Pumpkin Patch

Houston is getting a small taste of fall... Temps have been cool in the 60s in the morning and shooting up to high 80s in the afternoons. The coming of fall is such a tease. Do I wear long sleeves or short sleeves? Pants or shorts? I guess the correct answer is layers.

We have been enjoying plenty of fall activites and taking advantage of the weather when it is nice out. This past weekend we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin for carving. I can imagine what it must have looked like to Leila, rows upon rows of pumpkins almost as tall as she is. She loved it, and spent a lot of time carting the baby pumpkins around.

Afterwards we went to the dog park, which explains why she had an outfit change inbetween picking her pumpkin and carving it. Our final result is the best version of a "Happy Jack-o-lantern" we could find. She recognizes when things are "scary" now, so we are keeping everything as happy as can be. Her Mimi kindly brought her a stuffed scarecrow... only it has been banished once Leila deemed it "too scary" LOL. (It was not scary in the slightest, but who are we to argue?)

The dog park down here is amazing and we go as much as we can. Surprisingly, Shrek basically takes off on his own and makes sure each and every tree/fence post in sight is well, claimed. We worried he might have aggression issues, but we have never once had an incident. Our conclusion is that he is a good dog, he just does not like to be threatened while he is on his leash, nor does he like his manhood threatened, if you know what I mean.

Leila loves, LOVES the dog park. She loves to pet the dogs, and throw a ball or stick for them, and loves to see all of the different dogs. This past weekend we saw some dalmatians, which was especially exciting because we just watched the movie 101 Dalmatians (and one had a red collar, like Pongo.) I love to watch the Great Danes, because they are just so amazing to look at. We also saw some dog fights... bad pitties. Probably my least favorite breed. My old boss used to have one, and she had to drug it before having parties at her house. Hmm...

One good shot looking at the camera, thank you Leila!

Cheese!

Hmm, which one should I pick??

I really love this little one!

Actually, I love all these little ones...

Two seconds before they all fell down

Pushing them back to where they belong

The final choice, do they weigh the same? Possibly

Helping carve the pumpkin... Leila is holding a plastic play knife that won't cut anything

Look what we did

The final result, as happy as can be

Blast from the past... Leila's first pumpkin patch @ 2 1/2 months

Last year's pumpkin patch @ 14 months


And this year @ 26 months

Leila Ballerina

We have had a blast doing fun fall things. Leila and I went to the pumpkin patch with her play group. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on and playing with all of the pumpkins. They had a barrel for bobbing apples but there was no bobbing since swine flu is around! We are getting vaccinated next week.

We also went to her first kiddie costume party at her friend Ryan's house and it was a hoot. Seeing all of those toddlers in costume was adorable. Leila was a ballerina and too cute for words. Her friend Grant was a puppy dog and she kept trying to pet him. Hilarious!

We went today to a party at Gym"boo"ree and she had so much fun. This time Grant was going after her toys and she literally clung to me for dear life scared of him. I felt bad for her but it was so funny, and she is almost 4 months older than him so it was not like he was going to do anything to her.

Tomorrow she is going to Grandude and Granmary's for her first sleepover while mommy and daddy celebrate their 6th wedding anniversary and look for houses. This will be her first time away from both of us so I am a little worried but her grandparents are so sweet to her I think it will be ok. Plus, they are keeping Shrek too so "da" will be there with her for familiarity. She will get to dress up like Leila Ballerina again and hand out candy like a big girl.

We had milestone this past week I have to mention--speaking in phrases! She is joining words together now.

Leila loved the pumpkin patch and making a big mess

Leila and her friends from her playgroup were so good to pose for this picture

Leila had a lot of fun at Ryan's costume party. Her friend Sophie is a fairy in the background and had super-cute couture shoes on

This is Ryan, her cutie patootie dinosaur friend who is going to be a big brother in the spring!

Grant was a very realistic-looking puppy and Leila petted him a few times, which all of the adults thought was hilarious

Here is our ballerina playing monkey at Gymboree

Those aren't bells, they are Leila's bracelets

Mama and Leila Ballerina

Trying to catch a bubble on her finger--so cute!