Happy Halloween!

A much overdue thanks to PawPaw and Mimi for a wonderful long weekend in the Dells! Poppy is still talking about it and has been asking to decorate cookies "like Mimi did". You win best costumes:)

Our costumes this year,

a black cat*:

a little pumpkin:

a pile of leaves:

a...a...I'm at a loss for words:

like father, like daughter:

I think we'll walk to a handful of homes in our neighborhood so Poppy can try to trick or treat. It'll be her first time and I'll be shocked if we can get her to say "trick or treat". She might surprise me but I think she'll prefer to stay home and hand out candy.

Have a spooky, scary, and safe weekend!

*I bought two pumpkin costumes from a consignment sale a while back but Poppy refuses to wear hers (surprise, surprise), so Aunt Sheree saved the day and gave us the cat costume. Thanks Ree-you rock:)

Practice makes perfect.

I make it a point to get out and take pictures whenever I get a chance. I try and take my camera with me everywhere now because there are so many times I see something and think it would make a great picture- if only I had my camera with me. Wisconsin is a good place to ride around with your camera. I really, really, want to get a new lens because my only good one (50mm 1.8) limits me on my current camera. I'd like to get something faster and wider. Santa! Santa? All I want for Christmas is fast, wide, glass:) And my brother home from Afghanistan safely. And every other member of the armed forces home safely. And while you're at it world peace. I'm a simple girl, with simple wants.

Anyway, here are a few of my recent favorites from this, my favorite season:

I spotted this tree in our neighborhood and had to go back and take a picture. I've never seen anything like it- is it a special kind of tree or have the leaves changed colors at different rates for some reason to produce this effect? I googled "Rainbow tree" and got nothin'. Any ideas?

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

George Eliot

Milestones

So little Miss Chloe is doing a few new things lately!

First, she is vocalizing more and more and treating us to the sound of her voice:) She's been cooing for months, but it sounds different all of the sudden. Like now she's using her diaphragm or something. When she laughs, it's a deep belly laugh and it's very contagious.

She's also now sitting:

And here she's enjoying her first teething biscuit:

These two fingers are still her favorite snack though:

I also tried to see if she was ready for rice cereal but she wasn't as receptive to that. She's still breastfeeding and I'm in no hurry to give her anything else but the poor thing lunges for any food or drink I put in my mouth.

Finally, she's officially sleeping in her crib. It was a very easy transition for her, much easier than for Poppy. I didn't think Poppy would ever sleep in her crib. She wakes up once or twice to eat and goes right back down. In the mornings I hear her on the monitor babbling and when I walk up to the side of her crib this is what I see:

I mean come on! So much better than coffee:)

Coccinellidae Situation

I like ladybugs and all but they're taking over our house. Seriously, it reminds me of this video:

5D and EX1 Lady Bug Swarm from Michael Ramsey on Vimeo.

Isn't it groovy (love the song)? Poppy was afraid of ladybugs until she saw this. Now she loves to point them out to us and tell us how unafraid she is of them:

Is this just a seasonal Wisconsin thing? Ladybug infestation? I hope that's the case and that this isn't something unique to our house. They say a lady always knows when to leave. Apparently these gals didn't get the memo. I'm off to Google University to figure out what's going on. Wish me luck!

Happy Monday:)

Chris was sick so he stayed in bed most of the day on Saturday. Poppy and I had a late breakfast together while Chloe took her first nap of the day. I made biscuits with homemade strawberry jam. Decadence.

 I finally found a good biscuit recipe. It will be my go-to recipe from now on. No shortening, just lots o' butter. Paula Deen would be proud. Poppy asked for more with lunch and dinner:)

 

I took advantage of the nice sunny weather and the abundance of leaves in our yard* and had an outdoor photo session with the girls:

Don't mind the too big sweater I threw on Chloe before I realized it made her look like a boy with no hands.

 

I forgot to say "whatever you do, DO NOT look into the camera and give me a sweet smile", so I got a lot of this:

 

Good thing I have this guy. He's always willing to go outside and sit pretty for me:

I played around and made this:

I can't decide if I like the crimson red or the bright mustard yellow colored leaves more. I know that without a doubt fall is my favorite season. Sweata weatha. It invigorates me. It speaks to my soul.

We introduced a new book into our nightly routine:

As you may have gathered it's a halloween themed parody of Goodnight Moon. Poppy doesn't really get Halloween yet. I think she was a little confused but she went with it- anything to stall bedtime.

Then, of course, my beloved Amazing Race. I don't think that has ever happened in the history of the show, someone coming in last and going home because they refused to do something. I would think one would expect to encounter heights and/or water at least once during the course of the race.

 The only thing I absolutely won't do when we go on the race (;0) is skydive. Or drink blood. I wonder if the team members are allowed to take medication. I think I might be able to jump out of a plane if I were doped up enough.

Do you watch the show? Is there anything you absolutely, positively would not do?

*Is it rude to not rake up the leaves in one's yard? My husband thinks it is, he thinks the neighbors might not like our leaves blowing into their yard. I don't think it's rude at all. They're leaves. They might blow in the wind. I like the way they look. Please advise:)

 

 

My new goal

I admire those bloggers who post daily. Ree says she has no idea what she's going to blog about until she sits down and types up a post. I really admire that. It would take me a month to write posts as witty and clever and interesting as hers. And then it would take me another month to upload photos.

See, I am not the most creative person in the world. I am not a writer. I have other talents. I think. Baking? Baking is a talent right? But expressing myself through writing isn't one of them. It takes more than a little effort on my part to not only make the time to sit and write something, but to write something remotely coherent or interesting to anyone but me or maybe my husband (bless his heart). 

This is a good thing. It challenges me and it's one of the reasons I decided to start writing my own blog. So I've set a goal for myself to post something, anything, Monday-Friday. Eventually I plan to have a blog book printed as a keepsake for my girls. I think posting more often will force me to chronicle our lives a little better. 

I've also decided to stop using pseudonyms for the Little Flower and Superbaby. I initially thought that for security reasons- I just knew my blog was destined to become an internet sensation- I would stay as anonymous as possible. Well, let's just say that I've come to the realization that security really isn't an issue:) So without further ado...my girls:

Little Flower

aka

Poppy Caroline

Superbaby

aka

Chloe Elizabeth 

 

See you Monday!

    

Lifelong Friends

I recently started taping 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' for Little Flower. We sit and watch it together. I told her that I watched Mister Rogers when I was a little girl and she smiled. I found her playing with her shoes one day and I asked what she was doing. 

"I'm putting my shoes on like Mister Rogers", she said. I smiled.

I had forgotten what a sweet show it was. I love everything about it, the shoe thing, the sweater thing (multiple colors hanging just so in the closet), the seventies decor, Mr. McFeely. But mostly, his calm and kind words, such a rarity these days.

He sang this song in an episode we watched yesterday:

You can make believe it happens,

or pretend that something's true

you can wish or hope or contemplate

a thing you'd like to do

but until you start to do it

you will never see it through

'cause the make believe pretending

just won't do it for you

you've got to do it

every little bit

you've got to do it

do it, do it, do it

and when you're through

you can know who did it

for you did it, you did it, you did it.

It was like he was singing just for me:) 

So I'm doing it. I'm posting even though I don't have much to say except, Mister Rogers was a sweet, neat man. It makes me happy to share him with my children. As the Little Flower would say, "I weery, weery like him".

 

*Did you know that Fred Rogers' middle name was McFeely? Or that he was an ordained minister? Or that he testified on behalf of the manufacturers of VCR's in the seventies? You can read more about him here and here. I hope you do:)