Zoo Lights at PDZA

We bundled ourselves up tonight and headed out to Zoo Lights at the Point Defiance Zoo. Perfect night to enjoy a walk around the colorful zoo! The weather was cold, but clear and we beat the crowds. Leila was excited about everything EXCEPT the giant tiger's mouth that you have to walk through to get to the Asian animal/lights exhibits. We have heard many times since returning home tonight, "I not like the tiger!". Other than that, I can safely say that she had a wonderful time...as did Chris and I!!

The zookeepers were offering pictures with Rhonda the Reindeer for 5 dollars. The cost benefited the zoo's conservation projects, so we couldn't really say no. We were happy to help out a great cause and get a semi cute photo of the three of us. Leila isn't quite sure where to look in this:
Take two: Now Chris is looking goofy! Oh well...
Leila and Daddy stopping for a photo in the Asian exhibit area...

Leila's second favorite "Christmas light animal" - Her first being the monkey.
Checking out the meerkats with Daddy.

Second visit to the meerkats...only 10 minutes after leaving them, we had to go back.

My sweet girl!
We ended our Zoo Lights visit with a ride on the carousel. We made it out of the zoo with only ONE ride...this is unheard of with Leila. This is her favorite ride whenever we can find one (Disneyland, The Fair etc), so to leave after one ride is pretty good.
After a stop for dinner at McDonald's, we made it home. Leila was excited to wear her new PJs that Grammy made. L calls these her "zoo jammies"....so of course she had to wear them after our visit to the zoo.
Super cute PJs Grammy!!!
What a wonderful evening we had together! Can't wait for next year!

A Visit with Santa

Leila visited with Santa this last Saturday. I asked if she wanted me to carry her up or if she wanted to walk. Of course she wanted to walk "all by me-self!".

Leila very confidently told Santa that she would like a dress and a wand. She is really into princesses at present.

Thanksgiving

We spent half of the Thanksgiving Weekend in Portland with my family. We had a wonderful time visiting with family, shopping, playing the wii, chillin' with some friends and laughing together. I am thankful for my family!

Leila's new pillowcase dress.

Watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving with Daddy after dinner.
My grandparents used to make rocking horses together. Papa would build them and Grammy would paint them . My Mom has kept two of them over the years and Leila is the perfect age to enjoy them. She played with it all weekend. A friend of ours, Daniel, brought his little girl over and the girls rode all around the house.

Early morning books:

(Uncle Nonny, Granddad, Leila and Grammy)

A Backyard Friend

Wednesday morning, Leila discovered a new friend in our backyard. "Look, a baby owl!", she exclaimed as she pointed out our TV room window. Chris and I ran to the window to see what she was talking about. While we were checking it out, L was grabbing books to read to the baby owl. She must have stood by the window for 15 minutes reading some of her favorites to this baby owl (who was sitting VERY still!). These pics were taken the following day when she was STILL reading to him.

"See, right there!"
"Look at the pictures, baby owl."

Reading Owley to the owl.
Are you wondering what the owl looked like???? I am not sure if this is cute or gross...Leila's baby owl is an overgrown mushroom of some sort! It really does look like a little snowy owlet...the tips of the feathers are even grey in color.
Later in the afternoon, we took her outside to see the owl. She didn't want to get too close because she told us he was sleeping.

I have a feeling this mushroom might get to stay in our yard for a while!

Trick or Treat!

This year, we met up with some friends and trick-or-treated the businesses of downtown Puyallup. The streets were full of cute kiddos in costumes and several businesses were even out of candy because so many folks had come through. The rain held off for a few hours and right when we were headed back to the car, we began to feel some raindrops. Whew! We were lucky.

Mamas and Munchkins:

Aimee and Tevyn, Jeanna and Audrey, Erin and Leila

3 Men and 3 Babies:

Jason and Tev, Chris K. and Audrey, Chris T. and Leila

Our last stop of the evening was Gramma and Papa's house. Leila was ready for some rest at this point.

Despite being extremely tired, L managed to smile for a few more photos before we took her costume off for the evening.

Paul McCartney and an English National footballer:

I know, I know....I was a soccer player last year. It was a last minute decision this year to dress up and I didn't have any creativity! Thank goodness Chris let me borrow his soccer gear.

After pictures, Leila and Papa cuddled up to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (AGAIN!!) while they waited for dinner.

Leila's favorite part of the evening, hands down, was passing out the candy at Gramma and Papa's house! When the doorbell rang, she would jump up, squeal with delight and RUN to the door. She was adorable! We had a great evening with friends and family. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Wednesday night we brought in the pumpkins! Leila was very excited at the prospect of having an Elmo pumpkin, but not so thrilled about helping with the process of carving it. After the initial excitement wore off, L was much more interested in watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown than in working on her pumpkin. So, Daddy took over. By the time he finished Elmo, he was all out of energy. We still have one untouched pumpkin on our porch. Luckily, he got to carve one at Aunt Lynn's house a few days ago for himself.

Our patch...Elmo, Star Wars and Mickey. Mickey was going to be more intricate, but I made one bad cut and the whole face was doomed. We are calling it Toodles rather than Mickey.

Fall Fun

We have been doing some Halloween decorating this week. We took a second trip to the pumpkin patch with Chris's family last weekend. Leila and her cousin, Chassidee, had a great time running around Spooner Farms together. This visit was quite different from our first. The patch was muddy, the weather was chilly and it was crowded! But we still loved it!

Leila discovered the ponies in the back of the farm. "Yeeh haw!"

After the patch, we went back to Chris's Aunt Lynn's house for dinner and pumpkin decorating. Chris working on his "Star Wars" logo pumpkin.

Leila and I didn't carve this set of pumpkins. We made "Potato Head Pumpkins". I found the kits at Target. Super fast way to decorate your pumpkin! Just perfect for the attention span of a two-year-old!

Then a few nights later, at home, we decided to make haunted houses.

Leila ate more than she decorated with, I think.

Our haunted houses:

Chris, Leila and Erin