First Snow of the Season

My poor poor Libby! She was so excited about the snow, she couldn't quite grasp the concept that there really wasn't that much snow! She had to bundle up and go outside anyway!

She headed straight for her swing set.

It was feeling neglected...it hadn't been played on since fall!

Here is my precious little one tossing up snowballs into the air and trying to catch flakes in her mouth as it came down!

There is nothing more fun than playing on a trampoline covered in snow (and leaves). Libby tried making a snow angel on the ground but it didn't work out.
Here she is giving it a try on her trampoline..it worked better!

Libby even had to try her sled. I tried to explain to her if you can still see grass, there is not enough snow to sled.

She didn't really care. She was having fun sledding down what she thinks is a hill.

Actually, it's more like a bump in the yard!

A Birthday Party

My BFF Vosko's baby boy turns 1! Libby and I went to his birthday party one early Sunday afternoon (after I worked Friday and Saturday night)! Libby had a good time playing with the other kids at the party and even made off with over half of the party favors!

Here is Jack. He is very excited to turn 1!

This is the only pic I got where Libby actually was looking at me!

Not a single cooperative kid in the bunch!

One picture...is that too much to ask!?

Field Trip

Libby had her first Kindergarten field trip to the Children's Museum. I was lucky enough to be one of the parent chaperones. Although five minutes into the hour long bus ride to Indy I thought I must have been crazy to have volunteered! The kids finally calmed down after 15 minutes! It was nice to be able to spend some time with Libby and learn who the kids in her class are! I think all the kids had a good time!

Libby on the carousel...one of her favorite things!

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!
Yes, she is getting good at pics with her eyes closed!



Here are the kids "skating" on the "ice!"

Oooh...wipe-out!

Here's Libby playing on the castle inside the winter wonderland!

This part was really cool.

They had a huge kitchen set up with a big oven, plenty of food, dishes and what-not!

Libby getting her baked goods out of the oven!

Look! She even put her oven mitts on first!

Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving at the Hoover House...

Libby picked out her ensemble all by herself.

She was very insistent on her dress.

I tried to persuade her in an entirely different direction,

but she wasn't having it.

I think she looks like a go-go dancer.

She's still beautiful!

Here are 3/4ths of the girls,

acting crazy as usual!


It has been a long time since I've actually gotten all the kids together in a picture!
I guess they are all old enough now to sit still for 5 seconds!
Nathan 10, Kenzie 8, Cassie 7, Libby 5, Jules 4

I'm positive everyone had a great time...
There weren't any leftovers to speak of
and the play room was a mess!

The Tooth Fairy

Nineteen days ago, Libby had her first loose tooth. Today, it finally fell out! I was away from the house for 1 1/2 hours and on my way back home when Libby called to tell me she pulled her tooth out, that it didn't hurt or bleed! She was so excited! I can't believe I missed it! I tried to get her to pull it out the night before because I could tell it was just sitting in there and she would have nothing to do with it. I'm not sure what her daddy said to her, but she yanked her tooth out the next morning when he was with her!

Here is Libby showing off her gap.

No, it's not much of a gap since her new tooth has already broken

through her gums, but she's proud of it!

The tooth she lost was the tiniest little tooth I've ever seen!

I never thought I'd be one of those parents to keep their child's teeth,

but I talked to the tooth fairy, and she said I could keep just this one!

Just for the record...I DID NOT keep her umbilical stump!

Here is Libby getting ready to go to bed.

She is modeling her tooth fairy pillow I made for her.

It's hard to tell, but there is a pocket in the middle to keep

your tooth nice and safe until the tooth fairy comes and exchanges it for a dollar.

I had to explain to Libby that the tooth fairy is not stealing...

it's an exchange program!

Sometimes she just cracks me up!

Before Libby went to bed that night,

she asked me if the tooth fairy was real.

In the morning when she found her dollar in her pillow,

she said ecstatically, "The tooth fairy IS real!"

That all took place on Saturday. After working Monday night, I did not see Libby until she got off the bus Tuesday afternoon. Do you know what she told me?! She has here 2nd loose tooth already! At this rate she will be toothless by the time Xmas cards come out! She will be the most beautiful toothless wonder I've ever seen!

Gymnastics

It has been a while since I've taken pictures of Libby at gymnastics. I just happen to have had my camera with me the other day so I that I would snap away! Although the pics never turn out well because the parents are all on the other side of a glass wall! Well, they are still good enough for me to enjoy! Hopefully it's enough to satisfy your curiousity as well!

Libby is on the bar on the right with the purple leotard on.

She just got that outfit that day. Libby picked

it out...it has doggy bones on it!

Libby is doing really well on the bars. I think it was just this

summer when she was still scared to flip around them!

Here she is working on her bridge.

(Back in my day they were called back bends!)

Anyway, she's supposed to fall back into a bridge from

a standing position. She is still having trouble with this.

She does well up to this point. She's just leaning into

position right now.

It's when she starts to fall back that she messes up.

Look at her legs!

That's ok! We just keep practicing!

Libby is on the far right.

They are doing spider handstands over to a forward roll.

Just in case you were wondering!

Trick or Treat!

After much anticipation, Halloween finally arrived! Libby was so eager to go trick or treating that she even agreed to take a nap that afternoon! Of course with this new daylight saving time, it didn't even get dark until after we got home...so it was pointless to have gotten Libby a costume that had a lighted skirt! It also made it more difficult to tell which houses were welcoming trick or treaters because it was hard to see if the porch lights were on or not. All of these are things I'm sure Gov. Daniels did not consider when he changed DST! Of course, Libby noticed none of these things and was perfectly content going door to door in the daylight begging for candy with all her cousins! I was happy to see chocolate made a comeback this year after a very disappointing bucket full of hard candy last year! Let's here it for chocolate! OK...enough of my rants...on to the pics!

Here is my princess....literally!

This is actually a witch costume, but at the last minute

she decided she was just going to be a Halloween Princess,

so we ditched the witch hat!

Here is Libby with two of her cousins, Abi and Emily.


Here is Libby being held at knife point by Nathan.
He's her most favorite person (besides me of course!) in the whole
wide world, so she didn't mind him threatening her life!


The porch of this house was "haunted" and the
people who lived there were dressed up as well.
The kids thought it was cool!


This pot belly pig greeted trick or treaters at one house.
Ironically, Libby did not want to interact with this pig.
Libby apparently only likes farm pigs!
This pig was even dressed for the occasion!
It has wings and a tutu if you can't tell!


This was our last stop of the evening...Toni's house.
Libby decided she would put on her monster mask so she could
give Toni a big scare!
Kids this age are so funny because they actually believe
they scare us!
Well, sometimes Libby does scare me, but it has nothing to do with the mask!

Halloween Morning!

To Libby's surprise, the Great Pumpkin had come to visit her while she was sleeping Halloween Eve. When she awoke in the morning and came downstairs she noticed a bag with a card sitting next to her pumpkins. She became very excited as she ran over to the table to find her name on the card and quickly read it to see who it was from:

Happy Halloween

from The Great Pumpkin!

Although Libby did think it was HER pumpkins that brought her the bag of goodies and not "The Great Pumpkin" from the Charlie Brown movie!

Oh well...if she wants to believe her pumpkins did it, what does it matter?!

Her she is unwrapping her first present...

Nothing says Happy Halloween like

Halloween Barbie!

Somehow the Great Pumpkin knew Libby loves homework.

He brought her two new math workbooks!

She was ecstatic!

She also got some new notebooks and stickers.

The girl loves to doodle and "write" notes, bills, etc!

Here she is with her new Fancy Nancy book.

Even though it's a level one, they are still a little tricky for her to read because of all the big fancy words Nancy uses!

Alas, Halloween Barbie is out of her box, and shortly after this picture she was out of her clothes!

Apparently, Hannah Montana wanted to borrow her dress...

and Barbie wanted to be a rock star!

Halloween Activities

For Halloween we decided to go to the Children's Museum Haunted House and Boo at the Zoo. We didn't get a chance to make it to the zoo this summer so Libby was really excited to go for Halloween. We invited Libby's friend, Sydney from preschool, and her mom and brother to go along with us. Now Libby was so excited to go because she had a friend to go with her. Luckily the weather cooperated and it was a very nice day to be outside! Everyone had fun but it was a very long day. Although I think the mommies were more tired than the kids!

First stop, Children's Museum.

The kids were amused by the statues!

This is probably my favorite picture!

The statue kids are playing tug-o-war, so the real kids

decided to join in too!

They thought that was hilarious!

Here is Tyler and Libby posing with a giant dinosaur leg.

Next stop...Boo at the Zoo!
Sydney is a vampiress and Libby is a witch...
zombie witch or monster witch. She's funny!



Lightning McQueen, Vampiress, and the Good Witch!

The kids posing against their will. They wanted to get right in to see the sharks!

Libby petting a shark. Her arms are finally long enough to reach down to pet them!

Libby was in a picture taking mood...

Lucky for me!

Here is another of my favorite pictures.

It almost looks real, which makes it that much more funny!

Libby and Sydney going for a ride on the haunted train.

Trick or Treat time.

Libby and Fred Flintstone.

Some sort of fairy, maybe?

The kids take a spin on the carousel.

They soon found out it was spinning backwards!

They thought that was so funny!

Libby wanted me take her picture with this ghost.

She actually wanted to climb up the hill and stand next to it,

but mean mama said no!

Some more posing with the props.

This was at the very end of the zoo and the kids were

still willing to pose for pictures!

It was a wonderful day!

One last picture...

Libby the firefighter!

She made me take her picture twice because she thinks

it's funny!