Trick or Treating

Megan's first trick or treating experience was a success! She did a great job and walked most of the way. She caught on really quickly and was saying her version of "Trick or Treat" and "thank you!" There was only one other ladybug that we saw but it was a different costume. We decided to go to downtown Forest Grove and hit the little shops down there rather than going door to door. It was the perfect amount of stops and and she had a great time. Grandma and Grandpa came over to see her go out for the first time too and then we came home and had some hot homemade soup for dinner!

Lesly and Megan

First stop at Quizno's

Forest Grove Police Station

Another successful stop!

I'm not sure why these people thought that making their heads look like they had gaping head wounds was a good idea for small children to trick or treat around.

Little poser

Here's a picture of Megan's loot!

Megan only got on this Zebra every once in awhile until recently. Now she's full of tricks. She now thinks it's great that when she bounces hard enough, she can actually scoot across the room. She's also figured out how to stand up and bounce. I think she thought she was in trouble the first time I caught her doing it. I figured, if she falls, she'll learn. I can't keep her from falling all of the time. She's pretty cute doing it though!

My New Favorite Picture

Stacy took this picture while she was here for Megan's birthday. I love it! And she's such a ham!

For a few months now, we have been talking about if/when to take Megan's binky away. We gradually moved her to only having the binky at nighttime or naps. It was definitely a dependent for her and for us though. We knew that if we gave it to her, she would calm down. So we decided that we would need to take it from her around her 2nd birthday but were definitely not looking forward to it. After a lot of thought and talking to friends, we heard about an idea of sending the binky up with some helium balloons and making a sort of ceremony about it to say goodbye rather than just making them disappear. For the last couple of weeks we've also been telling her that binkies are for babies and Megan is a big girl now and big girls don't need binkies. She hasn't really liked the idea, shaking her head at us but we've tried to talk to her about it to make her understand a bit more.

When we got back from the zoo, we decided it was time. We had a huge balloon left from her party and tied two of her binkies to it. We took it out to the backyard and after talking to Megan on the way home a little bit more about it, we said goodbye to the binkies. She waved and said, "Bye Bye!" We watched it and waved at it for as far as we could see it and then played in the backyard for awhile to distract her. I had to go to school and Josh took on the challenge of putting her down for her nap and bedtime all by himself. I checked in on him from school and he said that she had done really well. She asked for her binky a couple of times and Josh reminded her of saying goodbye to it and watching it go up with the balloons and she was okay with it.

They walked to Fred Meyer last night to get her birthday present from us and when they walked back it was dark. Megan asked for her binky and Josh reminded her again of where it went. She pointed up and said, "Binky?" and he said, "Yep, they went up into the sky." So Megan looked up into the sky and there was a bright shining star and she said, "There it is!"

She is so precious!!

The Birthday Girl's Day

Megan is officially TWO!

Josh took the day off from work so that we could spend Megan's birthday together. I had school that night so it was important to me to be able to be together as a family during the day. After a restless night and Megan waking up 4 times (maybe she anticipated an exciting day), she slept in until about 9:30. We got up, had breakfast and headed to the MAX station in Hillsboro. Megan loves trains, buses, trucks, everything so we thought she would love going on the train for the first time. She's already been on the Portland Streetcar and buses so this rounded her out! She said, "Choo Choo" when she saw the train and had fun going all of the way to the zoo in it.

It was a great day at the zoo. Not a whole lot of people and beautiful weather made it really easy to get around and see everything, some that I had never seen before. Of course she loves animals and loved seeing everything. One of her favorites was the sea lions who would swim right up to the glass for her to see. She also loved the monkeys until one of them got a little angry and started running around screaming and banging on the walls and windows. Makes you wonder what they're thinking. Here are some pictures of our day. We love you so much Megan and you are such a big girl!!

Bald Eagle

Megan on the tractor

Remember this tractor picture? It's from April 2007 - look at those cheeks!The sea lions that Megan loved.






Megan wasn't able to go into the petting zoo but she saw the goats through the fence and got to pet them a little bit.
How cute is that?
Looking at the rhino
....and the hippo.
On our way home on the MAX. She got to sit like a big girl in her own seat.
.....until she realized she was really tired and we had to figure something else out!
We had a great day with Megan and we hope she had as much fun as we did!

Aaron's Birthday Party

We actually got to see Aaron again. I think the last time we saw him, Megan was still nursing. That's a long time. Anyway, we were invited to his parent's house to celebrate his 29th birthday. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him though! But here is Megan enjoying a little kid dinner with some new friends, Kaden, Makayla and Quinn.

She thought the Happy Birthday song was for her!
Playing with new toys in Kaden and Makayla's room.

Stolen Video - Thanks Tami!

Growing So Fast!

It is amazing how fast a little baby grows!! Here is Megan 6 days old:

Here she is almost 1 year old:

And now looking like a little girl and not a baby at almost 2 years old. We may have to go back to the pumpkin patch so we can get some pictures of her face. She was way over pictures by this point in the day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Megan!

Megan's birthday party was a great success. We had beautiful weather and lots of friends and family to help celebrate. We had her party at Plumper Pumpkin Patch. All of the kids were able to play and tromp around in the patches and I think they all had a great time. I can't believe she is two (well not till the 23rd!). She was such a good girl all day long and had so much fun and then crashed about 5 minutes after we got in the car.

I kept it pretty simple this year. I made applesauce cupcakes, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and had other snacks to eat. Not nearly the spread we had last year but this time it was much less stressful and we had an equally great time. Having it at another location is definitely the way to go we decided!

Come with me!

Megan greeting Dylan

Jay, Campbell and Henley arrive

and the kids find the pumpkin patch.

Megan loves chips but here she decides that she can share with Aunt Kelly.

Pat, Billie, Jaxon and Gabriel arrive

As soon as we got to the farm, Megan saw the ponies. She wanted to go right in and ride. I told her she had to wait so she stood at the gate and watched and was so excited! Once everyone arrived I told her that she could ride the horsey. She was squealing and smiling and laughing. So excited! This is the third time she's ridden a horse and she loves it! She did it all by herself, I let her ride without walking next to her for the most part and she held on like a big girl. She even went one handed a few times so that she could wave to all of her fans watching and even blow them a kiss or two.

All of the kids loved this slide. They all went down 5-6 times each.

Playing in the hay maze

They had farm animals for the kids to see like cows, pigs, goats, llamas, turkeys and chickens. Megan loves seeing cows on the farms around our house so seeing them up close is really neat to her.

Jay, Campbell and Henley wait for the slide.

Two little candles on her cupcake!

She loves the "Happy Birthday" song

Blowing out the candles all by herself!

Sharing with Grandma Van

Unfortunately of all things, we had to rush through opening presents. Megan is so lucky and got so many wonderful things from her friends and family.

She really likes her princess towels from the Lords.

A learning game for the fridge.

Aunt Tami and Devin got her a drum with instruments inside that make lots and lots of noise! She loves it!

Megan's mommy and Aunties

Once we cleaned up the party room Megan got to ride one more time with her friends Jace and Jaxon. When we got in line there was only one horse available so we asked if we could wait for the next ride. Megan was so upset because she didn't understand why there was an empty horse and she wasn't on it. She kept pointing and crying. She seriously had her full lip out and big tears. Yes she was tired by that point but she just so wanted to ride!! So finally she got her turn. And then of course we had a repeat performance of the tears when her turn was over. We had to distract her quickly.

So we made our way over to the barrel train ride.

Here's our twin pose #1

and twin pose #2!

Megan loving baby Gabriel

On the hay ride

Even the big kids had fun!

Megan finally in the actual pumpkin patch. Here she is kissing the pumpkin...

Megan being uncooperative in her family shot. It WAS about the 250th picture of the day!

And she's out! She made it about 5 miles and sung herself to sleep. She was singing and then the next thing we knew, she was conked out!