Halloween

Looks like I have some catching up to do...so here are some highlights.

Penelope was a cute little lady bug for Halloween! I LOVE it! I got the costume from my friend Megan at my baby shower, so i've been looking forward to her wearing it for some time now.
I wanted to get good use out of it, so she wore it several times. The above photo is of us at Target a couple days before Halloween.

While at the apple orchard, I picked up some pumpkins for our porch. I didn't want to carve them because i wanted to display them through Thanksgiving too...so i got some little ones. A daddy one, a momma one, and a baby one.


The weekend before Halloween we went to Columbus and went to the pumpkin patch with Chance's family...another opportunity for Penny to be a ladybug!


There were lots of fun fall things to do, like hayrides and games for the kids. Penny was a good sport and was pretty good about being passed around by everyone.

Then on actual Halloween, she got to be a ladybug again. We didn't do any trick-or-treating. We hung out on our front porch and passed out candy. Our neighborhood was CRAZY busy. I expected it to be busy since there are a ton of kids in our area, but I was not even close on my estimation of how much candy we'd need. I had to ask my mom to stop and get more on her way over because I was out after 45minutes! It was really fun though. I loved seeing everyone's costumes. I was a little disappointed on the creativity for the neighborhood kids' costumes this year. My favorite one i saw was an older girl (6ish) who was Bo Peep. And she had two younger girls (2ish) who were the lost sheep. It was ADORABLE! Penny enjoyed sitting on my nap on the porch chewing on a wrapped snickers most of the evening. A fun first Halloween for my Penny!

6 Months Old

Thanksgiving weekend Penny celebrated her 6 month birthday! She is such a big girl. Lately I have been feeling like she isn't a baby anymore. She's like a little person that I hang out with all day. I feel like she enjoys my company, we laugh at funny things, she's just a big girl now.

She had her 6 month dr checkup a couple weeks ago. She is now ON the charts! She has always been above the curve for both height and weight, so i think she's evening out. She is still in the 99th percentile for height and the 95 percentile for weight. Her dr appt was also eventful because she got two shots in each thigh. It was awful...for me and for her.

Those are some Great Grandparents!

Penny is not even 6 months old yet, but has already been lucky enough to meet 3 of her 4 sets of great-grandparents! I think it is so wonderful, especially since NONE of them live anywhere close to us!

Both sets of Chance's grandparents live in Utah, but Great-Grandma and Grandpa Tarbox were able to come to Indiana and Ohio for Chance's sister Heidi's wedding in September. We miss seeing them all the time. It was so nice to have them close while we lived in Utah.




My mom's parents live in Memphis, but were able to come visit in October. Penny enjoyed some time with her great-grandpa.


Here is 4 generations: Penelope Jane, Jessica Lynn, My Mom Vickie Lynn, and Her Mom Betty June!


In August, my dad's mom was came to visit for a few weeks. She is from here in Indiana, but is serving a mission in Utah right now.


I warned her that Penny's chubby cheeks were addicting, but by the time she left, I think my grandma was addicted to kissing those cheeks too. It is hard to resist


They were so cute rocking together!


I loved having all of the grandmas and grandpas around and wished they all lived closer so I could see them more often. I am grateful that Penny got to meet them, and they got to shower her with kisses, (or as my grandma carlson says, "sugars")! Love it! Y'all come back now, ya here!

Apple Pickin' Time

Every fall my family goes to the orchard to pick our own apples, drink cider slushies, buy a bag of red hots, and eat dinner at an Indiana gem, Gray Brothers Cafeteria. It has been ages since I've been at home for this tradition, so it was great to see that nothing has really changed.

Penny wore her candy corn outfit for the occasion.

We picked a ton of apples. My family's fav is golden delicious, so of course my mom called ahead to ask when these apples would be in their prime. I used several of my freshly picked apples to whip up a delicious caramel apple pie. YUM! My mouth just watered thinking about it. I usually only make this pie for Thanksgiving, but made an exception to take advantage of my fresh apples.



After apple pickin' we had a delicious dinner at Grays. My meal was followed by the best piece of coconut cream pie I have ever had. I only ate half of it at the restaurant so that I could take it home and savor it with more appreciation when I was hungry instead of bursting at the seams. The meringue on that thing was incredible!

Penelope and my sister Rachel had a photo shoot during some down time.

Craft of the Day - Scrapboxing

My mom recently gave me a bag of my old baby stuff. First shoes, first dress, hospital bracelets, etc...
I wanted to do something with it other than just put it in a box in the closet. So I decided to get a shadow box frame and display it.
I think I'll do one for Penelope's stuff too, and then hang them up.



I didn't even secure it with anything. No glue, no pins. The stuff filled up the space enough that it held itself in place within the frame. I got the frame at Target for cheap (maybe $7 I think). It is 12x12. It has a black background, but the stuff took up so much room, you cant even really see what is behind it, so i just left the back. I thought I'd put some cute scrapbook paper for the background, but you wouldn't be able to see it with all the stuff I crammed in there. If you do use scrapbook paper, you wouldn't even have to cut it to size since the frame is 12x12.

Easy easy project! My favorite kind!

Craft of the Day- Light Switch Covers

I like to pretend that I'm crafty, but really I have Craft ADD. If it can't be completed in one sitting, I don't ever finish it. I have a few drawers full of partially finished crafts, and crafts I bought supplies for and never did.
I need instant crafts. And this is one I did today during Penny's 20 minute nap.
I modge podged scrapbook paper on the light switch plate in Penny's room.



I was quick, easy, and I think it looks really cute. I think I'll also do the cover to the closet night, but leave the regular outlet covers white.
I got the idea from a blog i found via pinterest (btw i'm addicted to pinterest). They have some other cute pics of ones they've done. http://suburbanexperiment.wordpress.com/tag/scrapbook-paper/

My Little Cougar

My mom's neighbor got Penny a BYU outfit just in time for football season! She wears it a lot on games days to show her school spirit.

Outdoor Time

So thank goodness Penelope finally enjoys riding in the stroller. I love taking walks around the neighborhood and up until now she has NOT. But since she's been able to fit in the stroller without being in the car seat within the stroller, she is much much happier. She still hates her car seat and cries everytime i put her in it. But that no longer has to be the case for stroller time. So we've been walking at least once a day. Especially since we have had such great weather!




During the warm weather I also introduced her to the grass in our yard. She loved it. I thought she might not like the way it felt on her legs or toes, but she didn't mind. And she loved just grabbing it and trying to eat it.

September 2011 Highlights

At the beginning of the month we traveled to Columbus Ohio for Chance's sister's wedding.


It was great to see everyone, including Chance's grandparents and 2 aunts who had traveled from Utah. They were able to spend some time with us and even visited our new house in Indy. Here is Penny with her Great-Grandma Tarbox.


Penny got all tuckered out at her Grandma Walser's house


September also brought cooler temperature which means new outfits for PJ!


She seems excited about it too...


Chance's mom got her a couple fall/halloween outfits.



My sister Rachel got her a Halloween outfit too.


Penny was also excited for the start of football season. Her team spirit is exhibited below.


As I end this post I realize that all of my highlights revolve around what Penny is wearing...not what she or anyone else is doing. Maybe I'll try and work on changing that for next month.

My Baby Eats! (well, kind of)

This week Penny had her 4 month doctor's appt. I can't believe she's so big! She weighs 16 lb 8 oz. She is getting close to doubling her birth weight. She is at the top of the charts for weight, and off the chart for height. We've got a big girl on our hands! Her she is showing off her massive thighs in her new leg warmers...

We also introduced Penny to her first food this week! Rice Cereal, Yum!


She didn't seem to enjoy it.



But Chance and I thought it was amusing.

Indiana State Fair

August means the state fair around here. And my family goes every year to gawk at the world's largest pig and to sample the fried fare. And now that we are living back home again in Indiana...I can go! We ended up going the night before the big stage collapse, crazy. Friday was WRTV6 (Chance's station) Day at the fair so my mom and brother and Penny met up with Chance at the fair after be got done working at the fair. He got to show off Penny to all of his coworkers.

Here is Penny checking out the pride of Indiana: Reggie, the World's Largest Hog

Delicious food we tried this year:
Fresh Indiana corn...sooooo good
A Krispy Kreme Burger (uses donuts for buns)...surprisingly tasty. I love the salty/sweet combination
Fried Twinkie, just ok. Won't try this one again.
Corn Dog, state fair staple, always a good choice
Pineapple Whip, I don't know exactly what this is, but it is yummy
Some kind of cajun chicken skewer
Elephant Ear, another classic
Fried Snickers...yummo!

*Please Note* I did not order all of this for myself, I promise. Luckily my family was willing to share everything so I could sample sample sample!