Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a great family day. We woke up, walked to the coffee shop, played in the park, went to brunch at the Ritz with "Uncle Barry" (yuummmmmm), then when to the Botanical Gardens' Children's Garden for some Halloween fun.

It was a GREAT day. Now, we're watching the Packers on DVR and waiting for our first trick-or-treater!

Check out the adorable outfit, thanks G&G Ole! The pants don't stay up so we wore leg-warmers instead...still so SO cute!!

Annabelle SPRINTING through the Ritz!

Our little angel asked for carrots for Halloween.... ;)

running accross the bridge

eating mulch :(

fun with produce :)

Our Crafternoon!

I'm pretty sure I've waited my whole life for this!

Annabelle is old enough now to really enjoy arts and crafts. So, this morning we started by finger painting. Afterwords, we did a nature walk in the backyard and she picked up pretty leaves, sticks, pods and pine cones, and put them in her shopping bag. Her new favorite thing is to walk around with a purse or bag putting random items in....so I figured, why not marry this to the gorgeous weather outside!

Once she collected her loot, we came inside and glued everything to her finger painting. It's a total masterpiece!! She was so proud of her bag of "stuff" so I'm hoping once she's up from her nap, she'll point to the picture she made on the fridge and remember collecting it all from outside...we'll see!!

Since this was such a success, we're having 5 of her toddler friends over next week to do a group "Outside Discovery" arts & crafternoon.

I really love being a mom!

The Masterpiece
She calls it, "Dat"

Some mulch made the cut

Mid-Gather

Proud of her bag



The dogs were helping...and by helping I mean stealing her bag.
Maddie totally yanked the pine cone and took off with it.
Annabelle got angry and yelled, so Maddie brought it back.

Rough morning in the Olsen house!

More Fall Fun

We added sand to the water table and Annabelle loves it, thank you again G&G Ole! The weather is perfect, cool and crisp, and we have to much fun in the backyard. Here are some photos from this morning:

Last week we went out to Rombach Farm for some pumpkin picking! Annabelle picked out some good ones!

"belted" in by pumpkins-- it was a bumpy ride

Happy Birthday-Eve, Adam!

Anyone who's been around me and birthdays, holidays, or anything involving a special gift knows I can't WAIT for a surprise. Adam finally gave in this year and didn't even put up a fight. So, we celebrated his 33rd Birthday-Eve!

Annabelle and I made him a Packer cake, and got him a cool Led Zeppelin collectors book filled with lots of fun pullouts, ticket stubs and posters...all things that Annabelle will love to play with and learn about! It'll be great for Adam to share his love of Led Zeppelin with her!

Blowing out the candles after making a wish

Annabelle picked out the football candles, which led to the cake design!




Today we decorated some more for Fall!
Here is Annabelle guarding her door of sparkly Halloween people!

While we were in WI, Grandma Mary taught Annabelle "SO BIG".

It's her new FAVORITE trick...

Annabelle LOVED the scarecrow at the store so we had to bring her home. She hugs, kisses and talks to her. If we're inside, she's even pointing and talking to her through the storm door. If she was any older I think we'd have to bring her inside at night so Annabelle could cuddle with her!

Fall is Here.... Kind of....

We were really looking forward to having our first "real" fall as a family. Too bad it's STILL HOT!! It's just like a Florida fall, only not as depressing... the pumpkins aren't rotting in the sun!!

We took Annabelle to a local farm/pumpkin patch, then it was her first ever Halloween Party!

With the warm weather we thought a Hula Girl would be very appropriate!

Her first wagon ride

Our treat for the Halloween Party

Hula-Annabelle

Climbing on pumpkins

Annabelle and Jock - another Aussie friend. He's a bit big for his age...the costume was SUPPOSED to fit!! Too cute!!

The Last Game of the Season....

Annabelle, friends and I went to the last baseball game of the season and had such a blast!! Here are photos from the day:

Robin and the babies

chhheeeesseeee!

Playdate at Bella's

Playing over at our friend Bella's house!

Thanks for the outfit Megs!! It was a gift from when Annabelle was born!

She jumped on this all by herself!

Fall Fun with Friends!

We had such a lovely afternoon yesterday! Annabelle's boyfriend, Blaise, came over with his parents Robin & Eric. Eric just found out he got an AMAZING job that he had been interviewing for, so they came over to celebrate!! We are a little saddened as they'll be moving to Boston in the Spring....but....Boston was on our horizon not too long ago, so we're confident that Blaise and Annabelle will be reunited!

The kids LOVE the outdoor play place Annabelle's grandparents have made!! Between the water table & swingset...there's no need to leave! The weather was PERFECT yesterday and the two of them had such a great time playing together.

Annabelle also continues to cook us meals...it's really, really sweet!

Our Little Chef!

For her birthday, Adam & I got Annabelle a kitchen...and it's a winner!! She love love loves it!! Yesterday evening when she woke up from her nap I brought her down to it and she played for over an hour!! In baby time, that's A LOT!!

She's a natural in the kitchen!

Chopping!

"Talking" on the phone.... SO CUTE in person

Baking Vegetables!

Cooking breakfast this morning!

Aaaand, it's officially Fall-- 53 degrees this morning... Beautiful!

Really excited about the orange in her hand!