Halloween at Rebecca's

I know there are a lot of pictures, but I just think each one is so cute! Her little personality shows in each picture, and I couldn't decide on just a few! Dave and I went to my friend Becky's for Halloween. We had dinner and helped pass out candy. Of course Penelope had to go in costume! We also took advantage of Becky's white couch as a backdrop for more pictures of P in her costume. Go Huskers!

7 Months (a week ago)

Penelope turned 7 months old on Oct 28. As you can see she really likes to grab for things. She thinks what's yours is hers, be it the camera, TV remote, food, my hair, etc. If it's within grasp, she'll reach for it!

Of course when she gets her prize she puts it in her mouth. Lately she likes to grind her teeth on whatever she can. Especially since she now has 4!

Here are the new top teeth. They have come out farther than you see here. They broke through about 2 weeks ago. Obviously the left tooth broke through first, followed by the right one a few days later. It's there, I swear!

Penelope also makes funny faces now. She is good at mimicking what we do. She'll spit, stick out her tongue, blow air out of her mouth and jabber. Anything we do she tries to do too. It's super cute!

Trunk or Treat 2011

Penelope went all decked out to our ward's trunk or treat and chili cook off. All I can say is I'm never bringing chili again! There were like 30-40 crockpots full of chili. I'm pretty sure everyone brought home their crockpots just like they brought them...full! We definitely did. We'll be eating chili for the next two weeks.

Penelope was a cheerleader, complete with homemade pom pons. I was a hair stylist (hence the excessive make-up and giant hair). Dave thought I looked like a woman from Texas. No, thanks. I couldn't stand that look for real! Dave was my client for Halloween...his cutting cape was in my bag.

Penelope even did a few cheers for the crowd!

Halloween Preview

Here's a preview of Penelope's Halloween costume. Any ideas what she's being this year?

Mount Vernon Round 2

We took advantage our our annual passes to Mount Vernon and went back this past weekend. It was a beautiful fall day. It does seem that fall actually exists out here on the east coast, which is nice. This time around we took a tour of the mansion and walked around the grounds some more. We also let Penelope take a picture with George and Martha.

This is the view of the Potomac that George and Martha had from their back porch. Pretty sweet, I think. It was fun just to sit on the porch and enjoy the view. The leaves are starting to change, which makes the view even prettier. I think if you focus really hard you can see the colors changing in the leaves.

Yes, both their eyes are closed. That's what makes this so funny. Penelope really is Dave's baby-twin!

Sitting on the porch and enjoying the weather.

This is the view of the mansion that everyone knows (think National Treasure). Even Mom and Caitlin have been here! Anyone want to come and visit us? We'll take you here!

Watching TV tires you out!!

Sometimes Penelope stops playing with her toys to watch a little TV. One of the shows that always makes her stop and watch is NBC's "The Sing Off." She must like the singing.

She did take a break from watching to play with me.

Then she fell asleep. This is the first time she's done this. Usually she only naps in her bed.

I'd better get started on dinner instead of blogging! It's Dave's birthday today and I've got to finish his cake and make him a yummy dinner!

Funny Girl

Personally, I think Penelope is quite funny. Here are a few reasons why:

• Penelope just lays on the ground and grunts, moans and screams at nothing. She loves to hear her own voice. If you talk to her about it she just grins from ear to ear. Then she'll probably get so excited she'll pant until she gives herself the hiccups.
• Penelope doesn't need toys. Whenever I walk away to do something around the house I turn back to her and she is guaranteed to have the blanket she's laying on wrapped around her so she can suck on it. If it's not her blanket it's her burp cloth or a piece of clothes (I've started giving them to her instead of toys, she really likes the patterns on fabric lately). Who needs toys when you can simply suck on fabric?
• Penelope is compelled by some unknown force to PULL my hair and try to eat it. She looks at me, grins, gets a very concerned "turtle-face" look and grabs at my hair. She's quick, too. She often grabs my hair before I can get it out of her way. (Ask Shelby what "turtle-face" is.)
• Penelope is lazy, and happy to be so. She barely rolls over, although lately she's been doing it more and more. If I roll her to her stomach she automatically flops to her back, and then continues to do the things described in bullet points one and two.
• Penelope doesn't like real food. Since hitting the 6 month mark we've started to feed her rice cereal and have tried some baby food. Her reaction is the same every day: shudder and gag. I can't get her to open her mouth to even put it in these days. On the rare occasion when I can get a spoonful in she literally shudders and gags, then spits it out. No matter what I do. I've done straight rice cereal; I've tried feeding her vegetables (sweet potatoes); I've tried feeding her vegetables mixed with rice cereal; this morning I broke down and tried fruit (peaches). I suspect the peaches were a little sour, but I got the same reaction. SHUDDER and GAG, followed by a look from P that said "What are you doing to me, Mom?". I'm not going to keep trying every food under the sun because I have to look for allergies. I'm just going to keep plodding along and hope that one day she'll eat more than 3-4 spoonfuls where she spits most of it out. Here's hoping--until then she's super funny.