Miska Mouska....

Minnie Mouse!!

 Penelope jumped out of bed this morning and said "It's costume day!!!" She was so excited to go to school as Minnie Mouse. Chris said all the preschoolers were oohing and ahhing about the costumes. I guess one kid didn't show up with a costume because his parents forgot (I'd feel terrible!) so as the kids asked him where his costume was the teachers quickly dug through the dress up bin and found him a cape. Disaster averted!

 Since Penelope has been practicing "Trick or Treat" for a week she was ready to hit the neighborhood right when we got home.

 Sitting outside with the Elmo pumpkin. Daddy spent over an hour carving it yesterday. I'm sure the squirrels will enjoy it tomorrow.

 Cutest minnie mouse ever, huh? We went trick or treating with our neighbor and her daughter who is a little younger than Penny. It was the cutest thing ever to watch them walk up to the door and just stand there. They finally got the hang of knocking and sometimes whispering "Trick or Treat" when the stranger answered the door.

All in all a successful Halloween....

...except for one thing. Penelope likes the idea of candy, but not eating candy. After a bite of the "chocolate pizza" (Reeses cup), she spit it out. That was followed by the nibbling of Skittles, a lollipop, smarties and raisinets, which she then declared all of the candy was yucky. I finally made her popcorn so she had some sort of treat on Halloween. Can't really complain about a kid who doesn't like candy, I guess.

Happy Halloween!!!

Our special time

Our mornings are hectic. I try multiple things to make it less so...set out mine and Penny's clothes for the week on Sunday nights, make lunches the night before (okay, I rarely do this), have steel cut oatmeal and fruit ready to warm up and yet I feel like we are running around with our heads cut off by the time 7:15 rolls around. Often times I get to work and think how I had no meaningful interaction with my little girl. Not a good feeling.

A couple of weeks ago as I was headed outside to walk Cece, Penelope asked if she could come. Usually she watches a cartoon and eats oatmeal while I do the 10 minute walk with Cece. This has pretty much been the routine since she outgrew her high chair.  I said sure she could come and quickly put on her socks and shoes. I told her she had to be quiet because people were still sleeping. She was in awe by the full moon and the stars. She held my hand all the way around the block and we chatted about the stars and the animals still sleeping or those who are awake at night. Ever since then she has been going on the walk with me and Cece on most days and I love it. I'm sure we won't be able to continue when it gets bitter cold, but I love how sweet she is on these walks. I almost feel like I'm in a cheesy hallmark card.

Now if I could just get her to keep this attitude after the sun comes up. Last week when I picked her up from day care she ran away from me and yelled "I'm naughty!" When I told her she needs to listen to Mommy she shouted "No, I don't. You aren't a teacher. You are a mommy. Penny listens to teacher!" Sigh...I'll keep treasuring those magical mornings.

Royalty Day

We have a great neighbor who runs a business with her sister called "Here We Go, Alice!" They collect vintage stuff like dishes, clothes, table cloths, paintings, books, you name it and a few times a year have a sale in their homes. I love when I see the "Here We Go, Alice!" sign go up across the street. Last year I walked in and was told they had a dress picked out for Penelope. It was so adorable and about 60 years old that I couldn't say no, even though it was too big for Penelope then. Last week I got a flyer from school that they would be having royalty day and the kids could dress up as their favorite prince or princess. I was so excited for Penelope to wear her unique princess dress. She was pretty excited too, but who wouldn't be for royalty day?

So here it is:

Her little veil...I think it must have been a flower girl dress originally

So adorable

Modeling the train and bow

I was so excited when day care emailed me a picture in the middle of the day (I don't post those in the blog since they have other kids and I don't have their parents permission). I have to say these theme days--stripe day, red and pink day, crazy hat day, career day, polka dot day--they really make my work day. Penelope gets so excited for them and then I get emailed a picture. Kind of lame that I get so excited about that picture but it always makes me smile.

Also, if you want to check out some of the vintage wares, you can find Here We Go, Alice! on Facebook. They have a sale coming up November 3rd at the Urban Cottage.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Photo Bomb

Cece could care less about thunderstorms or fireworks, but turn on the dishwasher and we've got a manic jumpy dog for an hour.* This is why she photo bombed the cute picture I was taking of Chris and Penny...or maybe she was tired of not being featured on the blog....whatever the reason she jumped over 4 ft in the air to get in the picture. Not bad for 9 years old.

*She's also afraid of my dad and other short men and gets antsy around strangers. That's what happens when adopting an adult dog who had been abused. But we love her a ton, even if she gives Papa John a hard time every visit.

Penny's hat 2011

Last year my very first knitting project was this hat for Penelope:

 I thought even if I didn't knit anything else, I knew enough to knit her a basic hat every year to match her snow suit. Well, we all know the knitting habit stuck. Here's Penelope's 2011 hat:

 The moment I took it off the needles Penelope put it on and squealed. She insisted on wearing it all day at  school on Thursday despite the 85 degree weather. Pink shorts, tank top and knit hat. She's got her own style.

 This was my first time using two yarns at once. It was actually a very easy pattern.

Here it is with her jacket. I bought this jacket and the matching pink polka dot snow suit at a yard sale last year. I was so happy to find almost the exact colors in yarn. The pink/purple/blue yarn is a merino/silk superfine blend so it was amazing to knit.
Here's the amusing part: Jacket/snowsuit $8--neighborhood yard sale, 2 skeins of yarn--$16--snobby high-end yarn store 20 minute drive away. I have enough yarn left to make a scarf so she'll have great snow accessories this year!

Want a Sweet 16?

I love 4 seasons! Sure, we could have moved somewhere without such a long winter, but that makes the other seasons even more exciting.  The thing I love about seasons are all the traditions. Pumpkin farms and apple orchards are not a dime a dozen in the southwest. These traditions are pretty limited to the air-conditioned aisles of Target where you fill up your cart with cinnamon laced potpourri decorations to only walk out to 90 degree desert. The idea of driving 20 mins and picking our own apples is so wonderful...and this is actually one of those that is great in reality and not just in my imagination.

We've experienced an Indian summer the last few weeks. It's funny....everyone here acts like it is so rare, but every year I've lived her we've had October days in the 70s. This year it is record setting though. My parents were here this past weekend so they got to experience a beautiful Minnesota fall day at Afton orchards with us.

I highly recommend Afton Apple farm. They actually let you pick the apples. The last two years we went the orchards weren't open to the public to pick so we just bought apples and cider. Afton farms has all the requirements: apple picking, raspberry picking, many pumpkin patches, hay ride, petting zoo, and an enormous play ground.

I can sort of see a resemblance here!

The place was so big that there were acres of different types of apples. We ended up in the Sweet 16  portion. Delicious!

Penelope figured out that carrying the apple bag is not fun for long.

When we got home, Chris looked in the fridge at the big bag of apples he bought the day before at the grocery store. Yup, sweet 16s! We had apple cobbler that night and Chris's coworkers got a big bag of healthy treats to start their week.