Friday, October 31, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pumpkin Carving and Crafts

I was planning on blogging last night but after installing the updates on our computer, it hiccuped and wouldn't completely log into windows. One word - SUCKS! Thankfully, my dear brother Mike the computer genius walked us through safe mode to create a new sign in and eventually able to re-log into our old page. However, while everything seems to be fine, all our bookmarks are GONE! Ugh, so unless we can find a file with them backed up, we will have to recreate them all. I am trying to look at it as a way of major cleaning since many of them were old, didn't work etc. Of course its still annoying, but its better than a dead computer right? Been there, done that, not fun!

Monday morning Ariel and I went to her dance class. Since we arrived early, I took advantage of the time and tried to do some fun arty shots of princess. I wish the light wasn't so harsh on these, but the look is kinda funky, so they are still cool.


Waiting for her friends to show up.


Tiny dancer.


Ken was out late that day and didn't get home until close to midnight. He was the master of ceremonies of the Richard Williams event downtown. If you are an animator, then you know what a big moment this is! He will be blogging about it later so check it out if you want to know more about his experience meeting the legend himself.

Tuesday morning I woke up and was having a really rough day. I decided to go to the moments for moms just so I could get a bit of a break and Ariel could play with other kids. It was a clothing exchange that morning and I got a few cute tops for myself and a purse for Ariel. She was thrilled!


Since Ariel was such a great girl in the nursery, we came home and made soft pretzels together. They turned out wonderful and very tasty. We had to find something to fill the afternoon with... Ariel has seemed to have given up her naps at the moment. Trust me when I say I miss them, but I guess it was coming. It seems to be helping bedtime, so I guess its all good. So afternoons will become craft and baking times together.


When Ken got home he took Ariel to the grocery store for me while I finished dinner. On arrival with the forgotten broccoli, I also found they had picked up another little something, some pretty flowers for me. Ariel stood proudly holding them out to me, it was very special. Thank you my sweeties.


After dinner we got busy carving our pumpkins. Here is their before picture, kinda like a makeover eh? Hee.


Ariel was really into it this year... or more so playing in the guts. Haha.


Mommy's job is to clear out the guts, I get faster every year! Whee! These pumpkins were really nice this year. Ariel picked out some good ones.


Ken then comes up with the faces and carves them. He is a pro. Ariel wanted hers to look like Pokoyo. Lol. Hey, it was either that or Bert.


When all three were finished, we lit them up to see how they looked. Pretty cute I think! I love my vampire one, ode to Twilight, haha.


It was shortly after that the computer started acting weird, so Ken watched 'Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' with Ariel while I backed up some stuff to our external hard drive.

Today we got an early start since the rain was suppose to be coming and I wanted to walk into town. So we got dressed and headed out to do our chores. We picked up some stuff at the grocery store, stopped in to visit Joanie at Fancy This Gifts to thank her for the cream she gave us for Ariel's face. It got rid of ALL the red mess caused by her cold, amazing! It would have taken ages otherwise. Then a quick stop in to see Stella at the quilt shop which is all rearranged now, looks fantastic! Manged to get home in time for lunch, yay.

After lunch today's craft was popcorn balls. Ariel enjoyed the making the popcorn best, and stealing some when I wasn't looking. We colored them orange to look more like pumpkins and wrapped them up and then made some tags for them and the pretzels that we would be taking to the Halloween party tomorrow.


Then into brown paper bags and woot, cute homemade Halloween goodies for Ariel's little friends.


While Ariel played in her kitchen, I did some sewing and made her a little felt pumpkin friend.


He was a HUGE hit with her, and he hasn't left her side all afternoon. I think I will try and make her some more felt things, maybe some goodies for her kitchen. For now, Mr Pumpkin is happy to be her pride and joy.


Well, that is pretty much it. You are all caught up on the past few days and there is still more fun to come, even though the rain is coming, blah! I guess I better get dinner started. Check in soon to see Ariel in her costume! Hee.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

More Chicken...

....Please Momma... more chicken! Ariel was saying that about every 2 minutes tonight during dinner. She had eaten all her veggies and just was really wanting more chicken. In the end she ate about a whole thigh worth of meat. Guess she really likes Grammy's lemon chicken recipe. Hee.

Whenever we are recovering from illness, we always cook up the lemon and garlic chicken recipe, it just really helps the throat. Ahhh. Ariel started coughing today, so I am hoping it helps. She also has a nasty red rash on her face around her mouth and nose from the constant snot flowing. Poor baby girl. She is a trooper and at the moment is happily coloring away.


We had a video chat today with Ken's family and Ariel wore her halloween costume. So that was special for them, and Ariel got some good practice moving around in it... after she spent several minutes looking at herself in the mirror. Haha. She just couldn't get over how funny she looked.

Yesterday, Ariel and I went over to Dad and Rita's for waffles. It was a lovely day and we walked down afterwards to go feed the ducks. Grandpa showed her how to get the ducks to eat out of her hand.


Of course we had to get that on video. It was really cute.


The fat ducks started following Ariel, looking for more food, and she wasn't too sure how she felt about that.


Ariel strikes a pose. She even has the pout, true model potential, haha.


Such a little sweetie!


Then a walk back through the changing leaves.


I LOVE this one. The colors are amazing!


After our walk we came back to the house and I checked on Ariel's laundry that we were doing. When I opened the washing machine... it looked like the soap didn't wash away. It was very strange. Kinda like little crystals. After showing my Dad, we put it on another rinse in hopes that would fix it. While I sat watching it through the window, stumped as to what went wrong... I suddenly saw the issue. Ariel had stuck a clean DIAPER in her laundry unannounced to me! I guess she must has put one in her laundry basket during the week and I just never saw it while loading the clothes. Soooooo, if you have ever wondered what a diaper through the washing machine is like, I will say... its HORRIBLE!

I had to rinse all the gel like crystals off the cloths in the sink, wipe down the washing machine, reload the clothes and start the wash cycle again to get rid of any last residue on them. Sigh... then I talked with Ariel about not putting diapers in the laundry... her response, it was dirty! Thankfully, it was not that kind of dirty, only pretend, but still. I think I will be looking through things more carefully now. She was never the kid that flushed things down the toilet, so maybe this is compensation. Haha.

After all that, we ended going out to lunch with Dad to check out the renovated McDonald's in the next town over. Its weird to think of a place like that being made into a modern looking restaurant. Leather seating, bold patterns, fireplace and big screen tv but same old food. Hee. Ariel gave 2 thumbs up for the new play area, and 2 thumbs down to the mean kid who yelled at her. She was standing a foot away from this little boy about 4-5 years old. He was playing and Ariel stood there smiling and waved at him. He then turned to her and shouted 'get away from me, don't touch me!' Um, she didn't touch you, cranky pants! Of course she wasn't phased and went back to going down the slide. Oh well, I guess he is in the 'girls are yucky' part of life.

Well, I am going to go watch some of the movies I got from the library. I borrowed the first 2 seasons of ER, talk about a flash back! I totally remember watching an episode at Julie's house when I was in high school, haha. To think its still on and FINALLY ending this year, its crazy. Oh well, its a blast from the past, and who doesn't love a little George Clooney after a busy weekend. Tune in this week for all the Halloween fun, and pray for the rain to stay away.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Smile and Say Cheese!

Howdy! Yes, we are all still alive. Its been a crazy few days with Ken home sick, but we are all finally on the road to recovery. The cough is lingering longer than I hoped, but I still feel much better than I did. We had to pull it together this morning because we had our family portraits booked with Maria this morning at Frozen Reflections. It was a great session and Ariel did awesome considering she wasn't totally feeling 100%. The final picture we picked of our family is soooooo nice and I can't wait to show it, but you have to wait.

But, since you have to wait, I have lots of other pictures for ya all to see. First off, after our session we stopped in Richmond briefly so I could go to the Gymboree sale. I got Ariel a few goodies to go with her new hat and mitts since she is a goober for chocolate, and how can you pass up a line that has nothing but little cute chocolates all over it.


'Yummy,' Ariel kept saying while pretending to nibble the chocolate design on her mitt. She is so funny sometimes! Haha.

Did someone say chocolate?


Ariel spent a good amount of time trying to count all the chocolate bon bons on this skirt. Personally, I want this outfit... er more so the chocolate. Gosh, why don't we ever have chocolate in the house when I am totally craving it. (Note to self, you don't have chocolate in the house because you lost 50lb and don't want to gain it back... gotcha... but I still want some, doh!)


In the mail today was also another fun surprise, our Disneyland photopass pictures! I joined a group order for a disc back before we left on our trip. We all put in $20 and bought the disc with all our pictures that the Disney staff take of you in the park. The disc normally costs over $100 for unlimited pictures and printing rights (buying a print in the park is about $20 for only one image), so if you get enough people going around the same time it can be a great savings. We had over 100 pictures taken, so it was a great deal! So I got my copy from the group leader and have some new pictures to share with you all.

This was our first picture taken at the castle on the first night. It was so exciting! Ariel had her new mouse ears on too.


Another nice shot of our family in front of the gardens outside the main gate.


The next few we had done the morning Ariel was decked out in her Cinderella dress. The photographer was having a great time and we had a huge group of people watching Ariel pose. I just think this is the best shot, I love it!


The princess and her castle.


Only in Disneyland do you get a picture with Tinkerbell herself. Hee.


Finally, Stella asked me if we got a picture of Ariel in her Cinderella dress with Cinderella herself, the answer... YES!


I have many others, but only posted a few more on facebook that you can see HERE if you wish.

Tomorrow Ariel and I are going to Dad and Rita's for breakfast, since we were busy this morning. However, its messing my brain up. I kept thinking tomorrow was Sunday because Ken was home, but its Saturday. Now Tomorrow is going to feel like Friday. Oh man, I need a nap.

Another thing I keep forgetting to bring up is the binkie status report. Thanks Kelly for reminding me. Well, Ariel has been binkie free since that day we took it away. She doesn't talk about it or look for it. Kinda strange but true, she just doesn't care. In fact, when she sees a baby with a binkie, she says 'babies gets binkies'. So she has that down, but there is still trouble with bed.

Naps are not a problem, but bedtime still hasn't improved. She is suddenly afraid, and does not want to be in her bed. She would rather fall asleep in our bed and then we carry her back to her room later, where she does sleep the entire night. Is this an ideal situation... in one word no. Do we worry and freak out about it... no. I let her nap in our bed, so I knew it might happen. I think that she personally prefers our bed because its big and comfy. We are planning on getting her a twin bed in the next few months, so I really think that will make a difference. She wants a 'big girl bed' and frankly I think she realized the 'toddler bed' is nothing like it. I know some of you may be saying, oh come on, she isn't that smart... um, trust me. Our daughter is all about being a grown up... she is 2 going on 20! Ariel is very determined and strong willed and if falling asleep in our bed is the biggest problem we have with her at this point, big whoop! There are far worse things.

Ok, well I should go to bed myself but I will leave you with the Ariel moment of the day. While I was cooking dinner, Ariel was pulling herself along on her tummy along the kitchen floor. When I asked what she was doing, she replied, 'I'm swimming! Splash, splash!' Makes perfect sense right?

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Bring on the Cough!

So over the past few days Ariel and I have both perked up. Frankly she never seemed to be as bad as I was, but she has the nasty nose part. As my sinus is slowly clearing, wow I can feel my brain again, I find each day that much better. Today I had lots of energy and got several things done, but I have a tickle in my throat making me cough. I have been told its the sign this bug is almost over, so I say bring it on!

We walked down to the store this morning, to get some lettuce and tomatoes for our burgers tonight, yummy. We also dropped off our Operation Christmas Child shoe box that we filled yesterday. This is an annual tradition in our family, and something I am hoping Ariel looks forward to doing every year. She was more aware this year, and helped pick out some toys for the box.


It was so nice outside I would have loved to have walked longer, but it still was a tad cold, and we want to get completely better so back home we went to warm up. Of course I had to make some coco... I have also turned into a hot coco nut with this weather. I look forward to my warm cup of joy in the afternoon. Ahhh, so yummy. Is this the rush coffee drinkers get? Hehe.

Ariel also wants to share her little outfit! I am loving the leg warmers and she will be able to reuse this as a top down the road as well. I wish I had one, its so warm and cozy. Now all she needs is some mukluks, haha. Thanks Grammy!


The rest of the morning was filled with washing the lettuce and making a loaf of banana bread... hmmm. Ariel is quite taken with all my kitchen appliances these days. She hears me turn one on and she comes running and grabs the kitchen stool to watch. It seems the louder the better. The blender are a huge hit on Sunday night when we made Yorkshire puddings. Wait till she discovers power tools, haha.


Last night Ken was working late and we got invited to Dad and Rita's for a steak dinner. Nana and Papa were there too, so that was nice for Ariel to get a visit with them. The food was great, especially the mystery squash. Rita collected them from Papa's garden before the closing of the house, but he never planted them, so we have no clue what type they are... but no matter, they are delicious, that's all that counts!

Ken seems to have finally been hit by our cold germs and woke up kinda sick. So hoping he gets better soon. There is a very good chance the family pictures that we are getting taken on Friday morning, will have us all looking like Rudolph with red noses from this lingering cold. At least it will be Christmasy right?

Well I need to get Ariel up and I think we will dig into the fresh banana bread. Hee.

Edit:

I totally forgot to add this video of Ariel reading her favorite book... or maybe its more memorized... you be the judge.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Monday Migraines

Not my idea of fun, but more on that later! Ugh. The day started off well, I woke Ariel up and asked if she wanted to go to dance class and she JUMPED out of bed and went running for her tights. I took that as a yes, so we bundled up and walked down to class. Stella then came in to watch and when Ariel eventually spotted her made a running leap into her arms, awe.


The rest of class was fun, and Ariel had a great time with her 'friends'. When things wrapped up we all walked down to a coffee shop for a little snack and visit. Ariel REALLY enjoyed the rocky road treat she picked out. Dang that sucker was sweet.


We walked back to the library where Stella's car was parked and stopped inside to look at some books. Ariel made herself right at home with a pile of books. That's our little bookworm. I saw that next week's story time is a Halloween themed costume event, so I think we will come out for that. The more times she gets to wear her costume the better. Hee. Also we have Sienna's party next week, the pumpkin festival and trick or treating. Wow, lots of fun so we need to get rid of the sniffles.


As we said our goodbyes, I was feeling a bit sick and we came home instead of going to the post office as planned. Got inside, into my sweats and got into bed. My head started pounding and I knew it was a migraine. Ugh. I haven't had one in awhile, but its still as painful as I remembered. I went to get a cold cloth for my head and realized we had no running water, as they were fixing the water heater in our building. Argh!

I got into bed and Ariel brought a pile of books in beside me and started reading to me. Awe, what a sweetie. Sorry if this is too much info, so be warned, but my headache turned into me getting sick very fast. I went running to the bathroom and Ariel was right behind me shouting 'its ok, its ok!' I ended up making this run several more times until I was empty and so weak all I could do was sleep. Thank heavens it was Ariel's regular nap time and we both fell asleep.

When I got up I felt better and managed to eat a little something and keep it down, yay! Daddy got home and I am taking a brief break before returning to rest. So that was my start of the week, fun eh?

Well, since it was somewhat a rough post, I will leave you with some funny stuff. Sarah Palin was SNL this past weekend... lol. It was awesome and you can really tell that the Republicans are trying anything at this point to gain points. Seriously, she does SNL, John McCain goes back to make things right with David Letterman... um yeah. Either way, its great for a laugh.



This is by far the funniest thing I have seen on this show in a long time. A great way for Amy Poehler to go out on. By the looks of her, she will be having her baby anytime now.



Ok, so hoping my next post is one about how great and healthy I feel. No more colds, blah.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Sicky Saturday

Why did I get a cold again?! Argh! This is my second one this fall, so the way I am going it looks like I might average one a month. Blah! Ariel was once again the culprit, as on Thursday night she broke out in a fever and shakes. Friday came and she seemed ok, but was kinda clingy and moody. The fever would come and go, but the nose had started running, icky. Then this morning I woke up with swollen glands and a stuffed up head. My big concern is shaking this illness by next week as we have our family pictures booked with Maria.


Even though Ariel was a bit under the weather, we still had breakfast with Grandpa and Rita on Friday morning and then went swimming with her friends Carter and Sienna. She had a great time and it was fun to play in the water while it dumped rain outdoors. Afterwards we went back to my Dad's for some more visiting and some turkey soup for lunch. Yum.


This morning we met up with Nana and Papa for coffee and to drop off some papers we had printed for them. Ariel was happy to see them, and sat on Papa's knee for most of the visit. She polished off a bran muffin and some cheese, and we then headed on our way. Since Ariel was dying to go to the park, I took her to kill some time before we were to pick up my Dad for our lunch date at McDonald's.

I got some great shots of Ariel playing in the leaves that I have throughout this post. I never get tired of that sweater and hat, just so cute!


Ariel was watching the crows and seagulls battle over scraps from the trash can and deemed them 'scary birds'. She didn't want to go near them and and soon made a safe escape towards the playground. After several rides on the slide and swing, we headed home to get the car and to pick up Grandpa.


Ariel had spotted McDonald's the other day on the way home from the pool, although she sometimes refers to it as Donald Duck. Unlike me as a kid, my daughter is quite fond of the fast food chain. So Grandpa invited us for a lunch out, and Ariel was happy to get nuggets, fries and a new toy dolly.


Now she is napping soundly and I think I may do the same. Ken is working on his film downtown at work, so not sure when he will get home. Might as well keep it mellow and rest up. Need to get better, as Ariel got invited to a pumpkin party at Sienna's house this week, so we don't want to miss out.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pumpkin Patch Time Again!

We so got blessed with the beautiful weather today! Still it was chilly, but nothing some bundling up couldn't fix. Ariel and I picked up Stella and Kara just after 9am to head off to the patch. Ariel had been eager to get going so we wasted no time. As we pulled in so did the many buses of school kids, looked like it was gonna be a busy day.

First thing we saw was the creepy veggie people. I don't remember them from last year, and I thought they were funny, so had to keep our eyes peeled for more.


Ariel wasn't too sure about the wagon ride... or maybe it was the guy singing while we drove out to the patch. I think she was a little overwhelmed.


Yay! We arrived... and although we hadn't had rain for a few days, it still was pretty muddy... ok really muddy. Makes me wish I had boots. Oh well. Ariel was starting to get into it now.


Yay, I caught one... but I can't lift it.



Thanks Aunty Kara!


Ariel and Aunty Lala


Flashback to last year with Lala, awe.


No, I think my pumpkin should be bigger!


Ariel and Momma


We found some more of those creepy veggie people... I think this one is a potato...I think.


Ok, I promise... no more scary veggie people. Maybe Ariel should be a scary corn next halloween. Haha.


The corn maze was REALLY muddy, so we didn't really go in but let Ariel play in the first row. She seemed to really like that and kept running back and forth. Peek a boo!


Now for some pictures with her cute pumpkin sweater. Love these!


She had lots of complements on her hat and sweater while there.


Last year I forgot to get a picture of Ariel and I, so I made sure to get a few today. My little pumpkin is getting so big!


We road back to the main area on the wagon again, this time Ariel seemed more into it. Once we got off we each got a fresh apple and sat down to snack while watching the live band and dancing corn and pumpkin.


Last year we didn't get to see Corny Corn, so that was cool to see him along with Polly Pumpkin. Ariel ate her whole apple and then did some dancing with Kara. At that point she seemed pretty tired and so we headed on our way.


Why won't you move?


Must have been too early for the animals since most of them were either hiding in their houses or sleeping. Ariel wasn't that interested in resting animals. Oh well. Here is Ariel with our pumpkins, all ready for washing and carving. So stay tuned for our carving session at some point in the next week or so.


To wrap up, here is some video from this morning, cuz I know your all dying to see the dancing corn and pumpkin, haha. Enjoy.

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