the cereal all over the front room and step on it. When I asked why, she replied she wanted to "mush it like a bug!" So by the time we get it all cleaned up (I mean huge project of cleaning and vacuuming) we needed to pick Dave up from school. So much for my plan of grocery shopping this morning.

After we picked Dave up, had lunch and dropped him off to ROTC for the next two hours, Liv and I went home to finish our shopping list (a detailed one for our "Week of Fun Halloween Meals") it was about time to leave to pick him up. So I put Liv in the car and decided it was rather embarrassing how much junk was in the car. I took a large load across the parking lot to the garbage can, said hi to the neighbors for a sec then went back to the car. Liv had unbuckled and was standing up. "Please get back in your seat so we can pick up Daddy and some of his Air Force friends." "No Mommy. I had a accident. I pooped." SIGH okay, get her in the house to clean her up and realize not to be mad as I pull down her pants. Poor kid had a bout of diarrhea. Get cleaned up and back in the car in time to take off up the canyon where ROTC was meeting today.

I know this doesn't sound like much, but seriously it took all day to do this. Some days can sure get frustrating. But Livie always adds little rays of sunshine to my day...

In the car with a couple of cadets, Livie announces, "I love all the boys!" (waving her hands to include the two cadets sitting next to her)

Watching "The Great Pumpkin" Liv sees Linus carrying the huge pumpkin for Lucy to carve. She says, "Whoa, that big pumpkin I ever see'd before!"

Thanks Liv for always putting a smile on my face (even on 'those' days!)

Boo at the Zoo 2010

Every year we go to Boo at the Zoo. It is so much fun! Unfortunately, this year David had to work. So Liv and I went with Gra and Papa.Livie decided she wanted to be Buzz Lightyear this Halloween. Yikes!! Since I make her costumes every year, I was not sure how to pull this one off! With a little creative thinking, this is what I came up with. But of course my munchkin would have to be a girly Buzz! I am so glad that she is able to try out her costume before Halloween. There are a few things I need to modify.
We love going to all the stations and doing all of the activities.

This is the turtle race, new to Boo at the Zoo. There were a bunch of different games in the center of the zoo. Livie wanted the yellow turtle and did a great job. She won the race!

This game was a little tricky. You had to throw the ball into the basket and make it stay. I even had a difficult time with it!

We had so much fun and Livie LOVED wearing her Buzz costume. She wouldn't let me hold her had because she was "flying like Buzz!" We can't wait to go next year, and hopefully Daddy can come with us!