Painting Pumpkins with Daddy, Little Chu, and Her Daddy

Stinky gets very excited to see her friend Chu. Just yesterday my DH came home from work and knelt down with his arms open exclaiming Stinky's name. Stinky said, "Chu, car" and started walking toward the car. I had told her that when Daddy came home that we would be going to Chu's house for dinner. My DH was a little heart broken, but it is exciting to see her bond with someone and be excited to see her.

During Sunday night football the mommies stepped out to shop for materials for Halloween costumes. The daddies were given one task; Art during half time. Chu and Stinky had fun painting pumpkins with their Daddies in an effort to get ready for Halloween.

Dancing Fool!

Stinky loves to dance! Dancing is such a great way to blow off steam, enjoy life and laugh together. I make sure our family has plenty of dance parties. And it shows! We have been to 6 weddings this year and when I mention we are going to one, Stinky immediately does the dancing sign. (For those of you who don't know we have taught her simple sign language.) She can sure tear that dance floor up and entertain the older folks while she does it.

A Walk in the Fall

Living in the city and particularly in an area where we are surrounded by cement, Stinky doesn't get a chance to walk and explore nature often enough. As we were running errands this morning we passed by a park filled with trees and leaves blowing everywhere. Spontaneously I decided to stop. (For me this spontaneity doesn't happen often.) I am glad we did.

I noticed as she swung on the swings she would lean back and look up into the trees. The trees had just a bit of sun shining through. As I looked up I realized how calming and relaxing this view was. I never would have experienced it without Stinky taking it in first. When she was done swinging we took a little walk. We collected all sorts of different leaves. Stinky was excited about the leaves until she saw the 5 squirrels playing in the trees. Taking her lead we stopped and just watched the squirrels for some time. She asked me what they were, she told me they were eating and had questions about what they were eating and why they were chasing each other. What a great experience! To stop and experience the world around us. To stop and observe without time restraint and through the lead of a toddler.

I was so thankful she took me along with her in this little adventure. Thanks Stinky

Stinky's Halloween Party

According to my husband I cut off a little more than "we" could chew. After an all day drive home from a weekend's trip we had to prepare for Stinky's Halloween Party. I had decided to make Jack-O-Lantern fruit salad. I had seen this in a magazine.

The end product turned out cuter than I had expected. The fruit inside included pomegranate seeds, oranges, pears, apples and grapes. The children loved it and the fruit inside was really good. Not with out the help of my DH. He carved each orange even when it start to hurt.

Now what to do with the leftover orange guts. Any ideas?
I am sure the orange juice will be good though.

Pumpkin Patch

Stinky really enjoyed the pumpkin patch we visited. There were so many pumpkins all over, she attempted to pick up a few but realizes they were a bit heavy for her.

A rare site. I realized recently that we don't have too many family pictures of us so it was nice to get a picture where all three of us could be seen.
The best part for her was hanging out with her BFF. They really enjoyed chasing each other through all the pumpkins and playing in the little maze they had for the children. We refrained from buying pumpkins here because they were a bit pricey, but the experience was fun non the less.

Halloween Here We Come!

We excited for Halloween this year. Stinky is a little older and she really enjoyed helping Daddy put up the decorations. We are a little limited as we live in a condo, but the fake spider webs and spiders is a good start. In the next few days we will make some more decorations to add to the inside.

The fake spiders bothered Stinky at first. When I pulled them out of the package she pulled away and would say, "no, no, no". A little more exposure and she was ready to hold them and hand them to daddy when he needed them.

I am not sure who enjoyed it more Stinky or Daddy. He spent quite a long time placing, replacing, analyzing and then replacing all the spider webs. He was surprised about how much fun he had putting it.

Swim Lesson's

It was very important to me that Stinky take swim lessons this summer. My DH never learned how to swim and when I met him he was very uncomfortable in the water. I love being in the water and have my whole life. I wanted Stinky to feel confident in the water and enjoy it as well. She learned a lot. She loves jumping off the side, putting her face in the water and swimming to the edge and she climbing out of the pool as well. The only part she really did not like is floating. We are still working on this technique.

Her enjoyment and confidence really shined through when we went on vacation soon after finishing swim lessons. She loved going under water, kicking and swimming toward daddy and myself. She is a little scary now because she will just go under water with little notification and just start going. We have to be very vigilant in watching her. But her excitement when she hits the water is the greatest joy to me.