Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! What a fun day! We started the day off with pancakes that looked like pumpkins and ended it with a fun night of trick-or-treating with our little pumpkin.

We finally carved our pumpkin before trick-or-treating, I'd have to say it's not Ashley's favorite activity to take part in, she's more of an observer. She was so excited to see what was inside the pumpkin, I think she thought there was a cool prize in there, but when I opened it up and it was a bunch of stringy goop and seeds you could clearly see the disappointment on her face. I tried coaxing her into cleaning it out with me but that was way too much for her. She did try using a spoon to scoop out the insides but once her hand touched the pumpkin she was done. Since my pumpkin carving skills are equal to those of a 1st grader our pumpkin looked "special" with its crooked face and snaggle tooth. Ashley seemed to think it was cute so that's all that really matters, right?

After carving our pumpkin we went to my parents' house for dinner and trick-or-treating. My mom gave Ashley a black cat flash light that matched her candy bag and that was VERY exciting for Ashley. She was going to shine her light so we could see since the "outside lights were off" (that means the sun was down).

Ashley was THRILLED to ring the doorbells but was a little irritated with how long everyone took to get to their door, so there were a few times she went in for a second ringing of the doorbell.

(You'll want to put the music playlist on pause so you can hear the audio from the video below)
I quickly learned that Ash needs a "stranger danger" talk because she was quite happy to jump right over the threshold into people's houses to talk to them. One lady had a dancing ghost and that was way too exciting for Ash to watch from outside the house so she walked right in and gave the ghost a high five (luckily we know all of the neighbors). Our final stop was at Cindy Stein's house and Ashley had fun petting their husky, Keisha, and while we talked Ashley kept digging through the candy bowl to find more treats.
After a hike up the hill on Daddy's shoulders Ash dumped her candy on the floor to survey her findings and enjoyed some M&M's. We hope you all had a Happy Halloween! To view all of the pictures just click on the title of this post- the Happy Halloween at the top.

Our Halloween Eve

Today helped remind me that it's actually holiday season and we are in the middle of fall. It seems like we've been having the endless summer with this weather and it just seems wrong to be visiting pumpkin patches when it's 80 degrees outside.

We painted pumpkin flower pots today, the kids seemed to enjoy it and the pots looked pretty cute after we planted the orange flowers in them.

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch (for some reason we procrastinate going every year). This year we went to the one in the Laguna Hills Mall parking lot and it was like a mini carnival. Ashley had a great time going on the train and car rides. While Jason and I were watching Ashley go around and around on the car ride there was a moment of silence and I think we were both getting a glimpse into our future with our "baby" driving away on her own; but luckily we were reminded she's still a little girl when her car came back around again.
After the cars we got a wagon and searched the place for the perfect pumpkin. For some reason Ashley took a liking to all of the pumpkins that were rotting on one side. So Daddy did a quick switcheroo with a healthy pumpkin before we got to the check out.





We planned on carving our pumpkin tonight but after dinner we were pooped and decided to eat a halloween cookie from Great Grandma Brick and go to bed. So you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see our gorgeous gourde.

The Highlight of Ashley's Day

Ashley received a Halloween card in the mail today and it's the first time that she's really understood what mail was. The pure joy she had just holding the card and hugging it was so sweet (Don't you wish we all felt that way when we got our bills in the mail?). Ashley was in awe of the stickers on the envelope and was a big fan of the orange ink Great Grandma Brick used. It took a while to get the card open (she's not a fan of ripping paper) but once we did a perfectly crisp dollar bill fell out of the card and Ashley shouted, "MY OWN CREDIT CARD! I CANNOT BEWIEVE IT!" Of course Jason and I were dying with laughter. After explaining it was a dollar bill she told us that she could pay for her things now and was so proud. After about 20 minutes of examining the dollar bill and card and hugging them both she was ready to find a special place for the dollar and plans on saving it to buy a remote control car which she picked out from the Toys R Us Christmas catalog. I was clipping coupons and Ashley asked to help so I handed her the Toys R Us catalog and after looking at a page or two she asked for a pen and started to circle all of the toys she wanted. I was surprised because she was very careful in making her choices, I kind of expected her to circle anything. Hopefully the Brick Bank offers an incredible interest rate so she can buy her remote control car before she's 50.>

Just When I thought Ash was all grown up...

Just when I thought Ash was all grown up she asked to jump in the Johnny Jump Up and started to giggle just like a baby. When she finally decided to get out Jas and I wanted to see if she still fit in the backpack carrier for our trip to Zion. I wish I had a picture of her face when she saw Jason bring the carrier up, you would have thought Mickey Mouse just walked in the house, she was so excited. After Jas and I took turns with her on our back it was time for bed and she cried because she wanted to play in the "packpack" some more. So we decided to let her baby Maggy sleep in the backpack in Ashley's room. Of course Ashley had to take every precaution to make sure Maggy was warm and comfy so we got her blankets a stuffed animal and ended the night with a kiss, it was too cute!

Where did my baby go?

Today was one of those days where I woke up, checked on Ashley and was wondering who stole my itty bitty baby and replaced her with a big girl overnight. I know everyone warned me it would go by fast and I believed them but I had no idea it would go by THIS fast. The little baby who used to need me for everything can now blow her own bubbles, eat apples off the core, put her pajamas on by herself and finish puzzles without any help. I love this age because Ashley is able to actually tell me how she sees the world and it's pretty funny and precious. Whenever we tuck her in bed at night she always tells us that she loves us bigger than something, for example: "I love you bigger than the beautiful flowers". On Sunday we had been watching football all day and Jason told her he loved her bigger than football and she responded in true Brick form saying, "I love you bigger than Brett Favre". Jason couldn't be prouder!

Ashley and I were playing outside with bubbles and balls this afternoon and then I decided it was time for us to play Tag. After explaining the game we started to play and she thought it was so funny to chase me that she laughed so hard she'd have to stop to catch her breath, needless to say we had a blast. I love having a kid so you can do things like playing tag all over again.

Aliso Viejo Fall Fest

Yesterday we went to the Aliso Viejo Fall Fest with Ashley. They had some vendors there with different crafts and games as well as a pony ride and a costume parade for the kids to trick-or-treat in. Ashley LOVED the pony ride, she was not so excited while she was in line but once she was strapped into her saddle you couldn't wipe the smile off her face. The parade was fun, the combo of her crayon costume, the long grass and the crowd made it a little difficult to walk but she still enjoyed it. After the parade Ashley colored a pumpkin magnet and then she got busy with a hoola hoop and every time it fell to the floor she'd stick her arms in the air and say Ta-Da! It was fun but blazing hot (where is my fall weather?)

Ashley's First Haircut

Ashley had her first haircut today, she was so excited to be a big girl and get her hair done like mommy. I thought I was ready to let go of the last thing that made me feel like she was still a baby, but once they took the first snip I felt the tears well up. Ashley was really excited about her smock because it had fishies on it just like she has in her fish tank. She didn't have much cut off but it made a huge difference, the first picture is her walking in to get her hair washed and the last is after her cut.[

Pottery Barn Kids and Hullabaloo

We had quite an adventure taking all of the kids to Pottery Barn Kids at the Mission Mall for songs with Hullabaloo. The kids were GREAT! We lined them up (from left: Dylan (my nephew), Maddy, Ash, Cody), got them in their costumes, met up with Greyson, Bri and Lynn and claimed a carpet roll for the kids to sit on. Maddy and Cody seemed unsure about the big crowd and I think they felt like they were on lockdown with their costumes on, but they were so cute! When the music was over we headed to the food court for lunch and then we headed home for naps.

Apple Picking in Oak Glen

On Saturday, October 18th, we drove out to Oak Glen so I could go Apple Picking for my birthday. We hit a few snags along the way, such as driving in the wrong direction for 25 miles. After we got back in the right direction we thought we were just meeting Erin (my sister) and Kevin (her boyfriend) at the orchards but didn't realize we were supposed to meet them at the off ramp so we had to figure out how to meet up with them when we were about ten minutes from the orchards. Once we got there we had fun visiting the animals and hanging out in the town. Oak Glen's restaurant service is a bit slower than we're used to (we waited an hour after ordering to get our food) but we managed to laugh during the wait. Once we were at the orchards and ready to pick we quickly realized that the flip flops all of us had decided to wear (all but Ian) were not the best apple picking shoes. The orchards were covered with little spikey balls from plants and they managed to get in our pants and all over our shoes so we would walk about 5 feet then pick out the balls and walk another 5 feet. Once we picked all of our apples Erin, Ashley and I decided to walk through the pumpkin patch where Ashley fell face first into the silty soil and had a bit of a melt down because she "made a mess". Although it doesn't sound like the perfect adventure we managed to have fun and laugh A LOT!

Our Family Photo Shoot

We had a photo shoot with Jason's family on October 11th at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park. The weather was absolutely perfect (our first taste of crisp, cool, fall weather) and the photographer was able to get some amazing pictures for us.