Happy Halloween!!

I have to say that the month of October is one of my favorites. The weather was gorgeous this month, and I took a gazillion pictures of all of our adventures. We took a second trip to Spicer's so Gabrielle could get another pony ride, and so I could get the picture. We had to wait and wait and wait in line, so luckily it seemed like she got a few more rotations than last time. It was so hot that day--about 80 degrees! Gabrielle had fun on their big tube slides as you will see in the pics below. All of the apples came a few weeks early this year, so no picking for us. I staged the picture of her picking apples!

Gabrielle had so much fun playing in leaves. At our house, we don't have very many leaves due to our highly efficient and amazing lawn service that takes care of our leaves almost immediately! So, Gabrielle goes wild at Grandma and Grandpa Sexton's because they have leaves everywhere. The pics below were actually taken by Grandma when Gabrielle was playing at their house while Mommy and Poppy were at work. Mom and Bob said they have never seen her laugh so hard or have so much fun!

Gabrielle really got into "Mitchigan" State this month due to the big UM/MSU game and our giant blow-up Sparty that we had the front yard for several days. One night Gabrielle looked out her bedroom window at Sparty (who lit up!) and said, "That's a gorgeous guy!" Too funny. She really does like MSU though. Everytime there is a football game one she asks if it's Michigan State. Too bad she outgrew her MSU cheerleader uniform...Mommy is going to try to find one for her for Christmas!

Another fun thing we did this month was travel to Crystal Mountain for one of Adam's last races. (Adam and I also got to take Gabrielle to preschool before we left for our trip!) We had an excellent time at preschool and up north, of course. The colors were just past their peak but still beautiful. One of the highlights was riding the high-speed chairlift up and down the mountain. A first for both Adam and Gabrielle! Let me tell you, I held onto her for dear life. There are no seat belts, ya know! Another highlight: Adam won his age-class! Yahoo, Poppy! My mom and Bob coincidentally rented a house on Crystal Lake the same weekend. It was only 10 miles from our resort, so we had fun visiting them at an amazing beach-front rental. There are some pics of us in front of Crystal Lake.

Of course, October is a fun month because of Halloween. Even though she was absolutely TERRIFIED of all the scary Halloween decorations, we managed not to ever scare her too badly. We could barely walk into a drug store! Gabrielle was Ruby from the Nick Jr. show "Max & Ruby." It was a very appropriate costume for her seeing as how it's her favorite TV show, by far! She loved her little white bunny costume as you will see from the pics. She enjoyed trick-or-treating this year, and luckily had a chauffeur to carry her to a lot of houses, otherwise we would have been out all night! Every other night or so, Gabrielle will ask if she can go trick-or-treating. She didn't care too much about the candy, thank goodness. More for Poppy and Mommy!

Gabrielle's newest words that she likes to use are "comfortable" and "actually." She actually used the words correctly! She also told me that she broke her funny bone. While in the bathtub, she'll cover up with different colored wash cloths and say, "Let's have a fashion show!" and "How do you like my outfit?" She's too funny.

Enjoy the pics and the upcoming holiday season.
Until next month,
Colleen



"Apple Picking"










Good Old-Fashioned Fun!!









@ Crystal Mountain




@ Crystal Lake

September--Back to School!

Mama had to go back to school this month, which means that Grandma Sexton was back on the job! She being more excited than me... While I love my job, I love my Gabrielle more, so I don't like missing out on all the fun that she has with Grandma! Gabrielle gets to do a lot of activities with Grandma and Grandpa many days. They oftentimes go back to their house in Brighton, which is one of Gabrielle's favorite spots to play. Gabrielle also started preschool this September at the early learning center at Grace Lutheran Church in Howell. I am so impressed with the program there, and Gabrielle LOVES going, so I am very glad I signed her up. The theme the first week was farm animals. She pasted die-cut animals into a red paper barn and got to use paint for the first time--painting a red barn. For the second week, the theme was mice. For snack time the kids had to eat their Cheez-Its like a mouse by holding them with two hands and nibbling on them. Too funny. I will write more about preschool in October because I actually will get to go Oct. 15th.

We went to Spicer's Apple Orchard to get some apples, cinnamon donuts, and cider. Gabrielle loved the hayride. They also have some giant tube slides that are fast and fun, and she isn't so timid anymore...So, she played on those slides with all sorts of big kids. They also have pony rides on the weekends there, and she really wanted a ride. I was surprised because over the summer at Potter Park Zoo, she wanted nothing to do with the ponies. Just before her first pony ride, THE BATTERY DIED ON MY CAMERA! AHHHH! That is my worst nightmare seeing as how I take pictures of everything. Luckily for Gabrielle, she will get another pony ride next month because Mama made the mistake of not charging her battery!

So what else is new with little Gabrielle? I used to be able to give a better monthly update, but ever since she started using full sentences exclusively, now I am just more amazed by her vocabulary. She now uses the words "recognize," "because," "supposed to," "favorite," "fragile," and "concentrate." And she likes to ask me why I left her to go to work for the day. (Yes, I know, dagger to the heart!) Here are a couple examples of her sentences, "Mama, I need to concentrate on my cuttering (coloring)." "My head is supposed to go on the piddow (pillow)."

I asked Gabrielle what she wanted to be for Halloween. She said, "A cape." So, I am taking that to mean that she wants to be Super Bunny from Max & Ruby because Max is always tying a red cape around his neck and running all over pretending to be Super Bunny. We'll see how that works out on next month's blog post!

Gabrielle's 1st Day of Preschool!






Annual Trip to Spicer's!




Gabrielle with her pumpkins!

August Updates

August was a such a fun and wonderful month. I was so grateful to be able to spend every moment with my little chica. We stayed close to home, so here are some pictures of our favorite summertime activities!

We loved pet-sitting Cookie. She is the best dog EVER!


The joys of Play-Doh!!!







Look who's driving the Island Queen at Kensington!



Raspberry Picking with Poppy at Spicer's






Gabrielle showing off her summer style!



Gabrielle with Cousin Aili



Yay, Poppy! Tailwind Series Champion!

June & July = The Best Months Ever!

Hi Everyone!

I will now be posting Gabrielle's monthly updates at the end of the month rather than the middle of the month. I was doing her "monthly" birthdays, but now will just be doing a monthly update. Now that Gabrielle is such a big girl, we don't have so many monthly milestones. A few of these pictures (strawberry picking and the ones from Grandma's) are from the end of June. This month we found out that Gabrielle is terrified of fireworks. She was also afraid of the noisy "rollerposter" at the fair. Another funny word of Gabrielle's is "vampifer" which is anything with sharp teeth. She talks in complete sentences, and is even using pronouns such as me, you, I, he, and she...If only using the potty were so intuitive. That's a whole different story!

We are loving summer, and spend a great majority of our time at home playing with side walk chalk and bubbles and frequenting the many parks around town. Here are a few of our most fun adventures.

We went strawberry picking at Spicer's with Heather and Declan. Gabrielle was really excited for this because Ruby (from her favorite show "Max & Ruby") likes to pick berries. We ended up with a lot of strawberries, and I made some amazing freezer jam!








It's always a fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's Sexton's. Gabrielle LOVES the playhouse, and she can go up the ladder so fast. She also loves to play with the hose and spray anyone who comes too close!





Our Trip to the Farm Center @ Kensington

Gabrielle's favorite animal was the rabbit, Nutmeg. It was HUGE! It's hard to see in this picture.



This is "Boo Boo Turkey." He had a boo boo on his wing, and she really wanted Mama to get in the pen and kiss the boo boo.



We actually had a great time at the farm--even though Gabrielle's face might tell you otherwise!





For the second summer in a row, we vacationed at Houghton Lake. This year we got a much bigger place with plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate all of the guests we had this year including Grandma & Grandpa Sexton, Grandpops Sulkowski, & Aunt Beth. We had a wonderful time minus the fact that Gabrielle drank a little too much lake water and suffered from some GI issues for several days!! We had AMAZING weather this year and spent everyday on the lake! Lots of family fun!











Have you ever been to the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing? If not, you should go!! We had the best time. Gabrielle and I went with Aunt Bethany, Aunt Laura, Cousins Cadyn and Aili, and Grandma Sexton. There were lots of interesting animals to see. I have a lot of great pics of animals, which means that they weren't really that far away. It's a great park for young kids (& old ones, too!) It was an awesome trip!

Gabrielle in front of the playful otters-Check out her safari outfit!











We also went to the East Lansing Aquatic Center with Aunt Laura, Cadyn, Aunt Bethany, Aunt Beth, and Megan. I don't have many pics, but it was a fun day in the sun!



Other miscellaneous activities...

Mama: "What do you want for breakfast today, Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle: "Mc Donald's pancakes."



Another pic of Gabrielle in Mommy's shoes--one of the highest pair I own!



Gabrielle at Martindale Beach at Kensington with Cousins Kayla & Zoe



Thanks so much for checking in, Family & Friends! We hope everyone is doing well and having just as much fun as we are!

Enjoy the moment!

Colleen

Family Pics

We recently had some family pictures taken wearing some bright summer colors! Just wanted to share.



The Cousins-Gabrielle, Aili, and Cadyn




The Whole Fam