Just Pictures....

Especially for the Grand Parental Units. I haven't done a lot of pictures recently....

Twick or Tweet

Well, we did it. Our first trick or treating night. I know it's funky - we trick or treat here on the Thursday before Halloween; I've never really thought of it before I guess - because we did it that way where I grew up in Ohio too. But my hubby says that it is weird. I think it's a saftey thing.

Anyway. I digress.

She went as a bunny. A white bunny with a pink tummy. Pink nose. Whiskers. And a little pink tale (which she says feels weird when she sits on it). I gotta tell ya, she was a cute bunny! I got her costume at a second hand children's store for less than $5. You GOTTA love that! Here she is in her glory.

Bri says that she even does the bunny teeth. I thought about painting teeth on her face, but she kept making that bunny face, anyway, so there was no need. I didn't have any pink lipstick, so I made face paint (the joy of the internet), and used an old eyeliner for the whiskers. The bucket is a princess bucket from Target; it opens up from the bottom so that you can safely sort thru the candy and pick out what you want after the kid goes to bed :) (Just kidding!) It is a saftey feature though. It worked for us.

She made out like a BANDIT! It's the cute face, I think. And she said "twick or tweet" so nicely, and thank you after each and every piece...and most people gave her HANDFULLS of candy. I'm gonna have to hide the stuff...it's a little sad.

Here she is rooting thru a candy bowl at Aunt Normie's house (thank you Normie & Mr. Normie's dad!) She got presents there too - and read her new book tonight with her daddy before she went to bed.


















Here's her haul. The bag on the floor, the bucket is full, and the pink bag in her left hand is full to overflowing.

We're going to need to go on a diet after this!!

Princess Lulee

Well, as I write, Princess Lulee's creator is upstairs crying. Our new monitor (which is, actually, a used monitor we got at the second hand store) is picking up every sigh and sniffle. Sometimes these things work too well, I think.

Anyway, here is the bedtime story I was told this evening. (Does anyone else see something a little backwards about that sentence?)

"Once upon a time, there was a princess named Lulee. She liked to go to sleep with her pet dragon, whose name was Homemadeish. Her mudder was bery grumpy, and she told Princess Luleee that she had to go to sleep right away, with no fussing! Princess Lulee was not bery happy. And they did not live happily ever after."

I'm seeing some similarities there, aren't you? I'm not sure where Homemadeish came from - I think because we were talking today about things being home made...I'm not sure. Actually, now that we're talking about it, I have no clue where Lulee came from either.

Melanie is definetely becoming a little story teller though. She narrates, and says "he said" and "she exclaimed" and things like "with a deep sigh" - and I'm not sure if she's getting it in books, or in the made up stories that Brian and I tell her. But it is definetely entertaining to listen to her tell stories. They're a lot better than mine!

Today we were on the way to a friend of mine's house because I was getting my hair cut. Melanie was going to go there to my friend Lori's house, and take a nap while I got my hair cut, because Brian was called in to work today, and he was supposed to be off. Anyway, it's about a 25 minute drive to my friend's house, so we were chit-chatting away. She was talking again about Baby Kayana, and how Aunt Nykki feeds her with her boobies, and how that is a little bit strange. She then asked me, "Do babies eat on the daddy's boobies too?" I said, no, that it was just a mommy job, not a daddy job. Her response: "Whew, that's good! Those hairs on the daddy boobies would be really nasty!"

Point taken. That would explain why God gave that job to the moms, huh?

We also talked a lot about how Jesus and God help her do things. She had a whole list of things - from being kind to obeying, to making up songs. That one was pretty funny. She had samples of all the songs that Jesus had helped her make up. The thing is - she remembers her made-up songs, and sings them over and over again. Now, part of that is because she only does 1 tune - but still...for a three year old, I'm finding it rather impressive.

We were stopped at a stop light today on the way to Lori's, and she saw a sign for Babies R Us. She said, "Mom, is that Toys R Us?" (her favorite store). I said nope, that Toys R Us has a "t". She said - "Oh! I get it - that one is B for Babies. Is that how all signs work?" I don't know what little light bulb clicked in her head, but it was pretty cool. She's still all over big signs that have any of the letters of her name in it. Home Depot gets high marks, because it has an M and an E - and she informed me today that those are her two favorite letters in her name.

So, the new haircut. I went thinking I was going to get a little bit trimmed off. I mean, my hair was LONG - down below the middle of my back. I hadn't had it cut since well before last year, and it was pretty healthy overall, but just heavy. It's thick and straight. Not much you can do with it at that length. Here you can see the average picture of me - it's either in a pony tale, or up in the "buns" as Melanie called it. So, I took my little magazine picture of some Herbal Essences woman with the haircut that I was going to get. I got there, and the stylist - whom I've known for a few years - started commenting on my hair when it was shorter, and how I used to tuck it in these little clips in the front, and how well it suited my personality, etc etc etc.

Peer pressure.

So, now here it is. Cut a little above my chin, in all these razor-y layers. I'm not 100% sure of the way she dried/styled it, but I can see some potential here. I'm looking forward to playing with it!! Needless to say, I have a lot of scrunchies and assorted hair doo-dads I won't be needing for a while, but ya know - I'll grow it out again or shave it all off. I have an adventurous spirit when it comes to my hair. It's just hair - it grows back.



Good news: I found a few pictures from the weekend that I had forgotten that we took. Uncle James & Aunt Ashlee, and then Poppy, bookreader extraordinaire! :)

That picture of the story-reading cracks me up. Poppy did the voices of the characters, including singing the songs when Pooh made one up. Melanie was really into it - and the rest of us enjoyed it as well. Poppy is a good sport. Melanie even told me tonight that I didn't read Winnie the Pooh as well as Poppy did.

Can't be the best at everything, I guess!

P.S. - Princess Lulee & creator are now snoring in the monitor. Time tells the real story - she was TIRED!

Need to catch up...

Man, I need to get better at this blogging thing. I know that some people might actually want to read this. (I may be totally decieved there - thinking I'm more important than I really am...but it's a decent feeling). Seriously though, I'm going to forget things of I don't keep up with it, and I sure don't want to do that.

It's been a crazy week. I have a new niece - Kayana. She was born on Friday the Thirteenth - and mom and baby are doing fine. Here's a little picture of Baby Kayana, as Melanie calls her. Brian called her just "Kayana" today, and Melanie got all bent out of shape, telling him that her name was BABY Kayana. It's hard to explain that the baby is not really part of her name. We've said it that way for so long!













We also had a visit from Grammy & Poppy, and Uncle James & Aunt Ashlee this weekend. Do you know I did not take ONE picture? That has to be the first time that's ever happened. Something must be wrong with my clicker finger. Very weird.






Other than that, we're plugging along. Melanie is three - and all of it. She is sassy and moody. My girlfriends who have been through this before all assure me that this is part of the age, but goodness! I feel like I do a lot of correcting - a lot more than I used to, at least. We have had some really fun times as of late too, though. A tea party with real tea (which now she wants every morning) and some great times reading and playing Polly Pockets.

I'm not getting much work done though. Ah well. You only have each day one time.

Speaking of Polly Pockets, I think that there is a "force" of some sort that eats the clothes and shoes. I know that we have plenty, but things just keep turning up missing. That drives me crazy. I wish you could just replace pieces of each of the little kits, but you can't. Which means that the pink and purple swirly shirt no longer has a skirt or pair of pants to match it.

Bummer.

We've really been into the original Winnie the Pooh book by A.A. Milne. I didn't think she'd be as into it as she is, because it is kind of chapter-book-ish, and, well...long! But she hates to put it down! I actually have ordered her some other Pooh books for Christmas from Amazon.com. They'll be here sooner or later, and hopefully I don't forget where I hide them in the mean time. Heck, who are we kidding? I will probably give them to her long before Christmas. I can't keep a present that long.

My friend, Normie, is a Christmas shopper extraordinare. She knows how many days till Christmas already (I think she knew back in January and on June 11th, too), and she already has almost all of her Christmas shopping finished. I haven't even THOUGHT about it yet, except for the books for Melanie. It sure does make more sense to think about it all year long. Much less stressful.

Gymnastics are still going well, although Monday's session was kind of a zoo. The girls were just not focused. But man, they sure are cute in those little leotards with their hair up and bouncing around on that springy floor. Cheryl is their teacher, and I think she is going to get extra jewels in her crown in heaven!

Backyardigans has began season 2. I have to tell you, they are just as good!! So far we have seen three of the new episodes - and we have the DVR scheduled to record the other two that air this week. She really liked the Samarai Pie one that we saw yesterday. More on these as we review our favorites on the DVR later in the week.