Happy Halloween!

Natalie was very excited about Halloween this year.

Of course, Halloween starts in the morning:

Halloween breakfast table

Karsten made special Halloween shaped breakfast toast:

Cat, ghost, witches hat, skull and crossbones, bat, pumpkin.

Too tired to really smile...

I picked Natalie up after school, and we went trick-or-treating with one of her friends. It was a rainy day, but that didn't hold us back. Natalie got to choose the costumes for us - she chose that Daddy should be a rock star and Mommy should be a clown. Hmm, wonder where she got that idea from...?

Happy Halloween!

Even though it rained, Natalie got quite a bit of candy:

Natalie showing off her treasures.

Natalie's halloween sign

Every year for Halloween, we leave a bowl of candy outside in case we get any trick-or-treaters while we are out trick-or-treating ourselves. This year, I asked Natalie to write the sign to go with the bowl. She was so proud of it that she decided to make a little video about it:

Halloween Party at daycare

As usual, Daycare had a Halloween Party. And as usual, we had a great time:

Natalie put the face on the pumpkin.

Natalie's costume this year was a peacock. I think she picked it because it was one of her favorite colors (blue), and it was the most glitter and sparkly costume in the store.

Daddy got in on the action, too.

Of course there were cookies to decorate - yummi!

Lots of prizes - like purple vampire teeth.

Freeze-dance! Natalie loves anything that has to do with music and dancing.

The perfect smile!

Library books

Each week, Natalie brings three books home from the school library. Here's her selection for one of the previous weeks:

A book about the planet Neptune, a book about dolphins (her favorite animal), and a book from the Magic School Bus series.The Magic School Bus is an awesome kids show with a lot of science in it, and Natalie has watched every episode of it. 

In other words, her three books were very much "her" - and so very geeky! Maybe we'll have to rename the blog to "Three Geeks" soon!

A photo shoot

Since Natalie just lost one of her front teeth, I thought it would be fun to get some pictures of her. One evening after a shower she was in a good mood and agreed to do a little photo shoot with me. She had fun coming up with the silliest poses:

The worrier...

I am the Champion!

The princess wave.

The happy smile.

The happy wonderer.

The mean witch!

Mommy, Stop taking pictures!

The best toy in the house...

Natalie's friend Aubrilla came over a couple of weekends ago. As usual, the girls had such a good time together. Sometimes it's fun to see where they end up hanging out...

Looks like a very serious discussion...

I had just started a load of laundry, and apparently it was very fascinating to look at the clothes as they were getting whirled around. They spend quite a bit of time there, just chatting along about this, that, and the other thing... I guess you never know what could eventually qualify as "educational toys"!

Another visit from the Tooth Fairy

Natalie had a loose front tooth for a while. It was kinda cool to see how it was being pushed out - it made her front tooth look all crooked:

Yep, that's how the tooth looked - no photoshopping involved here!

She finally lost it (the tooth, that is) back in mid-September:

Missing two teeth: One on top, one on the bottom...

And she was pretty happy about it:

What a pretty smile!

It's soccer time again

Since Natalie loved soccer so much over the summer, we signed her up for a fall season of games. She plays every Tuesday evening, about one hour total including warm up and breaks. And she absolutely loves it:

One night, she even scored three goals for her team!!! She's getting really good at controlling the ball and making it go where she wants it to. On this team the kids take turns being offense and defense. Natalie definitely likes offense better, that way she gets more in on the action.

Who's afraid of the big, bad ladder?

Karsten has been working on building a detached garage this summer. Natalie loves it when she gets to help Daddy. She's even getting really good at climbing up the ladder:

Look, Mommy, I can reach the top!

In this picture, she's up high - really high. If you know me, you know that I'm not too fond of ladders... I don't mind the height, it's the balancing and not having solid footing that I don't care for. But Natalie is fearless! She'll just go for it, and she can't get enough. My big girl. Next time the ceiling needs painting, I know who to call...

In-line skates

This summer, Natalie and I went to visit one of Natalie's friends and the friend's family. Us Mom's went for a run around the neighborhood while the kids played and tried to follow us around. Natalie got to borrow her friends in-line skates:

Mom, don't take my picture. I don't have time to smile, I've gotta concentrate on not falling!

I was surprised at how well Natalie did! She made it around half a block all on her own - of course, she didn't want any help (I wonder where she get's that from...?) I think we'll have to get her a pair of her own next year.

Harvest time

Last year, we had a garden in the back yard. We planted all sorts of veggies and flowers - and ended up with a waist-high mess of weeds instead. So, we took the garden out. 

This year, the only garden we have is a container outside with a couple of tomato plants. Harvest time is still fun, though:

One tomato, two tomato(s)...

The S-word

The other day, Natalie told me out of the blue, and in a very serious tone of voice:
"Mommy, I know what the S-word is."
My first thought: Hmm, Okay, then, time to have a discussion about which words are appropriate to use... Let's see where this goes.

Here's the rest of the conversation:
Me: You do?
Natalie: Yeah, I learned it in daycare. But don't worry, I know I'm not supposed to say it.
Me: Oh... well... How about you get to say it to me once, just to get it out of your system. I promise I won't get mad. 
Natalie: I don't want to.
Me: Well, let's just hear it this once, so we can talk about what it means...
Natalie: No...
Me: It's okay...
Natalie: Okay, I'll say it just this once... the S-word is: Stupid!

Well, not really what I expected, but I'm very proud that she knows that is not a nice word to say!

Little Miss Curly Hair

Do you remember that thing you used to do as a kid where you would braid your hair wet, then wait (more or less) patiently for it to dry so you could show off your new curls? Well, I Natalie found out about that...

So pretty!

End of summer soccer season

On the last day of Natalie's summer soccer season, she got a medal! Her coach complimented her, saying that she was probably the one on his team that had shown the most progress over the season. Natalie was very proud. 

It was a super hot day, so hot that we were wondering for a while if the game would be cancelled. Fortunately, it didn't. Afterwards, we figured it would be appropriate to cool down a bit, so we stopped for ice cream for Natalie:

Happy end of summer soccer.

On the way home, Natalie asked me to sign her up for soccer again soon. So, we did... But that is a post for another day!