Happy Halloween

While we rediscover our bins of Christmas magic that have been stowed away for the last three years and attempt to determine the most perfect place to display each piece that signifies it is indeed the most wonderful time of the year...
I thought it was appropriate to revisit Halloween.

Our Halloween celebration began with a trip to the zoo, which happened to be Lauren's first official zoo visit.



The duck was a fan.


Elephants, Giraffes, Brown Bears {from her favorite book} and the long-horn were some of her favorites.




I was hoping for a moment of duck to duck recognition, but really the only recognition was from passerby's who muttered things like, "look at the little chicken".


A favorite moment of mine happened at the end of our day.
We took Lauren to the gift shop and decided to mark her first zoo visit, we would allow her to pick our a stuffed animal. We showed her the giraffe & elephant and after grabbing both, she then chose the elephant.
Matt went to purchase Lauren's souvenir and returned with both the elephant and the giraffe.



...Wrapped around her finger...

Halloween arrived & so did Auntie Minnie from Chicago.
She came down south to spend a long weekend with us and be our first official house guest.



We had an amazing weekend.
It was like a non-stop play date

... with wine.

We were pretty excited about taking this duck out for her first official trick or treating evening...
but with three thirty-somethings who had no idea what time this gig starts
and as the only people currently living in our neighborhood,
we were pretty clueless.



So we started with pictures and texted a friend with children in the area.

Apparently things start after dark.


{Winner Winner, Pumpkin Carving Contest 2014}

Then we made our way out.
We stopped at three different houses and let Lauren run free among the Elsa's and firemen in the neighborhood.



We also learned that there is no doorbell ringing.
You camp out in the driveway and let the kiddos come to you.
I like it.



One of the more interesting & surprising findings of the evening was this:


Candy cigarettes folks.

Like any good parents, we raided our daughters sugar loot and found these "candy sticks".

Welcome to the South.


Our playdate continued with a visit to a BeerFeast:

where Misty got to sample a number of Texas beers,

and hang out with Sugarland's finest.

Our weekend ended with a 'boatload' of sushi & a sleeping babe on the way home followed by an early flight our of Texas.


It was an amazing weekend,
as they always are when a best friend come to visit.

But something felt more special this time around...
I think it was seeing the sweet little bond between a girl named Lauren & her Auntie Minnie.

And I love that year & years from now, I will look back on Halloween 2014
and remember Auntie Minnie came to visit.



Oh, and just in case you were curious, Iowa...

Beggars Night is not recognized in Texas.

Neither are the jokes.

thirteen

At thirteen months Lauren...

.. is busy. She walk/runs through the house and can be heard excitedly screaming at different pitches.

.. is a great eater. She is game to try pretty much anything, but blueberries make her giddy.

..also likes to share her food with Bella. Bella can be found sitting directly under her high chair and from time to time a little hand will come down. We're working on stopping this, but I'm afraid these two have a routine.

.. has teeth. Not a lot, but they are there. and not the front ones.

..loves blocks & her dolls, books, Bella, & the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

.. really likes to stack blocks. And would like to be recognized with a round of applause for her block building skills.

we moved.

hi.
after a one month hiatus, I imagine the only people still checking in on this little blog are Lauren's grandparents,
but it still exists.

we have had a very busy month full of moving, settling in, making our home, and living the day to day adventures of life with Lauren.

There's a whole lot to catch up on,

{the move, the house, a visit from Auntie Misty, Halloween, & a visit from Grandma Ann that resulted in Lauren's fifth nursery being finished}

but for now we will focus on Lauren and her new backyard.









The backyard buddies...



... they can't get enough.