"Just walk away Mom"

Tonight we were all in the office, and Cowboy was messing with his coyote call as he was rummaging in his hunting stuff. He kept blowing on it and it hurt my ears so I said "stop it" several times to him as he kept doing it and smirking, being a boy. My very astute three year old senses my aggrivation and said, "Just walk away Mom!" and turned to leave the room.

I tried not to giggle in front of her, as she told me this yesterday at one point too. I quizzed her on this--and find out if someone makes you angry, you should walk away from them. I ask her if she has learned to walk away from people at Kim's house when they make her angry.

"Yes, when Kyler's being cranky, and won't share, I just walk away."

The simplicity and brilliance amazes me.

Halloween revisited

I don't know if I am getting really sentimental because my baby is getting big or what; but I spent some time tonight looking at all the pictures of her first year and just smiled. Paige sat on my lap and looked with me at the tons of little video clips of her. At this time in 2006 she was almost 7 months old and trying to scooch across the floor and jumping in her jumper.



I found these pictures which were my favorites representing Halloween. This first one was a taken while carving pumpkins at my parents and I thought it'd be fun to put her in a pumpkin. She had a ton of fun and my grandparents were there to share it with us. Plus, a bath in the sink by gramma gets the pumpkin residue off pretty well.

The first Halloween costume, and also the picture we

entered in the beautiful baby

contest. . .and WON. Obviously.

Popcorn and Pumpkins

Normally I am one of those people who carves several pumpkins and will spend a few hours getting my pumpkin to look perfect. I remember that first Halloween Cowboy and I were married, we had 4 of the most wonderful pumpkins. I had a ton of candy. . .and we got like 12 trick or treaters because the weather was awful. Now we live in the country, so we don't get any trick or treaters, but we usually still have a few pumpkins on our steps. However, we aren't even going to carve a pumpkin this year--we are just painting them. Paige and Cowboy worked on two of them the other night.

A budding artist

Her creation

Cowboy's creation. . .I didn't marry him for his artistic flair!

Tonight I made my annual batch of Halloween popcorn balls. Apparently this is a known thing I do as my good friends Jackie and Noel purchased an air popper for my bridal shower--note I still use the same popper. That's the gift receipt from October 2003 still taped to the box--I am trying to see how long I can keep the box in one piece! I always laughed at my Mom who had a few things in their original boxes that she only used a few times a year--its scary to see how that happens to yourself.



Here is my final product--I think I ended up with about 30 popcorn balls and only one really burnt finger from the lava hot marshamallows. My gramma used to make hundreds of these to give to trick or treaters--I can't imagine how much work that work be.

Leaves through the years

October 2006

October 2007

October 2008

October 2009

So through the years its been customary to take pictures in the leaves. It started on that one beautiful Indian summer day when Paige was a baby and I had her in a onesie outside; and we got great pictures for our Halloween card. That year it was great joy to try to eat them. Now each year, I try to capture a few pictures with the leaves to carry on our tradition. This year it was pretty easy; I tried to rake and someone tried to demolish my piles!

epidemic

So the crud, flu, H1N1, colds, etc. are all floating around our small area and affecting everyone! I started to feel the icky throat on Saturday and stayed home from work today. Doing my part to not contaminate everyone else. I am planning on going back to work tomorrow since I am feeling better; but may not make the whole day. We'll see. My child however, has escaped being sick so far (thank goodness) even though one of her little daycare pals has influenze A. Luckily daycare was closed the day after that was diagnosed and no one else is sick. The neighboring small town had more sick kids than kids in school today. Makes me just want to scrub myself with Clorox after I've been out in public!

Cowgirls don't. . .

So Paige is the proud owner of a purple rhinestone buttoned little western shirt--because her Dad thought she needed one. Its a light plaid color with purple accents, and sparkly purple buttons. She thinks its great. It was cowboy dress up day; so Thursday she wore the new shirt for the first time. I ask her if she wants to wear her butterfly jeans (cute sparkly pockets, embroidery on the front legs). She gives me the 'are you an idiot' look and replies, "Cowgirls don't wear butterfly jeans, they wear dark ones."
Dark ones for all you non-cowboy people are Wranglers. Not fun, plain dark wash, big pocket jeans. Jeans that my skinny little daughter doesn't fit into real well.
But after the look and her Dad's shrieks of joy that they out numbered me on that one, I gave in. I hope I just lost the battle and not the war. . .

A lazy weekend

We enjoyed a lazy fall weekend at our house. I had to work for a few hours on Saturday morning so Gramma Shelly & Grampa Greg came over to hang out with Peanut. After I got home, we did a fun activity of assembling the Halloween house I had purchased. I was at Michaels and found this foam kit for like $3 and thought Paige would like it. Should have bought more. She did really great at listening and had a lot of fun. There weren't any instructions and most of the pieces had stickers on the back side; so right up her ally.

Immense concentration was involved.
The finished product--a wonderful display.
Today was spent cooking, playing, etc. Paige enjoys home days just as much as I do and she makes a great mess of all her toys in the living room and loves to dress up. Today it was her Easter dress over her clothes (because its cold out) and she paired it with her cowboy boots and tiara. I think it was smartly accessorized. She hides from my camera on days like today--she must have some forsight that these pictures may come back and haunt her someday!

Glamour Queen part 2

Why does my 3 year old have better manicures/pedicures than I do? Plus, her jeans are way cuter than mine. Credit Kim for cute nails again.

"It didn't even hurt!"

(I cannot get this picture to rotate, sorry) Anyway, today marked Miss Paige's first trip to the dentist. It went amazingly well. This is her little bag of goodies she was so proud of--its amazing what joy a Snow White toothbrush, sparkly toothpaste, a sticker, and pencil can bring. We went first thing this morning and I commend the staff at the dentist office. Our hygenist did a great job of talking to Paige and telling her what all the tools did, why she wore a mask, etc. She got a good look at all 20 chompers and we have zero cavities. I was a little scared she'd have one--I had horrible teeth as a child. A quick look by the dentist confirmed our good teeth; and next year we'll get a cleaning.

We got to daycare just as another little girl's mom was coming out, and Paige told her "it didn't even hurt!" So I guess we aren't too scarred by the experience and will go back. I guess she told her little friends about the chair that goes up and down, the mirror that goes in your mouth, etc.

That white stuff. . .already

October 5th--we got about 5 or 6 inches of snow on top of some rain. That equals a really icky gravel road. However, by Tuesday afternoon the snow was gone. Yay! That left one disappointed 3 year old who loves snow.

Glamour queen

So we have a great daycare provider who is a former hairstylist. She usually has my child's hair looking 100% better than when I drop her off. The other bonus, she likes to paint Paige's nails. As a result, I have a 3 year old who sits wonderfully for this task and loves her toes painted. I picked her up the other day and saw her fingers had a bonus of little flowers on them. Stickers of some kind. Then I got to see the 'diamond' on her toe. One fell off but the other is still on--even the next day. I guess Paige walked around like her nails were wet for quite a while, afraid to ruin them. Additional bonus, it helps keep her from chewing her nails! Thanks to Kim!

Pretty, pretty

Not everyone can pull off sweatpants, a blue tutu and socks on their hands as gloves. Few princesses can do it. That's what she declared herself when I pulled out the blue tutu that Aunt Bobbi had sent down. She ran around in it for hours. It wasn't a tutu, it was a 'weird dress' she said. Anyway, thanks for the 'dress' Aunt Bobbi!