More Halloween Fun

This child just loves to be scared! I hope I am right that she will enjoy Spooktacular at the zoo as we plan to go. We also may do a trick or treat costume parade in one of our small beach communities this weekend and try to do a 'fun' spook house for small kids. There is also an event at a wild Cattery outside of town. So much to choose from. So little time (and energy! from Mommy and Daddy anyway!)

Here she is having us all try on the mask and 'being scared'. My mom the grandma was only too happy to oblige.

The prior post was a test post I did one day showing a friend how easy it was to blog, My hubby was sweet enough to pop on and add his 2 cents worth. He really is a keeper.

my sweet girl

Just a pic of me and my girl.

Update: As the husband and father of the beautiful ladies pictured here I am fortunate there is a window available for the whole world to see just how lucky I am.

Early Halloween Party

We went to our first costume party as a family. It was a riot, Jamie had a blast! The party was a costume themed party where the theme was a real life game of Clue. Mike was Mr. Green so he dressed in green, Jamie was Cinderella so I decided to dress as a witch as Jamie just loves the witch at Walmart. Well I went all out, painted my face green and got a long dress and cape at a thrift store, topped off with a witches hat. While Jamie was napping the afternoon before the party I painted my face (with a mixture of baby powder water and food coloring which was fine til I washed it off, then my face stung for 24 hours!). When Jamie woke up from her nap I went in there with a cackle and she cried! She was scared and cried for at least 3-4 minutes! Then she was almost giddy, "Mommy face is funny" she said over and over again.

Anyway this party was a hoot, they really did it up, the kids (about 15 or so, where roaring around the house looking for clues and everyone dressed up.The hostess was Miss Scarlett and the Host was Sherlock Holmes, there was also Professor Plum, Col. Mustard etc... There was wonderful food, and games and a bounce house (which Jamie loved), a pinata and plenty of party favors, like mini magnifying glasses, mini flashlights,ball paddles, tattoos, and candy. Oh boy was Jamie ever jacked up!

And then she was quite cranky today during the "Oh we are just at home?" let down. I had my mom over tonight though and we lit up all the pumpkins and played Halloween music and had a bit of our own little party.

The party continues this week. I think Halloween is going to be big around here for the next several years.

Dogtoberfest

Saturday we went to the library for Toddler art and afterwards decided Jamie needed some time at a park. We stumbled on Dogtoberfest in our local downtown park. It was really cute, Jamie really enjoyed see all the doggies in costumes and the weather was great. We had a bit of a drizzle for about 10 minutes but it wasn't too hot. First prize was a St Bernard wearing sunglasses and a purple sequined outfit - he was a Pimp! They also had four dogs as the Wizard of Oz - Dorothy, the Lion, Tin Man and the scarecrow. Another top winner was a chef with a pot with a dog dressed up like a lobster inside the pot. So cute. We kept thinking we would see some of our dogloving friends there, but we didn't. Maybe next year we can make it a group outing.

Jamieisms

"Go to the circus Mommy?"
Jamie went to the circus with Aunt Patty and Uncle John a couple weeks ago and now she asks to go again...quite often. She also asks to go to "Kirstens party mommy?" How do you explain the concept of an event to a 2 yr old?

"I tired Mommy!"
This is said after tears and meltdowns when she didn't get a long enough nap. For some reason at daycare she only naps for 45 minutes or so. She is the last one to sleep and the first one to wake up. It doesn't help that they nap at 12:30 when Jamie really isn't naturally tired til 2pm. Also they weren't giving her her lovey.

"Go see the witch Mommy?"
As you can see my girl is a go go goer. She would go see that witch at Walmart every day if we took her. It stands about 5 feet tall and laughs maniacally and has a skull that she swings in front of her that lights up. Jamie just loves it. But I don't think she is ready for Halloween Horror nights yet.

"I wanna play my puzzle"
Jamie just loves her puzzles. She can do the 24 pc puzzles that are meant for 3-5 yr olds pretty quickly. We may need to move up, but the next step is 100 piecers which I don't think she is ready for.

"Wanna go on the big toilet"
This girl is pretty much potty trained! And she prefers the tall toilet to the potty chair. Works out good for 2 parents who aren't fond of scraping feces out of a plastic pitcher.

"Daddy?"
When my blackberry rings she thinks it's daddy. Even when I am calling it to find out where it is.

"I wanta see _________"
Fill in the blank - Grandma, Aunt Patty, Unka John, Ander, Aunt Cinda, Aunt Chris, Uncle Bruce. I have been keeping my girl from her social calendar lately. We need to get out more and visit folks now that we are all healthy.

My proceeds from the consignment sale

I am relatively satisfied with my proceeds from the recent sale. Despite bringing back over 100 items when the sale was over I sold 87 items for a total of $288.50. After the $10 fee and the $100.98 commission I netted $177.52. (Of course I also spent about $120 in the two sh0pping trips I made there - one at the early bird sale for the consignors and Sunday at the half price sale. The picture above is of me and my friend Cinda who also consigned and bought from the sale at the Sunday half price sale.

Well I will be taking those 100 items back to the spring sale and hope for a new crop of folks more inclined to buy what I had- and I probably need to reprice some of it more reasonably. I couldn't believe all the holiday gear that was still there on Half price Sunday - I guess its something that we all buy alot of but the kids don't wear out.

I was happy to see that 6 of the 8 pairs of shoes taken were sold, the Octagon Baby gate sold (probably for $16 as I didn't see it Sunday morning at the half price sale) among the other items that were mostly clothes and a most of the baby toys I took. My neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend, if I had some way to hang up stuff I would think about putting it out and giving it a shot, but we will probably skip it. Our time is just too valuable anymore!

Was it really a hummingbird?

The other night I was making dinner - Pork roast with injectible marinade (you know the stuff that comes with a hypodermic) and Homemade Black beans and rice - yum - anyway I went out to check on the meat and had the camera as I was going to blog about my indirect cooking method on the grill. I came around the corner and what should I see but a tiny whirring set of wings in the plumbago.




I was out there so long taking pictures that Mike poked his head out, "What are you doing out here?"

Doesnt the Plumbago look nice against our house? It matches our old fashioned sky blue aluminum siding and makes it look almost stylish. Anyway what do you think? A hummingbird?

TGIF, Cool weather and Halloween is coming

Finally we are facing a weekend with all of us healthy for a change! And the weather has turned it is finally in the low 80's for a high and the nights and mornings are cool enough to wear a sweater. This used to be the time of the year that I would start feeling a bit depressed, in Michigan the winters were long and grey - you would hardly see the sun between October and April. And here this time of the year means no more use of our pool which I dearly love (as does Jamie!). Jamie and I took a little swim on Sunday and it may be the last time, the water temp was about 76 degrees which doesnt sound cold, but it was a bit nippy. Usually during the summer the pool is between 86 and 92 degrees.

I took the stuff to the consignment sale this week. Initially I had over 200 items, they turned only two down, one for a snag and one for a stain, and also they sent back about 25 sleeveless dresses to bring back for the spring sale. As a consignor I was able to shop at the early sale this week, and I spent about $100 on some costumes, toys and a few clothes. One of the dresses was a beautiful boutique purple velvet dress and I paid $10 for it but it is simply gorgeous. I also got a couple Princess costumes, the Yellow 'Belle' Costume which is better quality, but a bit too large for Jamie this year, and the Blue Cinderella has the tulle bodice torn, which I am going to try to fix it as this one fits her better now.

I really scored on the toys. I got lots of Princess toys that appear to be new, most are in the box and I am saving most of them for her birthday and Christmas which will be here before we know it.

Jamie is simply wild for Halloween this year. She loves to say the word SCCCCCCAARRRY with a charming little trill in her voice and loves to go see the witch at Walmart who stands about 5 feet tall and cackles maniacally. I initially got her a Batgirl outfit but she is so Princess all the time I kept looking for what I thought she would really love and am glad I could find some Princess options for her. (Walmart didn't have any Princess costumes for Toddlers for some reason). I will take the Cheap Batgirl costume back. (some of these costumes can't even be hand washed, they are barely put together and fasten with velcro instead of buttons, no hems and tulle for bodices! If you buy something cheap that you arent going to use at Walmart - don't make the mistake I did one year at Christmas. Any holiday items purchased at Walmart must be returned BEFORE the holiday, they just won't take it back after the holiday passes, receipt or no receipt.

Oh and Jamie went Poopoo in the toilet this morning! This was so very calculated - she did it first thing this morning, we both sat in there and practiced nursery rhymes while she sat on the potty and low and behold - 'PLOP'! We were both so excited we took a picture to show Daddy. I almost want to post it here, but I guess I won't I know a couple readers wouldn't like it. If I could figure out how to make it a click through hot link I would do it...Anyway we are going to do panties this weekend and see how it goes. Which means I guess we need to stay close to home. WHat are you doing this weekend?