Pumpkin Patch

She is getting so big!

Gretchen and her buddy Chloe

Gretchen day dreaming amongst the pumpkins, she blends right in.

Ariana's B-day

My niece Ariana turned eight last Monday! I can not believe that little girl is already eight years old, where is the time going. She spent the night this past Friday and we had a great time playing all evening. Here she is with Gretchen.

She was trying on all my old Halloween costumes. Here she is as a vampire. I decided to be nice to Nathan and not post the one of him using a duck towel to play vampire as well.

Here we are the next day at the zoo.

St. Louis Trip

We were down in St. Louis for a family wedding this past weekend. Gretchen was able to spend some quality time playing with her cousins. Here they are working on a musical collaboration.

I took this shot before we left after I got G's costume in the mail. I know I am biased but what a cute pumpkin!

Here she is back at the piano.

A full length shot with the tights.

Grandma and her girls in costume. (Anna is actually going to be Jessie from Toy Story and Sara is still working on the cowgirl look.)

Here are a couple of shots of Chadd and Sarah's cake. The wedding was Halloween themed, if you could not tell. It was neat, I have never been to a theme wedding. I wish more of my pictures turned out, but I had terrible timing at the wedding.

A shot of the couple during the ceremony. Congrats Chadd and Sarah!

18 Months

Gretchen’s 18 month checkup went well. She weights 26 lb 5 oz and is 34 ¼ inches in length. Those numbers put her in the 75 percentile for weight and off the chart for height. If you follow the old wives tale of doubling a child’s height at two, she would already be 5’ 8.” We still have six month to go before we are suppose to double her height! She is definitely taking after Daddy in the height department. We do suspect she is allergic to eggs like her mommy. She has broken out in hives the two times she tried them. So we are going to take her for testing soon.

Gretchen’s is doing very well with talking. She knows all her aunts, uncles, and cousins by name. She can do all her alphabet cards, most without help, and she is counting to five. She is speaking in three word sentences. I could not be prouder of my little bean. For the most part she is a happy camper, although she has her toddler moments. So overall we are blessed with a healthy happy little one.

Elmo

We took a quick afternoon trip to the zoo last Wednesday. Here is a shot of the two of us on Gretchen's first carousel ride.

Gretchen loves her new Elmo doll. She hugs and kisses him constantly and she also "takes care" of him. Here are a few shots o her feeding Elmo.

Family Wedding

We had a great weekend with lots of family in town. My weekend actually started on Thursday. My buddy Julie took me to the Melting Pot for my birthday. We had a great time and the food was delicious.

Here are a few shots of the Katie and John. Congrats you two.

On Sunday we hung out and relaxed before everyone had to hit the road. Gretchen loved seeing everyone and she said everyone's name! I think Uncle Matt and Gretchen have the same big smile.

Aunt Sara taught Gretchen to climb on her and flip over. Now she wants be to do it all the time, thanks Sara!

Happy Birthday to me!

I am blessed with a wonderful husband, who threw me a great surprise party. We started the day going to a farmers market and art fair.

We ended the day celebrateing with great friends at a pub/restaurant in Downers. I was very surprised, thanks everyone for coming. Thank you Nathan!

Letters

We just put up these letters on Saturday! She is one smart cookie.

Elbow

We have a set of Sesame Street books that Gretchen has really gotten into since moving to the apartment. Nathan’s college buddy Jen bought her another Elmo book, which we read multiple times a day. She has decided she loves Elmo, except she calls him “Elbow.” She is very good with her body parts and knows where her actual elbow is. I was trying to help her with the difference I pointed to Elmo and said “Elmo” and then to my elbow and said “elbow.” She looked at me smiled pointed to her elbow and said “elbow” then pointed at the picture of Elmo and said “Elbow.” It is just too cute.

She has also learned how to not only turn on the TV, but change channels and find the cartoons on PBS. So when she flipped it on and actually saw “Elbow” on TV she went crazy. She was screaming “Elbow, Elbow!!!”

College Roomate Reunion

A little then and now shot. Donna, Jenny and I got together with our little girls last week. This is the first time that the three of us have gotten together since college, it was fun.

Shhhh!

The zoo and raspberries

We went to the zoo with Jen, Maddie and Em a few weeks back. Here are a couple of pics from our outing.

Gretchen likes raspberries as you can see.

A Good Book

She loves a good story.