River Walkin'

Pumpkin picking

Before we went to the pumpkin patch I decided to snap a few pictures in the front yard. Her cute Daddy's Little Pumpkin shirt is a hand me down from a high school friend Sarah-thank you! I love the picture of her standing, it is the first one I have where she isn't holding on to anything for support. I also love the next picture with the wind blowing her hair and the sunlight, she looks so serious. We got some good pumpkins, 2 bigs ones. I think we'll carve one next Sunday.

How is it October already?

I feel like I blinked and September was gone and we were half way through October already. We are all doing well around here and enjoying the Fall weather. I think our days of 80 degrees are finally over and we can look forward to some cooler temps. Anabelle has been on the move lately, with lots of stair climbing, scrambling around in a half kneeling position (I'll try to get some video-it's pretty funny. She looks like she in perpetual proposal pose *if you can picture that*) and almost walking. She stands on her own and has taken some steps but both John and I agree that she isn't technically walking yet. But she's about as close as you can get. We are ready!

I have a few pictures to share from some random things Anabelle and I have been up to.

Here she is wearing the adorable U of I dress that Becky got her! Looks super cute with leggings underneath. These are on our front steps.

Of course we have our U of I flag out!

Anabelle and I took a trip with friends Angela, Andrew, and Sophia to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I love this place; it is free and a nice place to just walk around. Of course we HAD to ride the carousel. Anabelle liked it.

The other day we were at the train station waiting to pick up Uncle Joe, and Anabelle was feeling antsy. So we got out of the car and spent some time exploring a nearby park. The leaves were beautiful and it was a perfect day.

Here is an example of the pirate/proposal pose, now just picture her scooting around like that super fast.

Some play time with Daddy before bed.

We are going to get pumpkins this Saturday so I should have some good pictures to post on Sunday of our trip. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Shopping at Schmid's

Climbing her way to the top

John taught Anabelle how to go up the stairs the other night. It literally took like 2 days of showing her and she had it down. Don't let this video fool you, she is much faster than this usually. And now whenever the mood strikes her she scrambles over to the stairs and right on up with NO FEAR! So glad we got those baby gates! I have been having trouble with the sound on my video camera, and so I have been sparse with my video posting. Sorry I am working on fixing the problem, and hoping I don't need a new camera.

Pt. Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

In late September Mom, Anabelle, and I had the opportunity to drive out to NJ to visit a friend. While we were there we had some time to visit the beach. Pt Pleasant Beach is about 3 miles from the house we lived in on Mantoloking Road. It is the beach I remember going to most often when we lived in Brick, NJ. It was a beautiful day for a trip to the beach. It was so nice to see the beach and walk along boardwalk again. Anabelle loved the ocean and laughed as her toes were dipped in the water. I really miss living near the beach.