The Christmas Parade

Last weekend, we went to the yearly Christmas Parade:

Waiting patiently for the parade to start.

The firetrucks were pretty loud...

But it helped when we got the first candy.

There were lots of pretty things to look at.

Wow, that's a big ballon!

Hi, Elmo!

Guess where we went last weekend?

That's right, the Sesame Street show was in town!

Natalie was very patient while we waited for the show to start. Of course, the blue Icee she got also helped.

Most of the first part of the show she looked like this. Don't worry, she's having a good time. She's just not smiling because she's too busy taking it all in and enjoying the show. And yes, the blue stuff around her mouth from the Icee did come off eventually, about a day later...



For most of the second half of the show, she was standing up in front of the seats, dancing and clapping along. It was awesome. In fact I'm not sure who enjoyed it more; Natalie watching the show, or me watching Natalie watching the show!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a tradition for Thanksgiving - it's the day we put up our Christmas Tree! We had such a good time with it today:

"I got my stepstool, but I still can't reach the top..."

That's where the star belongs.


After all the ornaments came out of the box, it was the perfect place to hang out.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A phone conversation

This weekend, Natalie was playing around in her play-area. I was sitting on the floor a little bit away, mostly just watching her while she was playing.

She picked up the phone from her play kitchen and had a conversation on it, complete with pauses to listen, etc:
"Hello... Uh-hmm... How are you doing... Okay, Bye!"

Then she put the phone down and looked at me while she said:
"That was your Mom calling. She said she was doing good."
Then she kept right on playing, not skipping a beat.

That comment made me smile.

My Mom passed away more than ten years ago.

What a smile!

What is this girl so happy about:

SMILE!

Well, decorating Halloween cookies, of course! Who says we have to wait until Christmas to bring out the colored frosting?

The yummi and colorful result!

A thought on Veteran's Day

Last night, Natalie wanted to look at the flags she got at last years Memorial Day Parade.

We spent some time talking about what the 50 stars mean. And we counted the stripes and talked about why there are thirteen of them.

Then she looked at the other flag and asked "What does that mean?"...

I told her it was for us to remember some people that were far, far away.

Because there are things you should not need to worry about when you are two years old.

Halloween artproject

A few weekends ago, Natalie and I made a ghost family:

In case you are wondering, they are made out of various coffee filters, kitchen towels, and napkins, along with some cotton balls, yarn, and googly eyes. And per Natalie's instructions, we made a Mommy ghost, a Daddy ghost, a Natalie ghost, and a Grandma ghost. You get to guess who is who!

Halloween Party at Daycare

On Wednesday, there was a Halloween Party at daycare. Karsten also dressed up... The roadie and the ladybug...

One of Natalie's favorite things was the ghost bowling.

Of course, decorating cookies was also a hit.

The bean bag toss was another favorite.

And Natalie got to hammer pegs into this poor pumpkin...

She looked for white rubber skeleton in a sensory table full of flour.

I think this picture shows Natalie's opinion about the party. Yay!

Happy Halloween!

We had so much fun trick or treating yesterday! We started right at 4PM, and Natalie kept going until it was almost 7PM! By then she was so tired that she could barely walk, but she still wanted to go to just one more house...

Most of my pictures from yesterday look like this, though: Natalie going full speed ahead, just enjoying it and having fun.

Most of the time, she walked around at her own pace, just looking at all the decorations and the other kids' costumes. I think she enjoyed the whole experience as much as the candy. And she was really good at saying trick-or-treat at all the houses, and she always remembered (with just a little coaching) to say thank you.

I did get a little video of her sitting in the wagon, after we had gone to the end of one street and were heading back to the car to go to another neighborhood:

As for the candy, well, her Elmo bucket got really, really full, and quite heavy. After she got to bed, we sorted the candy a little. Here's what she got - or rather what she brought home, as she ate quite a bit while we were out and about, too:

Now, I don't think a 2 1/2 year old really need all that candy, though I'm sure Natalie would disagree...