Happy Halloween!

We went to Treats in the Streets yesterday afternoon. Liv liked her pretty little butterfly costume!

scowly face

Liv has been discovering some muscles in her face this past week which has resulted in some new expressions... namely a fierce little scowl. Here's the evolution of the scowl:

This is last weekend. It started as an innocent little squint.

Then the brows started to furrow a little further...

Today at lunch... a full-fledged scowl.

Fortunately she doesn't really associate it with being angry or upset, actually she's almost always smirking underneath the scowl. :) I know that will change at some point but for now it's kinda cute.

In addition to some new expressions, Liv has also become a little more fond of snuggling! Kurt and I are both so excited when she decides to be a snuggle bug for a few minutes! (And check out that curl above her ear! Yay for hair!!)

Tagging

I've been tagged by my friend Jenni and I'm supposed to say 7 random things about me. So here it goes:

1. I'm a blog stalker, okay? I just admitted it. I read people's blogs who I don't even know that well. For some reason people are just super interesting. It's one thing to be up-to-date on the lives of friends you see periodically but quite another to know all about their friends, too. So, chances are if your blog is linked to on one of my friend's blogs, I've taken a peek (or three!) at your life. I really should start commenting. If you're stalking me, feel free to leave a comment! I'm probably stalking you too!

2. I've gotten kicked out of Disneyland. Apparently they don't appreciate you wearing your own costumes there.

3. When Kurt and I got back from living in London we watched the Nickelodeon cartoon Kipper whenever it was on... it's super babyish but the two dogs on there speak with British accents and we craved hearing not only the accent but the "funny" words too. (Did you know they call a flashlight a torch?) The other night I happened to flip through the Sprout channel (never heard of it til then!) and Kipper was on. Of course I stopped and we watched it... Liv thought it was pretty cool. :)

4. Kurt gets me a glass of water every night before we go to bed. He's just nice like that.

5. I am a procrastinating, messy perfectionist. What?! Yes, you read that right. In my head I have grand plans of having the perfect birthday/anniversary card/gift purchased weeks in advance but I will usually get to the big day and either not have a card (which should have already been mailed!) or the card that I did buy weeks in advance has gone missing. So, I often don't do anything. Because in my sick twisted perfectionism, if I can't do it totally right, I seem to think "what's the point in doing it at all?" Hmmmm. Also, I LOVE the idea of a completely organized closet, pantry, garage, you name it. And, sometimes my perfectionistic side takes charge and I organize like crazy. At other times I am a complete failure in this department!

6. I don't have any cousins. Not. even. one. My mom has two brothers who never married and my dad has one brother who never married... so I also don't have any aunts. Needless to say our family gatherings and holidays were quite small and I've always longed for the big family holidays you see in movies and some of my friends actually have in real life! I keep telling Kurt we need to have at least 8 kids so we can have those wonderfully chaotic gatherings, but he's not buying that idea (& I'm not that crazy!) Fortunately, it's not just us contributing to this dream... Liv is gaining THREE cousins in 2009! Lucky little girl! We are so excited that my sister and her husband are in the process of adopting the two foster boys they've had in their home for the past 2 years! We've already had one very fun Christmas with them last year and we are looking forward to many, many more! And, we are thrilled that my brother and his wife are expecting their own little bundle next May! That makes 4 grandkids for my parents with the potential for more in the years to come!! Yay for cousins and insane family get togethers!

7. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. I've had different themes & colors for our tree - blue & silver (way back in the day!), pink, lime green, turquoise, black & gold, red, white... you name it. That being said, I have WAY too many boxes of Christmas decor. :) I also really love wrapping presents. I usually find awesome wrapping paper for Christmas at K-Mart. I don't usually like K-Mart but the Martha Stewart Christmas stuff they have is usually pretty cool & the wrapping paper is cheap! They also have great deals on cool glass ornament balls too. I'm a nerd and love to coordinate my tree with the packages underneath it. I haven't decided what I'm going to do this year... but I'm thinking about it!

So there you have it! Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more friends to do this. Don't hate me, ok? I tag: Meghan, Missy, Alissa, Erin, Jen, Cassi & Lara.

This just in...

Liv has been walking pretty well for awhile now... IF she's holding our finger. As soon as that finger's gone, she plops down on the floor and won't even try walking on her own. The past few days she's been standing up more and more on her own without holding on to anything. We figured that was a move in the right direction. So, just a few moments ago, I decided to video Liv as she crawled around with a sweatshirt on her head (she thought that was hilarious!) Here's what happened next:

Pumpkins!

Today Liv and I met up with Erin & Eilee at a fun Pumpkin Patch in Irvine. It was so fun to let Liv crawl around checking out the pumpkins... it will be even better next year when she's walking!


Liv LOVES feeling things. Her favorite page in her texture book is the one that has sandpaper on it... she could scratch that page all day. Anyway, there were so many fun things for her to touch at the pumpkin patch. Of course the smooth skin was great fun to rub and pound on but she was drawn to the little scratchy bit at the bottom of each pumpkin!


She also loved feeling the straw (and the dirt underneath, of course!)


There were some goats hanging out and Liv loved talking to them and feeling their noses. She lectured them a bit like she does with that cat that hangs out on our patio. :)



I don't know why but we've never taken Liv on a carousel ride... until today! Ok, this was probably the world's smallest carousel but she LOVED it! She was kind of small for this ride but she did such a good job holding on tight and balancing!


After the little carousel, Liv checked out a little race car that she thought was pretty fun. Good thing she's been practicing her steering with Daddy!


Eilee is just 6 months older than Liv but she seems so much bigger... and she has a lot more hair! :) She walks really well and was so sweet to take Liv on a little wagon ride. When she got tired of pulling Liv, she decided to push her for a bit! It's going to be fun to see them play together even more as they get older.


Here's Liv & Eilee sharing a couple pumpkins...


I hardly ever get pics of just me & Liv (yes, even with a photographer for a husband... hmmmm...) Anyway, another mom offered to take our picture which was so sweet. So here we are... don't you think this is the best shot of Liv you've ever seen? :) Oh well.


We had a great morning and I'm really bummed that my camera battery died right before Heidi & Dahlia joined us. We had fun with them too... it's just not documented!