The Fifer Fall Fest & a Wide-Eyed Wedding Guest!

The first two weekends in October were filled with special trips seeing both sets of extended family!  We are looking forward to a weekend with no travel coming up, but we sure did enjoy our visits.  

The first trip took us a few hours south via bus to DE!  We got to see my cousin Sam, and his wife, Kim, and their boys, Mason & Lane; my aunt Viv & uncle Tom; and of course sweet Too-Daddy & Too-Mom and Nana & Pop-Pop.  Maelee had a blast seeing Mason and I had fun holding precious, baby Lane the evening we arrived.

The next day, we returned to the Fifer Farm to take in their Fall Fest.  It was great to be able to come back this year for all the fun, and even though it was crazy HOT (must've been pushing 90 degrees!), Maelee definitely didn't seem to mind...

And for some comparison...

Last year's photo!

We're so glad we could go again this year and were especially happy to see everyone! And of course, Maelee loved TD's gift of the BLUE kitty cat hat with the movable ears!!! 

Slideshow of our trip to DE:

Then last weekend we traveled upstate to Rochester for Steve's cousin's wedding! It was a looong car ride up (it took over an hr just to get out of the city...), and we weren't quite sure how our little lady would handle a fairly full day of wedding festivities, but she had a blast!  It was great to see Mee-Maw & Grandpa, as well as some of Steve's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Maelee was absolutely enamored with Rachel, the bride.  We wanted to prep Maelee a bit for the big day by letting her know how fun and beautiful everything would be and we talked about how the bride would be like a princess, etc. Well, with her tiara and princess-style dress, we think Maelee just might have believed Rachel was a full-fledged princess!  She was immediately taken the moment she saw her...

One of the highlights of Maelee's day!

And she hardly stopped grinning since.  We were so proud of how attentively she sat through the sweet wedding ceremony and how patiently she waited to see the star of the show at the reception.  In between, we got to spend more time with Mee-Maw & Grandpa and Steve's Aunt Karen & Uncle Jim in our hotel, and we all loved hearing Maelee's pretend phone conversations with Rachel.

Cheering on the entrance of Rachel & new hubby, Jason

So glad to see Mee-Maw & Grandpa!

Another highlight of the day!

With new pal, the flower girl

 

Watching the happy couple's first dance (yes, they are holding hands:)

Our little party animal!

Thankfully, our trip back was a couple hours shorter than the trip up, and despite us all being pretty exhausted, we had a wonderful time.  This wedding is sure to be etched in our little girl's memory for a while to come.  Wrapped up in her towel this evening, she told us she was Rachel and wanted daddy to pretend to be Jason... the dream wedding fantasies begin already!

Slideshow of our trip to Rochester:

A Spectacular September!

This month began with some very sweet, and very surprising, news!  On 9/4, we found out ... (dum, da da, dum!)

 

 

 

 

that we're having another girl!!!

Once again, we really did think we were having a boy, so it truly was a surprise.  But a sweet surprise at that, and we are thrilled to add another little lady to our family.  It was a special "reveal" for us as we had one of our dearest friends bake a cake filled with either pink strawberry icing, or blue blueberry icing, and a few close pals came over to help us celebrate over pizza and cake.  Well, actually, cake then pizza.  Because, hey, this was a special occasion that required a dessert-before-dinner exception!

Since we found out Maelee was a girl basically by "tasting" the raspberry filled chocolate sticks (click on this post as a reminder.  Check out the crazy sonogram resemblance between Maelee and baby girl #2!), I kinda wanted to stick with that idea by closing my eyes for the first bite and letting my palate figure out what was in store for us.

But...  our excited little girl couldn't contain herself when she saw the pink icing that Steve cut into and started exclaiming, "it's strawberry!"  :)  So I found out before tasting, but it was still pretty fun.  I'm admittedly still a bit shocked since I was so sure it was a boy, but the idea of having another girl and a sister for Maelee gets me more excited to meet this little lady each day.

The growing belly around 22 weeks along!

Slideshow from "gender reveal!"

The month started with quite a bang with the news of another girl on the way, and it continued to be pretty packed.  To give a quick update on the school drama, we did end up withdrawing Maelee from the preschool program she had been enrolled in due to the change in location, among other things.  In the end, we just couldn't justify having up to 2 hours out of her day being spent simply getting to/from a preschool.  And such a full day would also mean there would be little room for anything else.  She's used to her new schedule now of a few different activities and I think we are both enjoying this more than had we kept her in the initial program.  Our little social butterfly loves to be out and about so we have her in an "ABC co-op" class twice a week that she really enjoys, a gymnastics class, and a fun program at one of our favorite little city gems around the corner, the Art Farm, where she enjoys time with the animals in their petting zoo, plus baking, art, and music.  All in all, we feel it was the right choice.

Now, onto more pics!

Getting the hang of her new bike!

First "class" at the Art Farm

 

Enjoying the calzone she made in class!

Cuddling on the couch over popsicles with Nana during her quick trip up here to help us get a start on organizing her room!

A small sampling of the clothes sorting!

First day of "ABC School!"

Taking in the High Line in the Meat Packing District

 

Yummy krispie treats for a snack!

 

Having a blast in the little kid and big kid bounce houses at our church' Kids Fall Carnival!

 

A new-found interest in bigger puzzles this month!

A couple Saturdays ago we had a super full and super fun family day that began on Coney Island at the aquarium, then the rides at Luna Park, followed by a birthday party, and ending with dinner at a local burger joint with several friends from the neighborhood.  Maelee was a trooper and enjoyed every bit.  (Except for the "really bumpy" roller coaster...)  It was quite a day!

Admiring the penguins

Fascinated by the horseshoe crab at the touch pool

Loving the rides!!!

 

 

  

 

At the birthday party, posing as one of her favorite creatures- the T Rex!

Enjoying the Central Park Zoo with one her favorite pals, Ethan, as the month comes to a close

Starting off the fall season with a family favorite- pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!!!

 Special treat during the last weekend of the month by seeing dear pals, Brooke & Joey


 Best buds after ice cream cake :)

Slideshow of more Sept pics:

Our little girl continues to show some "Dr. Jeckyl and Miss Hyde" tendencies with her personality... When she is happy, she is very, VERY happy, but when she's not... she's NOT.  But we'll take the drama and stubbornness as long as it continues to come with that super sweet, smiling, cheerful side of her that loves life.  We have so enjoyed watching her grow into such a friendly, outgoing child who waves to her neighbors, whether she's met them before or not, and easily makes new friends wherever she goes.  She really is our little sunshine.  Toward the end of the month, we finally gave up on trying to stick with her nap, so that's proving to be a big change for us.  But so far, we think it was time. We're looking forward to a beautiful fall season!