Arya as Elmo

As many of you know, Arya is a HUGE fan of Elmo. Grandma Carol made Arya an adorable Elmo costume, so after trick or treating inside at Daddy's office as a hula girl we came home to change into the Elmo suit! Arya and I stayed out in the yard, playing and giving candy to the neighborhood kids (since Rajeev and a friend were working on replacing our front window and the porch was covered with tools, scraps, etc.). We then went to Grandma Carol's to have dinner and show her Arya all dressed up! Here are a couple of photos and videos from the evening!

Arya the Dancing Hula Girl

We took Arya to her daddy's office yesterday for trick or treating, all dressed up in her "dancing skirt". We told her that if she wore her dancing skirt she could get some candy! She caught on pretty quickly, and liked taking a piece of candy from each bucket or basket that people had sitting outside their office for the kids. The only trouble was that a few times she saw candy that other kids had already collected and she tried to take her piece of candy from them too! While at the office, she got to play in a box tunnel, do a bean bag toss, and play a few other games. I think the candy was still her favorite part though! Here is a video of her dancing. (You'll notice that she wanted to keep the candy rather than putting it down to show us her dance!)

Squeaky Shoes!!

Arya's Grandma Carol got her some new squeaky shoes and she LOVES them. She is still wearing size 4 shoes, and it was getting too cold to wear sandals!! She has some size 5 shoes, but they're still too big! So, Grandma found these shoes for her. I put them on her and didn't tell her that they squeak. I just set her on the floor and let her figure it out. As soon as she stepped down and realized what her new shoes could do, she started running and stomping and jumping - SQUEAK! SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!! Here is a quick video clip of her, taken a couple of hours after she first tried them out.

PS-For those of you wondering, you do have the option to turn the squeak off and on as needed! You've got to love designers who think of everything!

Arya's Newly Organized Room

From this:
To this:
And finally, to this:

I recently sorted through all of Arya's baby clothes, trying to figure out what fits, what doesn't, what can be passed on to someone else, and what has to go back to the people who loaned it to us!! I made piles for all of these things all over her room and it was such a mess. I got one of those cube styles shelves with baskets for storage, so now her toys are organized as well (not just sprawled across the living room)! Now that she is 19 months old, I am finally getting things organized (or at least trying)! I guess it is about time!

Also...

Stay tuned for pics of Arya in the Elmo costume that her Grandma Carol made her! Grandma Carol has finished the body of the costume and is bringing the hood/Elmo's head with her when she comes back from Florida next week! I'm sure Arya will be spending a lot of time wearing it this winter when it is cold outside!

Hula Girl

I have taken a lot of pictures of Arya so far, but I thought it would be fun to have someone else take a few too. (Someone with a different perspective/backdrops/setups/ideas/etc.) I took her to Stacy and Mary in Indianapolis yesterday for their costume dress-up mini session. Arya was dressed as a little hula dancer, and she did a great job! I was just hoping she would wear the grass skirt! She really thought it was interesting when we first got it, but the day before the photo shoot she wanted nothing to do with it! I kept talking to her about her "dancing skirt" and how cool it was, asking things like, "Aren't you excited to wear your dancing skirt?" "Listen to that neat swoosh-swoosh sound it makes when you dance!" Anyway, when we got to the session, she seemed to have no problem wearing it! Yeah!! Stacy and Mary were really fun to work with and made us feel very relaxed and comfortable. Here are a couple of pics from the shoot! You can also see them on Stacy and Mary's blog. The rest of the pics will be ready to view in about a week. I can't wait! :)







PS - I made that little green top for Arya all by myself!! I was pretty happy with how it turned out since it was the first time I'd ever made a piece of clothing from a pattern!

Happy dog!

Here is something that was sent to me which makes Arya laugh. When she sees it she says, "Happy dog! Happy dog!" I hope the link works here!