Halloween parties galore

Well, we've been going to lots of celebrations with Kaelyn. One of Kaelyn's little friends had a 1 year birthday party (we have another one this week too) & we've had several Halloween events already. It's so cute. Our neighborhood had a Halloween parade for all the kids. The fire dept came out and led the parade around the block. It was too cute. We all paraded around the block & waved to onlookers & then ended at a neighbors house and had cider and yummy snacks. It was really great. Then my moms group had a big Halloween party this weekend, as well as Barry's work had trick-or-treating that we went to. It's all been a lot of fun & I think Kaelyn has really enjoyed herself. She had her 9 month doctors appt this week - she is 29 3/4 inches high (98%) and weighs 18lbs. 10oz. which is actually less than I thought she weighed. Barry's mom & aunt are still here visiting & we went to Salem yesterday to check out the Halloween events, which is always fun.

Kaelyn among all her Halloween gear

At the irobot Halloween party At our neighborhood parade - it was COLD!

Kaelyn & Oyon her little buddy

All the neighbors and their little ones - so cute!

Kaelyn & Austin

Kaelyn, Mia & Caleb

My mom's group party - can you find us in the lower right corner?

Here's Kaelyn with Liam at his 1 year birthday party.

Party animal

Chilling out in bed on our anniversary trip to RI Don't they look soooo cozy? I unfortunately had to get up and start packing up the room. Must be nice to be a baby & daddy. WaterFire in Providence. Those are flames on the water. Check out the state building in the background lit up in pink for breast cancer awareness month. It looked better close up, but you get the idea.

All she did was chew on this thing when I got her in it.

Hope this doesn't mean she's going to be a rug muncher.

2nd tooth, anniversary weekend

Let's see...this weekend marked our 10 year wedding anniversary. We went to Providence RI just for the night. We wanted to get away, but not go far since we were bringing the baby. I wanted to go to Providence because I had heard good things about their WaterFire display and this weekend was their last display of the season. They light hundreds of huge torches along the river and there was a jazz fest going on, lots of vendors with crafts, food & drinks. There was also a Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser & special torch lighting along with the event - all in all, it was really pretty, but way too crowded to be pushing a stroller around. There had to be at least 20-30,000 people around. It was out of control. If I had to do it again, I would pick a less busy WaterFire & stay a minimum of 2 nights - 1 was just not worth our while to lug all of Kaelyn's stuff! The hotel we stayed at was awesome though & the location was perfect - right across from the state house & a block from WaterFire. They lit up the state house in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month. I put pics up soon, but not tonight...so check back. Then Kaelyn got her 2nd tooth Saturday as well. After this, I think it's going to be awhile til we see more teeth. Here are some videos we have taken in the past week.

Kaelyn clapping. She is also showing off a card she made for daddy that day - it's an outline of her hands making a big "hug" for daddy.

This is us trying to check out her tooth - unsuccessfully. Instead it just looks like we're torturing her. She kept sticking out her tongue every time Barry made her smile, but she of course didn't do it the same here on the video. But it's still cute, as long as you know we're NOT torturing her!

This is last weeks video turned right side up as per several requests from grandparents.

She loves to do daddy drop zone. Isn't her hat cute?!

Kaelyn gets a tooth!!

Yesterday Kaelyn got her very first tooth! It only took her 8 months and a week. I think the second one will pop up very shortly also. She's had these 2 giant bumps under her gums that you can tell were her teeth - for like 2 months now. But that first one finally showed up - she's growing up so fast, I can't stand it. I want her to grow up, but I also want her to stay this sweet, innocent baby forever. She does so many funny things. We just sit and laugh at her all day long. My parents just left yesterday. They had been here for the past week. We had a great time. It's always sad when they leave, but then I found a great price on airline tickets for Christmas, so we have that to look forward to which is very exciting. I really wanted Kaelyn's first Christmas to be with all the family.

We went to the Crane Estate this weekend with my parents. It was a great house & the grounds are beautiful. But it was rainy and foggy so we couldn't see much, but still fun.

Kaelyn rode for the first time in these little stroller cars. She caught on right away and was turning the steering wheel and really acted like she knew what she was doing. Scary.

Love that smile girl!

Kaelyn and mommy just hanging out.

We don't know why Kaelyn does this, but she keeps bopping her head in a pecking motion. This started last week. She's a wierd one - truly a Stout/McEvilly combo. I think it's cute though, and pretty funny.

Happy 8 month old day!

Kaelyn is 8 months old today - where is the time going?! Summer is coming to an end also & it feels like it just got started - I'm not ready for winter, although I do love fall! Kaelyn is extremely curious & becoming quite the social butterfly. She seems to make friends everywhere we go and absolutely everyone comments on her huge smile & what a happy baby she is. If only they could see her an hour before bedtime when she's at her worst - you'd never believe it's the same baby. She's been saying dada dada a lot, and yesterday she did make a sound that sounded like mommy - but she definitely seems to prefer the dada sound. I told Barry that she doesn't know what she's saying and that it absolutely does not mean that he is her favorite (because we all know that I am).

These are pictures we took in the yard yesterday. Kaelyn looked cute & it was a bright, sunny day, so we just took some quick shots. I think they turned out cute.

Later in the day we went to Breakheart Reservation in Saugus. It was only 20 minutes from our house, and it was so pretty. It had tons of great walking trails & midway through the woods there was a lake with a beach - pretty cool. I love the fact that there are evergreen trees next to the beach - so New Englandy!

These are all from last weekend when we went to Good Harbor beach in Gloucester & then Rockport with Barry's parents.

I put this one on here mostly to show you the 2 lighthouses in the background - I just think they're cool. You can see them from Good Harbor beach.

Barry took these pictures. I really like them.

Kaelyn & I love to catch up with our magazine reading. Kaelyn is obsessed with paper products - she loves magazines, paper, kleenex - anything she can rip to shreds!

Tired of the beach yet?...uuhm, no!

We just keep going to the beach. We can't stop. We need to go to beachgoers annonymous. Barry has actually been swimming in the ocean when we go & that's his new favorite thing. Not me. I just get my feet wet. I have a whole lotta pictures here because we've been taking so many and they're just too cute to pick just one or two - so I'm just going to post a bunch. I hope you don't mind. We finally worked in the yard last weekend a little - Kaelyn paid the price though because she got tons of mosquito bites on her poor little head - luckily they almost went away by the next day. I had a bunch of moms & kids over today to play in the yard - the weather has been picture perfect for about the past 3 weeks - mid 70's, sunny, light breeze. Now both our parents are visiting in the coming weeks and I bet the weather will suck. Hopefully not. Kaelyn is 7 months old now by the way, and she finally started sitting up on her own on a regular basis. She just hates sitting. She just wants to stand up all the time instead. I can't even get her legs to bend - she just stiffens up like a board and stands up when I pull on her arms. Already giving us problems at such an early age!

This first group of pictures are all from last weekend at Plum Island near Newburyport. It was a huge beach & there were like 5 people there total.

There is something seriously wrong with my hat. It keeps getting thrown in our bag & looks worse and worse everytime I put it on.

It's feeding time at the beach.

Are these towels shrinking or is she just getting that much bigger?

The next beach pictures are from Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-sea. The sand is supposed to "sing" when you step on it - I guess we weren't listening carefully enough.

She was supposed to be sleeping - instead she just pulled the cover off her carrier and flashed that devilish smile.

We went to Salem and she went on the swings for the first time. She seemed to like them, but it was actually putting her to sleep.

This was the first night she sat up for a long period of time totally on her own with no pillow behind her. It's about time!