Trunk or Treat!

Saturday night our church did a Trunk or Treat Carnival night. So, we decided to tag along with Ryan, Anna, and the kids. For those of you unfamiliar with trunk or treat, people open the trunks of their cars and pass candy out to all the kids-like trick or treating, but instead of going to houses, you go to cars in a parking lot. I guess it makes it a little more convenient than going door to door, and also means more candy for the Halloween season and another excuse to wear costumes. It was a pretty fun night.
We got Baylee all dressed up in her little penguin costume. She loved wearing it. Baylee got pretty good at walking up to people and putting her bag out to them to get her candy! I was surprised at how much she liked it and that she would forget about the two of us in all her determination to get more candy! She knew what she wanted!
She did pretty well, and made out with a little bit of candy- a good jumpstart of a stash for Halloween. We can't wait until Wednesday to go trick-or-treating again! I think I'm more excited to have her all dressed up in her costume again (ok, and to be able to eat her candy....)! It also fun to see how cute she is walking up to people to get candy! I love Halloween!

Halloween Costume Problem

So, for Halloween, Baylee is going to be a penguin. The costume we bought her is a warm sleeper with the feet in it and everything. So, the problem is, what do I do about the feet? I want her to be able to walk around , but with shoes her feet will be squashed into them and then you wont be able to see the orange foot part on her costume. Plus, she only has dark brown or tan shoes that fit right now that fit, other than flip flops, which won't work because of the toe part.... She has some tan Ugg-type boots that are a little big, but that will look kinda funny still. I don't want her not to have shoes because then her costume will get trashed and plus, it's not too safe for her not to have shoes outside. So, what do I do? Do I just get cardboard and somehow just put it on the bottom of her feet? Will that be kinda slippery? Suggestions anyone?

Penguins, Pumpkins, and a Picnic

Well, I guess it's time once again for our weekend report. So, here's what went on this past weekend:
We finally got Baylee's Halloween costume! Since we love penguins in our family (especially Baylee's daddy), we decided to have her be a penguin. It's also a plus that it's a warm costume.
Baylee was too busy trying to help her daddy put away the food, so she wouldn't come take a picture with her costume. Here she is "helping", but really I think she was trying to open the candy to help eat it.

Ardenwood Farm Pumpkin Patch:
Saturday we went out to Fremont with other Hall's (Ben's brother Ryan and wife Anna and kids). We stopped for a very yummy and filling meal at Claim Jumper, and then ventured over to Ardenwood Farm for some Fall fun!Here's Garrett trying to pickup a pumpkin. I think it weighed almost as much as he did.
Here's tough guy Owen picking up a pumpkin he wanted...Since they were only $1 for the little pumpkins, Baylee ended up with two for herself. Here's a little white one with an orange-stripe thing going on..........and here she is picking out a mini-orange one. She loved the pumpkins, and even fell asleep cuddled up to them on the car ride home. Baylee had a fun time playing in the hay while Shelby tried to find her own perfect pumpkin.
After the pumpkin patch, we hit the corn maze, one of my favorite Halloween-time activities!Ryan wanted to get out as fast as he could. I don't think he shares my passion for corn mazes.This corn maze was smaller than the one we usually go to, so it didn't take us too long to find our way out. Plus it was still pretty light out while we did it, so that made it easier for us to navigate our way through.

Picnic in the Park:I was a bad influence yesterday and convinced Ben to play hooky from work. He already had missed school, so why not miss work also? He had been doing work in his parents office already yesterday morning. We went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, since it's impossible to eat there at dinnertime and weekends without an 1 1/2 +hour wait. Then we ran some errands and came home a relaxed while Baylee had a nap. Then we went to a park and had a picnic dinner and let Baylee play. She loved the slides, but only if we went down with her.Here's Baylee and Ben on a big slide! We loved having him home yesterday! He deserved a break, he's such a hard worker and is usually gone most of the day during the week.Ben was singing Baylee some songs and acting out parts to Little Einsteins (she loves that show) while she was passed out last night, and she just started cracking up in her sleep. He was quick to grab the camera and we got some pretty funny pictures!

There's a Little Chill in the Air!

Warning: This post may contain a lot of pictures. Viewers beware!
Well, you can tell it's fall! The air has been showing a little chill, and today it even rained all morning. I'm not a fan of cold, but I love all the fun things there are to do in the Fall and Winter seasons and all the yummy foods that seem to only pop out at this time of year.
The colder weather means goodbye to most of Baylee's clothes that actually fit her. I'm on the lookout for warmer clothes for her, but I can't seem to find too much. :( At least it was a little warmer so that cotton tights worked. I think I also needed to do laundry..... but most of her pants have gotten a little short. She for sure needs more fall/winter type clothes.We love pumpkin flavored food items, and it seems Baylee does, too. We got a creme-based frapp at Starbucks, and she hogged it. She thought it was so good! Don't worry, it didn't have any coffee in it. We wouldn't do that to ourselves-she's a handful enough without it. :)

Friday night we went out with Ben's brother Ryan and his three kids. We had dinner at Red Robin and then watched Surf's Up. Well, they watched and I mostly chased Baylee around. She wasn't too into it. So, we didn't stay for the whole movie, even though I think Ben was liking it a lot. It looked like a cute movie.... Baylee loves her cousins Garrett, Owen, and Shelby. She even ran around in Garrett's Spiderman slippers. Garrett wanted Baylee to spend the night with him, but I have a feeling he would have changed his mind...

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival:

Saturday we went to the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival. The bad thing about this festival is that its a one way highway going into it, so traffic gets pretty backed up. What should have been a 45 minute drive took us more like 2 hours. Baylee slept a lot of the way up, but after she woke up she thought it would be fun to play hide-and-seek under her blanket. It was pretty cute.
Before we left the festival, we stopped for our favorites-Pumpkin Ice Cream and Pumpkin Cheesecake!!! Baylee got a little upset when we wouldn't let her hold the ice cream cone.

We eventually gave in and let her hold it.
Instead of letting us have it back so we could have a bite, she would feed it to us. At least she was sharing though.
She also thought she would be a big girl and sit on the curb by herself, but still next to her mommy, just not too close. Eventually her stomach rejected some of the sugar she was intaking, and we decided to be done with the ice cream. It might have also had something to do with the bouncing/dance type thing she was doing off the curb.

One last thing.....
Baylee in her dress I finally found on ebay! It's pretty big on her, but such a cute dress. Her daddy did a good job dressing her for church and was so nice to let me get ready without having to worry about getting Baylee ready.

What's the Deal?

So, I came on to put up a post, but there's something wrong with the system and it won't let me download any pictures (which I have a lot to put up)...... So, I will put up a new post on what we've been up to as soon as it lets me download the pictures. I just don't know how soon that will be. :(

Big Girl Carseat and the Zoo

This month is flying by so fast already! I can't believe it! Here's a little of what we've been up to:

Two Saturdays ago we finally bought Baylee a "big girl" carseat. It took us until this past Saturday to actually put it into use. Baylee thinks it's pretty fun to be able to face forward in the car, and had fun climbing on it before we had it put into the car. I'm a little sad to face the fact that she's growing up so fast and needs the next carseat. Also, it stinks that when she falls asleep in the car I can't just pop her carseat out and bring her in wherever I am going, I actually have to take her out. It's good that she's growing up though, I'm not just in a hurry for her to. Oh, and some other good news...she's actually been sleeping through the night! Yea (and finally)!

Friday night Ben wanted to go to Macaroni Grill for dinner. When it came time for dessert, Baylee showed us what she thought looked good.... She likes menus for some reason.

Saturday we had to pick up Ben's parents from the San Francisco airport (the lucky ducks were in Spain on a cruise for a over a week), so we thought we'd go to the San Francisco Zoo before we needed to pick them up. Baylee loved all the animals!We love penguins!
We tried to watch them feed the penguins, but it didn't quite work out......because this guy showed up with a bald eagle and stood there right in front of us. So, naturally a crowd accumulated around us. It was pretty neat to see up so close, but it was bad timing since we had rushed over to see the penguins being fed and also since Ben isn't a fan of crowds. This bald eagle can't fly because someone had shot her in the tail. Sad, huh? It was neat to see though, but we left soonafter and didn't get to see much of the penguins.

The San Francisco Zoo has a brand new grizzly bear exhibit. It was pretty cool, and we got to see them getting fed. Someone was throwing apples into the water for the bears, and it was so cool because we were so close and you could actually see them when they ducked their heads under, too.
The Children's Zoo section had a bunch of different bigger birds. We thought the owl was pretty neat to see. Look at those eyes! Crazy, huh? They were all hooked to the ground by a strap around their ankle. There were some pretty neat ones. Some crazy girl there called the owls name so he would turn his head for a picture. Then she got excited and ran off to see the zookeepers feeding the vulture a live mouse. Ben had fun watching that, too, and even got a video, but I will spare you all of having to watch it.
This kangaroo had a baby in it's pouch, as you can kinda tell by the sagging. We never got to see the baby at all, but the kangaroo kept popping its head in it's pouch to check on it and lick it? I was hoping the thing would pop out, but no such luck.

Baylee and daddy after a fun day at the zoo. We missed all the African animals because they had them all put in before we got there. We think it's the zoo's way of telling everyone to leave. Oh well, we had to go get Ben's parents at the airport anyways. It was still a fun zoo trip!

Oh, and Happy October bdays to: Jim, Annie, Kathy, Scott, Simon, Christian, and Jessica, and anyone else I missed! In Sept. to my mom and Shelby and congrats to Mike and Laura and their new baby girl Abigail, and Mat and Heather and their new baby boy Ezra, both born the end of Sept. and Boz and Maegan and their baby boy Jack, also born in Sept. Anyone else I missed, I'm sorry.

I Found It On Ebay!!!

Back in the very beginning of June, I was visiting my parents in Utah and a friend and I went shopping. We stopped in Gymboree and I saw this dress for Baylee that I fell in love with. I just thought it was so cute! Well, I kinda forgot about it and hadn't really gone shopping until weeks later when we were with Ben's parents. We were all waiting to eat at The Cheesecake Factory and Ben's mom, Baylee, and I decided to pass some time by running in a few stores, since it was a pretty long wait. We walked by Gymboree and I thought about the dress and so we stopped by to see it. It was on sale!!! Unfortunetly, the store only had it in a 3-6 month size. I looked online for it, but thought that since I was going to Utah soon that I would have my mom check her stores for it (I think online didn't have the exact size I wanted). Sadly, she was unable to find it, and then it was all gone except the 3-6 month size online. I was so bummed! I even checked when I was there for my mom's birthday hoping maybe someone had returned it, but no such luck. Today I had a lightbulb flash in my head while I was browsing the computer, and decided to check ebay. What do you know-someone was selling a brand new never opened in plastic dress in a 12-18 months! It won't fit her for a little while, but I was so excited to find it! I called Ben and he let me order it and it will be shipping out tomorrow. I Love Ebay!!!!

Now, if I can just get one of the diaper bags I want off there for a good price.....

Bustin Through the Halls and Another Surprise!

My sister-in-law Anna heard about a breast cancer walk called Bras For A Cause that we did on Saturday night. You sign up and collect donations for breast cancer research. You could collect in teams, so we joined together and became team "Bustin' Through The Halls". For the walk everyone decorates a bra and then wears it over their clothes for a 10k walk. So, since I didn't get home until late Friday night, we went over to Ryan and Anna's house Saturday morning to have our own little decorating party to get ready for the walk that night. We kinda had to rush a little towards the end, but everything turned out cute.

Since Baylee was riding in a stroller for the walk, I made her a little t-shirt to go along with our bras. I couldn't find a bra small enough for her, I don't know why...... :)

We kinda ran out of time to get everything together, so I tried to finish what I could in the car ride over to get checked in before the walk.

Anna had Shelby do the walk with us. She wasn't a registered walker with us (I don't even think she was old enough to be one), but she still decorated a bra to wear with us. This is us waiting in line to get checked in. It was kinda a confusing process.

Here's "the girls" all ready to go in our bras before the walk started. Ben did the walk with us too (not as a registered walker), but no bra for him. Although there were men walkers with decorated bras on too. The walk was a lot of fun, and we got t-shirts at the end. They had "hookers" driving around cheering in a "hooker van" with writing that said things like "Honk for Hooters" and "Hookers for Hooters" and every once in awhile they would be stopped and dancing and trying to get everyone all riled up. At the half way point they loaded us up with drinks and treats. I was very impressed with Shelby- she made it the whole 6.2 miles with us. She struggled a little bit, but after the food and changing into tennis shoes and a bathroom break, she seemed to do a lot better!
Baylee konked out toward the very end of the race. I was surprised it took her so long to fall asleep in her stroller. But, she loved the walk and had a blast. Everyone thought she was so cute and she was the youngest person in the walk. After we finished the walk there was a dessert party, complete with chocolate fondue and a mini-chocolate fountains. They had an awards ceremony for the best decorated bras (by the way ours were supposed to glow in the dark during the walk and we were decked out in glow sticks), but judging from the reactions when we went in to the judging area, we weren't going to be finalists, so we left. It was getting pretty late.

To add to the excitment of our weekend, I got a call yesterday morning telling me that my cousin Heather was in labor and had been admitted into the hospital Saturday night. She had her baby last night at 11:33 p.m., although she wasn't due until November 7th. It was quite a surprise, especially to Heather and Mat I'm sure. From what I have heard Ezra Mathew Schaffer is doing well. Congratulations Mat and Heather! We're very excited for you!

Surprises!

Once again, sorry for the picture overload here. We took a trip to Utah and here's some things that went on!
My mom had a big birthday on the 26th (to be nice to her I wont say what number is was, but it has a 0 and a 5 in it and she's a little older than 5...), so we decided to fly in on the 20th and surprise her. We got in early that afternoon, and then ran around to get food a decorations and had it all set up when she walked in the door that day from work. Can you tell by her face that she was a little surprised? It was so much fun and she was shocked!
We got her cakes at Costco (along with all the food) and they were so yummy!
My cousin Heather and her husband Mat came (I accidentally snuck in their picture)! Also, I don't have any pictures, but my Grandma and Grandpa Higgins drove down from Arizona to be part of the surprise, and my Grandma and Grandpa Howard came over with three of my cousins to help us celebrate.
I think my mom was most excited to see Baylee. She had just told me on the phone a few days before that she really wanted to see Baylee and that us coming out is what she wanted for her birthday. It was hard for everyone not to spill the beans, but we did it!

Party Animals! My dad, my brother Scott, and my sister Annie. Don't they all look like they are having so much fun?!?

While we were in Utah we got together a couple of times for lunch and shopping with Ben's sister, Wendy. It was so cute and so fun to have Baylee and Mea together. Mea was born 8 days after Baylee, so it's pretty fun! They were so cute together and even gave each other hugs and kisses, which unfortunately we weren't ready with the camera for. We are excited to get to see them again for Thanksgiving!

Baylee can sometimes take a little while to warm up to people enough to let them hold her. We have found a good bribe though-food! Once my mom shared her chocolate cake with Baylee, she had no problem sitting on my mom's lap. What a mess though! At least it was yummy!

When we get together with Mat and Heather when we go to Utah, we love to go to Leatherby's for ice cream. So this trip we ventured into the pouring rain and drove in their fogged up car to Leatherby's. It was an interesting drive since the front windshield didn't want to come unfogged. We trust Mat though, even when he only has a spot about the size of a dollar to look out. And, the ice cream was worth it! We survived!

Baylee was really good at getting my mom to give her cookies, even if they were my mom's bday present from Mat and Heather. This was on my mom's birthday. That day we went to the outlets in Park City. I talked my mom into playing hooky from work and talked her into letting Annie miss school and come along, and Heather had the day off of work. So the five of us girls had a fun time shopping, and stopped at Sonic twice for my favorite slushes! Later that night my dad, Scott, and Annie all had to work so Baylee and I took my mom out to dinner. It was a fun day. I even got another surprise that day on our way back from Park City when Ben sent me a message to tell me that his twin brother Mike and his wife Laura had their baby early! She was born on my mom's birthday and they named her Abigail Christine Hall. Congratulations to them!

Since everyone was working and I wore my mom out on her bday, we failed to get her a bday treat, since she didn't want another cake. So, Thursday we made up for it and got ice cream cookie sandwiches from Hogi Yogi. Can you tell who ate most of mine? Baylee really liked it, and even offered to share one of my cookies, but soggy slobbery cookies just aren't quite the same, so I let her have it to herself.

On Friday, Baylee and I sadly had to go home. We were excited to be able to see Ben again (he came home Monday), but I didn't want to come home yet. My mom gave me a haircut (thanks again Mom!), and then we got some pictures of my mom and Annie with Baylee before we left. Of course our plane was late, it was me traveling! We had a lot of fun with my family and are excited to see them again (wherever they are) for Christmas!