Halloween

What a fun fall this has been with Jillian! She is just starting to get big enough to really enjoy some of the holidays which has been fun for Halloween. Paul and I took Jillian to a pumpkin patch near Buffalo, IA earlier in October. About a week later we tried carving the pumpkins and chose a beautiful day we could be outside, put Jillian in old clothes, and let her have at it! To our surprise she stuck her hand inside the pumpkin once and didn't want anything else to do with it! The only thing she was interested in doing was using a spoon to transfer the "gunk" from one pan to the next. Didn't even require a bath afterwards...she was spotless!

Jillian was a giraffe for Halloween. Surprisingly she willingly kept her costume on for visits to grandparents, great grandparents, and a few local friends. She even started to say "trick-or-treat" by the end of her Halloween experience! Amongst her favorite Halloween treats were Gold Fish, Teddy Grahams, and animal crackers. I'm sure that will change next year! :) She wasn't too sure about trick-or-treaters at our house as she kept saying "I scared! Hold you!" as they would come to the door. In her defense, there were some pretty scary costumes!

At the pumpkin patch

Home enjoying the "punkins", as Jillian would say
Being very neat with pumpkin carving

"What am I supposed to do now?"

Colorado

Last weekend, Paul and I took a 4 day trip to Colorado in celebration of our 5 years of marriage! We were very grateful to the grandparents that were willing to watch Jillian while we were gone. We enjoyed taking in the golden Aspens that were at their peak when we were there. We spent a lot of our time in the mountains taking in the scenic views. We also did some hiking and spent a lot of time reconnecting with good friends. There is so much we miss about Colorado! If only it was a little closer to Iowa! :)

Bright and early at the airport in Moline! Thanks for taking us, Dad!
This is where we stayed in Breckenridge for a night

This was the view from our room

Outside on the deck of our hotel.

Miles and miles of this...breathtaking!

Fall is here!

Jillian has been trying many new things in September including wearing Mommy's hat, painting, washing windows with Gram, and pushing her cousin Leah in a dolly stroller. Every day offers new adventures!

August highlights

Looks like another month has gone by since we've last posted! August has been a fairly low key month which has been a nice way to wrap up the summer. We've been blessed to have the opportunity to get together with several friends we haven't seen in a while and to even make a trip up to the Manchester area to see Abby's grandparents. It's rare that Paul is able to come on these trips with his work schedule so it was a special treat that our family could go together.

August 11th marked our 5th anniversary and we plan to celebrate with a trip to Colorado at the end of September. We are hoping to catch some of the fall colors and there are many friends we look forward to seeing.

Jillian is officially 18 months old now and is talking non-stop! She says everything from "excuse me" to "cranky" to "laundry"...basically anything you say, she tries to say! At her most recent well visit she weighed 22.2lbs and 31 inches long, putting her in the 25th percentile for both catagories. For the most part she is a delightful little girl but like any one year old, she has her not so delightful moments! :) She is becoming much more curious about the toilet and electronics, and basically anything she should be staying away from. Her toys just don't seem as interesting some days! :) Still, at the end of the day we love this little girl beyond words!

Attempting to clean for us, even if it requires using half a roll of toilet paper.

5 years!

Our first family picnic at Scott County Park

Jillian loves spaghetti!

This is one of Jillian's favorite past times with Gram...looking at pictures.

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July and was able to celebrate the blessings of living in our country! We were with Paul's family in Oxford Junction and Jillian had a great time playing with cousins. The neighbors even had a fountain Jillian was able to check out. Of course, it was hard for her to understand it wasn't just a giant "tubby".

We also got away on a vacation a couple weeks ago. We headed to Menomonie, WI to visit some friends we had lived across from at seminary and made a stop in Decorah on the way home to do a little hiking. We stayed at a hotel in Decorah and Jillian loved the pool! She is definitely a water girl! It was a great time away as a family!

Happy 4th!

Daddy holding Jillian back from diving into the fountain

Visiting the Weins Family

Paul and Jillian at our hotel in Decorah on Father's Day

Jillian and Mommy in the pool

Summer fun!

Now that the temperatures are rising, Jillian has been able to enjoy several outdoor activities. She has been able to go swimming several times and was able to try out cousin Leah's slide. She has also loved going to nearby parks and her current interest is playing with the mulch and dumping it up onto the end of the slide and then brushing it off. Forget all the fancy playground equipment...ha! Jillian has also made a couple trips to the zoo and almost shared her snack with the goats at the last visit!

It's been so much fun to hear her say new words every day. She's getting to the point of repeating everything you say. Today some new words were, "wow", "elbow", "Today show", and "sorry". Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Parks

Jillian has been spoiled lately by her Daddy taking her to the park almost every day if the weather cooperates. We are fortunate to have two parks less than 5 minutes away!