Fall is Fleeting

Fall is fleeting... which means that these shots of Sadie in the leaves might be the only leaf shots I get this year.  I'm hoping for one more nice day this weekend so we can take a family picture for our Christmas cards, but so far it's forecasted to snow.  At least I got these while I could!

Sadie loves being outside, so I expected this photo shoot to be a breeze.  But getting her to look at me, let alone smile, was a chore. Good thing she's cute whether she smiles or not!

 Mysterious

 

I love how she examines everything

 Never fails...she's got to taste EVERYTHING!  From sticks and stones to grass and dirt...she's tried it all!

 Why do I get the feeling I'll be seeing more of this look in the years to come?

 We took a break and went to the park in her new wheels - thanks Tio and Tia!

 Still lovin' the swing

Fall Photo Shoot - Take 2 with Papi

  There's a smile!

OK time to put the camera away

Latest Stroke of Genius

In our house, eating is an exploration.  We smell, touch and taste our food.  Though it’s not complete anarchy — we draw the line at spitting or throwing food, and I’m not too patient when Sadie wipes her greasy hands in her hair.  Nonetheless, she still manages to be covered head to toe with food.  And although she's mastered the art of eating with her hands, sometimes they just don't cut it.

Why use hands?  

Cut out the middle man

 So proud :)

 I realize we have quite a task ahead of us in teaching Sadie proper manners, but for the time being I’ll take my messy-handed vegetable lover over a well-mannered picky eater.  It’s not like she's an animal (though it appears like it sometimes), it’s just the way she gets the most pleasure out of eating.  :)  As long as she's eating, we're happy.  

Happy Halloween!

This year was Sadie's first official Halloween.  Juan's workplace invited the kids to trick-or-treat around the office in costume.  Being that Sadie is a bit too young to trick-or-treat and she's been under the weather, this was the perfect way to spend the day.  Sadie dressed up as a pink elephant and got a LOT of candy.  So much that we didn't have to buy any to pass out to our trick-or-treaters, and we had leftovers!  It was a lot of fun, but we mostly enjoyed the experience of seeing Sadie in her costume.  Here are some snapshots of our day.    

In case you can't figure it out, Juan was a whoopie cushion

 I was a supermodel ;)

Doesn't she make an adorable pink elephant?!

We are really looking forward to Halloween next year when we'll be able to take her out trick-or-treating.  I already have a costume in mind that I am going to make!  I just hope it's warm enough.  Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday!

Sadie turned one a couple weeks ago. I keep getting comments that it's time to have another one! But for now we're just enjoying our little mama... and boy does she keep us busy! She's been a little clingy lately, maybe because she's been sick, but it's a bit challenging when its time to cook dinner or quickly straighten up the house.  I've been trying to cherish this time though because I know it's fleeting...it won't be long before she prefers dollhouses and barbies to sitting on my hip!

One of Sadie's favorite things to do is go to the park.  So when the weather turned out to be cold and rainy on her birthday we decided to take her to Little Beans Cafe, an indoor play space and coffee shop.  She had a blast!

We had a huge birthday party for her with our families and friends over the weekend.  We were expecting about 70 people so the frugal option was transforming our garage into a party room.  It's a good thing we had good weather otherwise people might've had to eat their dinner in the bathroom!  Sadie didn't ham it up quite as much as I had expected, but I think it's because she was starting to get sick (she had an ear infection in both ears by the end of the week).

Thanks so much to everyone who came and blessed Sadie so generously.  It was a bit overwhelming to be so showered with gifts.  I'm afraid she's well passed spoiled at this point.  Thanks to Juan's mom for getting the cake - it was so fun and special!  Thanks to my Mom, Mami Chuy, Tia Maricela, and Luis and Claudia for the delicious food.  Thanks to Brittney who tagged along with Sadie and me to the Dollar Store one too many times (and rolled the silverware in napkins...and cut the burlap for the favors!).  We would not have been able to do it without you guys.  And thanks to Evita (and my brother) for the adorable birthday outfits!

So, Happy Birthday Sadie.  You are one loved little girl!

At Little Beans Cafe

 She loved sliding down the slide, but also trying to crawl up it.

 DIY centerpieces

 Me and my Man

 Just woke up from her nap

 Taking it all in...poor thing looks so out of it :(

 We hired a magician!

 There were more than 20 kids at the party!  Polish/Mexican families for ya!

 The delicious cake!  

I wasn't going to post pictures of the guests but I made an exception for these guys since we don't get to see them very often.  From the left is Juan's Tia Loli, Sandy, Layla (his cousin), behind Layla - her daughter Jordyn and husband RaShaad, and to Juan's right - Layla's niece Payton.  Thanks so much for venturing out for Sadie's big day guys!

Jordyn was hiding behind her mama's head in the picture above and I just didn't think it would be right to keep you guys from seeing this beautiful face!  Isn't she a cutie?!