Natalie Loves Pumpkin Roll

Because even before it's made, she gets to go through two whole beater-lickings: one for the batter and one for the frosting. 

Copycat

Here's some footage of our Halloween spoils

They say that you get a good, objective glimpse of what kind of parent you are when your child starts to model your behavior. Well, I caught Natalie this morning sweeping the kitchen floor. I must be awesome.

Couponing, Halloween, Ladybug Bed

I love Kroger and Target. But mostly, I love that Publix accepts their coupons as competitor's coupons so I can score major awesome deals like this haul from Thursday.

It may not seem like a ton because it wouldn't stack very easily to show it all, but it's almost $60 worth of groceries and I paid $2.18. The real cool part? At least half of it was fruits and veggies. It's easy to score a zillion bottles of free soy sauce, but when I can get a great deal on food that is actually nutritious, it makes me feel like I'm doing a good job as a mom.

The groceries included:

1 package celery

1 package spinach

1 package carrots

7 bags of frozen vegetables

1 bunch of bananas

4 cans of tomatoes

a bag of pears

2 cups of yogurt

1 jar peanut butter

2 dozen eggs

4 packages pierogies

10 protein bars

Natalie heartily approves

And, I had a cute video to share from halloween, but my battery died, so I'll have to post it later.
Basically, Natalie liked trick or treating a lot. Micah didn't want to take her to very many houses, but she was having fun, so he was lame and sat in the car for the latter half. Everyone was so happy to have her trick or treat at their house and gushed about how cute she was. I was worried that she would be too shy. She definitely wasn't her cute, smiley self, but she came out of her shell a little bit and said trick or treat and thank you, even though at times I was the only one who could hear her. Natalie did a lot of walking and I enjoyed the nice weather. It was shorts and t-shirt type weather. Yeah. And here it is November 3 and we still have to turn on the a/c in the afternoons. Ay, the south.

Anyway, she was definitely interested in the candy part. Here, she enjoys some chocolate before bed:

Speaking of bed, Natalie has not been having it. Like, any of it. A couple of days she protested taking a nap and was a nightmare at bedtime and as Micah went in for the zillionth time to quiet her down, she was hanging quite athletically from her crib, screaming her head off. So, the cage-submission-sleep-method that we have been going with is no longer going to work I guess. We already had a bed in her room, but we took her to pick out some bedding to finally make it "hers". She opted for this lovely pink-and-green ladybug motif (after I refused the disney princess garb because I think that they make bad role models) and so far we have spent two restless nights and fitful afternoons trying to get her to sleep in it. I'm pretty sure that if we just let her chose her sleep schedule, she would just never sleep. Which is a problem. 

Orange+Oil=Candle

I saw this cool instructables on making candles and had to try it. Turns out it works! Good to know for next time I'm out of batteries and candles during a power outage but have some citrus fruit around. Okay, so its not really that practical, but it sure is neato!

And here Natalie shows off her pumpkin eatnpark cookie

Berry Patch Farms and Trunk or Treat

On Saturday, we got in our fall festivities by heading north to a farm in the morning and then attending our church's trunk or treat and chili cook off in the evening. 

Berry Patch Farms was small, but good. They had all the essentials- a hayride out to a pumpkin patch, some farm animals for Natalie to oogle at, and a stand where we could buy a hot dog and a fried raspberry pie. Mmmmm.

Natalie's Halloween costume was handed down from my sister, who made it for her daughter when she was one. I got compliments on it all night and Natalie looked adorable.

First-time-ever post-pigtail hair messiness!

Ahoy, Wilmington!

So, last week, I took the little princess up to Wilmington, NC. We stayed with my Dad while Micah was at his conference in Orlando.

Unfortunately, there was a huge tropical storm remnant stuck over coastal NC from Monday onward, so we had to come up with some more interesting things to do than go play at the beach. Though, we did get to play at the beach on Monday morning before the clouds rolled in and Natalie had a blast. She didn't quite get the point of my sand castles and wasn't at all impressed by my magical pail-mold skills, but she thought that it was fun to knock down my towers after I made them. And she wanted to go in the water, so like an idiot I thought I would just let her wade. It took about 3 waves before she managed to soak herself head to foot.

One of the best days we enjoyed was at the children's museum. We were there for 5 hours and Natalie still had to dragged away and rushed through the last few exhibits.

Here, at the pretend dentist's office, she brushes a dinosaur's teeth.

They had a teddy bear doctor's office, a tree house jungle gym, blocks, puzzles, puppets and other toddler toys. Then, downstairs was a science exhibit. I expected it to be above her, but she LOVED it.

Next time we're having trouble passing time, I will have to pull out a bulb syringe! At this station, she LOVED squeezing the colored water and mixing it in her little dish.

We stayed there so long, I had to entertain myself and mix some colors.

Here, Natalie remains oblivious to the magnets that she is supposed to move around into pictures from the cards and instead has a blast shuffling through all of the cards

They had a wonderful arts and crafts area. Natalie got to paint and use a glue stick for the first time. Both the painting and collage were very messy and difficult and it was hard to restrain myself from grabbing away her supplies and doing it for her. I eased my control anxiety by instead making a painting and collage of my own.

Ahoy, Wilmington!

In addition to the children's museum, we went to the aquarium. We loved it, though Natalie was very unhappy because about 3/4 through, I couldn't carry her anymore. I wanted her to walk from tank to tank and then I would pick her up and show her the tank. But she didn't want to walk and she melted into the floor and kicked and screamed. So our trip was shortened a bit.

We did enjoy just hanging around the house. Natalie was very excited for the change of scenery. She loved pumpkin and anabeth (dogs) and all of the new toys and avenues for destruction. We had both Sammy and Nick, so it was a little crazy. Sammy behaved very poorly, but Nick was sweet as always, though pumpkin awakened within him amorous longings of which I didn't think him capable.

Here, Natalie picks the strawberries out of Grandma's Special K

Playing dress up with a box of princess stuff.

It was a great trip and we are excited to go back for Thanksgiving. Natalie loved Grandma and Grandpa and Gabby. I was happy that she took so well to them so quickly, since she can sometimes be shy and clam up. I guess it helped that Grandpa had a cookie jar.

Micah's conference was a huge success. It's too bad; I was rooting for a colossal failure so that Dr. Gaylord could see that he really gave Micah too much to do. Now, he can feel validated and load Micah up with too much work in the future without concern. Grr. 

I Scream, You Scream

Just thought I would show off to my sister Darlene, who got a defective carton of Breyers Blasts Reeses PB Cup ice Cream a while ago. THIS is what it should look like when you dig into it. 

And here's Natalie playing with the baby we're watching. They've been entertaining each other quite well. But it's impossibly hard to get either of them down for a nap. The other can't stand not being paid attention to and cries, thus keeping the other one from going to sleep. Urgh. It drives me nuts. Second children must just get used to falling asleep easily under whatever circumstances.