Olivia's First Halloween

Hurray! It is Olivia's first Halloween! As everyone says, holidays are so much better when you have kids. It's like reliving your childhood memories. Olivia also had a good time even though she had no idea what was going on or why she was wearing a puffy suit with spots.
The first party was the Saturday before Halloween at our CG friends house the Smith's. As you can see above Olivia was not the only animal for Halloween. She was joined by a monkey and lamb. I love batman running in the background.
The cow and the lamb sure liked the monkey and the monkey was liking his odds.
After sitting for the pics above my little cow for the rest of the night was all over the place. I would talk to someone for a couple of seconds and the next minute she was gone and I'd have to go on a hunt for her.
Olivia claiming all the toys. The baby doll dressed up as a cow I found at Walmart right after I bought her costume. I just couldn't pass it up, it even does mooing sound effects!
The monkey was checking out the baby cow.
Olivia's favorite thing to do when she likes another baby is to put her fingers either in their nose or mouth. It's her form of a handshake I guess. Actually when I think about it she does this with all my girlfriend's baby boys. Hmmm...
The cutest toad prince I have ever seen. Yes I will kiss you!

This is me trying to corral my cow. Story of my life!
Finally we get a pic together!
Kids wrap their mummy game.

A candid, but sweet moment.
Olivia stole Athena's (aka lamb) binkie, so to be fair she tried to take Olivia's. Too bad it was on a leash connected to her cow suit, this was quite entertaining.
Halloween day! I tried to be a farmer, but couldn't find overalls anywhere. We just got a Super Walmart and couldn't find one pair of overalls. Isn't that against the law? Anyway I ended up looking more like a cowgirl.
Olivia looks thrilled.
We bought a wagon to go trick or treat in. It is a ATW wagon and couldn't believe how much it cost! Only the best for our sweet pea! Seeing how much she loved the wagon at my Brother and Erica's wedding we just couldn't resist.
I love how her ride is in front of daddy's.
Olivia's first house/our next door neighbor.
The process of getting her out. However, she wanted me to carry her most of the way.
Trick or Treat! Olivia got Mommy and Daddy some good candy.
I loved how this neighbor decorated their front porch.
All our neighbors are extremely friendly and a lot of them invited me in to talk.
Our neighborhood really goes all out for holidays. I couldn't stop laughing at this little girls costume of an inflated rooster. When she ran, it was the funniest thing I have ever see. Best costume I saw.
I have become friends with a CG couple Corey and Catherine Anderson that moved in a couple of doors down this past summer. Corey is a Captain on one of the boats at the station, so he doesn't work with Charlie on the helicopter. Catherine invited us over after trick or treating for some food and drinks. I was amazed by the spread, which also included Frito chili pie and spiked punch with champagne.
Monica another neighbor of ours from Columbia made these cat and ghost shaped salmon spreads. Yum!
Monica's best friend who is from Argentina made these delicious cup cakes, which were embarrassingly my breakfast the next mourning.
Olivia loved Mattias who was dressed as Mickey mouse. Not sure if she is attracted to him being Mickey or that he is Latin. I really need to find girls for Olivia to play with.
Once again the "how do you do" hand in the mouth.

Olivia also wanted to play with the little girls who were dressed as fairies. However, by now all the kids were out of their costumes. For some reason the girls wouldn't play with Olivia.
Catherine is the hostess with the mostess.
Charlie and Catherine were trying to make Mattias and Olivia dance.
Ahhh, the slow dance.

Olivia is obsessed with getting into Milo and Sunny's dog bowls. Finally she found a partner in crime. I love how Olivia is licking the back of the bowl, soo sanitary. I also like that Catherine and Corey dressed their dog as batman, Corey was the joker.
Wow, what a weekend!

Pumpkin Patch

Welcome to the pumpkin patch! A week or two ago we took Olivia to her first pumpkin patch in Sequim. I was amazed at how much there was to do. I figured it would be a field of pumpkins to pick from and that's it.
When you entered there was a general store were you could buy gifts or other home decorations for the fall. There was a corn maze, hay maze for the little ones, and playground. You could pet baby piggies, rabbits and chickens. There was also a pumpkin catapult to launch pumpkins into a trash can to win $100. I wanted to give it a shoot, but Cha said there was no way I could make it. No faith!
Photo opp on an old tractor.
Picking out Olivia's baby pumpkin. I wanted to get one for her and then a larger Mommy and Daddy pumpkin. Of course Charlie's was the largest and I didn't forget the dogs, they got their own small pumpkins. I am hoping to bake some of our pumpkins and make them into baby food for Olivia. I just hate throwing away pumpkins after Halloween. Although this means we can't carve them.
"What is this round orange thing and why is it between my legs"?
It was a pretty day even though it was a bit windy and cool.
Olivia helping search for Mommy and Daddy's pumpkin in the big patch.
This was a real patch, not the kind were they bring pre-cut pumpkins from another field. As you can see I was trying to cut the vine off the stem with my bare hands. Man I wished I had a knife, those stems were prickly!

The corn maze.
The observation deck for the mazes.

Baby piggies!!
I feel in love with the baby pigs. I now understand why people have them as pets, too cute! I was feeding them fresh grass. I decided they liked the green grass when one of the pigs escaped to graze on it. I truly could have spent all day with the pigs.
I wanted to steal him or her and so did Olivia!
Charlie was getting my Mother of the Year photo, as he called it. I wasn't that close and was holding Olivia very tight. Plus how bad could the shock be if one of the pigs ran under it? But nonetheless I was cautious even though Cha was teasing me, as he does oh so often.
Cha's money shot.
Bye from the patch! (can you see me waving good-bye?) :)))

Crawling and now onto walking!

Olivia has mastered crawling forward! She no longer goes backward or rolls. This new mode of locomotion has become her favorite past time.
Over the past month she began by getting up on all fours and rocking back and fourth and then to taking one or two steps. We thought for sure she would be a crawling demon once we got to LA for my brother's wedding, but she still just crawled forward once or twice before she feel to her stomach.
However, the very next day when we got home she was crawling everywhere! She even conquered the slippery hard wood floors! I put a video of her crawling at the bottom of the blog. Please excuse the kettle going off and my annoying baby voice. :) I love in the video the dog parade and when she starts to crawl she does her motor boat sound. She sounds like she is powered by a little invisible motor.
I also included a video of her being pulled in the wagon by Brandon at Chris and Erica's wedding. I wanted to capture her cute laughter and how much she loved it.

Not only is she crawling, but she began to pull herself up on furniture to stand. I guess she thought crawling was just not good enough. Show off!
Getting higher....
Almost there....
So close I can taste it.... and the next pic was not taken since I was too busy picking my crying babe off the floor. Unfortunately her reach was not long enough to get to the top of the table.
Side stepping around the ottoman without any assistance! My mom said she did this with their coffee table. She predicts she will be walking in a month. Gosh I hope not! I am just getting used to her being so mobile.