Playgrounds and Puss N Boots

The first weekend in November found us outside and enjoying the cooler weather. We headed over to Vista View Park where Brianne had a blast running around the playground. Brianne was so happy to be outside, she even let me put her hair in pig tails.


Brianne's coordination is getting a lot better, and her confidence is growing. She wanted to climb everything all by herself, and slapped our hands away when we tried to help. Marty and I were freaked out when she wanted to climb this red ladder, but she made it all the way up all by herself!


She also loves the big slides. No more baby slides for this big girl!

Tackling the rope bridge.

Later that day, we met Alona and Bradley at the movies to see Puss N Boots. While we were waiting to get in, Brianne took a minute to high five Theodore from the Chipmunks.

Sitting politely to watch the movie. This lasted all of 5 minutes. Bradley sat nicely through the whole movie, but Brianne alternated between standing in front her chair and sitting in it. We all really enjoyed the movie!

Letting off some steam before the trip home for bed time.

Trick or Treating Under the Sea

As of Monday, October 31, it had officially been raining for three days straight. We were concerned that trick or treating would get rained out, but we kept our hopes up. As of 5:00pm, it was still raining, so I brought out my plan B Halloween activity - pumpkin painting!

I set Brianne up at her table with a fresh pumpkin and some paint, and let her have at it.


She did a very good job painting the pumpkin :o) And she only got a little on herself.


Lo and behold, the rain stopped around 6:00pm, and things were starting to dry up around 7:00pm when it finally got dark. So I got Brianne in her mermaid dress and ready to go trick or treating. Mimi, Grandpa Monroe, Uncle Gerry, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Marc and Aunt Jen came over to take pictures. Even though she didn't quite look it in this picture, Brianne was so excited she didn't want to sit around for long. With her pumpkin in hand, she was ready to hit the streets!


At our first stop - our neighbor's house. They made it so easy and were sitting out on their drive way handing out candy. They loved Brianne's costume and gave her extra candy for being so cute.

Uncle Marc and Aunt Jen came with us. On our journey around the neighborhood, Brianne wanted to make sure we all saw the moon. Here she is pointing it out to Marc and Jen.

Brianne was a champion trick or treater. She went up to each door and knocked herself (I went with her to supervise, of course). When the person answered, she said Trick or Treat!, held up her pumpkin for candy and even said thank you and bye! as she walked away. She did try to walk in to almost everyone's house we stopped at, but we were able to hold her back most of the time. Here's Brianne running from one house to the next.

After each house, she would check out her loot. Then she'd say "more candy?" and then "this way!" to direct us to the next house to stop at. By the end of the night, she was a pro!

We trick or treated for about an hour, and enjoyed every minute of it. Once we got home, Brianne wanted to taste the fruits of her labor. Someone gave her fruit snacks (or gummies), which is Brianne's favorite treat right now. So that was her one treat for the night. The rest of Brianne's candy stash is going to work with mommy for her co-workers to enjoy (otherwise mommy would eat it all by herself if left at home). Even though it had a rainy start, we definitely had a happy Halloween!

Pre-Halloween Beauty Sleep

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, so we had to do our celebrating over the weekend. Our friends, the DiPaolo's, invited us to their house for a Halloween party, so we had to break out the costumes early. I came across what I think is a Sleeping Beauty nightgown in Brianne's closet that worked out perfectly as a Princess dress.

Brianne was so excited as soon as she saw the dress and promptly tried to tear off her t-shirt and shorts. She even asked to put a pink bow in her hair. Once she got it all on, she said "pretty dress!" and "I'm pretty!" Definitely no lack of confidence here.

Her dress had Sleeping Beauty on it, so she wanted to get into character by climbing in my bed. Here is Brianne and Cooper snuggling under the covers.

Mommy and Sleeping Beauty :o)

Brianne pretending to sleep. The funniest thing is when she pretend snores. She goes "aaa shoooo aaaa shoooo"in a whispery voice. So cute!

Picking a Perfect Pumpkin

As the weather starts to cool off, it can only mean one thing - pumpkin picking time! A couple weeks before Halloween, we made our way to our local farmers market to pick the perfect pumpkin. Apparently, every other family in the South Florida area was thinking the same thing. It was a packed house! But Brianne was ready to battle the crowds for her pumpkin.

She jumped in head first to scale the mountain of pumpkins. We went to the patch with our friends, the Barrocas's. Cayden was just as eager to climb pumpkin mountain.


Queen of the Hill! Let the pumpkin selection begin!


We picked through what felt like hundreds of pumpkins, and they all started to look the same after awhile. After a little bit, we took a break to check out some of the other items for sale at the market. Brianne wanted to buy one of these rainbow garden posts, but I don't think our little postage stamp size back yard is big enough for one of these.

Exploring the differents kinds of squashes with Cayden.

And then it was back to pumpkin selection. Here is Brianne weighing the merits of pumpkin symmetry and pondering the various shades of orange. Pumpkin picking is serious business!

After climbing over tons of pumpkins (and quite a few children), we found two perfect pumpkins! We brought them home and made jack-o-lanters (or "punkin smileys" as Brianne called them).

Pint-sized Picasso

We try to encourage Brianne's creativity as much as we can, though sometimes, we are limited by our desire to keep clothes and surfaces clean. But we recently let Brianne go nuts with several bottles of finger paint, just to see what would happen...

Of course, we did this on the patio, with Brianne wearing a bathing suit and working on top of a plastic cooler. At first, she wasn't sure about the finger paint and getting her hands dirty. After she realized how fun it was to smear and squish the paint, there was no stopping her!

Brianne making some dainty swirls.


Then she figured out it was just as much fun to squirt the paint as it was to smear it around. She emptied almost 2 bottles of paint in 5 minutes.


Getting a little crazy with the paint! After the first few minutes, she got more paint on herself than on the paper.


Experimenting with the Smurf look. That blue paint really brings out the blue in her eyes!


After she was done painting, we had to hose her down in the pool.

Kitchen Counters, Beware!

Brianne has been tall for her age since she was born, and she just keeps getting bigger! We have had to be more careful than ever not to leave things lying around on the counters, since she can now reach most things up there.

Brianne plotting her next move... I think she is eyeing Daddy's wallet...


No, she's not really that tall. She has just learned how to use tools to make herself even taller. Hence, the kitchen stool... Now nothing is safe.

Beach House Weekend

For over 20 years, Marty's family has had a time share up at Deerfield Beach. Many of Marty's extended family also have units, so it's a fun time for everyone to get together and relax. We don't stay for the week, but enjoy coming up for the weekend.

I remember taking Brianne when she was only a month old. Oh how the times have changed! The first time we came, we sat under the cabana and soaked in the sea breeze. This time, Brianne wanted to be everywhere - in the pool, on the beach, running around the shuffle board court...

Chilling out in the pool.


Taking a few swings with the pool noodle - showin' that pool who's boss!


Getting a lift from Daddy.

The Beach house is from Saturday to Saturday, so on the Sunday when everyone comes home, we have a Mass at our sister-in-law Casey's house. The Mass is given by our family friend, Father John, who travels the world as a missionary, but finds his way back to Florida every August for the Beach House. Here is Brianne checking out Father John's special Mass items.

Sharing a hug with Grandma Mimi after Mass. Everyone enjoyed a nice breakfast. I wish Mass could be like this every week!

Sharing left-over breakfast bagels with the family of ducks that live outside Aunt Casey's house.

Our pretty little angel :o)