Must Wear all the Shoes!

It is the very rare occasion that Little Miss actually wants to play with her toys.  She's really into developing life skills these days.  One thing that she's been working on for a while is putting on shoes and socks.  It doesn't concern her whose shoes she wears, although she can tell you who every shoe in the house belongs to, but that she gets a decent amount of practice in each day.

In this last picture, not only do I enjoy the boots not quite put on, but my little hipster hopster with her bunny rabbit hat and emo expression.  I need to find her some shoes that she can get on easily herself so that she can experience some success with this soon.

Grocery Store Helper

One of the advantages of living close to a shopping center is being able to walk to the grocery store.  I had a few things that I wanted to pick up and it was a nice day, so I decided to pack Little Miss in the stroller and head to the store.  Once we got there, she immediately demanded to be let out, which took shopping to a whole new level.  It was interesting to see the things that she brought to the cart stroller.  

I especially found the broccoli interesting because, while she used to love it, she will no longer touch the stuff.  However, it was healthy and we decided to take it home.  Once we finished our shopping and headed home, she demanded to carry a treasure from the groceries.  This is what cars saw as we walked home.

That girls cracks me up.

Happy Halloween 2014!

Last year Halloween was a washout.  Because of horrible storms, there was no trick or treating and Little Miss just slept through the whole thing.  It was underwhelming.  This year, we did Halloween right.  We went to a Halloween party where Little Miss Butterfly could play with her friends.

Was she not too cute?  Even butterflies get thirsty, and she needed to stop for a drink.

There was a bouncy house at the party and lots of yummy treats.  She had a blast.  On Halloween, we were invited to a costume play date.  Little Miss couldn't be seen in the same costume twice, so she wanted to try being a ladybug.

(Why does she never look at the camera for me?) On further reflection, she decided that she preferred being a butterfly, so that was her official Halloween Trick or Treating costume of 2014.

It was wicked cold and sleeting, but that didn't deter us from heading outside.  Little Miss' first treat was from our next door neighbor.

She didn't really get it at first, but after a few houses started to figure it out.

We went to a few houses on our block and quickly gave up and came back home.

Seriously reminded me of trick or treating in my youth in IL.  What I wasn't anticipating was how much fun she would have running to answer the door and putting candy in the other kids' bags.  Seriously, she giggled everytime and gave all the kids the biggest smiles.  They in turn ooh'd and aah'd over her.  It was a win-win.  Because it was such rough weather, not too many kids braved the cold and we had lots of leftover candy.  Luckily, just like last year, we were able to unload it at hubs' work.  Happy Halloween to you!

The Scarecrow Patch

Our old next door neighbor went over the top at Halloween decorating with scarecrows.  Her front yard was filled with them, and since our bedroom used to overlook her back yard, I can reveal that it was just as bad back there.  Hubs recently had to go over to the house to do some work, and he and Little Miss explored the scarecrows.

This picture also helps answer the age old question: Is there such a thing as too much purple?  Yes, yes there is.

The Pumpkin Patch: Then and Now

Pumpkin patches are wonderful places.  They're fun for kids and remind us that fall is here.  

It's amazing the difference a year makes when a child is so young.

THEN:

 NOW:

However, they aren't without their drama.

THEN:

NOW:

The Pumpkin Patch, Revisited

One of hubs' friends lives near a local pumpkin patch, so he invited us out to explore it this weekend. We've heard good things about this place, so we jumped at the chance.  Little Miss was impressed.  As we walked up there were lots of tables with pumpkins and Little Miss immediately went to work lifting them up and carrying them around.

One rolled down a hill and she was happy to get it, until she discovered hay.

Once we were able to pry her away from there by adding several of her pumpkins to a wagon, we were able to get some photo ops.

Because we had our friend with us, we were even able to get a rare family picture in.  

Little Miss, ever eager to expand her skills, insisted on pulling the wagon, which is a difficult thing to do when you can only push.

Luckily, our friend was able to have a heart to heart with her and calm her down.

There was a petting zoo there that Little Miss enjoyed.  It included goats, piglets, chicken, sheep and others I'm probably forgetting.

There was also a really good banjo player that Little Miss enjoyed listening and dancing along with.

She decided to get closer to investigate further.

When we were finished listening to the banjo player it was time to leave, but only under duress.

I hope she always enjoys pumpkin patches this much.  It was fun and I'm grateful that our friend suggested it.

Homecoming Lives On

Sometimes it's so nice to still live in the same town as my university.  One of my friends that made it in for homecoming made it a family vacation.  She and her family explored other parts of the state for a week and came back through for their flight home.  We suggested they stay with us so our kids could meet and we could get some extra time together.  We are so glad they were able to stay- the kids had a great time playing together.

The oldest daughter really liked Little Miss and lavished her with attention.  It was really cute watching them read together.

One of the best activities they had was playing with some scarves.  They all dressed up as superheroes:

(I absolutely love how Little Miss' tummy protrudes in this pic- she has the superhero pose down)

They also took turns layering scarves on each other and taking them off one at a time.  

Little Miss looked like a Babushka doll:

(pictured with her stylist)

Unfortunately, they had to leave pretty early to catch their flight home, but I'm so grateful for the time together and hope that we are able to arrange something in the next couple years so the kids can play together again and the parents can catch up- 5 years is just too long.