Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet...

We had a super fun Halloween this year! Anna was a glitter witch; she looked so cute in her witch/fairy costume with her pink pants and black boots as well as a pink and black striped hat. She got the hang of Trick-or-Treat very quickly - we marched right along while she went to the houses to get her candy. She did a great job of using her "please" and "thank you" manners. It was really fun to see her have so much fun, and she looked so grown-up doing it.

My mom handed out candy at our house while we walked around the neighborhood. Anna helped her when we got back. She wanted so badly to give all the kids candy - it was really cute to see her get into the giving as much as the getting. I complain too much about the trouble she gives me, and it's those little moments when I see how great of a kid she really is.

The neighbors across the street put on their spooky show again. They dress up in the full gear and chase kids to scare them. It's pretty great to watch. Anna isn't scared of anything that we've seen, and even when we went to their house she was very interested and held onto my leg for just a minute - but no crying, no screaming, no running away - just watching and taking it all in. She's funny like that. So many kids are afraid of Halloween decorations, but she just goes right up to them to touch and check out and smile. One thing I know, Anna loves fun.

We had so much fun tonight; I wish Halloween was more than once a year. I wonder what she'll be next year...

(Pictures later - after my camera battery charges)

Today I'm thankful for:

• a good girl
• My mom coming to visit
• a really fun Halloween night
• Skittles, Starburst, and Reese's Pieces

iBooks

After Bryan won money gambling with my dad and brother on vacation, he came home and bought an iPad. It's a fun little gadget to have. One of my favorite apps: iBooks. It's a place to search and buy books - books I might have found anyway and books that might have never made it my way. Every so often I go looking for something new to read, and the thing I love about iBooks is that it gives me a sample of any book I might be interested in. Well I know the apple people give me these nasty little samples that end right at the moment I'm hooked so I will push my willpower aside and click BUY, but they won't get me (at least they haven't yet). I like to spend money, but I like to save money too, so after finding some books I like I head to the Lexington Public Library site and put the books on hold. So, there we wait, my willpower and me, on that happy email that says I have books on hold! The last book in Nora Roberts' Bride Quartet comes out in November - oh willpower, will you stay strong???

Well, on to tonight's book: The Food Matters Cook Book (by Mark Bittman). If you've seen Food Inc (very interesting documentary about the food business in the US) you've seen Mark Bittman. His deal: eat more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and beans while cutting back on the meat, seafood, chicken, sugar, white flour, and junk food. I can subscribe to his thinking and already am on my way there, but can do much better. Anyway, this book has a few recipes (but of course, I would actually have to PAY to see them all) that I'm willing to try to put more veggies and natural foods into my diet - not just for weight loss, but for overall body health. Maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas? No, that's a lame gift to buy someone. I guess I'm going to use one of my Joseph-Beth gift cards that I've been hording away for a special occasion. I'll be sure to post the good recipes.

Other Books I'm interested in that you might like too:

• Room (Emma Conoghue)
• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Tom Franklin)
• A Reliable Wife (Robert Goolrick)
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk (David Sedaris) - have you read any David Sedaris? It's laugh-out-loud funny stuff. He's a must read author.
• Talking to Girls About Duran Duran (Rob Sheffield) - it's about the 80s, need I say more?
• The Man Who Lied to His Laptop (Clifford Nass)

I hope to read all of these books eventually, we'll see.

Today I am thankful for:

• not having a tornado come through town while at work, or anytime really
• not having meetings after work today
• talking to my mom and dad today

2.5

Anna and Jackson at the Cincinnati Zoo enjoying their suckers.

My baby is 2 and a half! She's like a real little person, not a baby at all (although she might act like one from time to time). I thought we were moving on from the Terrible Twos, but it seems like we're right back in the thick of it, and yes, I'm going a little crazy. More on that later, cuz this is all about Anna...


Things she loves:

• Mommy, Daddy, and all other family members


• pink baby - a baby better than all others, and dirtier


• having books read to her


• "reading" books to us


• chips and salsa


• singing Happy Birthday


• The Wiggles


• dancing, running, jumping...any kind of movement


• playing "catch me"


• helping


• Belle (Beauty and The Beast) - she knows her from a book, not the movie


• presents


• mints


• her school friends
• talking on the phone


• being outside


• the park, zoo, and any other place to run around and explore


• babies - real ones


• freedom and independence


• whining


• junk food (except ice cream)

Things she doesn't love so much:

• not getting her way


• loosing privileges


• riding in a stroller (except for neighborhood walks)

What amazes me:

• she knows about half of her letters by name, and can give a name or word that begins with that letter


• she speaking in sentences - she has trouble from time to time, but her speech continues to improve


• she can count to 15 - usually with several numbers missing, but it's a start
• shapes- heart, star, oval, circle
• colors - pink and yellow

I might get frustrated with Anna, but I can always go back to the fact that I have an amazing daughter. She's curious, strong-willed, independent, smart, beautiful, friendly, so full of life, and a true blessing in my life. Today I'm thankful for Anna and for getting to be her mom.

Not Broken and Farm Fun!

I'm so happy to update you to let you know the washing machine is NOT BROKEN!!!! The possibilities are that it had a clogged pump or just was over heated. Really, it doesn't matter what it was because it works again.

Last week we got an email from a counselor at another school mentioning a Pioneer Day at her farm. We didn't have anything else going on, so I figured Anna and I could check it out. We had to drive out to the middle of nowhere, but once we made it we had a great time. The family lives at the farm and works there (sheep farm). In the past year they opened their farm up for agritourism and have invited people to come for different learning experiences. Anna and I were the only people there at first, so she had a great time petting and feeding the rabbits and meeting the chickens, donkey, pig, and geese. Anna also met a friend, the boy that lives at the farm. He was a sixth grader and so nice. He held Anna's hand and humored her in her adventures. She enjoyed running around and being around the animals. I was a little worried a few times because they had a lot of junk laying around, and Anna can be easily attracted to danger. She fell down a lot and got a little too close to things that she could hurt herself on, but it was ok. I guess I would go back again since she loved the animals and had such a great time running around outside, but I hope they can clean their crap up a little better.

Today I am thankful for:

• a working washing machine
• beautiful, warm, sunny days
• a relaxing and fun Fall Break

Oops!

On a typical day I am not careless or an idiot, but unfortunately, today I was both.

Now that my fall break has begun I thought that I would be productive and clean the house today. I got the bright idea to mop the floors in the bathroom, which means I thought to also wash the rugs. I never mop the floors; I hate mopping, that's why it's Bryan's job, usually. I should have remembered that. I put 2 of the rugs in the washing machine with a few other towels and things. When I went in to put the things in the dryer I smelled something - kind of like a burning smell. The rugs and things still had a lot of soap on them, so I ran the washing machine again from the rinse cycle - without the larger of the 2 rugs. Everything worked out ok -nothing was on fire, and the washing machine worked until I tried to put the larger rug in the machine at the rinse cycle to get the soap out and all I got was washer partly full of water and a really wet rug.

That means - I did it! I broke the washing machine (probably the motor). While that might not seem horrible, things break, it actually is because that's not the first washer I broke with the bathroom rugs!!! Here's the careless and idiot part: At our old house with a different washer, I did the same exact thing! I thought I would be able to wash the rugs with this washer because I've done it before. I guess my luck has run out. I texted Bryan to let him know (because I am a coward); I didn't want to tell him over the phone, texting is way easier. He still loves me, it's ok. My mom suggested that I take them to the laundromat next time, "it's only an hour and a half of your life you won't get back." When do I have an hour and a half to sit around (well, probably tomorrow, but that's beside the point).

I've learned my lesson the very hard and expensive way...do not put big rugs in the washing machine that you own. Now that we will probably have to buy a new washer, I might not get that nice camera I've been wanting. On the other hand, now we can get a front-loader!

Today I am thankful for:

• fall break to relax (and break expensive equipment :))
• a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera
• money in the bank to buy a new washer

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

With the cold fall weather rolling in I felt the need to make some cold weather food. I have cold weather food and hot weather food, and the hot weather food doesn't taste good in cold weather and visa versa. So I made this Chicken Chili from Annie's Eats except I made it easy instead of slaving over the oven and the stove all afternoon - I put everything in the crockpot and just let it cook. I also cut the recipe in half. In the future I would not use all the juice from the canned tomatoes. I even added a small can of tomato paste and it was still a little soupy. It's worth trying though - the spices were perfect: just spicy enough without making my mouth on fire.

I also made the Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies for our bake sale at school. They have no butter in them - just oil, totally weird. They had a really good flavor, but they were very cakey. I would make them again for a fall treat. I think I'm going to try these Pumpkin Pie Bars for Thanksgiving this year. I guess I might make pies too if needed.

On another note...Anna:
She had her 2 and a half year checkup today. All is well. She actually sat on a chair and waited for the doctor to come in, got on the the big scale with only a little convincing, and entertained the waiting area. She is meeting all the milestones (jumps, names/points to body parts, can take on and off some clothing, says animal sounds). The only one I'm not sure of - other people can understand 50% of what she says. I don't know - I still don't always understand what she says. I think she knows a lot more than she is able to verbalize, but I think that's normal. She also told me Anna's motor skills are advanced (because she was hanging on the edge of the desk and swinging back and forth and jumping and climbing everywhere). It's things like that that make me wonder if she is really my kid. Really...advanced motor skills? I'm a total weakling, and I am too scared to try anything where I could hurt myself.

I've hit my limit with her coming into our bed during the middle of the night. It all started so innocently. My sweet girl who was sleeping through the night at 2 and a half months started having sleep trouble at around 15 months (that was when life really turned upside down for us). She would get her legs stuck in the bars or would try to climb out of the crib and get stuck on top of the railings, so of course I would have to go in and help her. Well, over time it has changed and escalated to weeks of time when she will wake up at night screaming for me. Since I need my sleep the easiest thing to do is bring her into our bed rather than get into a fight over why she should sleep in her own bed. It's time for that to stop, but I can't cut her off cold turkey. So we are working on a reward system. If she stays the whole night in her "girl bed" then she earns a present in the morning. I bought a bunch of dollar bin stuff at Target over the weekend for prizes. The past few nights when she is screaming for me, I go in, comfort her for a second and remind her that to earn a present she has to sleep in her bed. Guess what? She lays right back down and goes to sleep - I'm a total sucker. I didn't think she understood, but obviously she does because when a treat is involved she has no problem sleeping in her own bed! Kids.

After a week or so I'm going to have to figure out how to get her to go back to sleep on her own without the screaming and drama. Then she'll get presents for that :) A few ideas: put the ipod in her room with quiet music all night, a night light, and just turning the damn monitor off.

Also the dog pooped all over the house, and now Bryan is thinking of ways to get rid of her. And, my kids were wacky today. One boy fell out of his chair 3 times during a half hour guidance lesson and 3 times walking down the hallway. What is going on?

Today I'm thankful for:

• a good doctor check-up
• tomorrow is the last work day this week with kids
• reading with Anna