Fun girls weekend!

Becca watching Daddy scoop out pumpkin goo


Our attempt to pose her with her pumpkins


I had a blast in Des Moines this weekend with my girlfriends from work. We spent the afternoon shopping in Des Moines on Saturday and found 2 great scrapbooking stores. I called my sister in awe after being in the first store for 10 minutes. There will definately be another trip to the stores, and my Wendy must be there! I've added the two store's websites to my favorite links on my blog...check them out! We spent the night and went to Jordan Creek Mall on Sunday, where I picked up 2 outfits for Christmas for Becca and a "My New Potty Book". For Becca of course! *wink* We're starting to think about potty training!

Tim and Becca did just fine here at home. They played, went on walks, read books and worked on putting puzzles together. She's a pro at puzzles now! I was so excited to see her though. When I woke up at 7 in the hotel room, I was ready to come home to Becca. I missed her a lot. But when I got home, I could tell that she was definately a Daddy's girl.

Last night Daddy carved Becca's pumpkin! We stripped her down to her diaper, so that she could get down and dirty in the pumpkin goo too, but she refused. She let Daddy do all the messy work, while I tried to coax her into at least sitting down next to Daddy for some pictures.

But until all the newspaper and pumpkin goo was gone, she wouldn't even think of it. I guess she's got some girl in her after all!

So onto Halloween! I'll be posting more pictures from trick or treating as soon as we're done!

Pumpkin Town Fun!

Tim was out of town again today for another work conference in Iowa City, and wasn't expected home until after dinner time. But as Becca and I sat at a stoplight on the way home from work and daycare, we spotted Daddy, going the opposite way and pointing towards Pumpkin Town!!!!

Cedar Valley Community Church has an excellent Pumpkintown on their campus that is free to get in, and they have free activites, games, story times, treats, petting zoo, and lots of pumpkins to choose from that are very reasonably priced!

So we did. It was obviously different this year with Becca able to get up and walk away while we were trying to take the perfect pumpkin patch picture. She's not going to sit and pose for anyone. We need to work on that yet. And to get her to smile for the camera is next to impossible. But we got some good shots, and even though there is not alot of smiles shown, she was incredibly happy and excited to be there, and loved watching all the activity and other kids.

She picked out her two very own mini pumpkins...and Daddy picked out a big one for us to bring home! She was a little nervous about the petting zoo...but she did neigh for the miniture ponies and baaa for the goats.

We came home afterwards, and even played in some leaves. We were suprised how much fun she had with that! We weren't so sure how she would react, but it was a good time for all three of us. I've posted some pics below, along with last years pumpkin pics and this years....what a difference a year makes.

What a difference a year makes!

Last year, October 2006

Today, October 25, 2007

Looking forward to the weekend.

Just a quick little post! I'm counting down the hours for girls trip to Des Moines this weekend. A couple girlfriends and I are heading down to check out some Scrapbooking stores, as well as having our own little wine tasting party in the hotel room once we're done shopping for the afternoon. I'm sooo excited. It will be my first trip since getting pregnant! Yahoo.....

So...don't be affraid to call and check in on Tim and Boo....I have so much confidence in them being just fine. Its me that will be a mess I'm sure. I'm going to miss my little punk!

Uncle David giving golf cart rides. With all the hills and so much room to roam...it was like a rollercoaster for the kids. We could hear Xavier screaming from the other side of the property! What fun!


Becca caught in the sun with a fall breeze



oh...you caught me climbing the tree!

Parade wave!!!!!!!

A view from the driveway, but the property has more levels.

Great fall weekend

What a fun weekend we have had! On Saturday, my Uncle David and Aunt Diane had a Smith family get together at their beautiful Brooklyn, Ia home. As rainy and cold as its been all last week, we had PERFECT sunny and 70degree weather all day! It was just georgous! The drive down was pretty as well, as the cold weather this last week really made the color in the trees pop! Nothing like rolling hills, harvested fields and autumn trees to make this fall day seem just right!

All the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and their children were there (minus a handful)...so there was a lot of catching up and playing to be done, not to mention all the food! Their house sits atop an awesome hill, surrounded by trees, and a lot of room to roam. Different layers and levels to the yards and gardens gave the kids oodles of playroom! There was so much to do. Becca prefered the wagon rides...but there was also bikes and tricycles to ride around the circle drive, Golf cart rides given by Uncle David, baseball, basketball, archery, metal detecting, a pinata for the little kids, scavanger hunt (jewels and money to split between the bigger kids), and of course pumpkin carving. I heard rumors that there was apple bobbing, but there was so much other stuff to keep everyone busy, that we never got around to it. Wow...what wonderful memories that day will hold for a long time. I know I will keep it close...and can't image what the little kids think...must of been a blast for them. Uncle David always has a toy to bring out, and never lets them down. Thank you Dave and Diane for being such great hosts, all the prep and cleanup, and for creating such special memories for all of us. We love you!

I've added some pictures from our extra special day. Needless to Becca slept the 1 1/2 drive home! She didn't stop all day...she was still tired today! I think all of us where!

What a sleepy, lazy weekend! Becca went from one sweatsuit to another all weekend, and I was the same. The dark rainy days didn't help the matter, but it was good for naps all the way around!

Well, Tim was asked to kiss an owie for the first time this week! It was so cute, and he is so happy about this! He loves that Becca thinks he can fix things or protect her. Ego boost I think! Becca had a hangnail, and pointed it out to me, and said "OWA". I sympathized with her and went to get the clippers to fix it, and Tim said to her, " You have an owie? Do you want Daddy to kiss it and make it better?" And she said, " YEAHHHHHH"! He of course was all over it and kissed it to make it better. With every owie now, she runs to Daddy for kisses. How sweet!

Friday, Becca took a fall while at Grandma Deb's house. She's got a bump and scrape on the forehead, but she's ok otherwise. The two of them also went to Walmart where Grandma treated her to a couple new outfits, and Elmo and Grover toys. Becca is all about Elmo right now. We have to turn off the computer when she's not looking, and when she wants to play her Elmo games for the 19th time, we tell her Elmo had to take a nap, or went night-night. That usually works! But we have to be tricky about it.

Well, Becca has found a new game that she's awesome at. Something we didn't expect either! A family friend, Ceri, had included some pictured flashcards with a baby gift she sent for Becca after she was born. When Becca was about 6 months old, I started showing her the cards and naming the objects that were on them, (hat, apple, cat, turtle, kite, pizza, etc). We would do that about once a week. Then after her 1st birthday, she started wanting to get them out a little more often. I would still name them off, and she would take them from me and spread them all out on the floor to see all the different objects. This week Tim got them out spread them out on the floor, and for the 1st time, asked her to find a certain object. He was thrilled that she was able to identify and point out 21 of 34! I got home from work on Friday night, and didn't believe him, so we tried it again...sure enough! She did it! We're so proud of her! Thanks Ceri for the excellent idea! Grandma Deb has the other set at her house, with different objects, that she will have to start playing with too!

This week has flown by. I can't believe that its 10pm (way past my bedtime) on a Thursday night and the weekend is just around the corner! I'm up so late because of course I had to watch Grey's and after that, I watched Private Practice, which I recorded last night. And really the only reason I'm posting, is because I'm waiting for pictures to upload to Walgreens, so that I can be sure they will be ready for me to pick up in the morning! I love 24 hr Walgreens and 1 hour photo! Tomorrow night is Scrapbooking night at my sisters, no kids, just a bunch of girls crazy about our kids and scraping their perfect little lives!

Last night was Daddy-Daughter night while my mom and I went shopping for fall/winter wardrobe for Becca. We hit Kohls ( I love Wednesday sales!) and got 2 outfits, a sweatshirt, jeans and a new purple coat. ( I know Sarah is cheering for the purple * wink *) She's still in need for some long sleeve shirts, kahki pants and I wouldn't mind some new shoes for the little booger! Its so difficult for me to figure out what sizes to buy. She's so small, I'm still buying 12 month pants for the girl, and they are still falling off her little pixie butt! Geesh...to have the problem. But we are putting her in 18 month tops and dresses.

Speaking of weight issues. I'm joining the weight loss challenge again at work. Last year I lost 29lbs in the challenge over 24 weeks. That was the last 29lbs of the 80 I lost after having Becca, but its time for me to get back on the bandwagon!

Well, this is silly. Walgreen site must be asleep...like I should be, because its taking forever.
I've got to get to sleep. Happy almost-weekend!

Fun Weekend

This has been a great weekend! Friday night, Tim suprised Becca and I by taking us out for dinner! That has been a rare occurance lately! So it was nice to go out and have someone else do the cooking! Becca was a good girl and ate off our plates, chatted with the manager and waitresses that walked by our table and earned herself a lollipop when we left! That manager said she was such a good girl, that he thought she needed one! She even said "thank you" when he let her pick it out! She easily makes us proud! We rented some movies on the way home, and watched Blades of Glory after Becca went down for the night. Silly movie, not my type, but it was worth a couple of laughs. I like Will Farrel, but so far, the only movie of his that I liked, has been ELF.

Saturday morning, Tim went into to work by 5am. Becca and I started off early too, and were at CostCutters when they unlocked the doors! Becca needed her 2nd haircut badly. She did a wonderful job. She sat absolutely still on my lap while they cut her hair. She looks so cute! Her hair is all the same length now, and styled in an adorable little Bob. I'll try to get a good picture and post it. We then went to Walmart for some necessities, and grabbed some Burger King for breakfast. She LOVES hashbrowns and sausage! She's my girl!!!!

After a nap and a quick playtime with Daddy, we dropped her off for a slumber party with Grandma Deb and Grandpa Bob! Tim and I went to a wedding for our friends Chris and Heather. What nice wedding! It was nice to meet and talk with their families, that we've heard so much about.

Tim and had all night to ourselfs, and it was only 6...so we decided to check out the new Isle of Capri Casino! I'm happy to say that we came home, $3.58 ahead! Hey....ahead by any amount is ahead! The casino is nice! They had a live band playing hit rock - old and new. I enjoyed the live music while playing slots, and Tim had fun playing 21. When we decided that $3.58 ahead was a good time for us to leave without loosing any, Tim decided that we needed to stop for icecream on the way home! So we did! We ended the night watching Bridge to Terabithia. That was good. I really liked that one.

Today has been kinda lazy. Between dodging down pours and baking banana bread, we're starting to make a list of Christmas wishes for Becca..Wow, can't believe that it will be here before we know it. But we've got to start buying a little at a time, or we'll never beable to afford Christmas!

Finally an update!

Its been a bit since I've posted. I did change the layout a bit the other day, cause I was bored.

We've been spending a lot of time catching up with Tim since he's been back from Vegas, and spending time outside, because its been absolutely gorgeous! Its supposed to warm back up into the 8O's for the weekend.

We've been enjoying almost nightly walks as a family. Becca loves to stop and "bark" at dogs! Its so cute! I don't think these walks would ever be considered excercise, becuase a 2 block walk usually takes us 30-40 minutes! We take a lot of time to stop and look at leaves, planes in the sky, listen to birds, feeling the bark on trees.

This week and last, Becca has really had a language explosion! Its so cool. She will attempt to repeat just about anything. Yesterday, new words were : sweatshirt, stick, bird and bug. Last week was: light, Choo choo and Big Bird. We have even started hearing a couple of 2-3 word phrases : I got it, I did it, I see it, all done (which she's been saying since about 11 months)...today, when I said, " we need to brush your hair silly baby"? she replied , " bro he see" . When I asked her to put something away , she said, " yeah, yeah, puh away".

She's growing so quickly, and we're so proud of the big girls she's becoming!