Halloween preview

We went to a Halloween party tonight with our church community and got a little preview of Halloween fun to come. It was fun to get dressed up and Ami is an adorable butterfly. More pictures will be coming after Friday. We plan to do a little trick-or-treating old school style (door to door) and also attend a community party in an area of town that we really like. I truly love Halloween - I don't know what it is. Maybe because the Fall air is so crisp and people are always laughing and playing so much on Halloween - it's great.

Brushing

Amalea has become a fan of brushing her teeth (grandpa Dave would be proud). After Jim or I have finished brushing her teeth for her she gets to try herself and she really enjoys this part of her bedtime routine.

Pumpkins

October

Saturday evening we went to this awesome farm to travel through a corn maze, eat yummy food and get pumpkins. We went with a group of people from church and went through the maze with them.
Ami didn't like wearing her hat, but we were able to snap a picture of her with it on here. I think next year we will go earlier and spend more of the day there because it was a bit chilly by the time we got there.
Jim ended up having to carry Amalea through most of the corn maze since it was super muddy. I don't think she cared much for the maze, but oh well.
If the maze wasn't her thing thats ok because she definitely loved the corn. It was delicious corn and Ami ate it right off the cob.
To get out to the giant pumpkin patch you can either take a hayride or walk...we opted for the ride. It was very fun!

Amalea's hair was a total riot blowing in the wind since it is so thin. She loved hitting the pumpkins like they were drums. After we got the ones we wanted and put them in a cart to carry them out to the car she kept banging them and even was hugging them and snuggling a bit.

Daycare and neighbors

Amalea had her first two days at daycare this week. On Monday she goes for about 2 hours and on Wednesday she goes for only about an hour or less. It's not a lot, but we thought it would be great for her to be around other kids. Jim is working Monday and Wednesday afternoons and the program he works for offers free child care to it's teachers...thus, Ami's first two days. She did great. It was hard for her when Jim first left her and she cried (like she does when I leave for work in the morning), but it didn't take her long to be distracted. Both days when I came to pick her up she was happy to see me, but also wanted to keep playing. She seems to really like the place and have fun while she is there so we are thrilled for her to have this opportunity to interact with other kids. Right now there is only one other kid there because they just opened, but hopefully a few more will come soon.
Also, today we walked up to the street just above us and there were a few kids out playing so we joined them. Amalea was laughing so hard playing with the big kids (ages: 2, 2 1/2, 6) and the puppy. Both the moms who were out there were very nice also. When I told Amalea it was time to come home for dinner she screamed and cried because she wanted to play with her new friends. We were told to come back anytime as they are outside playing all the time. I am excited for Ami to have some kids to play with in the neighborhood!

Our Day at the Zoo

Today we took Amalea to the zoo for her first birthday!  I think she loved it (although we probably loved it more!)

Here are some pics and videos from the day.

First we had to open some presents, of course!

Here we finally made it to the zoo... 

That's right... I'm one!

Picnic at the zoo!

Here are some of the animals we saw!

A tiger...

Some weird monkey thing... I think it's the monkey from the Lion King!

Elephants...

Two great big Polar bears... check out the video!

Some other weird monkeys, pics a little blurry though...

A giraffe...

Two zebras...

Some sleeping Hippos...

And the weirdest animals of all!

Yee-haw!!!

Ami got so worn out she fell asleep...

And so did mommy!

Ami got free rides all around the zoo...

It was such an amazing day! So fun!

Don't forget the birthday cake!

I love books

Amalea has a knack for climbing into boxes and baskets. At church last Sunday I went in to the kids room to play with her during service and sure enough she had crawled into the toy tub and was sitting on top of the toys. Luckily the other kids didn't seem to mind. Amalea loves to look through her books and multiple times a day she takes them out and looks through them. Often she also looks through them while sitting on top of others. We love the crazy little things she does.