Weekend In Review

Friday night we had the opportunity to hang out with some of our friends.  I just cannot say enough about having good friends.  It doesn't matter what we do, where we are or what we wear...we just like being together.

Saturday morning began with trip to Phipps Farm to scout out the set up for the fall festival that my Dad is in charge of.  All of the grand girls,Hubby,Bab, Pappy and myself all went out and had such a good time on the farm.  We picked and ate pears and figs,saw the quail and chickens, the girls took home a quail egg and Pappy took home some regular eggs.  We also got to see Phipps farmhouse that he built himself, it was so cool.  While we were inside he serenaded us on his guitar, he is such a sweet man.

After the farm we had worked up an appetite- for Italian food so we went to the Italian Festival downtown. We had a blast there, everyone was there from our family except for Babs boys who were camping.  We had some really good gelato, Italian ice, Italian soda and Hubs raved about his sausage and pepper sandwich. Yum!  We got to see a gondola, the girls got balloon hats made just for them,played on the bounce house/slide, stomped grapes and did a little shopping at the different booths that were there.

For some reason my photos uploaded backwards-

Hubby and Lo at the festival

Lo loved playing with and popping her hat.

Munchie stomping grapes.  And, Gigi in the background in Lo's stroller...her shoes were rubbing a blister.

Silly!  Munch got attacked by ants on the farm so Hubby gave her a lift. She immediately went from crying to laughing hysterically.

All of the grand girls showing off their quail eggs that they named and carried around like babies.

Bab trying to interest Lo in looking at the chickens...I think she was more interested in her Daddy.

My boy scout, always prepared!  The grand girls wanted to eat the pears that they picked but wanted them peeled so it was Hubby and his pocket knife to the rescue.

Lo enjoyed gnawing on a pear too!

Italian Festival 2012
All of the girls in their balloon hats.

On Sunday we went to church where I was overloaded with cub scout information, someone say a prayer for me!  After church we went to see Nana with Mimi and Pappy where we skyped with Aunt B all the way in Montana.

6 Month Photo Shoot

We had Lo's 6 month photo shoot with the fabulous H. Alexandra Photography last week.  Heather never ceases to amaze me with her work.  She got beautiful shots of my tired, hungry, teething 6 month old...how?!  She's a miracle worker/baby whisperer!  As always, she came to the location of our choice.  This particular shoot was done at my parents home.  She comes up with the most fabulous ideas for each shoot. I really can't say enough about her.  I'll let the gorgeous pictures of our girl do the talking for me-

Check her out at H. Alexandra Photography

Our other sessions with Heather:

Maternity Photos

Newborn Photos

3 Month Photo Shoot

Baby's First Trip To The Zoo

We are fortunate enough to have an amazing zoo so close to where we live.  It has always been a favorite place to go...when it's not during the summer months!  Lo enjoyed her first trip.  She could not have cared less about the actual animals but she loves being outside so it was right up her alley.

Lo and her Aunt are too cool for school!

She loved the aquarium.  I think she liked that it sounded like her white noise machine and it was nice and dark.

I actually saw the zebra run for the first time in my life.

Bab trying to refresh Lo with the cold water from the fountain.

We were able to go early in the afternoon on Wednesday while the Hubs was on a business trip with Bab and the kidlets, they had early release.

6 Month Check Up

Lo had her 6 month check up at the doctor and here are her current stats:

Height-26.5 inches(73.3%)

Weight-18 pounds 9 ounces (90%)

Head Circumference-42.5(57.2%)

She is perfectly healthy and happy.  Poor girl got 3 vaccines and one by mouth so she slept a lot after her appointment. At 6 months she- rolls from her back to her stomach, has one tooth (bottom left) that has broken through, laughs and giggles, babbles up a storm, loves any and all strangers. Favorite activities include-going on walk/runs with Mama, playing in her exersaucer, any time spent with her Daddy, reading books, splashing in the tub, chewing on anything and watching clips of Curious George. Least favorite activities- being on her tummy.

First Tooth

On September 19th Lo got her first tooth...bottom right.  She has been a real trooper throughout the whole thing.  I actually never noticed that it happened, Hubby pointed out that he heard something hard hitting one of her chew toys when she was chomping on it.  And lo and behold, it was a tooth!  She let out an ear piercing scream about an hour prior to that and we assume that that is when it happened.  She got the one next to it last Friday night.

Cliff's Shower

My Bab and I had the opportunity to throw our old friend, Cliff, a baby shower this past weekend.  We tried to keep with her shabby chic gray and pink nursery motif, I think it looked superb.  The food was delicious and the bow making station was a hit.

I call this picture "Too many cooks in the kitchen".  This shows the assembling of the mini cookie pizzas, pasta salad skewers and mini brie cups.

Some of our shabby chic decor.  Tulle balls were recycled into a mobile for the nursery.

The favors- bags with mini loaves of bread and homemade citrus honey butter for celebrating the "bun in the oven".

Bows for baby- each guest got to assemble a bow for baby Claire to wear.  Also pictured, the C's that I mod podged which will be used in the nursery and the bow holder that I made.

I hate opening gifts in front of people and apparently so does Cliff.  I think she did a really good job at keeping up the enthusiasm though.

Greek Festival 2012

We have been wanting to go to the Greek Festival for a few years but for some reason it always got bumped off the calendar...until this year.  We had a great time feasting on the Greek delicacies that we got there, but the highlight was the baklava sundae.  I would go back every year for that thing alone!

Punky was unimpressed by it all, except for Aunt Heath.  When Heath is within a mile of my child, she will find her.  Lo just cannot get enough of her.

 Cooing and smiling at Heath.

 Happy girl!

 We got to tour the sanctuary of the Greek Orthodox Church, it was breathtaking.

 The tour guide told us about the artist that painted all of these scenes- the man comes over from Greece with a team of apprentices.  The artist does a sketch in pencil (which takes about 45 minutes) and then the apprentices paint it out without even consulting the artist about color choices or anything. They have worked together for so long that they just know.  The tour guide also told us that they only bring a few basic colors of paint because they custom mix all of their paint.

A shot of the outside of the church.

Punky Meets Foxy

The girl loves the pup.

A Bushel And A Peck

While on our vacation we had the opportunity to go to an apple orchard to pick apples.

This was the variety that Lo got to try.  There were SO many types of apples.

 The orchard was beautiful.

 Little Miss trying her first apple, she enjoyed licking it!

 Stepp Farms

 Checking out the scenery.

 The fam picking apples.

 Hanging out.

 We went on a hayride to see the farm, Lo was unimpressed with waiting for other people to load up so she watched some Curious George to pass the time.

 A cow!

 Pappy and his mini me.  E is showing off the marshmallow gun that he and

J Man bought at the Apple Festival.

 Munch and Lou being buddies on the ride.

 Our little fam

 Pappy and Mimi

 Nell and Jas

 Roc and Bab

 I thought this apple was so sweet I took it home!

When I look at this picture all I can think of is how my milky white skin is sizzling in the sun.  I made sure that Lo was protected from the sun at all times and failed to protect my own.  I'm far too pale to go out sans sunscreen!

Apple picking was probably the highlight of our trip.  We are already planning another trip to pick apples.  Mimi came home and made Lo some chunky applesauce with the fresh apples that we picked.