Trick-Or-Treat...Smell My Feet...Give Me Something Good To Eat!!!

Ayla got to go Trick-Or-Treating for the first time!  We got her dressed up and spent Saturday afternoon visiting both sets of my grandparents and we also took her to my mom and dad’s Keller Williams Haunted House party.  She’s just the cutest ladybug ever.  She wasn’t afraid of the haunted house at all, and she went right to the witch who wanted to hold her.  I was very impressed!  She showed off by crawling and then waved goodbye to everyone before we headed over to my Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Yance’s house.  They let her pick out a little pumpkin before we left too.  I was really impressed with everything that the realtors did to make their party a success.  Everything was free, their entire office was decorated.  There was a cookie decorating station and a story telling station, one man was making cotton candy, and all the kids got candy and pumpkins before they left.  They really are good people.

At my Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Yance’s house we visited, ate Sloppy Joes (haven't had those in years and they were delicious) and just enjoyed each other’s company for a while.  I feel like I never get the chance to just visit and hear what they have to say where there aren't a million people around!

Then we headed down to Franklin to visit Grandma Jody and Grandpa Bob.  Grandma made hot apple cider (my favorite thing she makes on Christmas Morning) and we sat and talked for a while too.  It was so sweet to see her give Ayla a Halloween gift.  She gave her a book, raisins, and my favorite - Animal Crackers.  I remember when she used to give us animal crackers every Halloween.  She told me  this year - "Well I didn't get her much, but I did get her a memory."  Memories are something you can't beat and it makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have such loving grandparents and how lucky Ayla is to be able to be around them.

I would say that Ayla's first Halloween was definitely a success.  I am living the dream right now.  I can't explain how badly I have wanted to take my first baby to celebrate holidays like this one; to decide on what she'll be, to make her costume, to parade her around and show her off, and to watch her face while she experiences it all for the first time.  For a while, I thought it would never happen.  It's just the most absolute best feeling in the whole wide world to be able to finally have my most perfect baby.  We thank God every night for her.

Abe with a princess

Spider Head Fancy

Creepy Man Grand Dude

She wasn't even afraid of the witch!  She smiled and waved while the lady held her in her arms!

Ayla LOVED her balloon

Love how she looked up at the spider and squealed!

She's her mamma's girl!  Wants to eat all the candy!

 

She loved her book

Blair would pull the balloon down to her, then she would let it go and watch it rise back up to the ceiling

A Family Trip to Cincinnati

Blair took off a couple days of work while I was on Fall Break so we could spend time as a family.  We decided to go to Cincinnati for the day and then get a hotel to stay the night.  We left bright and early Wednesday morning and got down there about 11:00 am. and decided to visit Ikea – a store with about any home item you could imagine.  Ayla slept the whole time down and was in a great mood while we shopped.  Ikea is a really cool store that has lots of decorating designs set up on the top floor along with a café to eat.  We got breakfast and then looked at some ideas before going down to the first floor to buy panel blinds for our back sliding glass door.  I have wanted to get them for a long time now and I’m so happy that we’ve finally purchased them!  After shopping, we stopped at Joe’s Crab Shack for lunch.  The waitress couldn’t stop talking to Abe.  She ate bananas for lunch and smiled the whole time. 

It was finally time to check into the hotel, so we got into our room and then took Ayla to the pool for a swim.  She really enjoyed herself.  She screeched and smiled.  She splashed in the water and kicked her feet like a big girl.  She even tried to put her face in the water a few times.  She’s such a daredevil!  J  We could tell she was getting tired, so we took her back up to the room and put her down for a nap.  She slept about an hour and Blair and I got some peace and quiet.  Blair read his book “Killing Jesus” and I looked on Facebook and sipped coffee.  It was nice to just sit and do nothing for a little while! 

When Ayla woke up and we all got ready and went to Buck Heads for dinner.  It was so delicious!  Blair got a rib eye, I got a burger, and we ordered a side of green beans for the babe.  It was great to sit as a family somewhere other than home and enjoy each other’s company.

After dinner we went home and put Ayla to bed.  Blair and I sat in bed and watched some TV and drank a couple beers.  (I about died laughing when I went into the liquor store to buy our drinks and Blair asked me to get him a 40 ounce Budweiser.  It’s like he reverted back to the Broad ripple days for minute there!  hehe)

The next morning we stopped at Macy’s to get Ayla a hat since it’s getting cold.  And we also picked up a baby gift for Andrew and Laura’s new little boy Will.  He wasn’t due for another couple weeks, but her water broke at school and she had him early!  We were so excited for them, so we got a gift and drive right up to see them on our way home.  But before we met Will, we stopped at Ayla’s daycare to take Miss Melissa and Miss Cheyenne a Starbucks coffee just to say that we missed them.  It was cute to see Ayla get excited to see them and know that she remembered them after not being around for almost 2 weeks.  I know she’s in good hands there and that they love her very much.  But they’re going to be in for it when they see all the new tricks she’s doing now!  Our trip was a blast and I’m so glad we could be together for a couple days!

Ready for her first family vacation!

Hanging out in the pool at the hotel

 

 

Do they not have the exact same facial expressions?

Love my baby girl

Kicking in the water

She wanted to walk around on the steps

"Oh this is so fun!"

The Great Pumpkin Carving

After our trip to Cincinnati, we had a little bit of time before Blair and I had to go to bible study, so we carved Ayla’s first pumpkin with her.  We decided on a silly face since she’s such a silly girl!  Don’t you love her outfit too?  And she just had to wear Mommy’s necklace all afternoon.  I couldn’t bear to take it off before her pictures!

 

Chewing away - because she's teething as usual!

Daddy loves  his little girl - and I think she's pretty fond of him too!

The shirt says it all!

She tried to eat the stem the whole time!

She didn't even make a face when touching the inside!  Such a trooper.

"I want to eat it Mommy!"

The finished product!