How do you like them (CANDY) apples?

In early October, we took a quick family trip out of the city to the beautiful Orchards of Concklin for some apple picking.  It was unseasonably warm (high 80s!) and ended up being a bit rushed at the end to make sure we returned our zipcar on time, but it was fun and we enjoyed lots of tasty apples! 

Then to finish off October, we (Steve and I, at least) got to enjoy some tasty candy!  Is that terrible that we didn't let Maelee have the candy she trick-or-treated on Halloween?  Oh well, it's for her best!  And we ended up donating most of it to Operation Gratitude (sends candy to the troops) so it was a win-win for all.  Pics of our little Bumblebee are at the bottom.

Onto Apple Picking!

You would've thought Maelee wouldn't have wanted to eat another apple for weeks after the amount she ate that one day, but she was happy for another apple snack the next day, in her pretty apple dress:

And if you'd like to see even more apples (and of course, more Maelee), here's a slideshow of more pics:

Sadly, our planned pumpkin picking outing had to be canceled as it was to take place last Saturday which had unseasonably cold, wet, and SNOWY weather!!!  Sigh.  At least we made it to one farm this fall. 

And here are some very recent pictures or our little Bumblebee from Halloween!!!  

 Three days in a row wearing her costume, starting with a fun dinner with friends on Sunday evening

Then with some of her favorite boy-friends, before the trick or treating: 

Jack, James, and baby Ethan!

 

 

 Enjoying her first trick or treating experience NYC-style, through the halls of a friend's building.

She didn't quite "get" it though, as she frequently put the candy right back in the bowl :)

 Finally, the day after Halloween for a family photo since mommy & daddy were getting dressed up for their own party!

 With friends, Fred & Wilma, aka Jonathan & Maggie

And us- Ladybug and "Tree"

(already borrowing my daughter's things!!!)

A slideshow of the Halloween pics:

Maelee's 18th month has flown by in a flurry, ending with an awesome trip to San Diego.  (Stay tuned for that post, coming up shortly!!!) And the 19th Month is already off to a fun start!

Here & There

Backtracking a couple months again, here's a selection of pictures from the end of August through the middle of September. 

The end of August saw the threat and heavy rains of Hurricane Irene:

Followed by beautiful sunshine at the Central Park Zoo only a few days later:

Maelee LOVED feeding the goats!!!

In mid-September, Maelee and I took a trip down to VA while Steve spent a week in San Francisco for a work conference (I know, tough job...). 

We were able to see Too-Dad and "Nart" one afternoon:

Enjoyed night time kisses and peek-a-boo with Nana & Pop-Pop:

Got to stay up late waiting for Nana to get home from work, only to show off our hyper/silliness when she got home:

Went to the National Zoo:

And even saw Cindy & Alli (!):

(Note the adorable, coordinating outfits)

Yet we still had some time to just relax on the couch with Gracie on Nana's lap:

It was a great trip and a fun month watching our little lady continue to blossom.  During the 17th month, we had to institute some "time-outs" for her feisty-ness and finally gave up on keeping track of new words cause one of her favorite things to do is repeat (or at least *try* to repeat!) what we say.  Steve's most proud of her attempt at "hydrogen" and my favorites are her emphatic "yucky!" whenever she sees trash and "good girl" when she's in time-out and wants to convince me she's a good girl and deserves to be let out of the chair in the corner. Much to our dismay, she got the hang of "no" and loved to use if for a reaction... sigh. 

She really is growing up so fast, but with all the trying facets to this phase, there are equal, if not more, delightful sides to this big personality.  Her hugs and kisses melt us any day and her exclamations of "I you!" in response to our "I love you" are priceless.  She definitely still is our little sweetheart.

Here are some more pics of the 17th Month in this slideshow:

Miss Big Stuff

About a month ago, we took a family outing to Central Park and got our attempt at a 1 1/2  year photo shoot of our little sweetie with her BIG personality.  She was, technically, just shy of 17 months old, but close enough...  

Anyhow,  the sampling below shows off some of that personality in her expressions and we are having too much fun with her.  She really is hysterical- talking up a storm and being little Miss Toddler in her onery-ness and independence.  More to follow but for now, enjoy some of our favorite shots...

As if those weren't enough, here are more in a slideshow:

And we had to make sure her dancing videos made it onto the blog so here are both-

At the Live United festival:

At home, dancing in honor of her Uncle Dan:


 
Stay tuned!