HOPPY HALLOWEEN...

... Is what I *thought* I would name this post because I was more than certain Olivia would refuse to wear the costume we (yes, we, even *I* contributed this year) slaved over for days in favor of the ever popular amphibian attire. I'd link blog posts on the frog, but let's be honest, they are far too frequent... just scroll a little and you'll see what I'm talking about.

BUT! I was wrong!

Not even Princess McDiva pants could resist the magic that is Halloween.

But more on that later!

First. The Pumpkins:

hmmmmm??

Olivia was *SUPER* serious about pumpkining. We bought some stickers to avoid a knife accident and subsequent child protective services situation and what not and Olivia was all over it. We discovered a couple things. Olivia apparently thinks animals should not have tails and zebras don't need legs. With every sticker she would decide which appendages were unnecessary and place them accordingly:

Notice the dismembered and mangled wildlife?

The final product.

Meanwhile, the pumpkin master got to work:

He's so handsome!

The final products:

I'll let you decide which is mine and which belongs to Pants.

Hint: Mine took less than three minutes

And next came Halloween!

This is going to sound odd, but I've always wanted to have a daughter and dress her up as Rainbow Brite for Halloween. I know, weird, right? I was born in 1987 AND I grew up overseas, Rainbow Brite has never, ever, ever been in my life in the slightest. Minus a couple hand-me-down board books from an older sister who actually *did* grow up (adolescently speaking) in the height of 80's pop culture.

But whatever, I thought it would be adorable. And I was totally right.

Olivia's costume wasn't actually finished until the actual afternoon of the actual Halloween so there was no chance for us to talk/bribe/beg her into liking it. And here's the hard work break down: I did the tutu, Kyle did the crochet work and we got too lazy to sew the top so we just tied it. It was skanky, yes, but she had on a onesie on the actual night of all hallow's eve or whatever the spooky name is:

This picture, from the day before is a big fat lie. If you could see her from a different angle you'd see a 100% naked nudie behind because I didn't buy enough toole. OOOOppps! An early morning trip to Joanne's and all was fixed.

But whatever, we finished it and much to our surprise, she actually LOVED it.

The arm warmers took some convincing, but when the temperature dropped, she decided to go with it.
And even better, she LOVED trick or treating.
Jimmy, I mean Elmo, decided to join us. And so Rainbow Brite and Elmo headed out on their very first trick-or-treating extravaganza (and Hatsumi's, too), with four parents in tow. Yes, there were four parents and two teeny tiny toddlers. At one door the woman looked like she was about to murder something when she saw Corey and Kyle before I shouted out, "they're down there!" She had apparently not seen the three feet of the most adorable babies ever crowding her doorstep.

The first couple of doors I didn't think this whole trick-or-treating thing would last long. Olivia just didn't get it, but eventually:

She got SO into it. I wish I had better pictures, but Olivia wasn't messing around. She was really down to candy business. She was literally running between the houses yelling out, "MORE CANDY!" and "LET'S GO!" if the crowd wasn't moving along fast enough.
I do have to say, she was such a polite girl, saying "thanky" to every one and making sure Jimmy had at least two pieces of candy in his bucket. Jimmy must have come home with a haul because at every door she would take one for him, one for her, then another one for him.

Olivia probably demanded, "MORE CANDY" hundreds of times in two hours. Yes, they last two hours! But when we got home, all she wanted was the bag of chips...

Okay one last picture so you don't always remember her with that CRAZY stuff we call hair:

Let Her Eat Cake

I think 21 months must be the best age ever. I thought that at the one month, and two and three and every single month between then and 21 but I seriously think 21 is the best. Olivia is the best-worst little helper in the universe. Every day she will tell me crazy things like, "I NEEEEEEDDD TO SWEEP!" or "I NEEEEEDDDD TO WASH THAT!" I wish I could get some of that Holly homemaker NEEEED. So what if when she NEEEDDSS to pick up the toys it usually entails something along the lines of she cleans up one and conveniently puts it away under the blankets in her crib for later and it's my responsibility to get the rest into the *appropriate* bins...

Olivia has been a little bit sick which means we've been a lot a bit homebound so yesterday I decided to introduce Olivia to some "real" kitchen time. We started simple: a cake mix and ended a little more complex: stirring and measuring cups of water. And I know what you're thinking, sick people should NOT be in the kitchen. Hands were washed and we gluttonously didn't share it with a single soul. And doesn't everyone need a little treat when they're sick??

Olivia LOVED IT:

We finished up just before nap time and Olivia was super confused wondering when we were going to *eat* the cake. I told her it had to cook and it would be ready when she woke up from her nap. As I was getting her changed into a new set of cow pajamas, because she NEEEEEDed to wear a cow and I was fresh out of cow suits, she kept telling me, "I nap, then cake, okay?"

And then I had a moral dilemma. Half way through her nap I had the biggest craving for fake cake anyone in the history of the world has ever had. She wouldn't notice if I picked at the corner with a fork, right?? I even solicited advice from my mom and friends. And despite mixed reviews... I waited. And I was SO glad I did:

Olivia's frosting skills were a lot more like eat half the frosting and stab the cake with a knife, but eventually we got the job done.

Olivia was so proud of her cake this morning she kept telling us, "I NEEEEEED TO COOK!" So this morning Kyle let Olivia help him make breakfast:

When they were done with their Dutch pancakes (side note: it is GREAT to have a non eater in the kitchen, she didn't even attempt to taste the salmonella soaked eggs) Olivia settled for scooping water into the bowl. She would dump her measuring cup, stir a little and then ask me, since I was the one doing the dishes, for "MORE DRINK PLEASE!"

She's so cute, right?!
Snot and all.

Kangaroo Zoo

Kangaroo Zoo. It isn't what you think. There were no marsupials. No cleverly Australian themed drinks or party rooms. In fact, there wasn't even a single inflatable kangaroo in the entire joint. But there was:

A giant room full of inflatables! Slides, bounce houses and obstacle courses, OH MY!

When we first got there I was pretty sure I had the lamest child in the world since all she wanted to do was this:
Arrange and rearrange a bunch of Ikea chairs. Yes, an ode to Sweden. I really think they need to rename this place. I mean, I get the jumping metaphor and all but seriously, can we think of nothing else that jumps??

After a few minutes of chair time Olivia finally realized we were in a room full of oversized pool toys and ran around like a caffeinated Mexican jumping bean until she found... THE WHALE:

The whale was in the darkest of all corners, hidden in the back and covered in patches and holes. There was a bounce house IDENTICAL to the whale in the very front, even with a whale. But Olivia insisted that we jump on THIS whale. "THE WHALE, THE WHALE!" Even though she says it a lot like "wheel."

And let's blame the poor lighting and creepy vibe of being in the back for these terrible pictures. Once Olivia found the whale she literally left this universe and headed straight to some alternate reality known as crazy town. She did probably ninety million cycles through the whale:

Jump and scream like something *other* than a kangaroo...

And then SLIDE:

Jimmy wasn't having the best time in the world at first. In fact Hatsumi was literally shoving him into the whale as he shoved himself back out. But, eventually he warmed up:

At one point I forced Olivia to venture away from the whale:


But after a quick water break:

Olivia couldn't resist going back:

Olivia and Kyle had a conversation that night that went something like this:

Kyle: Olivia, tell me what you did today?

Olivia: I JUMPED! AND I WEEEEE!

Kyle: Oh yeah, where'd you jump?

Olivia: Oh, THE WHALE! With JIM!

And this morning she even asked me to go back-- "We go jump the whale, okay?"

Winter is coming. We'll probably go back a lot...

UPDATED

MY BLOG, which had been left to rot for about a month, is now here-to-for and henceforth and thereof and other colonial legal terms, UPDATED.

And incase you're incapable of scrolling, here are the links:

MOM AND DAD'S VISIT

MADDY'S VISIT

IDAHO

BABY LOVE BIRDS

PUMPKIN PATCH

MOVIES

It won't happen again. Probably. But maybe. For sure.

Oh and I don't read any posts without pictures, so in complete fairness:

Olivia telling Jimmy not to touch the light in the emptied fountain as Olivia touches the light in the emptied fountain.

Olivia's FIRST Movie

There is a dollar theater here in Provo which is a bit of a misnomer since it's actually a buck fitty for a show, but WHATEVER. I've been wanting to take Olivia to the movies for awhile now and I figured a kid flick at the buck theater would do the trick. I figured everyone would be loud and if she didn't make it through, we wouldn't be set back a pretty penny. The only cartoony movie was Kung Fu Panda dos, so bonus! Kung Fu Panda might be a guilty pleasure of one Kyle Pants Skinner.

Olivia's favorite part was by far the giant popcorn and drink:

Oh, and sitting by Jimmy:
Both babies did great during the movie. Well great if you don't count Olivia screaming out things like "A SNAKE!" or "OH NO!" or "I SCARED!" or Olivia insisting on loudly passing Jimmy some of her candy, "HERE JIM, IT CANDY EAT!"

Or Olivia lap bouncing the last half hour. She may have been in Hatsumi's lap at one point. But the point is. They had a blast. And Olivia is still talking about the scary bear and snake. So she didn't really get who the good guys and bad guys were...

Oh, and yes, I was the dorky mom who brought the camera to the movies...

THE Pumpkin Patch

It's fall! And Olivia has quite the collection of leaves. I've been trying to explain to her what "fall" is for awhile but I quickly had to switch it to "autumn" because she thinks it is some sort of strange pain inflicting self torment type of game. But that's beside the point. Fall means you have to do FALL things, like going to the pumpkin patch or burning your tongue on hot cocoa even though it really isn't cold enough for hot cocoa.

The pumpkin patch is both dusty and awesome. Olivia calls pumpkins "punk-ins" and I think it is adorable.

It has these hokey (as in lame, not as in hokie the mascot of Virginia Tech as you might assume I would reference since I am in fact from the greatest state of them all: VIRGINIA) little cut outs all around that the kids are a little obsessed with:

Aren't they so cute poking their heads in the wrong way??

AND...
A rope to keep kids OUT of the perils of the patch. Olivia and Jimmy seriously spent 93% of our trip bouncing the rope up and down. Seriously. The entire trip.

And a mini fun house:

And a park:


And lollipops that are so huge you can't get them out of your mouth once you get them in:


And so naturally we had to take the frog back there:

Olivia super wanted to wear her costume to the pumpkin patch. She was the only child in a costume, minus a strawberry shortcake.

And the frog met some other animals.

Olivia was so excited to meet the animals, for instance the bunny. "HI BUNNY! I FROG!"

But even the FROG gets hot sometimes.

And then even hotter:

So despite the wardrobe change after she demanded to wear the frog, whatever, she still had a blast showing Kyle the patch. Can you call it just the patch? Is that a thing? Or does it make no sense?

On Saturdays they have inflatable fun. Olivia was dying to go down the slide but adults weren't allowed. We reluctantly let her venture over to the slide thinking there was NO way she could climb it by herself. She was EASILY the smallest child there. See for yourself:

And guess what? We didn't even end up with a pumpkin! We had to rush to get to Olivia's very first... well you'll see in the next post. I guess we'll have to go back!