Friends

We have had a house full of friends all week.  Kate has been having picnics with Gracie, Maddie, Jack, Christopher Robin, and Pooh Bear almost every day.  I have to be careful where I sit and how quickly I close the door behind me when I leave the house.  The other day I sat down for lunch and Kate said, "No, Mom! Gracie is sitting there."  I had to apologize to imaginary Gracie and find another place to sit.  At least this kind of friend is very polite and doesn't make messes.

In case you can't tell, Kate loves Winnie the Pooh right now.  The other day she amazed me by singing the theme song completely on her own.  I think it is too cute to miss, so here you go...

Simple Pleasures

One of our friends recently directed us to the fresh tortillas you can buy at Costco.  Of course, being from Costco they come in a huge package, but you can store them in your freezer, peel off the number you need for any given meal, and then cook them individually.  It may sound silly, but I love these tortillas!  They transform a mediocre meal into something truly tasty.  They are one of those items you come across in life that just make you happy every time you encounter them, kind of like green arrows at traffic lights, puffy clouds, toe rings...do you know what I mean? 

Financial Crisis

There is a lot of talk about the financial crisis and how to rescue the economy right now.  This is the best solution I've heard.

SNOW!

We woke up this morning to snow!  It has been coming down all day long.  The first snowfall of the year just makes you happy.  We have been baking bread to warm up the house and sipping hot chocolate because we are "freezin'" as Kate says.   While we were waiting for the bread to come out of the oven we went out on our balcony and build a "little tiny snowman."  Isn't he cute!

Kate's favorite part was wearing her snow boots and her green fuzzy hat from Aunt Cheryl.

I looked over at lunch and Kate was making her bread crusts into snowmen while singing "Once There Was a Snowman" over and over again.  Oh, the imagination of children!

ABF&G Song

As of today Kate has a new favorite song.  She calls it her "ABF&Gs."  I must have heard it fifty times today and I still think it is the cutest thing ever.  Being one who always has a song running through her head, it is fun to see my little one singing to herself as she plays.

BrainStorm, Inc Halloween

I forgot to write about another highlight of Halloween this year.  As many of you know, Joshua has had some issues with hitting his head lately.  Last year at a laser tag activity at work, he flipped around to avoid a shot and ran directly into a corner, splitting his forehead open in a vertical line right down the center.  My brother Greg sewed him up in my parents' family room and the gash has healed remarkable well over the last year.  Then when we were in Mexico we went snorkeling in a cenote and Josh bashed his head on a stalactite under water.  Then the next day at the beach he hit it again on a board sticking out of a cabana.  One of the greatest misfortunes of these events is that they all happened in the presence of his friends from work. So, on Halloween Joshua arrived at work as usual.  He said hello to his boss and noticed that his forehead looked shinny.  Then a little later another coworker entered the office wearing one of those wigs that makes you look bald with Band-Aids on his forehead.  Josh thought that was kind of weird but didn't think much of it.  Then when he saw a third coworker with Band-Aids on her forehead it suddenly dawned on him...the entire office dressed up as Josh for Halloween! It is nice to be able to laugh at yourself now and then, especially when you know you deserve to be made fun of!

Halloween

Halloween comes at such a fun time of year--right when the fall leaves are at their peak, when you get in the mood to cook and bake again, and you can pull out the jackets and sweaters from the top shelf in the closet.

We went out to Roosevelt this year so Kate could trick-or-treat with her cousin Grace.  They had a grand time.  As we went with them from house to house I was surprised by how the memories came flooding back to me.  It was all I could do to wait for those little legs to walk from one door to the next.  Something inside me was begging to RUN to the next house.  So many places to go and so little time.

Jane was a duck for her first Halloween.  She was happy to be warm and carried around and that's about as in to the holiday as she got.

Kate was a doggy.  She loved the fact that everyone she met was offering her a treat.  Unfortunately, a few people at the beginning told her to take two pieces of candy so she thought that was the standard.  By the end of the night, however, she was brave enough to say "trick-or-treat" and polite enough to say "thank you."

The highlight of the evening was when we first met up with Greg & Shannon's family.  They were at their church just finishing up a trunk-or-treat.  We were running a bit late, thanks to the late Joshua Woodford as his dad calls him, and had missed most of the festivities.  Kate saw the cousins across the parking lot and took off running to see her Gracie who was sitting on Greg's lap.  As she ran up Greg said, "why, hello miss Kate!" and scooped up two handfuls of candy immediately filling her pumpkin bucket.  Uncles are the best.