Halloween Happenings

Our Halloween festivities started on Friday. I woke up at 4:45 to prepare...I had to pack Caitlin's bag, make a crown for Prince Charming, pack a bag with dinner for the school carnival that night, bake pumpkin bread for Caitlin's teachers, and stop at the store for my costume on the way into work. Someone on Facebook commented that I was "too organized." I think organized would mean NOT getting up before the crack of dawn.

 I discovered at 10pm Thursday night that in all my pre-baby cleaning I got rid of my Halloween t-shirt. I'd seen a homemade costume a few years ago that caught my fancy so I bought a bag of candy and tape on my way to school. I was a Smarty Pants. (Yes, I am sure my family is loving that one...I didn't get a picture, but it was a hit!)

The Irishman got to go to the Pumpkin Parade at Caitlin's school. I sent him with the camera so he could take pictures for me!



Friday evening was our school's Halloween Howl. Cinderella and Prince Charming put their costumes back on and enjoyed a few of the little carnival games.



Saturday we headed to Trick-or Treating along the Avenue. It was a bit too close to nap time so Caitlin watched from her stroller. It was SO warm. We did a bit of costume-watching, but left before the parade.



Our Halloween is turning out to have more tricks than treats! Caitlin woke up with a little cough and has a slight fever. It is probably a good thing that we didn't really have any plans for today. It looks like we'll be skipping the beach and spending the day at home!

Happy Halloween!

11 months and a Report Card

I just realized yesterday that I'd never posted Caitlin's 11 month pictures. We'd had computer issues soon after they were taken and I've been playing catch up in picture posting. I do not have the patience tonight to make the collages with the earlier months...I'll save that for the big day. It is only a couple of weeks away!



This week was parent conferences at Caitlin's school. Her 'report card' made me laugh, so I thought I would share...



To Learn About Self and Others:
She enjoys playing with other children with toys. She gets too excited when other children laugh.

To Learn About Moving:
Caitlin is happy walking across the classroom, starting and stopping, increasing coordination in her gross motor skills.

To Learn About the World:
She puts pieces in a soft puzzle. She enjoys doing the activity.

To Learn About Communicating:
She babbles combining sounds such as "Ba, da, da, da", developing expressive language.

Favorite Activities and Special Interests:
She likes to play with toys, but loves to look at books.

Situations or Experiences That Cause Distress:
When she is not given food fast.

 

I laughed at the first and last ones. That's my girl!

If You Give a Baby a Pumpkin....

If you give a baby a pumpkin, Mommy will insist that you carve the pumpkin.

The baby will help....for a while.

After a while the baby will ask for Cheerios while she watches Daddy and Grandpa work on her pumpkins.

Of course the baby will be available to play with the finished product...

and to admire the hard work when the sun goes down.



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Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Kicking Back

Some friends dropped off these PJs when I was in the hospital right after Caitlin was born.



"Dad Taught Me LFC"*

The Irishman fell in love with the pink PJs right away. He has been patiently waiting for Caitlin to grow into them...and now she has.

We put them on her and she was just kicking back and enjoying some time with her friends!



Though that may be more of a cheerleader kick than a soccer player kick!

*LFC = Liverpool Football Club

Pumpkins with Friends

My love for all things pumpkins has been well-documented. I did some research this year and found a new pumpkin patch in South Florida. Figuring we needed someone else there to take our family picture it was a nice day, we invited some friends to join us.

The setting looks nice enough...until you realize the pumpkins come off a refrigerated truck and have stickers on them that say they are proudly grown in Michigan. Then one of the staff members came along to shoo people away from the canal because there are alligators in the water. (We took our gator bait to the far side of the "patch" after this discovery!) This is a real Florida pumpkin patch!

(And yes, the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch in the Methodist Church parking lot come off a truck too, but they don't have stickers.  They pile them up on wooden crates...it isn't quite the same as a farm growing vines to make it look like the pumpkins actually grow there!)





Yes, we were THOSE people. After a quick wardrobe change, Cinderella made her debut.

We arranged some Michigan pumpkins and started snapping away. We even managed to get a few pictures of Caitlin and Johnny together! (They are a year apart...two just under two years old...how did my mom do it with the three of us so close together?)

And of course we each took our turns to get the much sought after family pumpkin picture.

It was a lovely afternoon...Michigan pumpkins and gators and all!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Boo!

Today is Grandpa Boo's 80th birthday!



We have spent all weekend celebrating with him. The main event was Saturday evening at a local restaurant, but there were still almost 20 people at dinner on Friday night.

Grandma Betty had talked about having a mariachi band play at his party for years. Last week a certain Irishman made a few phone calls. These gentlemen showed up and surprised Grandpa after dinner. What a way to kick off the weekend!

I hope he enjoyed it as much as the rest of us did!


(Video of Caitlin dancing along to the music)

Happy birthday Grandpa!

Almost

After a week on life support in the computer equivalent of the ICU, we are back on the mend. My dad performed much needed memory upgrades on the machine last night and it seems to have really helped. The computer has been upgraded from serious to stable condition.

Last night before he left my dad suggested I let the disk defragment overnight. It seems that "overnight" is classified as longer than the 5 hours of sleep I got. The thing is still running so I still can't upload my pictures! Thankfully I am only working half a day today so I hope to have time to share this afternoon!

Water Girl

Caitlin loves walking around the house with one bottle in each hand. She walked from the living room to the kitchen this way....no small feat for  someone taking about 6 steps at a time!

The computer is back, sort of. It is off life support but still in serious condition. We hope to try adding memory to it to improve the situation. I wonder if it could be the 5,000+ pictures of Caitlin slowing it down? (Read with sarcasm, please!) Hopefully we can remedy the situation without altering my picture-taking habits..

Making Daddy Proud

Last night  Caitlin was crying anytime we tried to put her down. At first I thought she was being clingy, but then I caught on. The Irishman picked up a little Santa toy for her on his way home. She had Santa in one hand and the top to her teapot in the other. The problem was that she couldn't figure out how to crawl or stand without letting go of one or both of her toys. She eventually fell asleep holding them. Such a character!

(and yes, the Irishman was thrilled it was his Santa toy)

Light Reading

cough medicine seeking momma + a baby on a new schedule = light bedtime reading

On Naps

The last couple of weekends we've had a hard time getting Caitlin to nap. We'd been on a two nap schedule. At her last few doctors appointments he has asked about naps and has really pushed two two-hour naps. I was happy with two, 1.5 hour naps.

Lately we get a 1.5 hour morning nap and no afternoon nap. Often we are out and about on the weekend so she naps on the go in the car. I finally thought to ask at daycare about the nap situation.

She has gotten into the routine of one nap a day. She eats a good lunch, poops, gets changed, and takes a good nap.

(Speaking of poop...this kid still poops 3 times a day.  Isn't that supposed to slow down sometime soon? I am so sorry for this post for those of you who are here just looking for cute pictures of Caitlin and not discussion of her bowels.)

So, on the napping front I am a bit surprised. I did not realize we were already down to one nap. She seems so tired  by midmorning. I guess we will take her for a walk or somewhere in the car so she can have a short morning doze but not ruin her pm nap. It completely changes the way our weekends will go...

(Still no word on the computer so I've typed this out on my phone. The Irishman's phone battery died last night so this time the pictures are from me)

Awaiting Word

No word yet on the computer, so here are a few pictures the Irishman
took yesterday with his phone. I'm loving the $2 clearance polka dots.
: )

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I know God won't give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
-- Mother Teresa
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Daddy's Under My Spell

The e-mail just came through, so here is your daily dose of Caitlin.

--
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I know God won't give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
-- Mother Teresa
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Well I "borrowed" the Irishman's phone this morning to email myself pictures to post. I must not be smart enough to use his phone though because I have no pictures in my inbox to share with you! Oops!

The quote at the bottom is my e-mail signature. It does show up when I post from my phone, but it does from the iPad. Speaking of the iPad, does anyone have any good suggestions for apps to use in the classroom? Or anything for me that I can justify for school use? ; )

Our computer has a play date with an IT friend who we worked at summer camp with years ago. He read my very detailed explanation of how it got to this point and he seems to think it will be an easy fix. Fingers crossed for this one...

Caitlin and I have colds. Not enough to stay home with, just enough to feel icky. Not quite the mother-daughter bonding I had in mind!

It is going to be a messy week at work. Today is the annual pumpkin project. Wednesday and Thursday we are making paper mâché globes. It is a good thing I am taking a couple days off...I may need it after all that!

This weekend is GBoo's 80th birthday and there is family flying in from around the country. It should be a lot of fun. My awesome husband has arranged from something special for the weekend that I can't mention yet, but it is going to be a hoot.

Well, this has been more than random and picture less. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with good news on the computer front...

The lights are on...

Our computer is in bad shape. The lights are on, but no one is home.
Until we get this sorted, photos are stuck on my camera. For now let's
hope the automatic backup program ran recently...and that this is not
expensive. Sigh.

--
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I know God won't give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
-- Mother Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clean

The home computer froze this morning so I am using my school iPad to post some pictures I had saved. I had a great idea planned for today, but instead you get more bath pictures. I guess it just proves that we do clean the kid...

Next up...Driving?!?!

The Irishman and I posted about Caitlin's first steps on Facebook. Our friend Sue answered back, "Tell me when she is driving." If only she knew...

WW: Fall in Florida

After our trip to the pumpkins on Saturday, we decided to spend 10-10-10 enjoying fall like any good Floridians would...

It was early evening and the shadows were long.

Around here you have to keep reminding yourself that is IS October, so we brought along our pumpkin.

Pumpkins are nice, but nothing beats a few buckets and shovels!

Of course the toys are always nicer on the other side of the beach. Caitlin took off to see for herself...


(The video shows about 17 seconds of crawling on the beach. Interesting only for the family we have spread out around the globe!)

And of course you can't take a trip to the beach without taking a dip in the water.

 

Fall in Florida...I guess it isn't so bad after all!

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