Fall Fun

The weather has been a bit cooler (some days, anyway) so Meredith has been spending more and more time outside. She has a tricycle that she loves - she mostly just pushes along with her feet for now, but she starts off pedaling for a bit and loves to move around saying "Pedal, pedal, pedal!"

Enjoying a cooler morning - such a cutie!

We had a big first this week - Meredith saw my old softball glove in the garage and wanted to wear it. She watches Daddy play softball with our church and loves to cheer him on, so she knew just what to do. But then I remembered that Neal's best friend, "Uncle Mike", supplied Meredith with tiny girly sports equipment when she was born. So, I quickly found her little black and pink glove (which is still a bit too big, but much easier for her to handle than the one made for my hand!) and we were set. I told her that Uncle Mike got her the glove and she kept saying "Thank you, Mike, soooo much!" I wished so much that I had Mike's number to call him so she could tell him in person, but I'll just have to make sure he sees this post to know how much fun she had. Daddy got home soon, so I decided to let him teach her a little more about softball since he has been waiting for his chance to teach her his love of sports. She mostly just loved watching him throw the ball "High in the sky, Daddy!" and catching it in his glove, all while she wore hers.

This picture is a little dark, but I think she looks so grown up and like she knows just what she is doing in this picture!

Having a chat about the basics of softball...

I'm a Tiger!

We have a very sweet friend, Katie, who brings Meredith all of her clothes when she has grown out of them. The other night, I had finished putting the winter stash that she sent to us into piles, at the top was this faux fur vest. Right after bathtime, Meredith came in without a single other thing on and guess what she wanted to put on immediately? As soon as it was on, she told us "I a tiger - rooaar!" We struggled to get her to let us put anything else on her, but finally she agreed to add PJ's UNDER the vest. These picture are actually from the next night when she needed to be a tiger again. She slept with it on all night (both nights)- it gave me a good laugh the next morning when I had forgotten all about my tiger girl until she came toddling in my room telling me "I be hungry, Mama!"

Meredith, modeling last season's faux tiger vest over pink polka-dot PJs.

And then here is her best tiger impression, complete with realistic roars.

Trick or Treat

After a week of practicing, we finally got to go Trick or Treating for real! Meredith was very excited to be Minnie Mouse all day on Friday and even convinced me she needed to go to the grocery store in costume. We went to my parent's neighborhood since so many of their neighbors have lived there since I went trick or treating and those that don't, we still know pretty well. Landon, Aunt Katie, and Uncle Neil came to which was of course a treat for Meredith. And we also got to see Meredith's friend Katie who is about a year and half older than Meredith, but they love playing together!

Landon, the Giraffe and Meredith ready to Trick or Treat! We must have some pretty good genes to get 2 kids this cute, huh?

Meredith and Gigi coming back with lots of loot. By the end, Meredith was inviting herself into the houses - we will have to work on that if we start going places where we don't know the people! Luckily she was very polite, telling everyone "Thank you SOOO much!"

Meredith trick or treating Bubbie - we convinced her to put on her ears for the first time of the night.
Resting after a long night of trick or treating.

Halloween Week: Part 3 - Pumpkin Carving

This is the first year we introduced Meredith to pumpkin carving. She has fallen in love with pumpkins this year, so we thought it would be fun. However, we had a few problems...1) Meredith hates anything yucky. 2) Neither Neal nor I had carved a pumpkin in forever, so we were a little rusty. All in all, the pumpkin turned out cute, but there was less family bonding than I would have envisioned, although with such a little princess, I should have guessed!

Probably as close as Meredith got to the yucky inside of the pumpkin. I, however, had orange goo up to my elbows!

The finished product - she still wasn't in the mood to really participate, so this is the best picture we could get!