Best Picture Ever

This is Reid and Genna at IHOP for my birthday breakfast last week. Aren't they cute? Everytime I look at this picture, I can't stop laughing. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! In celebration of this "sweet" holiday (pun intended), we have posted a few pictures of our adorable little girl. Please enjoy this montage of pictures to see what we did for Halloween.

This is her costume (thank you Grandma Cluff!). She's a butterfly-fairy princess. Notice the pretty glitter on her cheeks (thank you Mommy!). She loved being able to play with Mommy's make up without going into time-out.

Here's Genna counting up her loot. It's her first time trick-or-treating!

Here she is after enjoying a few too many pieces of chocolate. Notice her halo headband and wings are now off, she's exited the princess persona...

Oh how she loves her pumpkin....

Sorry, Genna, Daddy gutted your pumpkin. But at least it still looks awesome. He sure is a good "carver".

Genna loved my (Reid's ) carving so much she decided to imitate it using her famous "freeze frame" face.

Finally, she decided to take a nice picture next to her new found friend. Does this picture look familiar...I'm calling it "Halloween Gothic".

Happy Halloween Everyone! Until next year.....

Last Summer Post

Colorado Springs has a great park here called America the Beautiful Park, which has an amazing water feature. Every Wednesday during the summer, they have a farmer's market and free outdoor concert, so Reid and I decided to check it out. The concert was not impressive, but Genna loved splashing in the water!

Remembering Summer...

This summer, Genna discovered that she loves water! We went to this splashground for a play group, and had a lot of fun...eventually. Our ward pool party had been just a week before, and Genna really enjoyed splashing in the water, so I expected her to love this. However, she sat on my lap or tried to run out of the park for almost an hour! Just when I was about to give up and go home, she suddenly decided that it looked like fun.

Self Portrait by Genna

Breakfast in the Summer

The other morning, we gave Genna some milk and a leftover pancake for breakfast. She decided to take her breakfast outside.

Yum.

The Giant Jokester

Reid and I were just sitting around, knowing it was bedtime but too lazy to move, and I noticed how much Genna has grown in the past year. She was standing next to a musical play table, with lots of fun buttons, which she got when she was about 7-8 months old. I remember that when standing, she could barely touch the buttons on the edge of the table, and here she is towering over it like a giant.

Reid said, "She looks like King Kong!" Right at that moment, Genna turned to the side and took a few really large steps, as if imitating a giant. We bust up laughing, of course. She turned around and looked at us, and then starts laughing really loud as well, like she totally got the joke. We could not stop laughing!

Neither could she...long after we had calmed down. She kept doing things and waiting for us to laugh again. She is such a funny girl, and loves attention! I thinking Genna will love having younger siblings to entertain/boss around/laugh at her. But not yet.

We Joined The Circus

Well, not exactly, but we did enjoy ourselves at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that came to town here in Colorado Springs. On Saturday night, Rebecca and Genna got to go to the circus while I was working in the Box Office. Here they are during the first half:

Right now, Genna's thinking, "How can I sneak away from mom to go pet that tiger over there?" Well, she never got the chance, but we did get to see the tigers after intermission when I joined them. It was pretty awesome! As you can see, I might have liked them even more than Genna did.

The tigers were the greatest part of the show.

Genna is so tired, she looks dazed.

This is Genna the next day with her elephant. I took Rebecca and Genna to meet the promoter of the show, and she gave us this sweet elephant.

Love Affair with a Banana

I've had this post in my drafts for a few months now, and decided to post it.  As mentioned previously, Genna loves bananas.  Here is a photo essay for you to enjoy.

~

It began with mushing, then progressed to slicing. Eventually, she wanted sections or even to bite by herself.

The end.

Cookie Monster

Since she was about 9 months old, Genevieve has been learning a few "baby" signs.  It has been so great to be able to communicate with her, and even better, for her to be able to communicate with us.  (Check out my sister's blog for a video of Genna signing.)

A short list of her current vocab includes: more, all-done, milk, juice, thirsty, hungry, please, thank you, car, dog, Dad, cracker, cheese, and her new favorite - cookie.

Reid and I stopped by the grocery store a few days ago to grab something we needed for dinner.  As soon as we got inside, Genna said and signed, "cookie."  Reid looked at me, and I admited that I often (ok, almost always!) get her a free cookie to nibble on while I am comparing prices and getting awesome deals.  (No, that's not bragging.  It's true!)

Anyway, we were in a hurry, so we grabbed what we needed and headed for the check-out.  Since it was just after 5 pm, the store was very busy, and there were a few people in front of us.  Genna was getting antsy, so Reid decided to just let her walk around, and he would follow her.  I waited in line, quickly reading in a magazine as much of the story about Jon and Kate as I could before it was my turn.  I finished checking out, and they still weren't back.  As I headed for the door, I saw Reid carrying Genna through the produce department, holding something....

Apparently, as soon as Reid set Genna down, she walked directly to the bakery where the free cookies are.  Smart girl, right?  Or maybe we go to the store too much?  In my defense, the store is right around the corner, so we often go more than once a week (I buy what will fit into the stroller bottom).

These pictures are not of the store cookie - she ate that before we could get home to our camera, so this is a cookie I made.  That's right.  I let my daughter eat two cookies in one day.

This is one of the signs that says as well as signs (others are Dad, shoes, car, juice and cracker), so I was hoping I could catch it on video.  No such luck.  As soon as I pressed "record," she gave me this clueless look like, "What are you talking about, Mom?  I don't know anything about any 'cookie'."

"All-done!"