A Toddler Christmas

I know this post should be about all the wonders and magic Christmas was with a 2 year old. I should share smiling pictures like this...yes, she is wearing her 12 month pajamas she wore last year and they fit perfectly.

I could also tell you about sledding on Christmas Eve and the joy in her laughter across the snow banks
...but it would mainly be lies. The main facial expression looked like this:
(By the way the retro knit hat from her great grandmother looks a lot cuter when she smiles)

For the past few months, I've said "oh, 2 years old isn't so terrible. I love how excited and animated she gets over the littlest thing" That's very true, but the same amount of emotion is put into the tantrums. Here are the conclusions I came too this morning after dealing with tantrums Monday evening and 2 hours of tantrums in the middle of the night!

1. I am a huge wimp! If all women were like me, the world would be a lot less populated. The thought of going through this multiple times boggles my mind. I'm trying so hard not to give into the whining, crying, stamping etc, because then it is just worse the next time she wants something, but boy, it is tough! Is she harder than other toddlers? Probably not. But when she is screaming on the floor in Target, and I handle it wrong my mind races to the future. "I gave her the sticker book to stop her from screaming. This is probably the gateway to gangs, piercings, and bad grades." That was the first thing I said to Chris when we get home. My worrying gene is in overdrive with every decision I make.

2. Working moms should just deal with it. I feel extra wimpy because I'm a working mom. It's sad when I add up the number of hours I'm with her during the week. If you count the hours she is awake, it is maybe 3 hours a day on the weekdays and that is including the time when I'm getting ready in the morning while she is eating oatmeal and watching PBS. All of you out there staying home with your toddler full time, I'm in awe. I went online today to find Toddler Parenting classes through the Early Childhood Education program here in Mpls. They have quite a few classes, but only on weekday mornings so not possible for working moms. Guess I'll be going back to the library to read up on more toddler books. Any suggestions?!

3.Karma sucks. I'm stubborn and as a kid I could have been employed as a professional whiner. Just ask my parents. There were instances where I caused both of them to get in the car and drive away rather than deal with me. As Chris pointed out, if I'm in a bad mood then everyone else around me better be grumpy. No sunshine-y outlook if I'm pouting, thank you very much! Penelope seems to have adopted this as well. Do you know that poem about the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when she was good she was very good, and when she was bad, she was very bad? That was written about me and Penelope.
4.This too shall pass. I know we'll get through this. I hate the feeling of dread to go pick her up at daycare. How terrible is that? I work all day to fund research for children's cancer, and then I go home just hoping we can make it through without a meltdown in the 2 hours before bedtime. We actually did have a meltdown free tonight with a lot of concentrated effort by Chris and I to entertain her and keep her occupied the entire time.

5. The rest of the world thinks I make this up. According to the teachers at daycare she is pretty easygoing there, and they can easily redirect her. She definitely is not one of the big tantrum throwers so they are surprised when I ask them about it. (once again, wimpy mom...how do the moms with the big tantrum throwers do it?!) So I'll leave you with a picture of the way everyone else sees Penelope:
She LOVES this hat. I only let her wear it on warmer days...you know, over 20 degrees. Anything below that, and I juggle the options of frostbite or tantrum about the hat.

(Thank you for dealing with my complaining. The amount of sleep I get is directly correlated with the shade of my rose colored glasses. After last night, there is no tint left in them)

Merry Christmas, Dad!!

My dad's Christmas present is a blog post. Weird, I know, but a few weeks ago we got an email saying he had too much stuff and can't fit anything more into their house. Instead he has been inspired by Penelope and her "I Got A Bed" video. For his Christmas present he wants each of his kids to write down what makes us yell "I Got a Bed" Here were the options for our Christmas homework...ahem...gift!

1) Write out your “Perfect Day” – what would you do, who would be there, what is the weather, describe your perfect day.

2) What are the 10 things that make you the feel the best, either in your whole life or just this year. Things you did, things you like to do all the time, events that happened, beds you were given etc. Then let me know what was it that it made you feel – you were proud, you were just happy, you just enjoyed the tranquility.

3) What are the top 10 things on your “Bucket List” and why

Dad,

I was going to send this to you in a card, but I've been procrastinating and thinking about it so it got too late. Plus, it all started with a blog post so it makes sense that you get mine on the blog. I'm going with #3. I thought it would be the easiest, but there's some stress in it. I mean what if I put it on my bucket list, do it, and then it wasn't bucket list worthy? Do I have to add something else to the bucket list? See, why I procrastinated? Also, there are many things I'd say are bucket list worthy that I've already done like live abroad, visit Italy, see Broadway shows, hike the grand canyon...oh, wait, I wimped out on that one...

Anyways, this is my "bucket list" as of today, subject to change and not in any specific order:

• Dance the fox trot with Chris at our 50th wedding anniversary. I guess I'm a romantic at heart. We'll be 73 years old and hopefully both laughing, still in love, and spry enough to take dance lessons again.

• Take Penelope camping in one of the big national parks. I really want to go to Yellowstone or Yosemite. Plus, I want Penelope to have memories of camping like I do.

• Visit Turkey. I know this is an odd one. While we were living in NY, I checked out all of Rick Steves' videos from the library. I watched Greece and Turkey because I wanted to know about Greece and instead fell in love with Turkey. I want to stay in those cave hotels on the side of the mountain.

• Finish 1001 books to read before you die. I'm almost at 200 books if you combine all the lists. So annoying that they keep coming out with new editions. Since there are now close to 1300 I've decided as long as I get through 1001 I will have accomplished this goal.

• Play the violin in a local symphony/ensemble group. This one is harder than the others. I feel like I should set a goal, like if I start now I might be able to join a group when I'm 50.

• Keep my house clean, organized and DECLUTTERED! Okay, this isn't so much of a bucket list as "This is the type of person I want to be" I think you get this one. I'm trying to get better. Nothing makes me breathe easier than walking into a somewhat clean and organized house...too bad it doesn't happen very regularly. Maybe it is because I still believe in the Spic and Span Fairy, instead of taking a half hour a day to keep things in place and clean up.

• See Penelope happy in life in whatever she chooses. I know I can't shelter her from everything so I know she'll have hard times and ups and downs like everyone. Oh, and I'd like her to not think I'm a crazy embarrassing mom...is that possible? Probably not.

• Volunteer in a 3rd world country. I've gone back and forth on this one. First, I should volunteer in my own neighborhood. We have so many immigrants trying to assimilate here that there's really no reason to fly to Africa or South America to be helpful. Second, I've heard from people inside international aid non-profits that it usually isn't very efficient to be training and sending volunteers on a weekly basis compared to having people give money for people to live in the countries and train the actual citizens. BUT...I always hear how rewarding it is and eye opening/change of perspective it is to volunteer in a very poor country so although this sounds like an altruistic goal, it is probably more about me and understanding my world than the change I could make.

• Take Penelope to Disneyworld. Okay, by #9 I'm kind of wracking my brain on what else is on my bucket list, and it seems Disneyworld should be there. I want to wait until she is around 5 or 6. That's when I remember you and Mom taking us and the Seguis. I remember one specific moment. We were all eating lunch on a bench and you came around the corner with puppets for all the kids. I was so excited to get Minnie Mouse. Then lo, and behold, Mary Poppins and Bert showed up. It was everything that Disneyland should be to a kid. I'm going to love seeing Penelope's face when she sees all of the magic.
• Learn to snowboard\water ski\ cross country ski. Okay, these should probably be 3 separate ones. I guess out of all 3 the snowboarding is higher on my list. I'm not sure why. I liked skiing as a kid and everyone says once you get the hang of it, snowboarding is so much better than skiing. And there's fun clothes and accessories :)

So that's my bucket list. Not sure if there are any surprises, but I'd say those are all big things that would make me yell "I Got a Bed!"

Merry Christmas!!! (I must say this is a lot harder than buying golf accessories and books, but I was just joking about the homework comment.)

Merry Christmas All! This is Chris's X-Mas assignment. I have to agree with my lovely wife that this is much harder than it looks. Here's my bucket list.

• Learn to play the guitar. I've always harbored the secret desire to learn to play a musical instrument. Even though all evidence would suggest that I have no musical talent what so ever. Just ask my parents about my foray in playing the trumpet in my elementary school band.
• Create an original recipe. As most of the readers of this blog know, I like to cook. I'd really like to develop my own recipe. I just haven't a clue on what that would be.
• Finally write that story that is always running in my head. This might be getting a little deep...but I have some what of an over active imagination. As a lover of Science Fiction and fantasy I must have come up with a million of my own stories but just cannot get past putting the first word of chapter 1 down on paper.
• Write another play. Have you figured out that I fancy myself the creative type? Back in high school and for a project in college, I wrote a couple of plays. Always enjoyed writing lines. Mostly because I like to make myself laugh.
• Scare the crap out of my daughter's boyfriend. I am sure John can agree on this one. (Again mostly because I like to make myself laugh).
• Buy/Bottle a cask of Scotch whiskey. O.k this one is a little bucket list a little if I win the lottery. I love Scotch...not in the I am an alcoholic and can't make it though the day without kind of love, but it was apart of one of the greatest experiences of my life way. It would just be cool to sign my name to something that has been sitting for 12-20 years and would be unlike any other Scotch in the world.
• Enter a recipe in a cooking competition. This goes sort of with # 2. Would love to see how my cooking would match up against other peoples.
• Visit Sweden/Norway. My family takes a lot of pride in their Scandinavian heritage. It would be cool to see the place my ancestors left in order to settle in Minnesota of all places. You'd think after living in the land of ice and snow, they might try a warmer climate.

Unfortunately, it is rather late and while I know this isn't the full 10 items requested, I think I've bared my soul enough for those in reader land. I hope you all have a healthy and happy holiday.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

Surprise!

This past weekend the Strand trio drove down to Kansas to surprise my cousin Amy for her 30th birthday. Her husband Cory has been planning this for over 6 months. Two of her friends from elementary and middle school even flew out for the weekend. We had a blast! I didn't take too many photos, but there's a lot of pics on Facebooks of the full weekend including the surprise.Out on the town! (Julie--I got lots of compliments on my flower!)
Penelope, Charlotte and Julia (from oregon) Saturday night 11 of Amy's closest friends went out on to dinner and for drinks in KC. Chris and Cory were at home with 4 girls under 3! Talk about husband brownie points, huh?
Penelope was amazing the entire trip. We borrowed a DVD player from Jackie Lee so she got to watch all 3 of her favorite Elmo videos during the drive. She loved staying at Aunt Jo's house...pancakes for breakfasts, cabbage patch kids to rock, playing outside with dogs...what's not to love?
Molly and Penny are BSCF (Best Second Cousins Forever!) They played so well. No "Mine", no whining or squabbling. It was wonderful!
The two girls having their first sleepover. Only 27 years until Penelope surprises Molly for her 30th birthday!

Pajama problems solved!

My sister-in-law surprised me with her As Seen on TV knowledge. I was skyping with Christopher and Jenn a couple of days ago, and she said, "teenagers could wear pajama jeans." I was unaware of this new technology in fabric. She sent me to this:

They look like workout pants with jean stitching on top. Hilarious! Funny that it comes from someone with such good style. Jenn--have you been watching too much tv at 2 am?

Penelope probably isn't going to get a pair of pajama jeans anytime soon, but her NY grandma is keeping her in all the styles. Check out her jeggings:

I think they are probably the most comfortable jeans she has since they are mainly spandex. So if you want to get the toddler in your life some jeggings, check out The Children's Place.

Reuniting with snow

Penelope doesn't remember the snow from last year. She saw it a couple of weeks ago, and she played in the snow at school so I thought she'd love an afternoon outside after the fresh snow we got during Thanksgiving break. It took a little bit of time...

She was mainly horrified by snow covering all of her outdoor toys. The car behind her also had a big chunk of ice I wasn't able to chip off the seat. This catastrophe requires full tears and screaming.

She'd like me to stop photographing her while she screamed. Is that bad parenting?

She then got very gloomy...

...until she got in her swing. Then things turned out okay.
She quickly learned that we could pick up the snow dad was shoveling off the driveway and throw it back onto his shovel.

I think hiding behind our little garden fence is the equivalent of a 2 year old snow fort.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: a mural?

This garage is directly across the alley from our garage. We don't know the neighbor very well. She spent the summer repainting it red...and then last month this appeared over a weekend. I'm not sure of its meaning. There's fines for not painting over grafitti, but I guess if you paint your own garage it counts as art. The raccoons are a tad spooky at night.

Parenting perspective

The other day on Facebook I saw the following status:

If you allow your teens to wear pajama pants out in public in any context other than accidental sleep walking, shame on you!

This friend is very into fashion and I figured the post was part jest, so I didn't comment, but is this really a big deal? It is kind of strange that high schoolers are still sporting pajamas since I was doing it about age 13-15, but I think that shows the kids' reasoning behind it. It's those who want to show a non-conformist attitude, even if a bunch of them are doing it in a pack. For me and my friends it started at the end of middle school because we'd wear boxer shorts or pajama pants over our leotards before our dance and gymnastics classes. Then one or two girls wore them to school and soon it was a large group of the girls in drama class wearing boxer shorts and pajama pants to school.

Recently I heard the argument that allowing kids to wear pajamas to school is disrespectful and teaches children to be lazy. It does not prepare them for presenting themselves in the real world. I actually heard this from an old high school friend who used to wear pajama pants and is now a teacher doing quite well in the real world. My parents were huge sticklers for manners, but I never once remember my parents putting up a fight about me wearing pajama pants at school. Maybe it was because my wardrobe was a mix of cute dresses, salvation army vintage finds, and pajama pants. I wanted to be eccentric, retro, and fun all at the same time. They never had to worry about me going out in revealing clothes. I think that would have definitely brought up a struggle. I actually didn't hear anyone judging the silly style until I was way out of it. In my opinion if your kid is going to rebel, it could be a lot worse than pajama pants. Not to say that there weren't kids in pajama pants smoking behind the building, but there were also extremely well-dressed kids doing underage drinking every weekend. In high school kids are trying to find themselves, and I have a hard time believing that styles point to the good kids and bad kids.

Right now I tend to lean to the "pick your battles" parenting, rather then the New York Guiliani "Stop all minor crimes including jaywalking and you'll stop the major ones". I know in hindsight my parents have many things they would have changed while parenting teenagers. The three of us gave them a run for their money with the piercings, questionable parties, schoolwork, boyfriends, religious quests and all sorts of things. I really doubt if I asked them what they would change they'd look back and say "I really wish I didn't let you wear pajama pants." We'll see how I feel when Penelope reaches that age and wants some quirky teenager style. I'll just have to remind myself of this post and ignore any feelings of other parents judging me.

Sleepy girl

You know how I was so nervous about the big girl bed? After seeing Penelope try to climb out of the crib, I was certain we'd hear her walking around the house at all hours of the night. Well, I had no need to worry. For some reason she automatically assumed she shouldn't get out of bed until Chris or I come to get her. At 5:45 every morning we hear "mama, mama, mama, I get down." If we are playing in her room she has no problem getting in and out of her bed, but during naptime and bedtime she knows to stay in bed until we come in the room. Once it started happening I thought "wow, maybe I should have thought to tell her to stay in bed and wait for mommy and daddy. Good thing she figured that one out on her own!"

Here's how she looked the other day during naptime. Dolly is required at all naps and bedtime now. I love pictures of sleeping kids!
Can I tell you the one thing Chris and I dread the most in terms of sleep? It is napping in the car. I know some parents love when their kids nap in the car, but not us. If she falls asleep for 15 minutes or more, the real nap is shot. She took a 20 minute car nap at 11 am this morning and it completely killed any chance of the 2 hour afternoon nap. Cranky cranky girl by bedtime!

But sometimes she expends so much energy early in the day that she can't wait until that afternoon nap.

This picture was taken a couple a weeks ago. Minutes earlier she was twirling around in her tutu and then everything seemed to annoy her. The fact that Cece was sitting on the couch, the music on the tv, her toys getting in her way. So I pulled her into the chair to give her a hug, and she was out like a light. She napped here for over an hour. It was earlier than her usual nap, but okay since she got a nice long snooze. She woke up in a much better mood!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: SMILE

These were taken a few weeks ago. Penelope now will smile on command when I say "Smile! Say Cheese!"
This is a sort of manic "CHEESE!" face.
Right now Dolly is her best friend. Dolly does everything Penelope does. It is adorable. (Any tips on how to clean Dolly's very matted hair so Penny can brush it again? There are bits of dried oatmeal stuck in it too)

Flirty by Thirty--5K Diva Dash

Left to right-- Jenny, Carly--First time 5Kers

Kelly--experience runner

Me--First time 5Ker in very obviously soaked sweatpants

Jackie Lee (not pictured missed the race due to a cold)-Returning back to running after doing a marathon a few years ago

All great cheerleaders who kept me going the past 10 weeks!

I completed my first 5K. I'm saying first because I really want to do another one minus the snow conditions! I wish I could say I ran the full thing; however, I will be honest and admit that I walked 30 seconds after my 35 minute playlist ended. I couldn't even see the finish line and was so frustrated. But I turned Beyonce back on and started running again to end with a ridiculously slow pace of 13:15 minute/mile. The week before I completed a practice 5K with a 11:30 mile pace, which is still more of a turtle trot then a diva dash, but the idea of running 35 minutes straight had seemed impossible 10 weeks ago.

If any of you want to start running or jogging or plodding in my case...whatever you want to call it, I highly suggest downloading a Couch to 5K podcast. I've tried to start this program about 6 times since high school and never made it past week 2. The way it works is you run a certain amount of time and then walk, each week increasing the amount of running. Doing it with a stopwatch was near to impossible for me, so this time I looked up some podcasts. I never found one that really matched my music tastes, but I found one that had enough songs I knew that kept me going. http://runningintoshape.com/ She lets you know when to start running and walking. Plus, her story is pretty inspirational. She was morbidly obese and through diet and exercise, mainly running, she is slowly losing all of the weight.

I can't say that I love running. There were days where the best part was just making it to the cool down. Some days it did feel empowering during the run. Of course, I almost always felt better afterwards, but I wouldn't call that a "runner's high." I get that high if I do a cheesy jazzercise tape in my living room. Coming from a family of runners who love to talk about running and compete, this whole 10 weeks was sort of a mental barrier for me. As a kid you could always count on me to be dead last in the PE run, which was a joke in our family since my mom was a PE teacher. How embarrassing on school open house nights when she met my PE teachers! I rarely ran the whole distance in PE because I was last even if I ran the entire time. I definitely never broke the 10- minute-mile mark to earn a B. I'm jealous of my mom's current students who use heart rate monitors. It proves for some students a 12- minute-mile really is getting their heart rate up to 200, and then they can improve with that as the baseline.

Maybe things have changed in the past 15 years since many non-athletic people now run. Finishing in the top only seems to matter to the small group of competitive runners. Especially in a 5K race, it's like most people say "yay for exercise! Let's go run a race and get a t-shirt!" That was inspiring on Saturday. We were all there together being crazy people running in the first snow storm of the season. It didn't matter if I was at the back of the pack. So I'm going to sign up for another one with the goal to run the entire way, and then I'll see where I go from there. There's one on New Year's Day that has a really nice fleece lined windbreaker for all runners....hmmmm...is that worth running in 10 degree weather? I might stick to my indoors aerobics videos for the next couple of months and wait for a June race.

Adult Hat: Attempt #1

. Ever since I made Penelope's hat Chris has been saying "where's my hat?! I want one with ear flaps" Making his hat I learned all sorts of new techniques. I knitted those darn ear flaps 3 times and kept messing up when trying to create the brim. Once I got those done it became easy peasy, and a short 3 hours after creating the brim I was speeding along. That is until I didn't read the pattern correctly when I had to shape the top and it ended a tad short...like 2 inches too short...and I'm not advanced enough to figure out how to rip out a bunch of decreasing stitches for 12 rows.

Doesn't it look sort of like a Renaissance Fair knight's hat or something?
It is even worse in the back. His neck would be very cold.

So even though I didn't want a grey hat, it looks like I've got a cute one that fits :)
It might be a while until I feel like tackling those ear flaps again. Chris will probably get his hat in July. (Don't worry, he has about 5 amazing hats his grandma has made him over the years. He'll get through the winter.)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: the hat

I got her to wear the hat I made. It fits!!

...kind of...

A Busy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!! We had quite a busy halloween. This morning Chris carved 2 pumpkins. I shamelessly stole the kids hands idea from Young House Love. I think it turned out pretty well:Penelope's holding her doll wearing the hand knitted Halloween sweater from Great Grandma. Yup, even her dolls are spoiled!

Penelope and I had to leave the house so The Great Pumpkin could visit our house with an extra special surprise. I dressed her up in her costume, and we went off to the Cake Eater costume party where we met up with lots of other kids.

Next it was off to the park.

Then it was home for the big surprise!!!

The "I got a bed!!" went on for about an hour. Yes, a big girl bed. I wasn't ready for it, but Chris and I both witnessed her trying to get out of the crib. Rather then deal with a head injury, we decided we quickly needed to get a big girl bed. I had planned to just get a twin bed because the toddler bed seemed kind of silly and unnecessary, but I think I want to get a nice loft twin bed. She's too little for that now. So I browsed Craigslist for about 5 minutes when I found this very Dr. Seuss looking car-bed. Best part is that her crib mattress fits in it, and we got a great deal. It even has a sunroof:Penelope wanted all of us to get in the bed at the same time.
"Bye mommy! See you later!"
Here's the important part...she napped in it!

We are wary about the night though. We often wake up at 3 am to "Mama, I get down". We ignore it and she goes back to sleep in a few minutes. That is truly the beauty of a crib. We'll see how it goes this week. Chris is sure we are going to have the entire family in our bed at some point tonight.

Anyways, back to Halloween. We went trick or treating with our neighbors. Penelope loved it. She didn't really get the words Trick or Treat down pat, but she said thank you about a dozen times at every house, sometimes when they answered the door.

She had a packet of M&Ms right before heading off to the dreamland highway in her Thingamajigger (that's the name of the cat in the hat's car in case you don't watch the cartoon :)

Our ABC rock star

I'm not sure where Penelope learned to use a microphone, but she loves to do it. Here she is singing the ABCs in english and spanish and a few other songs (sort of).

Wordless Wednesday: Leaves

Dana and Meeenie

Let me introduce you to Penny and our neighbor Brenna. Or as Penelope says "Dana and Meeenie"

Penelope is very into turns right now. If we are playing with the ball she points to who gets it next "A daddy" "A Mommy" "A Mi!" Well, every time I'd throw it to her I'd say "To Penny". Now she has decided to put the two words together. Any time when she used to say Me or Mine, she now says "Meenie!". So in the morning it is "meenie's oatmeal" , which I will agree that usually in the morning she earns the nickname, but most times she is so sweet that I'd rather she didn't tell her new friend at the playground her name is Meenie. Sheesh...we adopted a dog from a shelter named Sissy and changed her name because we thought that was such a sad name for a dog even if she was scared of everything. Now our daughter calls herself Meenie. I guess it could be worse...Chris has called her Pooper enough times that it's pretty amazing she hasn't started introducing herself as Pooper P.

Pumpkins and apples

September and the beginning of October was unseasonably warm for Minnesota. Like 85 degrees when it should have been 60 degrees. I was raking piles of leaves in a tank top and shorts. Although, I enjoyed it, I kept postponing our apple orchard visit because I wanted Penelope to wear a cute fall outfit. Well, last weekend it dipped to the high 60s and off we went to Minnetonka Orchards. In life's ironic way, I pulled out the camera, snapped two photos, saw the battery light blink, say "Oh No!" and the camera was dead! Here are the two adorable pictures...isn't it a cute fall outfit?
I'm pretty sure Chris thought I was going to hyperventilate. All the picture perfect moments and no camera! I took a deep breath and told him "You know what, I'll just enjoy myself and not worry about pictures." And we did have a great time. There were all sorts of barnyard animals, a folk band, a great hay ride through the woods and yummy apple and pumpkin treats. Penelope kept gravitating towards the little kid train that went around the corn maze. It was about a 8 minute ride and almost the entire time she would not be able to see us. Chris was sure the moment the train turned the corner she would scream her head off. I decided he was probably right, but she wanted to go on it so bad. I bought the ticket, put her in the little seat, showed her how to honk the horn and off she went with a huge smile on her face. She was definitely the youngest on the train. Chris and I walked around with worried looks as if we just sent her over the pond to go to school at Cambridge. It's pretty silly since we drop her off at daycare every morning, but she knows all those people. Soon enough we heard the train coming around the other side of the corn maze. Lo and behold, there was Penny honking her horn. She saw me and Chris and started waving and blowing kisses. Chris shook his head and said "that kid is all you!" I gave her a huge high five when she got off the train and she said "Mama, mas train!!" and promptly threw a tantrum when she couldn't go around again... definitely just like mommy.

Halloween Part 1: Como Zoo Boo

I love Halloween! I especially love going to many Halloween events so you really get to show off your costume. I remember having various homemade costumes in one year: one for school, one for gymnastics class, one for trick or treating. So much fun. Now that I'm a mom I love making cute costumes....errr...I mean picking a costume from a big box store with a red bullseye as its logo. And I will say I had a tad bit of guilt when Penelope shrieked with glee over the Elmo costume. I promise I'll let her start picking next year...well, unless I find a unique cute costume that I can't pass up. You've gotta admit there was no way an Elmo costume would be this adorable:

Where's Penelope the gnome?
Oh there she is!!

I should have gotten her a Miss Piggy costume because she can be such a ham! :) (Dad, I know you laughed at that one)

Hiding behind the tree with daddy
I'm so much cuter than him.
The Como Zoo Boo was a great night! We will definitely go again. It was so cute to see her figure out how to trick or treat and say thank you to all the dressed up volunteers. By the end of the path she was running up to everyone giving high fives.