Halloween Fun

I had to do this long overdue Halloween post before Halloween is a distant memory and we are celebrating the next holidays. So. . .
We had fun on Halloween. Minnow was a monkey--monkeys are her favorite animal right now with dogs coming in a close second. We went to a MOPS barn dance where the mommies had to dress up too so I went as a banana, thanks to my "good" friend who so graciously lent me the costume.

Trick or treating was a good time too, Minnow sort of got the hang of it, but she would just hold her bag out for the treats. We did get her to say thank you. We ended up at some friend's for a while enjoying adult trick or treating with adult beverages--good times!

This is a fun age for holidays we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Here is a picture collage I made on scrapblog.com--what a cool site!

Fall Family Photos

We had a friend so graciously offer to take our family photos for our Christmas card. I just got a couple of samples and will have the rest later this week. Thanks so much Coach L for taking the pictures!
I love how Minnow is holding my hand in this first one:

Two family shots:


Daddy's Little Girl:

My favorite, although it's not of the whole family. Minnow was in a rotted out tree trunk and ended up with all kinds of junk in her hair--I love the photo though:

A Trip to the Zoo

We took a trip to the zoo this past weekend. It was a beautiful fall day. Minnow loves animals so she had a blast! She ran from one section of the zoo to another, it wore me out. We saw pretty much the whole zoo except for the small mammals (bats and rats) and we didn't get a chance to ride the train that goes around the zoo--we had to save something for next time.

Looking at some monkeys:

Comparing ourselves to a baby gorilla:

Close encounter with a peacock at lunch:

We spent quite a bit of time looking at the fish, which is not surprising. Minnow loved looking at all the fish:

Tigers and Bears, oh my! (didn't get any good pictures of the lions to complete the phrase, sorry)

A trip to the zoo is not complete without feeding the goats:

Moms' Weekend

I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with some really great moms this weekend. I escaped the life of a SAHM for a few days and met my "imaginary friends." These girls are all moms with kids Minnow's age. We all met on a web forum and have become what we call "fake friends." It was so great to meet these moms in real life. We had fun sharing stories, shopping, eating and hanging out. What a great group of people.

We have one common thing between us and that is motherhood. We share the ups and downs of our days and offer support and advice. We offer tears and laughter to get each other through the adventures of raising toddlers. Each of our journeys to motherhood was just that--a unique journey, filled with emotions and challenges. I am so happy I met these moms who I call my friends. I had a really fun time, although I did miss Minnow and Musky Man, but they survived without me.

Highlights from the weekend were: late night and early morning talks with my roomate; going for a run with a cool mom from Philly; listening to the stories of the moms with mulitples--you guys are amazing; sitting at a bar watching the Brewers beat the Phillies with the cool mom from Philly; and the best thing we did was splurge for a cab back to the hotel and avoid a l-o-n-g train ride after the game!

I'm so glad to have met these moms in real life--you guys rock!

Fun at the Farm

We had a fun day at a farm this weekend. A family not far from us holds a really cool day at the farm event every September. The event is in memory of their son who died of a brain tumor at age 15 months. All proceeds from the event go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, very neat!

It was our first time going and definitely won't be our last! We had awesome weather and Minnow had a blast. I think Muskie Man and I had as much fun watching Minnow have fun.

Feeding a camel:

Petting a bunny:

Pony ride:

In the hay bale maze:

A very serious "cow:"

Heading home, very tired, with a balloon:

I Did It!

I first want to preface this post with the phrase, "toddlers are gross."

"I did it!" this was the exclamation that came out of Minnow's mouth. I was wondering what she did that she was so proud of. She held up her hand for me to see and at the end of the index finger was a huge booger. "I did it!" she said again, very proud of her accomplishment.

Before I could explain to her that 2 year-olds aren't supposed to pick their noses, she said: "high five, Mommy!" At least the hand she extended to me was the one without the booger.

Games Have Begun

The school year is in full swing and that means time for the games to begin at Muskie Man's school once again. We have already attended a volleyball game and a football game.

The volleyball game was an adventure. The past 2 seasons, Minnow was not mobile or at least not walking. That has now changed. She is running, jumping and acting very much like a 2 year-old. She is exercising her independence and doesn't want mommy to help her with anything. She also loves to play with balls of any kind. What a temptation a bright white volleyball is, sitting there in the middle of the court during a time out! She screamed for the ball, I said, "no, it's for the girls to play with," and then she screeched some more. We went out into the hall to run around for a little while.

Muskie Man was at a meeting during this game so I was left to struggle with Minnow by myself. It would have been so much easier if we would have been able to double-team her. She also listens to Muskie Man better than she listens to me.

We went across the gym to the freshman game so Minnow could see her favorite babysitter, K, play her first high school volleyball game. I soon realized this was a mistake. Minnow screamed for K to hold her and give her a hug. OOPS! I took her to the end of the gym where we bothered the least amount of people and she made it through most of the game without too much screeching.

Minnow did make it though the Varsity game because K could hold her and hug her as her game was over. Minnow was the center of attention as she hung out with the freshman team and cheered on the Varsity team. Hopefully each game will get easier as Minnow realizes that she cannot play with the balls the teams are using and that the players cannot stop in the middle of their game to hold her and hug her.