Annual Pumpkin Party - 2010

Last night our friends Jim and Kellie hosted their annual pumpkin-carving party and once again we had a great time. It was a little different this year because Maggie was full of energy and curiosity. Last year she was only four months old--big difference in age and activity level for sure. Anyway, tonight she wanted to play with the other children, test out all the toys, run around the house and yard and, in a nutshell, move move move. All. Night. Long.

This has been a jam-packed weekend and we haven't even hit Halloween night yet. Good thing we like staying busy.

Carving

We carved our pumpkins yesterday. Chad went with an abstract vampire face and I did my typical basic-faced pumpkin. We are looking forward to lighting them for the trick or treaters who come our way. And then we're going to toss them. They got moldy super fast last year. Yuck.

Pumpkin Party People

Last night the three of us went to our neighbors' Halloween party and had cool time. Probably around 75 people showed up  and you should have seen the amount of food, drinks and desserts. Whoa. There was also a face-painter there to entertain the kids, as well as tables for pumpkin carving and other fun Halloween things to do. 

The hosts rented two bounce houses. Yes, two. Maggie totally tripped out and was in awe walking around one of them. Of course she was inside by herself at the time. I didn't want any of the big kids falling on her or jumping hard and catapulting her into the air. Cute to imagine until she lands on her head, right? Anyway...she walked and fell and bounced on her own and loved every minute of it.

Not My Daughter?

This morning kicked off a super Halloween weekend with plans for lots of parties and fun. Maggie and I participated in a little trunk or treat event at a local park with other moms and kids from our local moms group. The party started with trunk or treating at a local park and ended with the kids eating healthy snacks and playing in the playground.  Maggie preferred that part. Seriously, she didn't care much for the trick or treating at all. What's wrong with her? Candy...hello! Maybe it's the fact that she's never had candy so she didn't know what it was? I'll give her a break this time, but next year...

Maggie enjoyed watching and copying the big kids, climbing the tall stairs at the park and going down the slide head first. We have a daredevil on our hands. Great.

Zoo Crew

Last week we spent part of a day at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. It was Maggie's first visit to a zoo and she seemed to enjoy it. While we were there she fed a giraffe her snack of mulberry leaves, touched a slimy sting ray (just kidding, but I got to. Maggie's arms were too short to reach in.), and watched animals of all kinds eat, lounge, play and sleep. It's small but a nice zoo. We'll go back again soon.   

Watch Out

Some friends of ours let us borrow their fun bouncy horse for Maggie to play with for awhile. She loves it and lately has been curious to see how other toys perform while she's riding it. Safe? Probably not. Fun? Totally. Last week Maggie and I were at Target (if you can believe that) and we saw a foam sword in the dollar section. It looked cool to me so I showed her how to play with it and, of course, she agreed so we brought it home. Now she likes to ride the horse with the sword. I think we have a future Medieval Times actress on our hands. I'm so proud...

And don't call me Shirley...

Boeing has been testing two cargo planes in Fresno this month, the new 747-8 freighter and the older 747-4. Engineers are comparing the two versions of the aircraft and the jets have been repeatedly taking off and landing at Fresno International Airport. One plane is white with Cargolux printed on the belly and the other is blue and white. That one was harder for me to shoot and but you'll find one shot of it on the lower left side of my collage. Our house is along the flight path so Maggie and I have had many opportunities to watch both planes fly overhead during their trial runs. Maggie points and waves at them and I beg for the pilot to swing by and pick us up so we can experience the new ride firsthand. So far, no such luck.

The Weepies!

Friday night Chad and I went to see The Weepies at the Fox Theatre in Visalia. I had been looking forward to the concert for awhile--in fact the instant I found out about it I insisted that we go. My parents watched Maggie (thank you!) so Chad and I could see the band, and before the show we had dinner at Tommy's Restaurant. It was a great evening with delicious food, topping it off with such a super rad band. I really love The Weepies and never thought I'd get to see them in the Valley. Visalia gets all the good shows. Why wasn't it like that when I lived there? Anyway, a great night. Oh, and sorry for the super goofball photo of me here. I'm not sure why I thought that was a cute pose...I guess I was still really excited after the show.

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday Maggie, Chad and I went with our friends to the pumpkin patch. It was the same patch we went to last year, but this year it was really vamped up. In addition to the pumpkins there were carnival rides, games, fair-type food and even more stuff that we didn't have time to see. We all had a good time, especially the kids. Maggie really likes her friend and I'm glad we were able to spend some time with them. It's so amazing how much a baby can change and grow in a year. Revisit this post to see Mags and her buddy last year--she couldn't even sit up on her own last time. Notice how round Maggie was back then too. Hilarious! Below are some of the highlights from my camera.

Playing at the Park

Maggie and I have hit the park quite a bit lately since the weather's been perfect and she loves being outside. She enjoys running around, watching the big kids, and figuring out how to use the playground equipment. Last week was a real treat because we got to bring Chad with us to the park. And two sets of eyes watching her isn't such a bad thing when she's curious, brave and fearless out there.

Praying Mantis

          We've had quite a few bugs outside our house lately. I don't know if it's the weather or the harvesting or just the fact that we live in the Valley. To my surprise this big guy was relaxing on our patio chair and hung out long enough for me to take a quick photo of him. It looks like he has big funky eyes, but in fact when you zoom in on him (as I kindly have done for you, below), you'll see that the eyes are instead very small black dots. I'm assuming that's some sort of survival trick, don't you think? He has a funny mouth too.

Urban Salvage

On Saturday Chad took me to a new store downtown called Urban Salvage. It opened on October 1 and I was excited to see what the fuss was all about. It's a mix between a garage sale, an antique store and a regular retail shop, with a heavy emphasis on garage sale. They have vintage tables and chairs from local restaurants, window frames, tools, signs, old pictures and mirrors and lots of crap. But within that crap, given the chance, no doubt you'd find something that is a keeper. The shop is only open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so the time to head down there is limited. Most of the good stuff was gone by the time we got there, but I'm not going to count it out in the future when we're looking for something specific.

This librarian's heart went a-flutter when I saw this old book-drop.  I couldn't figure out what I'd do with it in our house so we let it go. Sigh.

A quick shot of the inside.

The Fair

Sunday we spent the day at the Big Fresno Fair. This trip was Maggie's second time there (click here for last year's post) so I guess now she can be considered a fair regular. We looked at the animals, ate junky food, visited the awesome CBS47 booth and walked around the fairgrounds for a good part of the day.

Maggie getting silly at some booth. I think it was a water safety booth, but I'm not totally sure...

Chad and Maggie in front of the CBS47 booth. There were anchors and reporters there taking photos and signing autographs. In fact, when we took this photo it was the first time they had a fan-free moment. So great!

Book Party Fun

One of Maggie's sweet little friends had her first birthday and earlier this month we got to celebrate with her. Maggie REALLY enjoyed her friend's toys and made herself right at home to use them. We're going to have to watch that.











 



Below are a couple photos of Maggie taken by the birthday girl's photographer dad, Josh Sherfield. As you can see, Maggie is pretty fond of him.

Happy Anniversary

This past weekend Chad and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. My parents were kind enough to come babysit Maggie so we could enjoy an evening out on the town.  We went to an Italian restaurant called Giovanni's that I've had my eye on and then to a movie. For dinner we sat outside on the beautiful patio while enjoying weather so mild we didn't even notice if it was warm or cold. Another great night.

I want to thank our family and good friends for remembering our anniversary and sending their good wishes. It made us both feel really special and loved.

Here's Maggie whistling a little celebratory tune in our honor before we left for the night:

The above picture is so terrible and dark but at least you can kind of see the pretty patio and tree we sat under at dinner. Maybe use your imagination.

Gourds

Way back in the olden days we planted birdhouse gourd seeds in our garden. After a few months those seeds spouted and grew beautiful vines, leaves and robust green gourds. When they finished growing we cut them from their vines to give them the opportunity to dry out and harden. They've been curing for approximately two years now which was a year longer than necessary. Last weekend Chad decided to clean a few of them and turn one into an actual birdhouse. It's not a quick or easy process, but it was worth it and he did an excellent job.