Irvine's Great Park Pumpkin Harvest

Kyra loves riding on Daddy's shoulders

Kyra loves the "big orange balloon," which is currently decorated for Halloween. Kyra says it's "happy."

Arts & crafts, carnival games, a pumpkin patch, trick or treating, a train, & a petting zoo! There was definitely a lot to see!

Taking it all in.

"Mommy, look at what I found!"

Testing out pieces of her Hello Kitty Halloween costume, with a custom-made skirt by Grandma Carol. That Hello Kitty mummy Halloween fabric is so cute!

"C'mon Mommy, keep up with us!"

Posing with my little Halloween cutie!

We took Kyra to the 1st annual pumpkin harvest at Irvine's Great Park. It all looked like a lot of fun, but it was honestly so insanely crowded that we really couldn't enjoy ourselves. I'm sure it'll be more fun in the years ahead when Kyra is old enough to patiently wait in lines to partake in the various activities. Kyra's favorite part of the outing was our shuttle rides to and from the parking area! She was on the bus saying "wee wee" over and over again! It would've been great to participate in the trick or treating, petting zoo, pumpkin patch, arts and crafts, and everything else, but the lines were just too long! For some reason, the city of Irvine planned this big event to only be on one Saturday afternoon from 10am-3pm, when really it should take place all day, every Saturday and Sunday, for at least the entire month of October! Hopefully they'll wise up next year!

In other news...Kyra has been surprising us so much lately with all that she's learning and doing! This week, colors are her new thing. She's suddenly identifying colors and already knows red, pink, blue, purple, orange, yellow, and white (and I think she knows green too, but can't say the word "green"). For the most part, she's correctly pointing out or identifying the correct color when asked, although she sometimes mixes up pink and red.

Kyra is talking so much these days and it's so much fun to hear what she has to say. She's so full of energy and is so genuinely happy! She's definitely loving life, and we love being her parents! She's gotten a bit clingy lately, wanting to hold on to Mommy and Daddy (mostly Mommy), and she likes to hold our hands and lead us around. All the hugging is just so sweet! I know there will certainly come a day when she doesn't want to be held, so I'm taking advantage of it now while I can!

We're looking forward to Halloween and the official start of the holiday season! Is it too soon to start dressing Kyra in Christmas shirts as soon as Halloween is over?

1st Trip To The Pumpkin Patch!

Last Sunday, we took Kyra to the pumpkin patch in Irvine for the very first time. She loved it! She was so interested in looking at everything, and was in good spirits even though we made her take about a zillion photos (thank you, Grandpa, for taking so many cute pictures!)! She dressed up for the trip, and even got to try out one of her personalized "K" pumpkin barrettes on her headband. Luckily she actually kept her headband on the entire time, which is pretty rare these days - she's been yanking off anything I try to put on her head lately! Her outfit wouldn't have been complete without her Jack-O-Lantern Babylegs! We didn't pick out a pumpkin this time, since Kyra's already got a pumpkin from her friend Jake's Birthday Pumpkin Patch. Next year, however, Kyra might want to pick out her very own pumpkin!

Time is flying by and we're getting excited for the beginning of the holiday season! With Kyra's 1st Birthday coming up in February, I wouldn't be surprised if our holiday season stretches all the way through Valentine's Day from now on. Fine by me!

Tiny Update...More To Come Soon!

Tiny 1st Tooth Coming Through!

It's already much bigger than when this photo was taken.

About a week and a half ago, Kyra and I went for a picnic in Culver City Park. These pictures are already a little old, but I thought I'd post them anyway. I managed to get a photo of her 1st tooth, although it's actually much bigger now than when this picture was taken. And her second tooth seems to be coming in right next to the first one.

Every day, she's getting better and better at feeding herself real foods. I think her Grandma Carol might even be getting slightly more comfortable with the whole idea of Kyra eating chunks of food.

We've decided that Kyra officially began crawling today. More than once, she managed to put together the movements of pulling both her knees and hands forward. She still likes to pull herself forward with her hands while on her tummy or rolling around on her sides, but it seems pretty clear that she is in fact able to crawl now. Thank goodness we've got her play area all set up!

We took Kyra to the huge Strawberry Farms pumpkin patch in Irvine today, and yes, many photos were taken! You can expect to see some of those soon. She had a great time, and did very well with sitting on the bails of hay amongst all the pumpkins.

It's been tough to find time to update the blog but, rest assured, Kyra continues to have fun and learn new things every day!