A double dose of Halloween

This year, Molly got to sport her costume twice -- once at the daycare Harvest Fest on Thursday and also at our very own O'Grady costume party last night. Molls was a pretty serious Pebbles at the Harvest Fest. But I think by the party on Saturday, she was used to the whole costume thing and had a good time running around and enjoying the tricks and the treats. It probably helped that she had Fred and Wilma by her side on Saturday, and her Grandma and Grandpa, too! 

Hanging out at the Harvest Fest

Costume parade...pretty much just looks like a bunch of parents walking with kids in coats :)

Urban trick or treating -- how many kids can you cram in an apartment hallway?

Sponge Marsha Square Pants trying to pick up Pebbles' trail of treats

Yabba dabba doo!

Meet the O'Flintstones

A big crowd for a little condo

The Denver post - part II (2 little pumpkins)

We ended up going to the pumpkin patch on our last day in Denver, so of course we ended up with some adorable pictures. I'll keep the writing on this post short because the Project Runway finale is starting and I want to be able to give it my full attention :) But I don't think anyone checks out this blog for the prose anyway...

The oldest O'Grady brothers and their little pumpkins. Hats courtesy of Grandma Lynette... awww!

Molly decided to crash Jeremy and Megan's family photo

Our happy family -- check out those mountains in the background! 

All tuckered out on the plane ride home after a wonderful vacation :)

The Denver post - part I

We're taking so many good pictures, I think I will have to put together at least 2 posts from this trip to Denver -- our first visit to meet Will! Without further ado, here is my ADORABLE nephew (and Jeremy):

Awww! Guess who knit that sweater? 

We arrived Friday morning, after a pretty easy flight with a very well behaved Molly, and headed straight over to Megan and Jeremy's new house in Stapleton. Jeremy was there to greet us at the door, with Will in his arms, and Jason and I were quick to jump at the chance to hold him for the first time. I know Molly was that size, at one point, but it's like I don't even remember it!

We've been busy this weekend -- parks, Aunt Kathy's art exhibit, good food, and lots of time with family. Molly was able to hang out with 2 of her great-grandmas, and also her great-great grandpa Joe. If only Steve was here, we could have taken another 5 generations photo! We took a few 4 generations photos though, which I will include in post #2.

Sliding through the rocks. Wheeee!

Dinner out -- Molls and Will just chillin' at the table with everyone

So happy to be here!

Great-great grandpa Joe, Molly, Jeremy, and Will

A tale of too many servings

I've been wanting to go to Publican for a while now, so was very excited when Susie decided to celebrate her birthday there. 

The birthday girl, and Sean, at Publican

We all enjoyed the dinner, but made a few rookie mistakes. I think the next time we go there will be better. First of all, I probably won't go back with more than 6 people. We had a party of 8 (me, Jason, Susie, Sean, Betsy, Archie, and my parents) and with the communal seating, long tables, and high ceilings, it was really hard to talk to everyone. Second, I don't think I will order anything from the seafood side of the menu. The meat dishes were sooo much better than the fish dishes. No question.

We also had a bit of an ordering mix up, that I think was probably my fault since I was in charge of ordering :) I chose 7 dishes and 2 vegetable sides to share -- but since we had a party of 8, the waiter thought I wanted 2 servings of everything. By the third dish, we were all getting full and starting to worry about how much more we had coming. I was expecting small plates and every course was coming out family style! Luckily we figured out the problem and were able to cancel the double orders. Needless to say, we all walked out of there completely stuffed!

The highlights of the night included the Brussels sprouts (who knew!?), the squash, the pork tenderloin, and the lamb curry. I also really enjoyed the ham plate as a starter. Oh, and the sweetbreads were very good too, so long as I didn't think too much about what I was eating :) 

Happy birthday, Sus! And thanks for the extravagant, and I'm sure very expensive meal, Dad!

Little pumpkin

I thought my readers might like to see a few pics of Molly choosing her pumpkins for Halloween. Because Molly is still little, we went with the small ones from the bins. She had fun making her selections.

Now Molls is hanging out with her Grandpa and Grandma Overbey while Jason is in DC for a convention and I am in Dallas for a sales meeting. I knew the day would come when our work trips overlapped. Luckily, my parents already had tickets booked to Chicago for their Northwestern reunion!

Zoo visit #2

Last weekend, Jake and Corinne were in town, the weather was gorgeous, and the Bears had Sunday off. Perfect Sunday for a trip to the zoo! Molly was much more into it this time. She loves birds, so the penguin exhibit was a big hit. And of course the monkeys provided plenty of entertainment.

Big girl -- picnic in the park

Bird! I had fun on the merry-go-round. Not so sure about the Molls :)

They was like peas and carrots

This weekend was much cooler, so I'm glad we got our zoo trip in when we did! 

A girl and her Bears

Molly is officially ready for football thanks to her Chicago Bears pillow pet from Uncle Jake.

The Bears don't play until Monday, but  maybe if Molly gives her new toy enough love between now and then, it will give them strength to beat the Lions!

Go Bearsssss!

Once bitten twice shy

Molly's first week in the "big kids" classroom ended with this:

Tiny teeth marks -- at least it didn't break the skin!

Apparently there was a scuffle over a fire truck and the other child ended up biting Molly on the hand. Ack! On a positive note, Molly handled it okay -- no breath holding or anything like that.

One more gamble

I can't believe it took me a week to get to this post! The trip to Vegas last weekend for Lauren's bachelorette party was so much fun and needs to be documented. Here's a quick run-down of what we did:

We hit up the new casino, The Cosmopolitan, on Friday night, starting out with dinner at China Poblano, a Jose Andres Mexican/Chinese restaurant. I stuck to the Mexican side of the menu, because it is so hard for me NOT to order tacos if I have the option. But people who ordered noodle dishes were happy as well. It was a great restaurant to start the night because we were able to order small dishes that didn't break the bank. And, the salt air margarita was to die for. Instead of salting the rim of the glass, the drink was topped with a lime/salt foam...heaven for a salt lover.

The night continued at the bar on the main floor of the casino and kept going into the wee hours of the night for part of our group, as Lauren kept wanting "one more gamble."

Saturday afternoon was dedicated to the pool at Bally's, where we lounged around all day in a cabana and got poolside massages (feet for me -- all that walking around Fri night in heels was hard on my legs!). And then I was lucky enough to win $150 playing roulette on my way back up to the room. I bet on black and my bday (20). Double whammy! 

Sure does feel good to win $150 on the walk back from the pool!

On Saturday night, we went to Tao, which honestly, was a lot cooler when I went back in 2009. This time, the line was packed with bachelorette parties (like us) and skinny, 21-year-old college guys with acne. We danced for about 45 min, got that out of our systems, and then hightailed it out of there to hit up the bar at the Hard Rock.

Me and the bride-to-be!! About to scarf down late-night food at the Hard Rock.

My roommates for the weekend -- Dana and Nat. 

I think I need to take a vacation with my girls every year. Just hanging out in the room, getting ready together, talking about this that and everything else, was wonderful. I miss them already. Good thing Lauren's wedding is just a few weeks away!