Halloween 2009

Here are some Halloween photos.

Dana and I picked out pumpkins on Wednesday afternoon, and we carved them that evening.

Dana was really proud that she could pick her pumpkin up. It's pretty big!

Both girls helped scoop the innards out of their pumpkins, and then they worked on separating the seeds from the pulp while Kevin and I carved the intricate designs they had selected.

I carved Dana's pumpkin. If you look carefully on the left side of the mouth, you can see a bit of toothpick surgery.

Kevin carved Nora's pumpkin. She thought Dracula was pretty swell.


Two years ago, we carved our pumpkins and displayed them on a hay bale near our front door. One night when we got home, there were deer under our porch roof, munching on our pumpkins! The girls were furious, and they have NOT forgotten. They insisted on keeping our pumpkins inside this year so the deer couldn't get them.

And this is what we found this morning. The deer didn't get them, but the in-floor heat did. Gross! I made Kevin bring them out to the woods so I wouldn't gag. I washed the floor where they had oozed, which was bad enough.

Nora went as Dorothy, which was so cute. I found a pattern and sewed her a costume, but shoes were a problem. I ended up making her ruby slippers. The only sequins I could find were in a bag with 14 different colors, and it took about an hour to sort all the red ones out from the mixture. It took another 90 minutes for me to glue them to her shoes with rhinestone glue.

Now, before you get all crazy and start lecturing me on the fact that Target sells red glitter shoes and has for years, let me tell you that story.

About 2 weeks ago, we went to Target to buy the aforementioned shoes. Unfortunately, they didn't have any red ones in Nora's size. So we tried on the black glittery ones until we determined her size.

On Tuesday, I went to Target and found the right size in red: 12 1/2. When Nora got home, I proudly took them out to show her. She tried them on and proclaimed them much too big. So on Wednesday I exchanged them for a size 12. When Nora got home, I proudly took them out to show her. She tried them on and proclaimed them much too small. So we had a little chat and determined that the 12 1/2 was the best choice. So on Thursday I attempted to exchange them, and, of course, they were gone. None in 12 1/2. And that's when I headed to Michael's for sequins and glue.

Here she is in the Halloween parade at school. There were many other Dorothys, and I even recognized the few that had been sewn by moms using the same pattern I used. Ha! I am glad to not be the only nut.

And here are the girls last night before leaving to go trick or treating. Nora as Dorothy, Taylor as Super Girl and Dana as Lavagirl. I sewed the 3 trick or treat bags, too, because clearly I have much too much time on my hands. Or something.

Anyhow, I am glad Halloween is over so I can move on to Christmas sewing and knitting.

Everyday

I just uploaded photos from the camera and found a few cute everyday photos.

Here's Nora waiting for the bus on Hat Day at school. Slipper Day is coming soon...

So much time is spent coloring lately. Usually, Nora staples a bunch of paper together and they make books. This day, they dug out coloring books to shake things up a bit.

And Duplos. They never seem to lose their charm. This day they were building mazes, which was pretty fun to watch.

Adventures in the City (Cities)

We got up early on Saturday and drove to Minneapolis/St. Paul for the day.

We visited the Science Museum of Minnesota:

Daddy is helping Dana move the dinosaur's jaw. It's hard work!


Then we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum:

We made our way to the Mall of America to visit Nickelodeon Universe:

The whole family enjoyed the Dora ferris wheel.

We also visited the American Girl store at the MoA, and walked out only $16 lighter. Not bad! Nora got glasses for her doll, Elizabeth, and Dana got a bath set for her Bitty Baby, Dizzy. Let me point out that Dana named her doll herself.

We ended our fun with dinner at Chuck E. Cheese's. The food was...well, if you can't say something nice... The girls had so much fun in the arcade though. SO much fun! They are still talking about it! Of course, the memory card was full and the batteries dead by then, so no photos.

It sure was a fun day!

Dana's First Day of Preschool

Dana started preschool on Wednesday!

She was so excited to start school! She was up and dressed by 8am, despite the fact that school doesn't start until almost noon.

Standing in front of the classroom, waiting to go in. We got there a wee bit early and the teachers were not quite ready for us.

Posing in front of her cubby.

In the car with a snack!


Dana loves school! The paint is always out, there are lots of kids her age to play with, and there's even a turtle.

First Snow

Nora was the first one up this morning. She was halfway down the stairs when I heard her frantically yelling, "MOM! COME LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!"

I figured there were some deer under the porch roof or something. I did not expect to see white!

She got on all of her winter gear, grabbed a bowl, and went outside to collect snow.

And when Dana woke up a little while later, she put on her winter gear, too, and grabbed a bowl, too, and went outside, too.

I was very happy that I had the foresight to figure out snow pants and parkas a few weeks ago. I wasn't as fast with boots, but Nora was good in her galoshes and Dana squeezed her feet into last year's boots (with a lot of help and wrangling). I will be measuring feet as soon as they come in.

Now, I realize most of us Minnesota folk are not thrilled with snow on October 10. But I have to admit I am OK with it. The kids will be happy to play outside again (fall is so iffy around here), and I feel all cozy, with my banana bread in the oven and my coffee next to me. And really, once it's cold, does it matter if there is snow or not?

Gymnastics

On Saturday, we went to a gymnastics birthday party for Josie. This time, I brought my camera.

There was an inflatable castle, but only one child was allowed at a time. Here, they are waiting in line. And friends, you can't stage this kind of love. Nora and Dana are becoming such good friends.

This rope goes all the way up to the ceiling, which is 2 stories tall. All of the party guests wanted to climb to the top and toot the horn that was attached to a pipe on the ceiling, but nobody could get any higher than this.

Except for Nora.

She could make it all the way up. But she was shy about it and didn't want anyone to notice, so she wouldn't toot the horn. And I was too busy holding the rope steady to take a photo. But I sure was impressed!

Nora jumping on the trampoline. Uncle Sam and Aunt Lizzie have a trampoline in their yard and Nora can do awesome flips and bounces. Unfortunately, flips aren't allowed here, so she just worked on bouncing as high as she could.

Ben, Josie's cousin, and Dana work on trampoline moves.

Nora has something to show you

Ta-da!

Nora pulled out her first loose tooth last night!

She's been wiggling it for about a week, and last night she climbed out of bed, went into the bathroom and pulled it out.

She turned on the water so she could wash off the blood before showing it to us, and (you see where this is going) it fell down the drain.

Luckily, Daddy has plumbing skills and he was able to take apart the drain and retrieve the prized first tooth. Phew!

She spent some time like this, checking out her new look.

Here she is showing off her tooth fairy bag.

We went to the fabric store on Saturday to pick out something for a tooth fairy pillow. Nora loved this kitty fabric!

Unfortunately, when we got home I realized I don't have any fiberfill, so I made a little bag instead of a pillow. But I did applique a pink tooth onto the bag.

Nora woke up this morning and found her baby tooth gone and $5.00 in its place! Apparently the tooth fairy has deep pockets!