Aunt Rissa and the Aquarium!

I am so behind... but I must catch up in order!  A few weekends ago, Aunt Rissa came to visit! 

 We decided we wanted to take Haven to do something fun, so we were off to the aquarium!  Haven loved looking at all the fish and animals!  We watched the workers feed the otters and beavers, but unfortunately this was when Haven started getting tired/hungry/cranky!  Oh well.  We still had a blast!  She loved running through the tunnel in the shark tank.  Huge sharks swimming all around her, but she was more entertained by the lights and shadows that the water made on the floor. :)  Enjoy our pics from the aquarium!

"Ooooh!" - most repeated word from Haven that day!

Playing in the shark cage!

Doesn't it look like she is swimming with them?  Or the fish are flying? Lol

Tired girl just laid down right on this exhibit.  Haha!

 We love you Aunt Rissa!  Thanks for babysitting and for a fun weekend!

Animal Expert

Warning:  BRAG POST

PLENTY to catch up on, but first I must not loose this gem of a video from earlier this month.  I have mentioned how Haven is an expert at animal noises.  I am dying to get her to do them all in one sitting with the camera going, but this will give you a taste of her talents.  Ha!  Haven, when you read this many, many years from now, please know that your family and friends get the BIGGEST kick out of you performing your animal noises.  We/they are constantly asking you to perform different ones and we are convinced you are brilliant to remember so many.  Some of them are unconventional (i.e. whale, hippo, etc.) but I like to make sounds or motions up for these animals b/c I know you will be the best copycat!  It really is the best though... you can point to the animals in books and perform the sound, or we can ask you for it by the name of the animal and you do it.  It's seriously hours of fun.  Ok, maybe I'm going overboard with my description.  But seriously, at almost 18 months (you started these two at 11 months!) you can do a sound or motion for:

Monkey, Lion, Whale, Dolphin, Hippo, Tiger, Dog, Bird, Elephant, Bear, Snake, Cow, Pig, Horse, Sheep, Penguin, and our newest addition... Skunk.

Do I sound like a proud Mommy or what?  Ok, enough words... watch!

  

Picnic in November

Russell is typically off on Wednesdays so yesterday we decided we had to take advantage of this gorgeous OK weather!  Sunny and 75 degrees in November?!  Heck yes!  I'm sure it won't be around for that much longer so we are trying to enjoy it as much as possible with our outdoor-loving girl!  We packed a lunch and headed down to our neighborhood park, aka Haven's favorite place ever.  Copper's too as a matter of fact!  You know I'll use any excuse to take pictures of my sweet girl!  Love these!  Even with the string cheese she stole from our picnic in them!  Ha!

Playing hide and seek with Daddy... more like Daddy hides, Haven finds him, Daddy chases Haven, and giggles ensue.

She just loves being outside!  And we love her!  In the middle of playing outside she will walk over to either one of us and kiss us wherever she can reach at that moment... usually our leg.  It's like she is thanking us for taking her to the park!  Too cute!  A little obsessed with this picture... those dimples!

Time to leave the park.  To my dear little family...  Lord willing, there will be more of you one day (not anytime soon!), but for right now, I just adore everything about the tiny-ness.  I love this special time in our life with our one and only Haven Jane!  I'm having more fun than ever, learning something everyday, and could not be more grateful to HIM for blessing us with this indescribable gift.  Thank you Lord!

A Pink Poodle Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween this year!  Our LifeGroup got together for pizza, dessert, and Halloween fun!  I loved seeing all our kids dressed up in their cute costumes.  Haven was a pink poodle and didn't love wearing the head piece... but managed to keep it on for a few shots!  I love this costume!  Props to Daddy for picking it out!  She was so hyped up on cupcakes that she wouldn't sit still for one minute!  So I did my best to get some pics!

Gotta love all the group shots!

I love our LifeGroup so much!  We've sent SO many prayers up for every one of those sweet kiddos and they are all such blessings to our group!  Love you guys!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

So last year I decided that we would start a pumpkin patch tradition!  I don't know about anyone else, but October absolutely FLEW by this year.  We intended to go to the pumpkin patch a few times, but had to cancel because of something coming up with one of our jobs.  So on the last day, October 31st, we finally got to the pumpkin patch with our sweet girl for a picnic!  There was hardly anyone there since it was the middle of the day, but the pumpkins had also been very picked over since it was the last day and all.  So I was happy for the fewer people, but sad for the not-as-good photo backgrounds. :)  Oh well, with a daughter as cute as mine (mom-brag, much?) you can still get cute pictures with less pumpkins!  See below. :)

Last year Haven could have cared less for the animals at the pumpkin patch, but this year - wowzers!  She was all about them!  Not scared at all... walked right up to every pen and stuck her hand in trying to pet whatever animal was in there.  Mommy was a little nervous (especially after a goat practically head butted her little hand!) but Daddy kept encouraging her to touch the animals.  Thus lots of hand sanitizing happened afterwards.  Ha!

 
She liked the cows so much, she tried to climb in with them...

More pumpkin pictures...

I just love these two so much.  And there is just something about holding hands (or her hand holding 1 finger) with our sweet girl.  We both love it so much.

And finally a comparison!  Biggest difference... Hair!!! :)  Love you Haven Jane!