Just playing and climbing

She is now tall enough to hang from the counter, however, she hangs, then lifts her knees, her hands peel off and she falls straight on her back on the marble floor! You would think after falling a couple of times, she would learn not to do this, but no, she still does it anyway. This is her favorite box. I don;t know how long we have had it now, but she still loves to play in it.

Reading to Elmo.

Being Captian Destruction...she climbs on everything.

In this video, Serena is just having a ball playing on the couch and talking.

playing with papa

Independence

Also with our food struggle comes her independence to wanting to only feed herself with a fork or spoon. She does a good job, but when she is really hungry, using the hand is faster.

Meal time

Meal time use to be so easy and a fun time for all. Now its getting more and more difficult to get her to eat...especially meat. This night, she was just having a breakdown because she wasn't getting her way and was frustrated. When she is like this she rubs her hands in her hair. Sean couldn't resist taking pictures of this moment.

Just being Serena

She recently learned how to pull her footstool all over the place to get where she wants, like on the couch.

Climber

Serena loves her gymnastics class but they have taught her how to climb and hang and swing on a bar. She now will hang onto anything that resembles a bar and try to climb up. This includes climbing the dishwasher, the babygate and the bar in the bathtub. This morning she tried climbing out of her crib but only succeded in getting both of her legs stuck between the railings.

Captian Destruction!

Just see for yourself!

Bring us books

When Serena wants to read a book she will bring one up to you and grunt, meaning "read this to me now"! We read lots of books throughout the day and usually the same one several times.

Visiting Aunt Kay and Uncle Sean

We stayed a couple of nights up in Washington with Kay and Sean over the weekend and had a wonderful time playing Wii and watching Serena play and get into everything at their house. Here are a pics and a video of her having fun.

Halloween Bee

The boys next door!!

Hangin' with the boys

The boys from next door where over to play for awhile....Serena loves 'da boys'.

More of the Pumpkin Patch

Ok, this is not your ordinary pumpkin patch. For the big kids, there are zip lines, apple launchers, a huge room with a giant trampoline, and hay maze, go cart pedal racing, slides, swings, a pirate ship, tooo much to name! So for the smaller kids, there is a bin filled with wheat and hay bales (pictured below) for them to play in. Or a bin filled with corn and hay bales ( did I mention it was fun to watch them try to move in these)

Success....she made it to the top of a hay bale!

There is also a petting zoo at this pumpkin patch...baby goats are sooo cute.

The Pumpkin Patch

We saw how apple cider was made and then Serena had her first experience with juice....fresh squeezed apple cider....needless to say she loved it! This is a picture of her and Kay after eating an apple cider doughnut..so yummy!! WHooHOooo!! A ride with pumpkins!!

We took our time picking out the perfect pumpkins!! We will carve them later this week!

Kay and Serena lost in the corn maze...it was a beautiful day!

Seans parents, Kiersten, Sean and I all took Serena to the Pumpkin Patch...it was awesome....there was so much to do if you are a kid...Serena is going to love this place in a couple of years. And the best part is that it is less than 5 minutes from the house.

Gymnastics!!

We finally started our first day of gymnastics....she loved all the climbing and dancing in the mirror.

Proud Papa

Sean is very proud of his rib eatin' daughter....even more so when she is double fistin' it!

Emily and Russ

Before heading back to Oregon we stopped in Kansas City overnight and stayed with Emily and Russ. A group of us went out for a good dinner while Emilys sister babysat Serena. Here is a pic of Emily playing with Serena at Loose Park....sorry for cutting off your head.

Cousin Luke learning to play the guitar

Luke is doing a great job learning the guitar, here is a sample of something he just learned. Not too bad for just starting!!! Excellent job little man!!

Visiting my cousins while in Columbia

Serena LOVES her cousin Luke, she just can't give him enough kisses. She also met her new cousin, Kade, for the first time. SHe likes him too but there is some jealousy when someone is holding the little baby.

Riding with carosle with Grandma

Going home

Serena and I went back home to Columbia for a week and we spent some time with the family. This is pictures of Serena playing with the inside of a pumpkin...she like the way it felt,.