Jessica plays in the leaves

Fall is here and Jessica is having fun playing in the leaves that fall to ground. She seems to really like stomping through them and hearing them crunch.

Jessica was sick last week

Jessica was sick last week with a fever :-( . It was easy to tell that she wasn't feeling well because all she wanted to do was cuddle. This time she chose to hang out with her dad before dinner.

Jessica goes to Leilani's 2nd birthday party

A few weekends ago, Jessica went to Leilani's birthday party. It was a dress-up party, so Jessica wore her chicken costume. She had fun playing with all of Leilani's outdoor toys.

Jessica's obsessed with washing her hands

She loves to wash her hands and stops at any sink she sees. We finally got her a step stool for the bathroom at home. She runs in there randomly wanting to wash her hands now.

Christmas comes early for Jessica

Christmas is coming early for Jessica this year. Lots of presents have already started arriving via UPS. She's having lots of fun testing them all out.

Jessica learns to hammer

Jessica has a new toy that lets her practice her hammering. As long as she learns to hammer from Jim and not me she should be okay.

Jessica learns how to build IKEA furniture

Another piece of IKEA furniture has entered our house. This is the first time that Jessica helped Jim build something from there. When we unpacked the flat pack, she thought all the pieces were her personal climbing structure. That entertained her for a while as did the mallet Jim let her "borrow".

Jessica is a fairy for Halloween

By the time Halloween rolled around, Jessica was on to her third costume -- a woodland fairly. She seemed to like the wand and her sparkly shoes the best. She found that the wand was good for poking the dogs, smashing the sidewalk, and chewing. Jim and I spent most of Halloween chasing Jessica up and down the street before it got dark. And, rather than trick or treating, Jessica helped hand out candy to other kids in the neighborhood.

Jessica celebrated Halloween early in Indiana

Jessica loves to dance

Jessica starts to dance anytime she hears music and sometimes even when there isn't. Check out this video.

Jessica at Eagle Creek park

Jessica went to the park last Sunday with her grandparents. She had fun on the slides and especially liked the merry go round. She saw the big kids doing it and wanted to try. She's a real dare devil.

Jessica spends time with her family in Indiana

There was a family gathering this weekend in Indiana. This is a photo of Jessica with her great-grandmother and cousin Josh.

Jessica goes to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis

Jessica went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis a few days ago. She had fun running around and playing with lots of the exhibits. She really seemed to like the carousel music and trains. Here are some pictures.

Jessica goes to the Indianapolis Zoo

Jessica is visiting her grandparents in Indiana for a week. Today, they took her to the zoo. She evidently had a really good time and basically walked herself to exhaustion. I heard that she loved the train and carousel and also had an especially good time petting / hugging the goats. She also didn't seem to mind her "leash". For her, it seems preferable to having to hold someone's hand. It seems that she already has a mind of her own. Sigh. Anyways, here are some pictures that her grandpa took.

the best dollar I ever spent

Whole Foods sells these reusable bags to help the environment. Trying to be a good citizen, I bought a few a long time back. After unpacking groceries Sunday morning, I figured Jessica could play with the bag for a bit since she seems to have this thing for bags at the moment. I didn't really think it would occupy her for that long. She was thrilled with it however and spent lots of time filling it, emptying, and carrying/dragging it around the house. Check out this short video.

a trip to the aquarium

We took Jessica to the aquarium this weekend. This was the first time that she was really showed an interest in some of the fish tanks and kid friendly activities. Here is a video we put together of the trip.

Jessica gets cooking in the kitchen

Jessica really loves her kitchen. She's into her boiling pot (over the frying one for some reason), stirring, and even putting on her oven glove. She even does a little tasting of her imaginary cuisine or maybe that's the teething kicking in. Check out the videos.

Jessica gets goldfish

Well, this weekend we decided that we didn't have enough animals in the house and Jessica deserved her own goldfish. We are now the proud owners of one black goldfish and one orange and black goldfish, tentatively named Leo and Samson (by Jim) until Jessica can name them herself. This all stems from the goldfish at school that she stares at and shouts "sh", which in Jessica speak means fish. She does seem rather excited by the new addition in her room and spends a lot of time looking at them. Squishy seems rather interested in them too. I've caught him sitting next to the fish bowl a few times already.

a Halloween party

Today, Jessica had a Halloween party at school. Here are some photos of her dressed in her flamingo costume.

a trip to the beach

On the way to the pumpkin patch last weekend, we stopped at the beach in Half Moon Bay. Jim wanted to take some pictures and it got us over the hill before the morning rush. Here are some photos that Jim took.