Monkey See, Monkey Do

Can you tell who is copying who?

Does this Count?

Does this count as Brielle's first piggy?!!

Our Little Ladybug

Brielle had quite the week for Halloween. Due to my poor uploading skills the events are in reverse order...sorry!




Thursday night was our neighboorhood Trick-or-Treating, so my parents and I took Brielle around the neighborhood to say hello and collect some goodies.








Here are some of the neighborhood kids that stopped by to say hi to Brielle. Brielle absolutely LOVES these kids...even though the picture doesn't show it! (Can you tell we have some Tennessee fans in our neighborhood?)

On Wednesday night the student committees of Penn State Altoona offers a trick or treat time for the city so we ventured out that way...

After staring at people for the first half of the night, Brielle finally caught on to the idea that she needed to take the candy and put it in her bag.



Does it look like she's had a little too much candy already?!

On Monday, the moms group that I'm a part of went to an elderly care facility to do some trick or treating. This one had me a little nervous because Brielle hasn't entirely warmed up to the older generation yet. But with that being said...she really did great. She just followed the older kids and did what they did...of course being offered candy and teddy grahams probably tipped the scales for her to start liking them!

I LOVE little kids in costumes!

JB Tree Farm

Chad's Mom was in town last week for a couple days and the weather was great so we ventured out to JB Tree Farm for a couple hours one afternoon to get some pumpkins and for a little fun. Here are some pics of the day (sorry...there's a lot!)

Here we are with a nice family pic...oh wait...what's Brielle doing?...does it come to anyones surprise that she's eating?

I love this picture of the two of them

Checking out the reindeer with mom...

...and Dad (not pictured: the reindeer)

We told Brielle to go pick out a pumpkin...her method involved sitting on each one before making a decision.

Yes people...that is in fact hair you see above her head!

Running through the corn maze with Grandma (and a random friend she picked up along the way)

Goodbye Old Friend

Due to the vansectomy, I decided that it was time for me to part ways with a friend that has been by my side for over 13 years. She has been there for me through high school, brought me to prom and joined me on trips to watch football, basketball, and baseball games...she helped me through my college years wherever a road trip might have led. She brought me to my first job and survived all my job-related trips across the state (including a trip through Flint to get to Auburn Hills....hmmmm, too bad she wasn't good with directions). She even followed me out to Pennsylvania daring to brave the mountains of State College and Altoona. We have put on many miles together over the years (including a few "parking stops" along the way...enough said). But it was time to say good-bye, and so with tears in my eyes (pathetic, I know) I hand over the keys of the '94 Grand Am to 16-year old Carrie from across the street. Her behind is now going to be in the seat it took me 13 years to mold (my mold seemed to grow each year). Anyway, it is an odd feeling knowing I will never drive her again, but I can rest easy knowing I have many memories with her and that I can see her parked everyday in the driveway across the street. Good bye old friend...I will miss you (but my dad/mechanic may not!) Treat your new owner well!

Oh Wait!

So in my last post I said not a whole lot was going as of late, but I had completely forgotten about Chad's "vansectomy" (Chad's term for his loss of manhood due to the purchase of a mini-van)

Yep, the Carlsons are now the proud owners of a loser cruiser...and loving it!


Even Brielle is loving it. The first week we had the van, whenever we took her outside she beelined it straight to the mini van wanting to go for a ride. (What...the 94 Grand Am wasn't luxury enough!

Life Lately

Not a whole lot has been going on in the Carlson household lately so I thought I would just throw in some random pictures

Brielle loves sitting at the piano and listening to Chad play (while she pounds along of course)...why she doesn't like hearing me play the Alpine Polka is beyond me
I was cutting Brielle some slices of cheese for lunch the other day...apparently my slices weren't big enough because took the whole block of cheese and ran into the living room to take a big bite out of it

Its been really rainy and dreary outside lately...and as you can tell Brielle is missing summer and the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan!

Italy!

Last week Chad and I spent some time in Italy. Chad had a conference he was attending in Rome, so I, being the supportive wife that I am, thought that I better go along to support him on this journey.



Before going to the conference, we took a side trip to Cinque Terre where we did a day long hike to all five towns that were all situated right along the Mediterrean

Taking a dip in the Mediterranean in Monterosso

Our hike to Corniglia (one of the five cities)

In the streets of Vernazza

A view of Vernazza (pictures don't even do it justice!)

Our last night in Monterosso...and then back to Rome for Chad's conference

I thought I better throw this pic in just to prove Chad was actually attending a conference

On Thursday, while the husbands attended the conference we three ladies (Erika, Janet, and I) decided to tackle Rome by foot.

We made it to the Piazza de Popolo

and the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

We then caught up with the hubbys and others in the group and checked out the Colosseum

(can you see it was a little windy...I was having a little skirt issue in this pic!)

We checked out the Vatican and St Peters Basilica on Saturday morning

And we did an amazing romantic night walk through Rome (with Chad as our tour guide) that ended up at the Spanish Steps

The group at the Pantheon on our night walk. Nothing says romance like a group of 12!