Painting pumpkins

We tried carving pumpkins and that was a flop so I decided Miss M might like to paint a pumpkin.  It was the last nice day (80 degrees) and we headed up to the rooftop with washable finger paint (which doesn't wash out) and a pumpkin.


It was overall a success since we were able to burn energy and two hours of our day!

Miss M loves to play chase. She knows that the game of chase starts with 1, 2, 3 so she holds up her finger (signaling one and that she is ready to play) and takes off.  The neighbors joined us on the roof for some painting and when they got bored with painting they chased each other. It was glorious.  It is a big enough space for them to run without tripping over each other and it's closed in so they can't go anywhere.  Anne wanted to tickle Miss M every time she chased her.

Halloween part 1

I am not sure how many Halloween events we will be attending this year since Miss M still a) doesn't really like people b) shouldn't be eating too much candy c) doesn't think costumes are as humorous as I find them to be d) doesn't like to be outside in the cold.

I am fortunate that the new mom group I joined in May of 2011 still meets every Tuesday.  We meet at different locations each week and try to provide an opportunity for the children to burn energy and for us to catch up. 

We met Tuesday for our 2012 Halloween party. It was a lot of fun. I put Miss M in her bear suit (which she did not appreciate) right before we attempted pictures b/c there was no sense in risking my luck with making her mad early.  I bribed her with candy corn and all was successful enough!

The bear outfit was given to us by a neighbor downstairs. It's a 2T and I am pretty sure it will fit for the next three years.

Miss M's face here is priceless.  Her friend is Maggie Simpson.  

We lined them up on the couch. Tagah: kangaroo. Mary: elephant. Spencer/Gabe: Indian princes. Gwen: Maggie Simpson. Henry: Not exactly sure - Insurance salesman perhaps. Miss M: bear.

Then we realized we forgot one.  Catherine is the newest of the children. She was born in June.  She kind of gets lost in the shuffle a lot. The Halloween party was no exception. 

She's the one in the clown outfit hidden underneath the kangaroo and the elephant.

Next year there will be more kiddos.  We will have to find a bigger couch to put them on!

Short Trip to Iowa

We made a short trip to Iowa last weekend so we could enjoy some time with family and so some could go to the football game.

We were busy ladies. We shopped. We ate. We played. We cheered.

On the way to Iowa we stopped half way at the usual McDonald's.  Miss M loves condiments. I can't even describe to you the intensity of her love of condiments.  I bought her a Happy Meal and they mistakenly gave her two kid sized fries. Mistake. She only ate the french fries (which is normal).  She ate her fries with ketchup and when the fries were gone she proceeded to suck the remaining ketchup out.

She has also discovered recently that she likes candy.  She sat in Grandma's high chair and snacked on a Kit-Kat.

Miss M loves playing in Ella's car. She doesn't even care that her chauffeur is in school all day.  She insisted on getting in and out of the car until we made her go inside kicking and screaming.

During our shopping adventures Miss M ended up with a Hawkeye jersey. She didn't own any Hawkeye gear and since we were in Iowa on game day we had to have something appropriate to wear!

 We did about a half hour of tailgating before we had to leave for other commitments!

Miss M didn't get a nap at the appropriate time on Saturday because we were on the go until 5:30 pretty much nonstop. We ended up going to Costco with Aunt Callie and the girls Saturday.  Never go shopping with Aunt Callie when you're tired.  We were at Costco for 2 hours. I swear that has to be a record for someone shopping at Costco.  There was plenty purchased but still. 2 hours.  It almost killed Miss M and myself.  Miss M even wanted to lay down in the cart and I haven't ever seen her lay down anywhere besides her bed when she's put in it.

It was a fun weekend.  We are moving to suburbia in December (date still TBD)!!! We are going to start the packing process in November, therefore, I foresee upcoming road trips just so we aren't living in an apartment full of boxes for Miss M to climb on and fall off of. 

This and that

Miss M seems to have come into her words recently.  It's been very fun watching her grow and learn new words although there was one four letter S word that had to be turned into a three letter S word that means "to put your weight on your bottom".

I counted her words at her 18 month appointment and including animal sounds she had 15 words.  She has increased her words by almost 10 in a month.  She isn't going to win any awards for advanced speech anytime soon but at least she continues to learn and try new words.  She does not usually repeat words if you ask her to say them they usually have to be on her own terms!

Here are a few pictures:

We went to the aquarium yesterday to burn some energy and see some fish.  They had a great play area for kids around the penguin exhibit. Miss M thoroughly enjoyed the penguins. She liked watching them get fed, jump in the water, swim around, and waddle on land. 

We came home and I let her watch an episode of her favorite handy man. She looks so comfy in her personal chair.  She chilled in her chair and watched Manny while I prepared lunch.  It's a good trade-off. 

Then yesterday we went to the park. It was cold.  She looks so cute in her hat that I just want to eat her! I will refrain but it's hard to not squeeze her.  

Football weekend

We had friends over this weekend to watch the Iowa game. The best thing about a football party is the excuse to eat your favorite garbage food that you shouldn't consume and definitely not consume all in the same day!

One little guy who came over is the child of a Coe Alumni.  He was proudly wearing his Coe shirt so since Miss M doesn't own any Iowa gear she got to wear her Coe shirt too. They were so cute.

Miss M is way into pumpkins right now - tis the season! She got a new book with a pumpkin it in and she likes to read it all the time.  There's also a ghost in the book and Aunt Nessa taught her the ghost says "boo" thus every page she turns she yells "boo".

Princess Tea Party

A local "play cafe" had a Princess Tea Party in celebration of the re-release of the Cinderella Movie.  My friend was taking her daughter and kept asking me if I was going to take Miss M and dress her up.  Dress her up? Really? Miss M isn't exactly the princess type.  We own no princess clothes or accessories.

Until the day of the party! We went to a local toy store (which my friend recommended) and bought a tutu and a tiara and a wand.  

I was a little concerned I would put her in the tutu and tiara and she would just freak out on me but she liked it. She ended up wearing the tutu until she had to get ready for her bath.  It was sweet. 

She even smiled for my camera (the camera phone).

I wanted to take some pictures before we went to the party and this is what happened when I took out my actual camera.  You'd think the world was ending.  It wasn't. 

 Miss M and her friend Mary in a Tinkerbell outfit.  They had lots of snacks for the kids to eat.  Mary LOVES to eat. She usually steals all Miss M's food.  She did this day too. Miss M had some snacks on her plate which Mary proceeded to steal and eat for her. Luckily, Miss M doesn't care too much.

 They had apple juice for the kids in mini coffee cups with the lid. It was so grown up and adorable.

 They gave the kids a "goodie". Miss M got a pretty pink ring which will fit her when she's 7 years old.

Then they turned on the original Cinderella movie and Miss M watched 4.6 seconds of it then decided it was play time again. She was able to get up and down the slide on her own.

My friends like to compare how at the beginning of the summer we had to follow the kids everywhere to ensure they didn't get themselves hurt and now we can kind of (note kind of) sit on the sidelines and watch them play. Glorious. 

More inside activities

In continuing to find something to occupy Miss M I found some more activities on the internet.  I found that some activities were a bit advanced for Miss M.  For example, the internet recommended having toddler push marshmallows onto toothpick. I altered the instructions and used wooden skewers. I duct taped the pointy edge to prevent her from injuring herself.  She wasn't interested.  She ate the marshmallows instead. 

I created a new shape sorter. I even wrapped the box in gift wrap. She was entertained by it for a bit. The next day she climbed on it and broke through it. Bummer.

The weather is getting colder

Miss M and I were successfully able to keep busy through the warmer months.  We were able to kill time going to the park, taking walks, playing outside in the parking lot with bubbles and chalk (yep - our kids play in a parking lot - where there is minimal movement - b/c we don't have green space), and going for milkshakes.  

The weather has drastically decreased. It's not that cold rather it's cold enough that I don't want to be outside and I can't judge if Miss M is warm enough.  She has gloves and hats but refuses to wear them right now.  

We went to Target this morning to kill time, buy a few items and make a few returns.  I successfully spent less than $20.  I usually spend closer to $100 on each trip to Target.  

I decided it was time to get creative for Miss M and provide her with activities at home to make being inside our apartment (which is shrinking in size every day) a little more bearable.  I taped garbage sacks to the floor to provide for easy clean up.  I filled the crock pot bowl full of water and got some straws and noodles and other water-resistant items.  I also got out the cupcake pans and filled the cups with noodles and candy corn.  Miss M apparently knew that the candy corn was food and proceeded to eat far too many.  I thought she might like to use the cookie cutters with bread slices but that was a flop.  

Miss M recognizes bubbles and she says bubbles clearly and frequently.  She was able to use the straw to blow bubbles. She was pretty impressed with herself. She was entertained for awhile. I was going to put soap in the bowl and let her splash it around to create bubbles but when I saw her drinking the water when she finished blowing the bubbles I thought it best to keep those two bubble activities separate. 

We successfully killed an hour.  She filled up on candy corn.  This afternoon we're going to the gym so someone else can entertain her and clean up her mess!

Some would say

Some would say I love my phone too much.

Some would say I can't live without it.

Those people are crazy.

Just because I take it everywhere I go including bed doesn't make me an addict.

And just because I wanted to use Andrew's while Miss M was using mine doesn't say anything about my inability to disconnect.

Like mother like daughter!

Please note how serious she is when she watches shows on the phone.  It's amazing.

Carving the pumpkin isn't as exciting as the pumpkin itself

I was really excited about carving the pumpkin and having Miss M put her hand in the pumpkin to pull out the seeds.

She gladly colored on her pumpkin with marker but when the goo started coming out she was gone.

 Miss M wanted nothing to do with demolishing her pumpkin.

 The pumpkin carving ended up with the adults scooping and carving while Miss M played.

Chris has been around for awhile now but Miss M just isn't too sure about him most of the time (all the time).  He works so hard to get Miss M to play with him and be nice to him. She just keeps yelling at him except on this day. We went to Aunt Nessie's for the morning and she was friendly to Chris and when he came over that evening they were still friends.  She doesn't quite know he's behind her here but still - they are both smiling for the picture - which is huge progress!

The finished product.  Miss M came back to find out why her pumpkin top comes off but basically she's now uninterested in her carved pumpkin.  She still gets excited when she sees her mini pumpkins.

Luckily, there's always next year! Thanks for being the best pumpkin carver/scraper ever Aunt Nessie. You're hired for next year!

Off to the pumpkin patch we went

A week before the big pumpkin patch adventure Miss M and I started reading a book about finding a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.  She was familiar with the sight of a pumpkin (as she screams at them whenever she sees one - whether it's real or fake) so I was pretty sure the pumpkin patch wasn't going to be a failure.

We loaded up the car and traveled to the suburbs for the pumpkin patch. This isn't just any pumpkin patch. This pumpkin patch has a petting zoo with a wide range of animals ie goats to kangaroos. The kids can feed the giraffes, go for camel rides and watch pig races. They have it all.

The pumpkin patch did not disappoint. Miss M was pretty excited to see the pumpkins and the animals. She likes the mini pumpkins because she can tote them around with her.  She definitely has entered the phase where she wants to take things with her wherever she goes.

We had to keep a watchful eye on Miss M while viewing the animals.  She wanted to be one with the animals and kept grabbing on to their cages. As you can see below there wasn't anything between the animal and Miss M except the cage so they could have chewed her little fingers off.

 Feeding goats carrots.  The goat with his nose through the cage was very aggressive. I am not sure he should have been on exhibit that particular day. He fought with all the other goats who tried to get some carrots.

They had a large lawn space dedicated to kid friendly equipment to play on such as wooden tractors and trains.  We let the kids just run around and burn some energy before loading them up for a car ride home.

Miss M was determined to take home the heaviest pumpkin she could find. You can see the strain in her face.  

Here are the men carrying the boys!  Spencer was quite attached to Andrew at the pumpkin patch. I think he was just happy not to have to share him with anyone since he has to share his parents with his brother.