Happy Halloween!

...I bet that everyone's first pick would certainly be you.

(These are a couple of the cards that Hadley got for Halloween from her great grandparents)

I had to work this weekend, so Austin and Hadley hung out at Grandpa and Grandma's house for Halloween.  On Saturday night they went over to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Barb's house as well.  Thanks Elaine and Brad for the pictures!  

 Hadley, Alex, Brynn and Shelby hanging out on the trampoline.

Hadley and Brynn hangin' on the couch w/ their new Fisher Price Sing-A-Ma-Jigs!  Check out Hadley's face.  She doesn't look too happy that Brynn's playing w/ her See n' Say.

Chillin' by the door... 

We didn't dress Hadley up or take her trick-or-treating this year, because she's too little to understand and we don't want her eating all of the candy.  Ah, who are we kidding? 
We don't want to eat all of the candy!

Happy Halloween!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Robinson!

We traveled to Indianapolis today for yet another wedding of one of our friends: Jonathon Robinson. Austin's parents watched Hadley for us so that we could attend.  We left early this morning to travel to Indy.  Once there, we checked into our hotel room and headed downtown to Circle Center to do a little shopping before our dinner reservations at P.F. Chang's.  The wedding took place at the Indianapolis Historical Society at 7:00 p.m. and was followed by a cocktail/dessert reception.

Austin and I have been historically late for our friends' weddings over the years: i.e. opening the door to the alter at the Larson wedding and basically walking down the aisle with the brides at the Sullivan and Boggs weddings...just to name a few.  So, we wanted to prove that it's never to late to change!  Check out the picture below.  We were there at 6:29 p.m., yes that's right, 31 minutes before the ceremony started! Woo-hoo!    

      

A picture of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson right after sealing their vows with a kiss: 

The Robinsons had a "photo booth" at the reception, which was pretty cool.  It took 4 pictures in rapid fire, and printed out two copies of each.  We got to keep one as a souvenir and then the other was kept for the newlyweds.  

I didn't take any more pictures at the wedding, because I'm trying not to stick myself behind a camera all of the time.  I find myself missing out on life that way!

Congratulations Jon and Katie!   

Punky-Spunky Bathtime

Hadley-Bears...

Visiting Great Great Uncle Billy in Crooksville, Ohio

Austin went to Parsippany, New Jersey this week on business, so Hadley, mom and I all headed to Crooksville, Ohio to visit my mom's uncle, my great uncle, and Hadley's great great uncle Billy. I love the fact that I'm close to all of my mom's family, and it's important for me to make sure that they get to meet Hadley and she gets to meet them!  

My great uncle Billy wears this hat when he works outside and Hadley loved it.  Every chance she got, she was in the kitchen getting his hat and wearing it around!  Too cute. 

It took Hadley about 1 day to warm up to her great great uncle Billy....but after that day, she thought he was pretty cool.  I could tell it melted his heart when she would put her arms up for him to pick her up and sit on his lap. 

They sat at the kitchen table and shared cheesy poofs together...yum!

Important stuff I learned during my visit: My great uncle Billy entered the Air Force when he graduated from high school, and planned to make a career out of it.  However, after 8 years of service with the last 2 being stationed in Alaska, he was done.  They wanted him to stay in Alaska and he hated it, so he discharged and came back home to WV.  Once home, he got married and needed a job.  The Sunnyhill coal mines in Crooksville, OH were hiring, so he moved there with his family and worked for the next 29 1/2 years until they closed.  When the mines closed he decided to retire.  Below is a picture of the Sunnyhill Mines that he has hanging in his house.   

He was featured in several magazines as the coal mines were under fire for stiffer/safer laws and regulations.  Here is a picture from the "Capitol" out of Columbus, OH dated February 12, 1984.  They snapped this picture of him as he came out of the mine after a long day of work.   

Not only was it nice to get to spend some time w/ my great uncle, and for him to meet my daughter; it was nice to spend some time talking to him.  Now that I'm older and care to listen, I learned a lot about him and his life. 

...and I had to add this picture.  I took it a few years ago at my great uncle Mickey's (my grandma and Billy's brother) house when we were in West Virginia visiting.  I love the "expression" that it caught of my brother and him chatting it up...priceless!   

Happy 5th Birthday Cousin Gabe!

Our nephew, Gabe, celebrated his 5th birthday today with a pizza party at Pizza Hut.  Austin had softball, so Hadley and I joined in the fun without him.

 Hadley seemed to enjoy herself a lot, as you can see from her picture!  Don't mind my creepy fingers trying to adjust her bow in the background. 

Hadley and Julianna sat beside each other and had a great time.  Here are some pictures of the two of them enjoying Gabe's birthday cake.

Our nephew Gabe is the most polite and grateful child when it comes to getting presents.  I think you could give him a deflated balloon and he would still grin from ear to ear and say thank you.  His sweetness makes it easy and fun to buy him presents!  

We bought Gabe an Action Links Toy Story 3 thing-a-majig for his birthday.  I'm terrible at knowing what to buy little boys, but Gabe loves Toy Story 3, dinosaurs and "Cars."  I knew that as long as I bought something that had to do with one of the three, I couldn't go wrong!

 Dad and Karen bought him a scooter.  It looks like it will be super fun to play with next spring, and from the looks of the picture, I think he would agree!

...and a final picture of some of the party-goers.  Karen, Dad, Cadence and Dana. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Gabe!

A nice fall day...

Austin took Hadley to MI today to visit his grandparents.  It looks like it was an awesome fall day, so they decided to enjoy some time outside.  I was sorting through the pictures that he took, and I came across some that I absolutely adore!  This was Hadley's first time playing in the leaves and she appears to have loved it! 

Below are 4 generations of girls...Grandma Kim, Hadley, Aunt Shelby and Great Grandma Reames!

Hadley loves Aunt Shelby, and here she is hanging onto her and Dora. Poor Dora, hanging by her hair!

Hadley enjoyed hanging out w/ Great Grandpa Reames and showing him the leaves...

Hadley's first time playing in the leaves:

Hadley enjoying running through the leaves with Aunt Shelby:

Looks like it was an awesome fall day spent hanging out with family and playing in the leaves. I can't wait until next fall when I'm done working in Indy so that I can enjoy it as well.

Fashion Farm Pumpkin Patch

I love fall and everything that goes along with it: pumpkins, mums, sweatshirts, changing leaves, corn stalks, hay rides, pumpkin pie, scare crows, bonfires and much more.  I am excited this year because Hadley is old enough to take to the pumpkin patch.  I have been reasearching different farms/patches over the last few weeks with great anticipation!  After much rave reviews from friends and thumbs up via the net, we settled on the Fashion Farm in Ligonier, IN.  It was a lot of fun, and we've decided to make it yearly tradition! 

It was awesome weather tonight: 75 degrees w/ no wind.  This particular patch has pumpkins that are dressed up and painted to match different themes each year.  This year's theme was "Memories through Songs." The pumpkins were fun to look at, and you can only imagine the hard work that goes into this place.  The cashier told us that the artist spends 120 hours painting the pumpkins and the employees spend 2 months transforming the green house into this fall wonderland!

Below is a picture of daddy and Hadley hanging out with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Hadley and me seeing how she measures up with the large pumpkin.  I'd say 2 1/2 feet on the nose. 

Hadley enjoyed walking around the place with daddy!

...and "OH MY!" she found the pumpkins!

A sunwashed family picture.

Hadley w/ daddy.  I think she liked that pumpkin!



Hadley w/ mommy.  We were about to embark on Hadley's first hayride!

Do you like Austin's expression?  We tried for a few minutes to get Hadley to look at the camera, but she was more interested in the pond with fish.

After the hayride we ventured over to the "pumpkin patch" to explore the pumpkins and gourds.

This was the largest pumpkin that they had there, and Hadley thought it was pretty neat even though it doesn't look like it in the picture!

...and one last family picture beside the barn.



Not only is this a great pumpkin patch, but they have a restaurant right there on the farm!  We headed over there for dinner and enjoyed homemade pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin pie for dessert.  Needless to say, it was a great first adventure to the pumpkin patch with Hadley.