Random October Photos

Here are some other pictures from October that I never posted on the blog. The first few are some that I took during practice for my photography class. Claire is always so happy in the morning and was having fun exploring her room.

This next set is from a fall festival sponsored by our church the Sunday before Halloween. Claire and I rode down the big slide - she loved it! Just look at her face in all of these - she laughed the whole way down.

She also had a blast at the kiddy playground:

It was a really good set up, and we're looking forward to her being able to participate in more of the games and activities next year.

Halloween...Finally!

I've been a bad blogger lately. We have been so busy, and my free time has been spent planning our upcoming vacation in January and catching on my reading for Book Club. So, I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from Halloween!

This year Claire was a peacock. I'm a little bummed that I never got a great photo of her in her costume. She was either too busy running around or too cranky to sit still long enough for a good picture. I'm thinking about putting her in it again soon just to have another photo op! :)

On the Friday before Halloween, Claire's school had a little parade and party that all of the parents were invited to. Robert wasn't able to make it, but my parents and I were able to be there. Claire did so well during the parade - she was slightly overwhelmed by all of the extra people, but she was excited that Mommy, Nana & Granddaddy were there to see her.

She especially enjoyed the food after the parade. They had a toddler feast - fresh fruit, cheese, crackers, and turkey. As usual, she turned down the meat for more crackers.

Claire never took a good nap on Saturday, so by the time we were supposed to get ready for the pre-trick or treat party in our neighborhood, she wasn't too enthused about having to get dressed up.

The hat didn't last very long...

...but she did enjoy the ride to and from the party!

We didn't stay at the party for very long and decided to skip trick or treating this year in favor of getting her relaxed and ready for bed. Robert and I took advantage of the chance for free babysitters and went out to a nice dinner to celebrate our 3rd anniversary - can you believe it's been 3 years already? We tried Wildfish, a place that's been on our list since we moved here, and had a delicious (and quiet!) meal out.

Coming soon - a post about Claire at 19 months!

Grandparent Visits

We've been fortunate to have visits from both sets of grandparents over the past few weeks! Robert's parents were here two weeks ago, and while they were here we did a little shopping and sightseeing.

Claire's favorite part of their visit was getting some of Martin's gelato at Paciugo. She doesn't get a lot of sugar, and she was going crazy - it was hilarious! We were sitting outside in an area with some chairs and couches, and she would run to Martin for a bite of gelato, run over to the couch, hoist herself up and roll around a little, then run back for another bite.

She kept us entertained for quite awhile, and I was glad she was able to settle herself down that night for bed.

My parents were here this weekend, and we mostly took care of errands around the house. They also took over Halloween candy duty so that Robert and I could go to a nice restaurant for dinner and celebrate our 3rd anniversary. I'll post Halloween pictures soon. We're fortunate to be able to spend so much time with our families even though we are far apart!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

On Saturday we finally found an opportunity to take Claire to a pumpkin patch, so we decided to visit two! We first went to one near our house. Somebody was a little sleepy and not in the mood to take pictures, but we still got a few good ones.

It was about lunchtime, so we decided to head to the Dodging Duck in Boerne. We really like the Duck and go whenever we have plenty of time (food is good but not especially fast). We had fed Claire before we left the house, but she had a little nap on the way and was ready for something else when we arrived. We were surprised by how much she enjoyed the German-style potato salad (and the dried cranberries from our salad). The restaurant is right on the river, so we walked across the street to look at the ducks and turtles. Someone was nice enough to share some bread with Claire, and she had a good time dropping pieces into the water for the ducks.

We found another pumpkin patch in Boerne, and Claire was so excited. They had a lot of little pumpkins that she enjoyed carrying around. It was a great day to get some pictures of our "little pumpkin" enjoying the fall weather.

Click here for pictures from last year's pumpkin patch visit!

Photos for Class

I posted these on my other blog but wanted to share them here, too, due to the subject. I was practicing taking photos of people and took Claire out into the yard to see what we could come up with. My favorite one is the one of her running to her Daddy. I know there are some technical elements that could be better, but I love how it shows their relationship. Glad I got it, even if it's not "perfect"!

Rest of State Fair Weekend

Note - I'm trying out a new way to post photos and know that these aren't exactly right but am too tired to fix it right now. :)

Visiting the State Fair wasn't the only activity we enjoyed during our weekend in Dallas/Fort Worth. On Saturday we went to Corner Bakery for breakfast with the B grandparents. Oh, how I miss Corner Bakery! They were out of cinnamon rolls, which was a little disappointing, but I was still able to have my usual Swiss oatmeal, and Claire ate most of my cinnamon muffin.

We left Fort Worth and headed over to Dallas, stopping for a couple of errands along the way. We met my friend Kristy for lunch at Village Burger Bar and had a great time catching up with her. Afterwards we went over to the mall for a little shopping and Orange Cup, and then headed up to Ikea. Claire made out like a little bandit, scoring a table and chairs, an easel, some play kitchen utensils, a little apron, and a few other things. Pictures from our trip are below.

The Crawfords were able to meet us for dinner at Tin Star (yes, we basically ate our way across the Metroplex). Lindsay and I do a good job of staying in touch through our blogs, Facebook, etc., but it's definitely not the same as being able to see each other in person. As Lindsay said, I think we've been able to see each other as frequently since we moved as we did before.

The fun still wasn't over as we headed over to see Courtney, Jared and Pierce Henry and stay with them for the night. The highlight of the evening was watching (or participating in) the car races. Claire and Pierce just laughed and laughed.

We tried to get a good picture of the two of them together - this is the best one I got:

Most were like this,

or this,

or this.

Eighteen month olds - what can you do? :)

The next morning we all went to Breadwinners for breakfast before we headed back to San Antonio. It was a packed weekend, but it was so nice to see so many of our friends - and visit some of the restaurants we miss the most!

Phone Photo Friday

It's "Phone Photo Friday" at Laura's Mommy Journal! I took these last week at the Ikea in Frisco. Claire has become very interested in helping lately (love it!), and she was very pleased with herself for helping Robert push the cart. She actually was doing a really good job, pushing as hard as she could with those little arms and legs. Maybe she realized that the easel, table and chairs, storage bins, and various other little items were all for her? :)