Trick or Treat

Aubrey was so excited when I put her costume on right before it was time to go. 

She ran around solid for quite a bit just giggling and posing with "cheese."

Aubrey, the 

SWEET LITTLE ICE CREAM CONE

It was hard to get her shoes on with such a bulky costume :)

We found Kate waiting in line! 

(the daughter of my babysitter)

Care Bear and Ice Cream Cone

Aubrey was having fun waiting in line, until we saw that GORILLA FACE guy!

It actually was my babysitter, Lisa's son! Aubrey was TERRIFIED of him! (lol)

She screamed for a solid three blocks until she finally was able to walk ahead of him or behind him so she wouldn't look at him! Steve and I were very close to giving up and going home. But then after some bribing with candy, I guess, she then just got scared of him but wasn't bawling her eyes out. Oh dear!

(Thanks for putting up with the screaming ice cream cone, De Bruins:))

She decided she wanted to push Kate's stroller for her :)

Daddy even got to come along since he didn't have anything after school! Fun!

Waiting in line.

(Oh, for those of you who don't know; we went up to the Oskaloosa Square and they have a 

Halloween parade where you walk around the square and into the mall.

You just follow the line and the businesses hand out the candy. There were a TON of people,

but it only took about 1 hour (in the daylight) and we had tons of fun doing it.

Aubrey and Kate

AKA

Ice Cream Cone and Care Bear

We made it! Aubrey and Daddy with all her loot!

I can't imagine how much candy some families come home with, with SEVERAL kids buckets full!

Since Grandpa Craig was in the hospital in Pella because of his leg infection, 

we decided to stop by and say hi in Aubrey's costume, too after the Oskaloosa parade!

Here is Aubrey with Grandma Char in the hospital.

Aubrey with Grandpa Craig!

She had a great time messing with all of the buttons, exploring the cupboards, and messing around in the curtain.

We hope we made your night, Grandpa! Get well soon!

Weekend

This weekend my Mom and Dad come up for the weekend. Since we all can't go up there for Thanksgiving they decided to come here to hang out with us for the weekend. 

Friday included Grandpa and Grandma watching Aubrey while we were at school. Steve was gone Friday and part of Saturday for a coaches clinic so it was nice to have some company. Saturday included shopping for the girls and yard work for the guys! 

Unfortunately we really didn't take a lot of pics from the weekend, except for these quick shots before church for a potential Christmas card pic. These are just a few of the more candid ones. There is one shot to prove Grandpa and Grandma VG were here!

Bonfire with the Kaisands

Tonight was a beautiful evening so we headed over to Steve's parents farm for a bonfire with them and Dan and Andrea. We didn't get a chance this summer to have a weenie roast and make s'mores so Grandma Char thought tonight would be a perfect night for it and great company! She was right!

Grandpa Craig took Aubrey out for a ride on the 4-wheeler.

She looks kinda happy here, but she really wasn't a fan of it.

Grandma Char got out Daddy's old big wheel to ride on.

"I can drive all by myself!"

Part of the gang out enjoying the fire out on the farm.

We brought Aubrey's little picnic table along so she had a place to eat and it worked quite well.

Thanks Aunt Cindy and Uncle Chad - we've really used it a lot!

Going for a walk with Grandpa Craig to check out the cows.

Mommy and Aubrey...

...her eyes were keeping an eye on "Dodger" the new Kaisand puppy.

Aunt Andrea, Uncle Dan and Aubrey hanging out.

(they're so silly ;))

awww :)

Grandpa with "Dodger" - the entertainment (or fright for Aubrey) for the evening.

Slicked-back Hair

 Here is Aubs after her bath with some slicked-back hair! I just used a little clip to keep it all in. Pretty funny!

Bye Bye High Chair

Little Miss Aubrey suddenly thinks that she is too big for her high chair. Here she is eating her supper with Mommy and I let her sit in MY chair! She thought she was big stuff! 

"cheese"

Sipping on her juice pouch . So sweet.

You can also note the tiny dirty finger prints on the chair. 

We took down the high chair and have been using the booster seat part that we put on a kitchen chair.

Here she's eating her Rice Krispies for breakfast.

She is doing pretty well with it but it is MUCH messier
as there is no tray to catch most of her food and she wasn't wearing a bib either.
A lot more sweeping and mopping up for me - bummer!

PS - Steve went to the "SportsPage" athletic store in Pella because he got a 40% discount for being a coach and was SO SWEET and bought me this awesome Under Armor jacket without even asking - just did it all on his own! I was SO IMPRESSED! I don't think he has ever gotten me something that I hadn't asked for or that he picked out on his own - WAY TO GO! I love it!

Kidtoberfest

Today at the Penn Central Mall in Oskaloosa they were hosted a FREE event called Kidtoberfest.  Since it was a rainy day and both Steve and I were home, we decided to take Aubrey and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  There were vendors, free eye screening, diaper derby, inflatables, carnival games, sno cones, and lots of free crayons, books, candy, toys and more! Fun!

Aubrey and Daddy hanging out

We saw "Cy" there so we stopped to take a picture, but Aubrey was NOT impressed!

I had my ISU sweatshirt on so we had to stop and say hi :)

 As we were trying to catch Aubrey throughout the mall, a woman stopped us and asked us if we wanted to be part of a Diaper Derby since she thought Aubrey looked under 2 and liked to run. We said SURE! So, we signed Aubrey up for the 2 and under walkers and we had a blast!

 Aubrey won her first heat (there were only two kids) and then made it to the finals!  We think she got third overall! I was a bit sad that she didn't win espeically since I was the crawling Diaper Derby champion in Ripon when I was a baby:) 

Here Daddy is holding her back to RUN! She had a great start both times but couldn't quite pull it off. The first time she got about 3/4 to me and stopped in the middle, sprawled on the ground and started CRAWLING! People, she never crawls! She was just thriving on all the attention she was getting and wanted to make a spectacle. She didn't DQed because they said that really crawling is  disadvantage - ha!

Here she is in the finals. The girl in the pink won :( We think that Aubrey was the youngest of the four of them but she had the best start and was out of the blocks FAST! :) Unfortunately I wasn't standing far enough behind the finish line because she ALMOST won but stopped just short of the end, as I was probably too close. Oh well! She really had a lot of fun and so did we!

There we many different games that even Aubrey could play.

Here she was trying to match two ducks.

She quickly realized that at the end of the games she would get a prize no matter what, so she wanted to go right to the prize box before the game. Smart little girl :)

She got a balloon flower made for her and sucker - what more could a girl want?

She even got her first "tattoo" - a 4H one, Daddy was proud!

And we ended our time there with some free "SnoBiz" - how fun!

Aubrey at home sorting out all her loot!

AND.....a sneak peek at Aubrey's "Halloween" costume :) - more to come on that!

Few Things

Nothing too exciting going on over here, but here are a few things that have been keeping Aubrey busy :)

Aubrey sitting VERY STILL while I painted her toe nails :)

She climbed up using the tote and spent quite awhile doing her own thing up there.

Pretty girl

She found my camera case and put as many pens and pencils in as she could find.

There she is with her stash. 

She could spend all day standing and watching TV if we let her :)

"Hi, Aubs!"