Happy Halloween and Cute Pictures of Bean!

Happy Halloween!!!

(picture taken at the pumpkin festival)

and now for cute pictures of bean!!

here are a couple cute-y pictures of bean i took yesterday. she was in a much better mood and actually sat still for more than .2 seconds!! wow!
we sat on the front porch and bean had her first taste of pumpkin seeds- which are "yum" by the way. she was loving on her pumpkins and showing off her halloween tattoos. she has 4 total, one on each hand and one on each cheek! :)

today we have playgroup and the children are all dressing up. it should be super adorable cute... as long as i can get bean to wear her costume! then tonight we are off to a halloween party and trick or treating. i'm sure there will be plenty of pictures taken!
i hope you all have a happy and safe halloween! (i can't wait to see everyone else's little trick or treaters!)

Pumpkin Fun

to get into the halloween spirit we decided to make some pumpkin shaped cookies. we made the dough, rolled them out, cut them out and decorated them. bean mostly enjoyed the decorating part. every time i turned my head she had either the frosting knife or a handful of sprinkles in her mouth!!! (at least this made more sense than the time that i stuck the cookies in the oven and turned to find her eating the raw dough off the table. ha ha ha!) bean LOVES to make things in the kitchen and is very upset if i try to do anything in there by myself. which can be a little aggravating at times but mostly it is fun.
then, after cookies we carved pumpkins!! bean helped me design a face- she insisted on triangle eyes. then she helped me carve out those eyes as seen in the picture. you maybe wondering, why is she crying in the next picture? well, see that bowl of pumpkin guts sitting next to us? she slipped off my lap and half landed in the guts! OH THE HORROR!!!! she did NOT want to touch guts! she cried and cried because she got guts on her! ha ha ha! i couldn't help but laugh.

here is the final product. i gave him triangle eyes with eyeballs! and bean said he had to have teeth so i gave him some funny buck teeth. he isn't going to win any awards but i think he turned out all right. bean loves him and his candle (as long as she doesn't have to touch guts! he he he) and that is all that matters in the end.

now, my job is to convince bean to wear her pumpkin costume to playgroup. she thinks that it is only for trick or treating and if we aren't trick or treating at playgroup then we can't wear a costume. "we don't play in them!" she informed me yesterday. sigh. why does she always have to sound so logical when she disagrees with me?? she is only 2 for goodness sakes!

Best Shot Monday

oh yeah, it's monday.... we had the in-laws here this weekend. it was a good time. bean loved playing with her aunt all day friday. and she was really excited to have her grandma and grandpa join us on saturday and sunday. i'm am now beyond exhausted though. we didn't even do that much! sigh.

here are my best shots. bean, her aunt, and i went to the zoo on friday. these were obviously taken in the aquarium. she has ALWAYS loved the aquarium, since she was wee little. as a baby she would just sit there and stare in awe. as you can see she still likes it... she just doesn't sit quite as still as she used to!

this time when we got to the aquarium she didn't ask to touch the animals in the touch pool. she has the past three times and has chickened out every time. this child will pet a snake in the reptile house but not a starfish!?!? she is such a goof ball sometimes! ;)

it was a beautiful day to be at the zoo. it was cloudy and there was a 50% chance of rain- that meant there was VERY few people there with us- that is always the best! bean even made a new friend! :)

don't forget to stop by tracey's and check out all the great shots everyone is sharing over there!!

Making new friends

when your favorite orangutans aren't in their outdoor exhibit when you visit the zoo, what is a little girl to do????

why, make a new friend! DUH! ;)

this tiger was AWAKE! (a rarity!) we went up to the window, rubbed our hands on the glass (no tapping- glass tapping at the zoo is a huge pet peeve of mine!) and said "hi big boy!" he would pace by and rub his head against the glass where we were standing!! so cool! tiger may be bean's new bestest friend at the zoo. ;)

the weekend with the in laws was fun but exhausting.
hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Overheard this weekend...

saturday, while changing bean's diaper we have this conversation...

bean: mommy, is baby thumping?

me: no, not right now. baby was thumping after we ate lunch though.

bean: (grabbing at my shirt) can i see baby thump?

me: no, baby is still too small. when baby gets bigger you might be able to see and feel baby thump.

bean: not now?

me: no, sorry honey.

bean: that's ok mommy. (then she smiles and runs off to find her aunt)

:)

Mistake!

so, it was a mistake to tell bean this morning that we would be going to the airport this evening to pick up her aunt. she is all super excited and won't nap, won't sit still, won't read books or do ANYTHING remotely resembling rest. she is going to the airport to get her aunt and then to a restaurant to eat dinner!!!!!!!! ahhhhh, OMG!!!!!! you would think there is nothing better in the whole wide world..... she is such a spaz!

note to self: never tell her something exciting this far in advance again....... it is very exhausting!

we are entertaining the in laws this weekend. see you next week!

Thursday's Theme: Glow

today's theme is glow! i was going to take a picture of bean's pumpkin last night for today's theme... we haven't carved it yet! DUH! so here is bean's first two halloween pumpkins. i know, my carving leaves something to be desired! ha ha ha!





that is my glow for today. what is yours? visit tracey and join in the fun!!

maybe we will get around to that carving this weekend....... ;)

Crafty Goodness

here is bean making spiders. she really wanted to make spiders for halloween! so we went to the store and got pipe cleaners and wiggle eyes so we could do it.

we started with painting the egg cartons black. silly mommy had no black tempera paint... she had every other color of tempera but someone insisted on black spiders! (gee, can you guess who that was? ha ha!) we ended up using acrylic! ahhhhh, acrylic with a toddler! scary huh? then we had to wait for them to dry. but, due to the damp air around these parts and the thickness of some of the paint bean applied, dry time extended into the next day.

next, sticking on the legs. lets just say that sticking pipe cleaners through egg cartons is a lot easier said than done!! this was a mommy only part of the project as it involved using a large tack to make holes to feed the pipe cleaners through. (this is also when mommy was cursing the fact that she let bean make 6 spiders!)

then on with the eyes! bean did a great job of sticking on the eyes. they are even kinda straight. ;) the biggest problem we had was that she was insisting on mouths (and still is when she thinks of it). i don't know how to give the spiders mouths and have been trying to talk her out of it. spiders have tiny mouths, so small you can barely see them... just in case she asks you. ;)

lastly, she decided that they should hang above our dinning room table. so, i had to find thread and hang them. i must say they look pretty darn cute up there!!

we also made banana bread today.... yeah, i'm an over achiever. HA! the reality is that i make too many promises (we will do this and that and whatever this week) and she has a superb memory and reminds me to do the stuff constantly until it is done. sigh. when will i ever learn!!!!!

Sprout-y Update

o.b. visit went fine. afp blood work came back all normal. uterus is measuring just perfect. we had trouble listening to the heart beat- sprout would not sit still! we finally got a good position and bean just sat and smiled as she listened to her baby's heart. :) sprout's heart rate is in the mid 150's just like bean's always was. everything looked great. i was told to keep up the good work.

next appointment- nov. 20th.

Pumpkin Fest

here she is- the bean at the pumpkin festival! like i said yesterday it is unbelievably big- they basically shut down the entire town for 4 days. there is more clog your arteries fried fair food, carnival games, and midway rides than i have ever seen in one place! bean loved watching every thing! but mostly she loved the pumpkins!! now i thought that there would be more pumpkins.... but what do i know?!?! ;)


bean looked at the gourds. bean looked at the pumpkins. we told her she could get one pumpkin. oh, that is hard! what pumpkin did she want?? take a good look at that picture there to the left. which pumpkin is she pointing at? if you said the pumpkin with the blue ribbon on it, you win! of course that one is NOT for sale. but the pumpkin man was very nice and offered her the one behind the blue ribbon pumpkin which she decided was ok.


we set it on the ground next to her while we paid the man. she smiled. then she looked puzzled. she looked all around her pumpkin. she looked up at me and said, "mommy where his face?"! ha! i told her that we had to make his face. she said, "oh! ok!" then she smiled real big and hugged and kissed her pumpkin. she really wanted to carry that big ol' pumpkin back to the car herself. of course she could not even get it off the ground... daddy had trouble carrying it that far himself.

she had a great day at the festival. we even broke down and let her ride the pony ride. i have to say that i always feel a little bad for those poor ponies. they walk in a circle all day toting little children around and around. BUT she really wanted to ride it when she realized that the "merry go round" had real horses on it. so we shelled out the $4 to let her walk in a circle. she of course LOVED it.

we will probably go back again next year. she will be big enough to ride the rides then and well, you can't beat pumpkin donuts! ;) BUT next time we will probably stop at this pumpkin farm that we passed on the way there. that way she will get the walking in a field of pumpkins experience too! :)

well, that is it. i gotta go get ready for my o.b. appointment!

Best Shot Monday

it is monday, isn't it? oh dear! guess i better dig out some best shots. ;)
we've got 2 today- a sleepy bean and a happy bean.

first, the sleepy bean... can you all say, "awwwwwwwwwww!" HA! so, this is a shot of bean's all too infrequent naps. (we are down to 2-3 a week. sigh.) i went in to check on her and this is the position i found her in. she had taken off her pants and thrown them out of the crib! and that arm thing looks mighty uncomfortable! the way children sleep is amazing sometimes!

here is the second, happy bean. bean requested a leaf pile to play in. i thought that was funny because last year she was not real thrilled with the idea. this year, it was SO much fun! she jumped, she danced, she sat, she threw leaves in the air, she even rolled in the leaves! when the pile was completely flattened she tried to re-rake it. unfortunately the rake was much too big for her to maneuver, so mommy was in charge of all rebuilding efforts. did mommy get in the pile? of course... could you say "no" to that face?!?! the only thing she couldn't manage to do was get the magpie into the leaves. the magpie wanted NO part in that nonsense!! ha ha!

our journey to the pumpkin festival was a good one. i've never seen so many carnival games and trashy fair food in one place though! wow! i'll share some pictures of that tomorrow.
if you want to see more great shots go visit everyone over at tracey's, you won't be sorry! :)

For Mommee...4 Things

ok, mommee wants me to do this so i will. it is a little difficult though... i don't know if i have four of some of these things!

4 jobs i've had:
1. assistant to director of safety town
2. department manager at a large retail store
3. latch-key teacher
4. department manager at an art/teacher supply store

4 places i've lived:
1. bowling green
2. athens
3. dublin
4. here... dude, i have to maintain a little mystery ;)

4 movies i love:
1. the maltese falcon
2. the princess bride (can quote it like mommee quotes dirty dancing!)
3. monty python's holy grail
4. this is spinal tap

4 movies i want to see: (wow, this one is HARD)
1. the hobbit (when they finally get it made)
2. harry potter and the half-blood prince (when it comes out)
*really sad but i can't think of anything else! i just don't get all that excited about movies anymore. most of them just seem so lame when i see the commercials!

4 favorite foods: (i'm soooo healthy, HA!)
1. cheesecake
2. most things chocolate
3. pizza
4. left over thanksgiving turkey made into sandwiches... that is why we have thanksgiving, right? ;)

4 weird things about me: (hmmm, what isn't weird?)
1. i love tomatoes and tomato soup but i'm disgusted by the thought of tomato juice and ketchup
2. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of coffee (i could sit in a coffee shop all day!) but... OH THE HORROR of the taste! GAG! shudder
3. the sheets and blankets on the bed NEED to be tucked into the bottom of the bed and very smooth or i CANNOT sleep! (this makes my husband crazy because he wants them un-tucked)
*i can't think of anything else even remotely interesting. sorry.

4 places i'd rather be:
1. london, england
2. salzburg, austria
3. on a cool (temperature wise) windy secluded beach... completely alone
4. sleeping...

i'm not tagging anyone... if you want to do it, go for it! ;)

Costume Mania

here we are! we finally got the bean to put on her costume... i think she likes it! HOORAY!

these pictures are especially for my bloggy friend christina and her little girl nadia. see bean loves to look at pictures of nadia and really loved the pictures of nadia in her cat costume. (oh, is it cute!) so she wanted to show nadia her pumpkin costume! :) here it is nadia! what do you think?

i normally wouldn't have taken a picture of an orange pumpkin in front of an orange wall BUT that is where the bean wanted to stand.... and you kinda have to do what the bean wants when trying to get a decent picture! so after 2 shots against the wall she agreed to go outside. (thank goodness!)

yes, she is barefoot outside in october BUT it was 75 degrees out so she was not cold.... she my have been a little hot in that costume! she ran around the yard, went into her playhouse, got the magpie all riled up... you know the usual... all in pumpkin costume. i think this means she likes it and she will wear it again. oh dear, you don't suppose i just jinxed myself do you?!?

we are heading on a road trip tomorrow- pumpkin festival here we come!! bean needs a pumpkin and well, where better to go then a festival that celebrates the pumpkin (and has a generous supply of pumpkin donuts!) oooo, yummy! AND i will, of course, take pictures! so look farward to those next week. :)

hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!

Thursday's Theme: Star

hey, its thursday and our theme is star!

here is my little star strutting her stuff across the stage a few months back. we were at a park and decided to have our picnic in the amphitheater. (we were looking for shade, for the love of pete! HA HA!) bean got up on the stage and started with this... what i like to refer to as her "mick jagger strut". ha ha ha!
you know, someday i will actually take a picture specifically for thursday's theme. although, i wouldn't hold your breath if i were you.... ;)

so this is my star, what is yours?
and don't forget to visit picture this more more stars!

Ms. Smartie Pants

bean is ms. smartie pants now. about 3 weeks ago she suddenly discovered that "m" upside down is "w". then, OMG, "w" upside down is "m"!! that fact that she understood it and was purposeful about doing it was pretty cool. well, yesterday she realized that "z" turned sideways is "n". Holy cow! then she had to find the "n". she found the "n", and what do you know, "n" sideways is "z"!! she kept showing me over and over that she could change "n" to "z" and "z" to "n". how she suddenly figured this out is totally beyond me! boy, i'm glad we have those magnetic letters!!

what else is new? bean has been talking to sprout. last night she looked down at my ever expanding belly and said, "hi there, babers!" babers! HA HA HA! then she said this "you too small to come out. hurry up and get big so we can play!" oh dear! so we talked about how it was still going to be a VERY long time 'til "babers" (tee hee) would be big enough to come out. and she said "yeah, after the snow." i tell you that kid remembers everything! we told her quite a while ago that she would have to wait until after halloween, after thanksgiving, after christmas, AND after the snow is gone before she could meet the baby. so she "knows" but doesn't quite understand the whole thing yet. i just can't believe what she can remember and for how long!!

Went to the insect fair...

... what did we do there? look at bugs of course! this is bean checking out a hissing cockroach. she was told she could touch it if she wanted too but she just wasn't sure. i touched it to show her it was safe but she still looked a little uneasy. i think she was actually a little more afraid of the man holding the cockroach than of the cockroach itself. i mean look at that face! that is a face of genuine interest, not fear. :)

we also got to see bees and spiders and millipedes, and some other bugs whose names i don't remember. there were also a lot of examples of bugs that weren't alive- like beautiful butterflies from all over. AND we got to make several bug related crafts! fun!
bean enjoyed it for the most part. it was very crowded and she was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people around her. other than that i would say it was a success. hooray for the insect fair! ;)

Best Shot Monday

happy monday!

so, there is nothing really special about this picture of bean, it just makes me smile. therefor it is my best shot monday. it is a shot of bean offering the camera some cupcake. NOT me, the camera!!! what a turkey!!

i also like the pictures i took saturday but since i already posted them yesterday..... :)

if you want to see any more "best" pictures, head on over to tracey's! have a great week!

Are you ready for some football?

here is daddy.... attempting his longest field goal of the day- 38 yards. the crowd is holding its breath in anticipation.


the kick is up........it looks straight......it is...... GOOD!





his legion of fans go WILD!!!!!!!!!




this is how we spent our saturday afternoon, family fun in the sun.

so, what did you all do??

Some things are scary

yesterday at library story time the librarian WASN'T THERE. who was there? well, firefighters, of course!

this sounds fun and exciting right? bean likes firefighters, after all her grandpa is one. BUT when i firefighter is in FULL gear- including his air tank and face mask- he is SCARY. bean was literally crawling into my lap saying "i scared, i scared!" of course i had to try to convince her that it was NOT scary in any way. the last thing we want is for her to be scared of a firefighter that is coming to rescue her from a fire. so once he took off the mask i got her to go up and talk to him. she did ok. here is a shot of her waving to me while she was talking to him.

and on the costume front- bean is going to be a pumpkin after all. we took her to the costume shop last night and got her a cute pumpkin outfit. she was all about it last night... today not so much. we are currently trying to get her to put it on so we can take pictures. she is 2, she has other plans. two year olds are like that. that is the problem, one day she can't wait to trick or treat, the next she wants no part of it. so, we have to be prepared with a costume in case she wants to. if she ends up not wanting to... sprout can wear this costume in a couple years! :)

we have a very busy weekend ahead of us. hopefully bean will survive... she hasn't napped in 3 days and there is no possible way she can get one tomorrow. akk!

Thursday's Theme: Walk

today's theme is walk. bean enjoys taking walks. we started when she was about 13 months old. we would walk past one or two houses then turn around and come home. as she got older we started to walk farther. then she learned that there was stuff on the ground she could pick up and carry, like sticks and acorns and crab apples. walking is something we really enjoy doing together.... except when it is raining, below freezing, or above 85 degrees, then not so much! ;)


these pictures are from september of last year on one of our many walks. she was, oh, fourteen months old. she is wearing a poncho that my grandmother made for me when i was her age. it was TOO CUTE. i needed pictures. so i took one of her little waddle-y walk. then she realized- mommy is not following me anymore!!!!! and turned and came running back to me... one of my all time favorite pictures of my bean.

these are my walk pictures. do you have any? do you want to see more? head over to tracey's to see and share!

Ummmm.... Okay?

totally had to share the events of late afternoon because... OH MY GOSH!

some of you may know how weird and annoying my one set of neighbors are. (i've ranted about them before) i will say again that they are nice people just very odd and they, um, DRIVE ME NUTS! ;) my story involves them... here is a tad bit of background for you: they just adopted a baby girl after several years of trying to have another. she is about 2.5-3 weeks old.
now, the story:

i am sitting in the living room with bean playing. i hear voices outside. i look out the window. neighbor lady and her son (soon to be 5) are running down the middle of the street trying to fly a kite. the five year old in a long sleeve t-shirt, the mom is wearing a coat. then i notice that sitting in the middle of their driveway is a bouncy seat containing new little baby girl. new baby girl is wearing a pair of feetie pajamas and a sweater. i can see her bare little hands flailing around and she has NOTHING on her head. it is about 50 degrees out at this time! fast forward about 15 minutes.... i hear the baby crying. i look out. baby is still in the bouncy, older brother is standing at the end of the driveway (about 6 inches from the street) and mom is.... wait a second, where is mom?!?! oh yes, it appears that she is INSIDE. about 2 minutes later she comes out of the house with a plastic bag for the boy and a binky for the baby. this child is still not wearing a hat or blanket. they stay out for another 10-15 minutes!

i'm sorry but that poor little child had to be freezing!!! my daughter- over 2 years old- was chilly when she was out and she was wearing a coat over her long sleeve shirt. seriously, bean's fingers felt like icicles (and so did her cute as a button nose). can you imagine having a 3 week old baby outside today without a hat and blanket?!?!? i'm usually not so judgmental about parenting "choices"- we all make mistakes after all. BUT she is dressing herself warmer than her children AND leaving them outside in front of their house completely unsupervised! this just screams stupidity to me.
of course, what should i expect from them... they let their son help mow the lawn. yes, you read that right, he helps mow the lawn and has since he was about 3. (the let him help push the mower) it scares the crap out of me every time i see it! kids should not be near lawn mowers! gah!

am i right about this? this is a total OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS SHE THINKING moment, is it not? i mean, wow just... WOW!

Weather.... BAH!

soooooo, monday it was 90 degrees, bean wore a tank top and cute little skirt. tuesday was 78 degrees, bean wore jeans and a sleeveless top. today... well, today it is currently 52 degrees and cloudy. there isn't even a speck of sun! and it has actually been getting colder as the day progresses instead of warming up like normal! bean is wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a jean jacket- i'm not sure she is warm enough.
believe me when i say i'm not complaining. i wanted fall weather and i got it. problem is when you have to go from shorts to sweaters in the matter of two days it makes things a little... um, tougher? you see, i usually end up getting sick when there is a sudden and severe change in the weather. i'm keeping my fingers crossed... i got a cold when pregnant with bean that lasted oh, about 8 weeks. ugh! i really want to avoid that! and i don't want to deal with a sick bean either....
wish me luck! ;)

Halloweenie Disappointment

we took bean shopping for a halloween costume. she wanted a pumpkin, we were on the prowl. store number 1 had NO pumpkin costumes, so on to store 2. store 2 had a pumpkin costume, it was kinda cute. i asked bean if it was what she wanted- because that was all that really mattered. well.... you see there was a bee costume hanging next to the pumpkin. bean saw it, bean had to have it- NOW. so, i thought, why not. a bee is a great costume! now we come to the disappointing part... it doesn't fit her right. sigh. she wants it but can't wear it because it is too small. i take it back to store 2, they don't have it in a bigger size and pretty much all the costumes are the same style and don't fit her properly. ahhhhh! so, off to stores 3 and 4 where they have cute costumes BUT no bees OR pumpkins. she will NOT try anything else on because she "don't like monkeys. i only like to look at monkeys at the zoo!" and about a dozen other reasons. so we came home before mommy completely lost it. she claims she no longer wants halloween. WHAT?!?!? she has been all about dressing up and trick or treating since her babysitters told her about it a week and a half ago! i'll have her dad talk to her. maybe he can figure her out?
in the mean time does anyone know where i can get a bee costume? you know, one that doesn't cost a ba-jillion dollars. ;)

Best Shot Monday

since i already posted the picture of her kissing the giant grasshopper tuesday and the nice picture of her walking with her father on thursday i had to find something else.....

how about this one? bean's bare feet in the fall leaves. i had to take a picture to show that it was still hot (and hot is the right word) enough to play bare foot in october! why oh why is it still 90 degrees outside?!?!?! it isn't the world's greatest shot but i kinda like the colors. that and i just love her little toes.... kinda strange coming from a person that can't stand feet, huh? ;)

there is a cold front a-comin'- or so they claim. here is to FALL weather!
if you want to see more best shots, head on over to tracey's!

Cooking Helper

here is my little chef in training! monday we made "apple crist" (for some reason she won't say crisp! ha!) and yesterday we made applesauce and macaroni and cheese. she really wants to help- especially now that she has new aprons!! (her aunt in texas sent them to her)

she likes eating what she makes too. the "apple crist" was good. the applesauce was "mmmmm. yummy mommy!". daddy said the macaroni and cheese was good and asked bean if she made it. she smiled proudly and declared "oh yes, i did!"

this morning she wanted to cook breakfast but i decided that it would be better for me to do it alone this time. it is fun to cook with a two year old but it takes a heck of a lot longer to get things done! ;)
have a great weekend!!

Jinx!

first, i'll say this: this picture is especially for you mommee! because great minds think alike, don't you know! :)

now, on to the jinx... remember yesterday how i said that bean napped 3 out of four days this week. how it was so nice. how i was HAPPY. yeah well, totally jinxed! she claimed she would take a nap today but sat in her crib for an hour and ten minutes talking, singing and playing. you are probably thinking that that is pretty good. yeah, its alright but i find that i can't relax when she is awake. i lay in bed trying to nap but i can hear her and i can't relax enough to sleep let alone rest. bah! should have kept my mouth shut!

Yet another conversation...

in the car on the way home from dinner...

bean: when i get home i get a snack!

daddy: you just ate dinner, you don't need to eat again already!

mommy: no, it isn't snack time yet sweetie. remember if you eat too much you'll get sick!

bean: when my food digests, maybe i have a snack?

yes, she actually said "digests"! we both had to chuckle at that. that kid remembers EVERYTHING you say to her. i don't know how it is possible for her to have so much information in that little noggin of hers!

My Beautiful Bean

here is another picture i took yesterday- no giant bugs in this one! ha! just my pretty little girl in her movie star sunglasses sitting by a waterfall. ahhh, my beautiful little diva. ;)

i must say that at this moment bean is napping- this is the third straight day with a nap! can you believe it! last week she only took three naps the entire week and this week i have gotten three naps in four days! every day i've said, "are you going to nap today?" and she has said "yes." i can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me!

bean has decided that she wants to be a pumpkin for halloween. i don't know where she got the idea but it is better than her first choice- jimmy buffet! ha! (i'm totally serious! daddy asked "what do you want to be for halloween this year?" and she said "jimmy buffet!" i'm not sure how i was supposed to accomplish that!) so now i have to decide if i'm making a pumpkin outfit or buying a pumpkin outfit. i have questionable sewing skills.... hmmmm. maybe i'll go shopping and see what is out there then decide. :)

Big Bugs!!

this morning bean and i went to a metro park to see the large bug sculptures that they had on display. it was quite fun! there were lots of neat "big" bugs- praying mantis, assassin bug, damselfly, etc. bean had a great time helping me find them around the park then we walked the wooded trail- bean walked about a half mile before asking to get back in the stroller!

here is a great picture of bean kissing the giant grasshopper!! how funny is that! i'm so glad i had my camera out and ready!

we also had a little craft time today. last week we made construction paper bats (traced bean's hands to make the wings!). this week we made five little pumpkins! she helped glue on stems and faces. she really did a great job. we first discussed where eyes, noses and mouths go and then i reminded her when she was gluing. the faces are all pretty crooked but their parts are all in the right place! afterwards we hung them on the wall and said the "five little pumpkins sitting on a gate" rhyme. wow... i sound like all those over achieving moms i dislike so much! ha! oh well, we had FUN and that is all that matters. :)

here are a couple more bug shots for you. hope you are all enjoying the fall as much as we are.... it would be better if it wasn't 80 degrees out though! gah!

Conversation

bean asked to sit on the potty (don't get excited- she still doesn't want to actually use it!) and we sat and talked. here is part of our conversation:

me: do you think it will be fun to have a new baby or do you think it will be a lot of hard work?

bean: (looks thoughtful then smiles) i think it will be good hard work.

good hard work. you know what, that is exactly what it will be. i don't think i could have said it better myself. :)

Best Shot Monday

hi! is it monday all ready?!?! ahhhh!

well, we had a great saturday afternoon at the apple orchard. we went with mommee and her boys. bean and adam had a great time together. bean loves them- and when i say them, i mean all 4 of them. my daughter is a very loving person... much more open and friendly then i ever was as a child! it is really great that she has such wonderful people in her life!

anyways, i took MANY pictures at the orchard and could post them all today because they were SO cute BUT i decided to go with my favorite. here is daddy lifting bean way up high to reach an apple at the top of the tree! she was sooooo excited. (she loves being lifted high up- her favorite thing is when daddy lifts her up to touch the ceiling in the house!

i also had to share this picture. after weeks of seeing bigger kids go down the slide on their tummies and scolding them for it (she would actually yell, "no no, on your bottoms!" ha!). she finally got brave enough to try it herself! she was quite proud of herself! she liked it so much she did it 5 more times. :)

thanks for stopping by! and don't forget to check out all the great shots over at picture this!