Happy Halloween

We headed to Cincinnati for Halloween weekend to spend some time with Steve's sister and her husband.  They have recently moved to a new neighborhood and there was a rumor that Halloween was an over-the-top affair with the neighbors.

We headed south on Saturday morning and met them for an early lunch. After lunch, we headed to EnterTRAINment Junction to look at a large indoor miniature train display.  Bean loved to push the buttons to make the trains go.  They had a Halloween craft area, a little maze you could walk through and get candy, and a big play place with tunnels and slides.  We had fun going through all the different activities and headed back to their house for nap time.

(Putting stickers on her free little pumpkin!)

(She also got to color a page.)

(Playing around in the fun house at EnterTRAINment junction.  They had these different maze rooms with themes - like space, fun house, mirrors, etc.  I think the adults had more fun than Bean in those rooms!)

We took it easy in the afternoon and built up the excitement for the trick-or-treating.   We ate a quick dinner and then put Bean back in her Orville (bird from the rescuers) costume.  Ashley was gonna take the first shift of trick-or-treaters while Scott, Steve, and I took Bean around to get some candy.  Scott ended up disappearing and Ashley met back up with us when we rounded the next street.  By house #3, Bean was a pro of going up, and saying, "tricks, treat".  Everyone thought she was dressed up as Amelia Earhart.  I guess Steve and I should've had our mouse costumes on to complete her ensemble.  Pretty soon, Bean's candy bag was getting very heavy and we called it quits.  We went back to sit with Scott while he passed out the rest of his candy.  Their neighborhood wasn't the over-the-top affair that we had expected, but it was still pretty good! All the neighbors just sat out in their yards with fire pits and had big buckets of candy next to them.  Some of the neighbors passed out snacks like cheese-its or fruit snacks, while others passed out whole candy bars; and a lot of the neighbors had separate candy options for little kids - like suckers and marshmallow treats.

(Daddy taking Bean out to get some candy.)

(She did great carrying her bag and asking for candy on her own!)

(Aunt Ashley took Bean up to some of the houses, too!)

(We let Bean pick a couple of different things from her haul while we sat outside with Ashley, Scott, and Tyson!)

We had plans on Sunday morning to go out to breakfast at one of their favorite pancake places, but the wait ended up being too long.  Luckily, the weather was nice enough that we could go to a little coffee shop that sold waffles on Sunday morning only.  Only caveat was that they only had outdoor seating.  It ended up working out great! We said goodbye after lunch and headed back home.

We did do a stop at Ikea on our way home (did you think we could ever go to Cincy and not stop at Ikea?!).  Bean enjoyed the freedom of being able to run around and try out some of the furniture.  Things were going great until it was time to pick up the furniture boxes we needed (we bought a desk).  We had let her ride on the furniture cart, but needed her to get off for the boxes.  Huge meltdown began.  I ended up taking her away to sit by the little cafe while Steve checked out.  The meltdown ensued until I finally just had to take her out of the store - kicking & screaming the whole time.  She hadn't slept well the night before and I quickly realized she was teething a molar (anytime she has a huge meltdown like this, and sleep is a problem, it's because of teeth).  I had medicine in the car that I gave her (between the screaming).  And she finally calmed down.  I picked Steve and the furniture up at the cargo load and we hit the road.  Bean was out before we got on the highway.  She ended up taking an early nap, which made the rest of the day long (nothing some leaf playing couldn't solve), but the trip (okay, maybe the bag of candy for Momma/Daddy) was totally worth it!

Bean loved to help us rake leaves this year! She had a little hand rake that she'd pretend to use, but then she would just pick leaves out of our piles and throw them around.  We'd toss her in the pile, too. She loved it all:

Bean is Two!

On October 16th, Bean turned TWO! It is hard for me to believe that she has been a part of our family for the past 2 years.  It's crazy to look back on pictures from when we first met her until now.  She's hit all her major milestones and has become quite the little girl.  I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but when I look at her now, I don't see the baby in her, I see a big girl!

(Who is this baby?!  She seriously is so small and looks so much different than my little blonde haired chatterbox!)

(At a year old, she looked much closer to what she looks like now, but look at those chubby baby cheeks!)

(Such a spunky 2 year old!)

Her personality has really developed too.  I see a lot of me in her (emotions, laughter, caring spirit, etc) and lots of Steve too (prefers order, tinkers with toys, focuses on her work, etc).  She is quite the little girl and is constantly making us laugh (even when we need to be disciplining her!).  I'm pretty sure she has figured out when mom turns her head the other way, it means I'm laughing.  I gotta work on that one!

(Oh this girl and her style! She has currently decided that she only wants to wear dresses -- ones with tutus to be exact.  She only owns about 3 like this and they are summery.  So we have to layer her in leggings, long sleeve shirts or sweaters, and socks to keep her warm.)

(Notice - another favorite dress! She's also recently picked up "dressing up" and will wear different hats or her tiger mask.  She also loves to make music and is found with various instruments - shaker, guitar, harmonica, kazoo, etc.  Oftentimes, she'll give Steve and myself instruments to play along with her while she plays and dances.)

(Along with dress up, she's discovered bracelets and necklaces.  It's cute to watch her stroll into a room decked out in play jewelry that she's put all over herself.)

She has always been a pretty independent child.  She likes to go off and play with toys on her own, but has started to make sure that Momma & Daddy are nearby.  She especially likes it when we color ("color daddy?"), do puzzles ("puzzle momma?"), play "Momma/Daddy" with little figurines, and play in caves (throw a blanket over us).  She'd choose to play with us for hours if she could, but she's good about accepting limited play time with us, then goes off and plays on her own.

(Playing with her baby doll.)

(She has a little table and chair set in the living room that she typically colors on.  However, her marker bin, papers, and chair often migrate over to the coffee table - better view of tv, ha!  And one time, she got very quiet while I was in the kitchen.  I came in to discover that she had moved her items to the floor and was deep in coloring!)

(Deep into chalk!)

She's becoming quite the little helper around the house, too.  Her favorite chore to help out with is unloading the utensils from the dishwasher.  She knows which drawers they go in and opens them up. Then she races back and forth from the dishwasher to throw the utensils in them.  It's an unorganized mess, but I appreciate the help.  I don't have to bend over to get the utensils out, I just have to quickly organize the drawer before closing.  She also has taken a liking to sweeping.  She'll drag the broom around the house and pretend she's cleaning the floor.  She tries to move the swiffer mop, too; but declares it, "too heavy".  She likes to use the duster too, but I don't think much dust is being taken care of.

(Getting the utensils from the washer.)

(Excitedly putting them in the drawer!)

Sleeping is going much better than it has.  She seems to go in spurts (usually coordinates with teething).  She's working on her last 3 molars coming in and they can't come in fast enough! We always can tell when one is working it's way up by her attitude and issues with sleeping (and the slobber and fingers constantly in her mouth).  Luckily, we are smarter about them coming in and haven't relived the weeks straight of no sleep like we did when her first set of molars came in earlier in the year.  Now, we just go ahead and give her some medicine around the clock and stay on top of the pain before it gets that bad.

("Get out of here Mom!"  -- something Bean gets from her dad - she HATES to get out of bed! Bean has been procrastinating her naps and ends up playing during the first part. I always make sure she is up by 4pm (she gets 1.5-2.5 hours of sleep).  Sometimes, I have to go in and wake her up and this is the face I got.  Most days, she's just sitting happily and playing with her bedtime collection.  When she wakes up, she just plays quietly, doesn't cry or call for me.  If we didn't have a video monitor, sometimes, I wouldn't know she's awake.)

(Bean's stuffed animal collection has grown exponentially recently.  She used to only sleep with her glow worm and blanket in bed, but now, she has smuggled her Duffey Bear, Ariel Baby, and a reindeer in bed with her -- along with her glow worm, 2 blankets, and water cup.  I'm not quite sure how she has room to sleep in there, too! She also insists on holding all her items while being changed - as seen above. Makes for an interesting diaper change!)

(She carries her collection from her bed downstairs to play in the mornings and after naps.  We then have to pick up Duffey, Ariel, and reindeer and take them back to bed.)

Eating on the other hand is a whole other story.  She's never been the best eater, but it has really gone down hill.  She hates to try new things and would rather martyr and not eat.  Her favorites still remain as mac'n'cheese, spaghetti, pizza, and cottage cheese.  We've also discovered that she'll eat tortillas with sour cream which helps to break up all that pasta! Another favorite is ketchup! She loves to use fries as a catalyst to just suck the ketchup.  Recently, she's been more about eating the fries and even devoured almost 2 chicken nuggets in 1 setting (that was a huge achievement!).  The only vegetable she'll eat (and ask for seconds and thirds) is carrots.  If it's a green vegetable, it is a guarantee that she won't even attempt to try it. She's pretty good with fruits, but it can be hit or miss.  Her most recent favorites are raspberries and bananas (she's lost her desire for grapes :-/).

She's always been more of a snacker and eats in small doses.  She loves to constantly snack on crackers and cheerios.  Her FAVORITE snack, however, is gummies (fruit snacks).  We've limited her to a pack a day, but if she had her way, it'd be the first thing she ate when she gets up.  She's started to take vitamins now which are also gummies.  At first, I snuck them into the fruit snakcs when I opened a pack, but now she asks for "gummies & 2 special gummies."  Breakfast is the easiest meal of the day - she eats a kids yogurt pouch followed by sharing a bagel/waffle/cereal/etc with me.

(Eating her new favorite snack -- peanut butter on a spoon!)

Her vocabulary (to me) is out of control. She does do a lot of repeating of words, but she also will say something to us and we have no idea where she got it.  She's either pieced stuff together from tv shows, or she's getting it from church.  Just yesterday I heard her singing "Twinkle Twinkle" and that's not a song I typically sing with her.  We usually sing "Row Row Row Your Boat", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy".  I'm also realizing how quickly she catches on to things.  Just this week, we introduced her to Rudolph, and now she's going around saying "Rudolph Red-Nose Reindeer.  Shiny nose!"  She also tries to sing "Frosty" and how he's happy.  But her favorite Christmas song is currently "Jingle Bells".  She runs around saying, "Jingle Bells.  Alllll the Waaaaaayyyyy!".

(She also has the whole grocery shopping figured out.  She gets a sucker while we shop and then rides the penny horse at the end.  When we get close to the registers, she immediately starts saying, "ride horse! ride horse!" Which is really funny because about 3 months ago she would cry about the horse and how she was afraid of it.  Now she gets on like a big girl, pushes the button by herself, and holds on.)

Next on the docket for her is to work on potty training.  She understands the concept and was terrified of the potty for awhile.  With some bribery and help of marshmallows, we are able to get her to sit on the potty for an extended period of time by singing songs.  However, she has yet to go into the potty.  Right now, I think she's more battling us because she wants to do things on her terms.  After the new year, we'll get serious about making it happen! We are also going to have to tackle her sleeping with her "packi" (pacifier).  She only uses it when she's in bed (or to sleep in the car on long trips).  I'm hoping these last few molars will come in and she won't miss sucking on it at night.

Disney World

Back in October (now I'm 2 months behind on the blog. . . ), Bean turned TWO! We got to celebrate in style with a big family trip to Disney World.  Okay, we didn't plan it to fall that way, it's just the timing that worked for everyone else (parents, sister, other sister & her family, & family friend = 12 in all!).

The plan was for my family to all drive down.  We debated back and forth on flying, but realized we'd have to pay for a ticket for Bean since she was turning 2.  So Bean and I ended up riding down with my parents while Steve flew down. Then all three of us flew back.  With Bean and I riding down and flying back, we had to be strategic on getting to my parents.  Steve drove us to Ft Wayne after work on Tuesday and we met my dad there.  We grabbed a quick dinner, then Bean and I went home with my dad while Steve returned to Ohio.  He had to work the rest of the week and met us as we arrived in Florida.

(Helping to pack for Disney World.  She made sure she got all the essentials - toy bag, tissues, soap, what else do you need?)

Bean and I hung out at my parents on Wednesday while everyone else was finishing up packing (and projects like making costumes and shirts).  We left Indiana on Thursday morning and started our trek south.  I had big plans of having a "schedule" in the car with Bean.  Things like, an hour of activities - coloring, stickers, playing toys, reading - and then letting her watch a movie.  Then we'd stop for lunch, she'd nap right after that, and then we'd do another routine or activities and movie to get us to dinner.  In reality, the trip was more like 15 min of stickers/coloring, followed by "no no no stories", watching the Little Mermaid back to back to back (for the record, we always skipped the end when Ursula became a giant monster), only eating ketchup at mealtimes, and refusing to take naps in the car.

We made it to our hotel in Georgia around 9:30.  Bean maybe napped 20 min in the car, so she was exhausted! We split a room with my friend April.  We quickly got the pack'n'play set up, showered, and in bed just a little after 10.  All of us zonked out! In previous hotel experiences, Bean ends up sleeping for an hour and then wakes and cries or wallows around in bed all night.  But this time, she slept straight through the night.  It was amazing! We never got a straight answer as to when to be ready the next morning, but we got up and went to breakfast, expecting to see everyone.  We ended up eating alone and only passed by others towards the end.  We got the cars loaded back up and continued the trek!

(A trip down south would not be complete without a stop at the original KFC in Corbin, KY!)

Friday was Bean's birthday, so while we were on the road, I pulled out decorations and we decorated the van.  Bean just thought we were being crazy.  Our Friday morning car experience was like the day before - 15 min of coloring, rest of the time just watching Dora or Little Mermaid.  We stopped for lunch at a Chik-fil-a.  I brought party hats and had a little party for Bean.  My parents needed to do a Walmart run so the rest of us stayed at the restaurant and let the kids run around the play place (Bean's first time).  She loved it so much and was upset to get back in the car.  Not only did she choose not to nap, but also chose to cry about it for an hour.  We pulled into our Disney resort (Pop Century) just a little after 4.  We got the car unloaded and began to settle into our rooms (parents/sister had one, sister + fam had one, and we shared a room with my friend).

(Waffles for her birthday breakfast!)

(Happy Birthday Bean! You get to spend the next 6 hours in your carseat. Love, Mom)

(This is what 15 minutes of stickers looks like.)

(The guys eating lunch in their Mickey ears.)

(The girls all had Minnie ears, but Bean wouldn't wear hers. Whatever the birthday girl wants!)

(Having a blast in the play place.)

(Climbing like a big girl!)

(You would think by this picture that the play place wore her out.  Not so, this is what crying for an hour about wanting to play on the slide does to you.  Notice her foot in the bag, too.  This beautiful sleep only lasted 20 min. Waaaaahhhh.)

Steve showed up about 45 min after we got to Disney (what timing!).  We had tickets to go into the park that evening, but with Bean not napping, she was pretty cranky by evening.  So we went down to the food court, got some dinner, and called it an early night.  We kept telling her we were at Disney World, but she couldn't grasp the concept.  To her, Disney World was the same 3 rides we showed her YouTube videos of.  It took her a few days to grasp what Disney World was really like.

Saturday was my dad's 60th birthday. The day was all about him so he chose the agenda.  First up -- head to Magic Kingdom just so we could get a group picture in front of the castle.  Once that was achieved, we boarded the monorail and headed over to Epcot for the rest of the day.  We went on a few rides and then headed to lunch.  From there, we kind of split up and made plans to meet back up at dinner.  As the day went on, the crowds got thicker and thicker.  Epcot was celebrating their Food & Wine festival -- who knew that was the place to be on a Saturday night?!  Actually, I personally thought the crowds all week were out of control for October! Apparently everyone else's fall break fell at the same time (we choose that week based on my nieces' fall break).

(Bean's entourage.  They actually did fairly well about not fighting over her.  These were the shirts we wore for my dad's birthday.  The ears make a "60" and "WALT" stood for Wonderful Abo's (what the girls call my dad) Legendary Trip.  We have a group photo, but I downloaded it wrong.  It'll take me another month to try to track down the real photo, so for now, you just get to imagine what we all look like in matching blue shirts.)

On Sunday, we had special tickets to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party.  So we started off the morning at Magic Kingdom (nieces had appointments at the Bibbidy Bobiddy Boutique).  We took Bean on some of "her" rides while the appointments were going on.  Bean immediately fell in love with the Ariel ride ("Ariel again??") and even Cinderella's carousel ("Ride horse?").  We have tried to get Bean to go on several carousels and have had many major freak outs on said carousels.  But for whatever reason, she loved the Disney one (Magic of Disney?? Or maybe the fact that I got on the horse with her?).  We took Bean back to the hotel after lunch so that she could get a good nap in.  Once she was up, we put on our costumes and headed to the party!

(We got the meal plan while we were there, meaning every meal came with a dessert.  That made for one happy 2 year old - and an even happier Momma! And yes, another set of matching shirts.  Out of the 7 days, we all matched 4 days, the girls all matched 5 days, and then the little girls matched 6 days. That's a lot of matching shirts - but boy does it make it nice getting the whole group on a ride!)

The weather was hotter than we thought it would be, so luckily our costumes were 'minimal'.  I didn't think Bean would keep her hat and scarf on, but she did.  You were supposed to be able to go around to different stations and get candy, but as the party got started, crowds came rolling in and lines got really long.  We attempted a couple rides, but then decided to go eat dinner.  By the time we got food and ate it, it was time to go find a spot for the parade.  Bean started melting down around that time and I saw our party clock quickly ticking.  We ended up leaving after the parade while other stayed for fireworks and even did more rides late into the night.  (Let me just say, Disney World with a toddler is a way different experience than without.  It was fun in its own way, but brought a lot of challenges, too.)

(Steve = Bernard from Rescuers; Lindsey = Bianca from Rescuers; Bean = Orville from Rescuers; Amber = Disgust from Inside Out; April = Sadness from Inside Out; Chris = Anger from Inside Out; Gabbie = Joy from Inside Out; Allie = Anna from Frozen; Emily = Merida from Brave; Patty = Fairy God Mother from Cinderella; Sara = Hiro from Big Hero 6; Les = Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia)

(We did actually have 1 cast member call us by character names, so I felt validated in our costumes. Ha.  As the night went on, hats and ears were taken off.  Funny side note, we all went to go get on Pirates of the Caribbean together (all 12 of us).  I had to go park the stroller so when I got back to Steve, it was just him and April and the rest of the family was in the cue already.  So we went ahead and got in line.  Then we realized we were in 2 different cues and couldn't get to them and had no idea what they were doing and thought they ditched us. After we got off the ride, we realized they were in a candy line so we had in fact ditched them - ha!)

The rest of the week is a blur.  Bean and I went to the Magic Kingdom every day (we made good use of our hopper tickets!).  Anytime we were in Magic Kingdom, we spent most of our time back in Fantasyland riding Ariel, the horses, and Pooh.  Steve and I did get to go on some of the "grown up" rides.  Someone would always volunteer to take her either on a kiddie ride or entertain her for us.  (Perk of traveling in a big group).  Some days Bean would fall asleep in her stroller (or even in a show) in the park, and other days we'd take a break midday and go back to the room for nap.  Just depended on her attitude and what the need of the day was.

(A Disney trip would not be complete without the purchase of Mickey - or in this case Minnie - Mouse ears!)

("Sharing" a Mickey Bar with daddy while we waited to meet up with the group.)

(Never in a million years did I think Bean would like this kind of ride. I for sure thought she was scared of heights and would freak out over the cars going up and down and "flying" through the air. But ends up, she loved them all - Aladdin's carpets, Dumbo's elephants, and even Tricerotops Spin!)

(This is what we call the "Disney face" or simply pure happiness!)

(Riding with daddy on the horses!)

(The three of us had an early morning breakfast at the Beast's castle.)

(We were some of the first people in the park. If you have a breakfast reservation, your name is on a special list and they let you in the park before it is officially open.  The emptiness in the park made for some great photos!)

(Family pic!)

(This is another form of "Disney face" or simply pure exhaustion - ha!)

(I Love Love Love that I got to experience this lovely friend's first Disney trip! She is an absolute blessing in my life and like the sister I never had - ba hahahaha).  

(Group photo of us in our shirts with the group on them.  Mind blown.)

("It's My First Time!" -- Should've made April turn around and stand next to Bean since her shirt said the same.)

We flew back on Friday afternoon.  We woke up early that morning and checked our luggage for the airport at the resort (a nice perk!).  We then headed back to Magic Kingdom to hit up Ariel, horses, and a few other rides one last time.  We quickly grabbed lunch, said bye to everyone, went back to the hotel, and caught the bus for the airport.  It made for a hectic day to go into the park in the morning, but seeing Bean say bye to all the rides was worth it.  I thought there would be a meltdown, but she was fine about it.  Meltdowns did occur for the next week, though.  We had a great time, but I can't see signing up for another trip anytime in the near future (well, that is until Bean says, "Go to Disney World please??").

(Last family Disney photo.  This photo is also a shout out to the fact that I saved up all my Jamberry money I've earned from the year to help pay for the trip.)

(My mom bought Bean a Duffey bear for her birthday.  Duffey is marketed as Mickey's personal teddy bear. There's even a channel in the hotel that plays the same Duffey cartoon every 10 min for 4 hours each evening! Bean has really attached to this bear and sleeps with him almost every nap and bedtime.)

(This is our "we don't want to be home and want to go back to Disney World" faces. One of us is having to act more than the other one.)