Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year!  Brinley really, REALLY, okay really enjoyed her costume and all the decorations that accompany Halloween.  It was especially fun because Brinley didn't think anything was scary--she didn't know that witches and skeletons are "scary"--she just thought it was fun :).  Here are some fun photos of our Halloween fun!

Our first bit of Halloween fun was at the Adamson's house
for a Halloween party.  In case you can't tell...I'm a farmer,
Brinley is a cat, and Karl is a lumber Jack.

I should dig up some pictures from past  parties...but we've been having
a Halloween party at Carol's since I guess 7th grade?  Maybe 8th :).
There are typically no slumber parties anymore and we had to invite
husbands at one point...now the babies are invited too :).
Thanks Carol for all the fun years!  

Carving a Pumpkin!!

Checking out the goop on the inside!

"helping Daddy."  Brinley helped Dad by holding onto his arm as he
used the knife.

Checking out the finished project

Pretty spooky

Hooray!

Halloween has finally come!  Thanks to our awesome
niece, Brinley had two Halloween options (her
hand-me-down options):  spider or a cat.
Brinley might be slightly obsessed with cats
thanks to cousin Anna....so of course she
chose the cat option.

posing by her pumpkins before trick-or-treating

Brinley is holding up the pumpkin she painted...and in the
background is the lego that had to go trick-or-treating with us
for some reason :).

As a comparison, here is last year's family picture :)

Yay!  Mimi and Dow came trick-or-treating too!  Sorry this is
kind of a funny picture of you mom...

Showing off her pumpkin

I thought Brinley would be nervous and shy--
HOWEVER, maybe it was the cat costume, but
she was very confident and knew exactly what to do
at each house :)

Trying to pick out the best piece of candy

Showing off her candy

Laying out all the candy.  I showed her how to
appropriately sort it.

 I'm sure it won't last much longer...but Brinley doesn't know a whole lot about candy yet.  So...Brinley got to have an awesome time being a cat, carrying around a pumpkin (and lego), AND meeting new people.  Karl and I got the benefit of having plenty of Halloween candy to eat all to ourselves.  Thanks Brinley...wonder if that plan will work next year?!....

Fall is definitely here!!!

What an awesome time of year!  Fall is such a pleasant time for so many reasons--the weather begins to cool off, it's fun to be outside, it's beautiful, it reminds me of my (our) wedding, and with a new season brings new experiences for our little B.  Brinley has really enjoyed the weather since I'm more likely to go outside with her now that it's cooled off.  Here are some fun photos of Brinley (and our family) enjoying fall.

Raking leaves with Daddy...kind of a never-ending project

We need all the help we can get!

Taking a break with Dad to have some water

Getting ready to jump in the leaves!

So fun!

Getting buried in the leaves!

Doing a sponge painting project I used to do with my
second graders (yes, she's advanced)....and yes, I'm the
brave mom who doesn't put down any "protective" covering
before painting on the hardwood floors...

Getting in her wagon...she asked me to pull her around-- "mommy pull!"

Brinley loves to wear Daddy's shoes

So believe it or not, it really did get cold...at least
cold for us :)

Enjoying being bundled up

One of Brinley's current favorite activities is setting the table.
She likes to buckle various babies into her high chair and then
put out "food" for them.  She is holding a bib in her hand--getting ready
to fasten it to "baby."

a close up of "baby"

Being super silly as usual

More silliness....Brinley's pants are extremely high in case you can't tell :)

Wearing baby in her "sling"--she was happy to
be hands free while caring for her baby--
Brinley likes to remind me that having a small
baby is very hard work.

 We should be able to post a video soon of Brinley enjoying and jumping in the leaves.

First Haircut!

This is the 100th blog post I think...in case you were wondering!

Brinley had her first hair cut last month!  She didn't technically have to have one probably....but her bangs were getting in her eyes.  We went to our local Cost Cutters, and she had a really fun time.  Brinley has come with me to my haircuts before (she sits on my lap)--so she was familiar with all of the tools and what happens at a hair cut.  She got to sit in the chair all by herself (a booster seat), and the hair cut went pretty fast.  I didn't want to cut off too much length from Brinley's hair because it's fun to put it "up..." however, we did have to get rid of some of the mullet that was developing.  We basically did an overall trim.  Here are some photos of the fun experience!

This is the "before" picture

Notice how long it is!!

First hair cut experience!

Getting ready for the big cut!

Enjoying the hair drying part

Being super silly!

One of the first "after" photos--this is in the car afterwards--notice
how short her bangs are!!  (and how happy she is--she had a
super fun time)

An "after" shot

Still has some length....just a little bit more straight across

Brinley was quite the trooper, and had a great time!  The only disappointing part of the hair cut for me was that she no longer looks like a "baby."  Her bangs make her look like a big girl.