Trick or Treat?

Irelyn got to go trick or treating for the first time last night! We went along with Irelyn's aunt Laura and her cousins Mackenzie, Ashlan, and Lydia... (Irelyn's cousins... not Laura's of course- although I'm sure they would be fun too). It was a spooktacular time... and even included a trip through a home-made haunted house... they were serious about their Halloween... and I might add did a good job with the DIY haunting. It was enough to make me scurry to catch up to Casey to protect me from the flashing lights and pretend ghosts =/. I'm sure the 12 year old in the Freddy Kruger (sp?) mask thought I was a dork, but I don't like being "jumped-out" at! Irelyn had a great time. She loves getting to watch her older cousins and can't wait til she's running around with them. She also came away with a pretty good stash from all of those serious Halloween houses... and I promise we'll share a little with her.

We had a hard time deciding what to have Irelyn be for Halloween this year. Last year she was a ladybug... nothing beats a cute little baby bug. This year we debated... puppy? ducky? lady bug again? ice cream cone? bumble bee? And then I realized we have all of the necessary ingredients to make the cutest, peppiest, sparkiest, little Iowa Hawkeye Cheerleader!

Yay! Go Hawks!

I-O-W-A

Daddy and Irelyn just getting started...

Heading to the first house...

Daddy got to do a lot of the picking

All the girls in their costumes... they've got the drill down

Mackenzie all dressed up... sorry Ashlan and Lydia I wasn't able to catch you before the sun went down =(

But I got them all in the group!

"Ok, I'm seriously getting tired of these things on my wrists!"

"Maybe if I shake my hand vigorously up and down these will come off..."

"Get...off... of... my... wrist!"

"There, finally free of those poofs!"

"Ok, I'm out."

Happy Halloween!

Begin Again!

So, I realize that it has been over 6 months since my last post... which probably categorizes this as a re-start on the Irelyn Rose blog. We have had lots of excitement over the last 6 months. Lots of out of town visitors, new tricks and stunts, trips far far away, and lots of other fun stuff. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to get some updates done... updated pictures and updated stories! (I'm so behind I don't even have new pictures here to post... they will come soon I promise) Irelyn has changed a lot over the last year, but she is so much fun now and is giving us lots of things to talk about.

I will close with our heart stopping event that happened just minutes ago. Irelyn is an avid crawler with a great love of the stairs. I think the stairs to Irelyn represent being transported to a fun and exciting world. And surprisingly enough, she has a natural knack for the stairs. She has had opportunities to practice them with one of us following behind her and she can make it all the way up... just not so great at going down. So, to deter her from the stairs I place the gate on the first step and just prop it through the first two rungs of the bannister. It has worked... she doesn't try to move it or anything... until now that is.

So, I'm working in the kitchen and everything is good, I peek out and see her by the stairs, but she likes to play with the little door stopper thing on the wall because it makes a funny noise, so I didn't think anything of it. The next time I peek out I notice it's a little quieter than normal... and the gate is pushed to the side. Alarms go off in my head as I go running across the room to the stairs because what I am constantly aware of is that our stairs are a straight shot down to a tile landing... I get there and no baby at the bottom and no baby on the stairs. I continue running up the stairs and here comes little, exuberant Irelyn crawling out of her room. She was so proud of herself for making it all the way up. "Look mom I crawled up, and you didn't know, and I did it all by myself and have been playing in my room!"... Wow... I had to stop for a moment and get over the thoughts of what could have been...grateful that she made it safely up the stairs. But she was fine... now to just find a more secure way to attach the gate.