Trunk of Treat

Kaylea and I picked up my mom and headed to Trunk or Treat at Northside Church.  This is where we go to church, so Kaylea thought we were just going to church.  She kept asking me if I was going in the big church and she was going to the trunks.

Instead of using her Ariel wig, I sprayed her hair.  She was super excited about having red hair.  This event was amazing and Kaylea got a TON of candy.  It will take her forever to eat this candy without any help :)

Harvst Homecoming Fiesta Rides

We took advantage of the $15 wristbands at Harvest Homecoming on Wednesday night and took Kaylea to ride some rides.  We got there around 6:30 and stayed until after 9:00.  Kaylea had a great time. There is not a ride she won't ride.  She wanted to ride the big rides and the rides that go upside down.  We are going to have some fun when she gets older and taller.

Happy 36th Birthday Daddy

We spent some time this week celebrating Jordy's birthday.  We celebrated with his family on Wednesday and today his mom came over for lunch.  We are so lucky to have this guy in our lives so we wanted to make him feel special.  We had 2 of his favorite meals today, along with cake just the way he likes it (yellow cake with canned chocolate icing).  Happy Birthday Jordy!

Pumpkins

To close out my time off work, we had lunch at Tumbleweed and then headed to Meijer to pick out some pumpkins.  We normally would have gone to Huber's, but we had already been to Deere Farm this year, so we decided to save some cash and pick out some pumpkins from Meijer.  Kaylea decided she wanted to paint hers, but Jordy and I opted to carve ours.  We had fun.  This is one of my favorite things to do each year.

Great Wolf Lodge - Mason, Ohio

Fall break is here.  Jordy was off all of last week.  I was off on Monday for Columbus Day, so I decided to take 2 extra days and make it an extra long weekend.  We left Sunday morning for the Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio.  Shannan and Brenden joined us and we had a great time.  We swam in the pool.  Kaylea loved the wave pool, but also enjoyed the slides.  We didn't last in the water too long on the first day.  We went for pizza and came back and played some games and enjoyed dessert.  Kaylea did some crafts before the trick or treat party.

It was a rough night of sleep.  Kaylea couldn't get to sleep (we let her stay up too late) and then she woke up with some growing pains (we think).  I would guess I got about 3 hours of sleep.

We got up this morning and had breakfast at the buffet before heading back to the water for round two before heading home.  The only bad news - Jordy got his first ticket EVER - we were taking the exit in Carrollton, stopping for lunch, when the cop pulled us over.  Truthfully, Kaylea was playing on her iPad and I don't think she ever realized what happened.  It was short and sweet.  We were wrong and we will pay the fine and move on.

Harvest Homecoming Pageant

Kaylea wanted to participate in the Harvest Homecoming Little Miss Petite contest this year.  I decided to let her.  It isn't a fancy pageant.  It is supposed to the best "fall" outfit.  I was going to search the Internet for the perfect outfit, but we ended up just heading to Dillard's to find something.  When I bought the outfit, I assumed it would be cooler weather.  Instead, it was about 80.  We left the pants off and headed to the festival.

There were approximately 40 participants.  They were all adorable.  I wasn't sure how the judges would pick a winner.  I really hoped they would spin a wheel to select, but they didn't.  Kaylea wasn't shy on stage, but didn't use the opportunity to really show her personality.  I wished she would have given more than one word answers, but she was still adorable.

We ended up sticking around to see if we won - Kaylea won "best outfit" and got a certificate.  She was not a happy camper.  She was very upset that she did not win the crown or a ribbon.  Poor girl.  I really wasn't ready to start explaining winning and losing and being a good winner/loser.  I hoped she was happy that she got something, instead of nothing like some little girls.

It didn't take much to get over it - a $5 lemonade shake-up and she was good to go.  She is always a winner in our book.

Kaylea's Friend Lucy

Kaylea had a friend over after school last week and I forgot to post.  Lucy came over to our house after school to play with Kaylea.  They did craft, played video games, and had a tea party.  We had dinner with Lucy and they seemed to have a great time.  It is always fun watching her interact with her friends when adults aren't interfering.

Harvest Homecoming Parade

Kaylea went to her first parade  – she was in it!  As a part of the princess for a day camp that HHC sponsored, she got to ride on a float in the parade.  She was pretty excited.  It rained…and rained.  However, she was one of the only princesses who did not want to wear her poncho.  I mean, princesses don’t wear ponchos after all.  This dedicated mom walked alongside the parade route without an umbrella and I was soaked when it was all over with.  We both made it through and said she wanted to do it next year, but only if it didn’t rain.  I think I can agree to that.

Halloween at the Zoo

Friday after work, we headed to the Halloween Party at the Zoo. It was the first night of the party and I was hoping to arrive before it was too crowded, so I met my mom, Jordy, and Kaylea at the zoo right at 5pm. The plan worked. We hardly had to wait to see any of the characters. Kaylea dressed up as Ariel from the Little Mermaid. One of my favorite memories was all of the workers calling her Ariel and her saying, “You mean Kaylea. My name is Kaylea.” She loved the characters and my girl, who doesn’t like having her picture taken, wanted her picture taken with everyone. We took a ton of pictures on Friday night. After trick or treating we came back to the house for pizza and she watched the Little MermaidJ