Happy Halloween!: Updated with T-o-T Pics

From the Cowgirl and the Mad Bull.

I'm about to totally embarrass myself, but my mom and Callie were looking at her Halloween scrapbook on Monday and happened to find another girl who dressed like a cowgirl circa 1992.  Callie is a much cuter cowgirl than I ever was...

Too small cowboy hat, high waisted jeans, and lots of fringe...oh my...

Laura and Mari, you guys look pretty awesome too.

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

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Update: Our little cowgirl and bull had fun tonight...

Watching for Trick-or-Treaters

Ready to head out!  Mommy was not invited.

But we got some snuggle time after trick-or-treating.

Rhyming

I have a love-hate relationship with rhyming.

I enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of fun poems here and there...both reading and writing them.

But, as a teacher of students who have reading disabilities, rhyming kicks my butt.

For some reason, the skill of rhyming is SO HARD for some students with reading disabilities.  I go over and over word families and rhyming words in different ways and different forms and they often still don't get it.  (i.e. Me: Which words have the same ending sound: cat, sing, bat?  Student: Cat and sing? Me: (in my mind) AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!)  

It has been my teaching nemesis for years. 

Until now. As a teacher's kid, Callie has to deal with me teaching her stuff.  All. The. Time.

Our latest thing has been rhyming...and SHE GETS IT.  SHE TOTALLY GETS IT.

Remember the Call Me Maybe song we did back in September?  That got the ball rolling and it has been rolling ever since.

I took a video of her because she was being cute playing with her barn at Boom and Bops' house.  But she morphed it into a rhyming game and I was happy to oblige. 



Now she asks to play the rhyming game and I'm in teacher heaven. As much as I really do love teaching kids who have difficulties learning to read, it is amazing to be able to teach my own kid and have her pick up things so quickly.  She is a little sponge and I'm having a blast.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a GREAT weekend.  It definitely turned my mood around after last week.

Friday
Um...no pictures and I can't even remember what we did.  Oh yeah.  We did some cleaning and just general hanging out at home getting ready for the baby party we threw on Saturday...

Saturday
More cleaning!  There's nothing like having 13 people over at your house to inspire you to actually do a fairly decent job of hiding the clutter cleaning.  To make it easier (since we have a toddler and all), we split the tasks up. While Chris started the jobs, I took Callie to see Boom and Bops where she played and we went to the last Mill City Farmer's Market.

Farmer Joe on the roof!

 Then Chris took Callie to G-ma and G-pa's for the night so we could do our final preparations for the party!  We were excited to host a co-ed baby shower for Josh and Alison.  They are scheduled to have their baby a week from tomorrow!  We can't wait to meet their little girl!!!

Their little girl will join the other future Luther girls playgroup- Callie, Sydney and Kylie!

Sunday
Despite waking up with my neck out, today was still fun. 

Callie had a super fun time at G-ma and G-pa's house.

We picked her up in the morning and headed to Sunday school.  After a great almost three hour nap, we headed back to G-ma and G-pa's for a Camp du Nord reunion.  There were 8 or 9 kids, mostly late elementary, middle and high school ages there, and Callie had A BLAST running around with all of them.  They did a great job taking care of her too.

With Annelise

Playing kickball

Camp fire

Staying warm

Playing with Christine

I just got back from a girls night out with two lovely ladies and, after the friends and family fun we had this weekend, I am feeling blessed and happy.

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

I had a hard time catching my breath this week.

Besides the general busy-ness of working long days and having plans every night, the news from around the country and in the blogworld has seemed particularly awful and heartbreaking.

And this week there were reminders of the car accident Chris was in over a year ago...and the anniversary of the suicide of one of my former students. 

And the weather was super cold crappy which doesn't help either.

It was just a tough week.

So sorry to bum you out on a Friday afternoon.  But I do have a few pictures to dump, which will hopefully brighten my mood.

Favorite Thing #1: After a 22 day hiatus, my family inspired me to get back out and run...and we did it together

Favorite Thing #2: My toddler running to me as I finished my run

Favorite Thing #3:
Callie: Um, Mommy, I really want Kona to get off of me.
Kona: Who me?

Favorite Thing #4: Mom's night out with Jenna to make food at Let's Dish!
Thanks to Tracy for organizing the event!  We now have actual meals we can eat...AT HOME!

Favorite Thing #5: It snowed yesterday, but it didn't stick around.
I'm not ready for actual snow yet...

To continue with the busy-ness theme, we have a busy weekend ahead.  But it is filled with all fun stuff, so it should be a good one!

34-Months-Old!!

Um, there are only 2 short months until we have a 3-year-old.

Pardon me while I freak out.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay I'm done. 

As a 34-month-old, one thing has become very clear.

She is a Daddy's girl.

And becoming increasingly anti-Mommy. I'm trying not to be offended.  Here are a couple QOTDs that illustrate this point.

This morning she was a little weepy with my mom.
Me: Did you cry a little bit with Boom this morning?
Callie: Yeah, I did.
Me: Why?
Callie: I just missed Daddy.

She gets really upset when we laugh a lot, especially when she thinks we are laughing at her.  Tonight we were watching Dancing With the Stars, and one of the judges fell out of her chair.  It was HILARIOUS and I couldn't stop giggling.  Callie was in my lap, but then wanted to go to Chris' lap.
Callie: Daddy, I'm scared.
Chris: Why?  What are you scared of?
Callie: Mommy.
Chris: Are you scared because Mommy was laughing?
Callie: Yeah.
Then a few minutes later, Kona was sleeping and making lots of noises.  Callie went over to check on her.
Callie: Are you scared of Mommy too, Kona?

So...clearly I'm not as cool as Daddy, AND I'm scary.

Well, to be honest, I'm a little scared of having a three-year-old.  So I guess we're even.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Duluth Edition

Happy Sunday!  We had a great weekend- most of it spent up in Duluth visiting Uncle Dan. 

We left Friday at nap time and this girl slept almost the entire way...whew!!!

 We spent the afternoon at Leif Erickson park.

 Friday night we met Dan at the police station and got a tour.  Cal got to "drive" both a police car AND a fire truck!

Saturday morning we headed down to the depot at Canal Park and took a ride on the "Pumpkin Train."  The Helds just happened to be up north too, so they joined us for the ride!  We got to ride a legit train to a field where they dumped a bunch of pumpkins  pumpkin patch.  After the ride, Cal got her face painted. 

 Saturday afternoon (after no nap), we went back down to Canal Park.  Of course, after spending a couple of hours in her bed wide awake, she fell asleep during the 15 minute car ride.  It took awhile to perk her up, but she was excited to explore the harbor.  We even got to see a huge ship come in and go under the lift bridge.

After sight seeing we decided to head home since our toddler was going on only a 15 minute nap.  We had to do major Disney singalongs, and then finally pull out the iPad to keep her awake the whole ride home.

Soooo tired...but MUST. WATCH. MICKEY. MOUSE.

We made it home by 8:00 and bedtime was easy.  Phew.

Today was a desperately needed cleaning day.  But we did manage an outing with Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari.  It was too beautiful outside to not do something, so we headed to Centennial Lakes and Cherry Berry for a treat.

It was a perfect fall weekend.  We have a busy week ahead...I can't BELIEVE how fast October is flying by.

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

I was better about taking pictures this week.  Here we go!

Favorite Thing #1: Fall weather

Favorite Thing #2: This face

Favorite Thing #3: The girls

Favorite Thing #4: Teaching kids to read

Favorite Thing #5: Doing my hair for picture day, only to be dissed by a 10-year-old.
Student: (after looking me up and down) Didn't you know that it is picture day today?

Favorite Thing # 6: Auntie time at the Lynx game
(And they won this time!!!)

Favorite Thing #7: Playtime with a lifelong pal

Favorite Thing # 8: Playtime after getting a flu shot.
This girl was a CHAMP!  No flinching or tears.

Favorite Thing # 9: Hanging out with good friend Casey and watching our kids play

Have a great weekend!

Girl Drama

I love my daughter.

Like, LOVE LOVE LOVE her.  I hope that through this blog that is obvious.

But in an effort to keep it real, I'd like to blog a bit about my frustration of late.  It is the same frustration that I have blogged about before.

As she gets older and grows into her own little being with her own little personality and her own little quirks, I am both amazed and, frankly, terrified.

Here's the thing- as someone who has worked with kids of all ages the past twelve years, my favorites have ALWAYS been boys.  BOYS!  Do you know why?  Because I HATE GIRL DRAMA.

I seriously have NO TIME for the girl drama.  The tears.  The hysterics.  The cattiness.  NO TIME.

(This fact is probably hilariously ironic to my husband since I'm sure he finds me overly slightly dramatic at times.)

I say all this because I love my daughter, but I fear she may have inherited my dramatic side.  And I'm struggling with having the patience to deal with it.

We have had a few rough times this past week.  There have been more battles.  There have been a couple mornings that Chris has been gone and I've barely made it out of the house on time with her dressed.  Never mind fed, bathed and with shoes on. 

And what drives me nuts?  The fact that something as little as me asking her to put pull-ups in her backpack, her throwing them down the stairs on purpose instead of doing what I asked, then me putting them in the backpack because we were running late, then her getting mad that she couldn't put them in the backpack can cause the most catastrophic meltdown of the century.

Did you follow that?  If not, just know the catastrophic meltdown was over pretty much nothing.  And that is what drives me crazy. 

So I just keep telling myself that she is 2-going-on-3 and it is a phase.  And I know it probably isn't even a girl thing, just a toddler thing.  But the future girl drama is a very scary thought.

I'm working on my patience and I'm very thankful to be married to a guy who is well-versed in handling drama.  And I wish him luck in the future.

QOTD: Nicknames

Want a BABY CALLIE flashback???  In August 2010, I blogged about Baby Callie's nicknames.

How adorable is she?  And how big is her head? 

Anyway, I would say that the nickname "Stinkers" has stuck around, but it is not the primary nickname anymore.

Chris and I have different nicknames that we call her, and, as I learned a few days ago, we can't deviate from them.

FYI- Chris calls her Kiddo.  I call her Punkin Pie.

Me: Hey, Kiddo!
Callie: I'm not Kiddo to you!  Daddy calls me Kiddo.
Me: You're not?  Who are you me?
Callie: I'm Punkin Pie!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was great.  So nice.  So relaxing.  Callie was a happy toddler.  Which makes us happy parents. :)

My favorite QOTD from this weekend happened today at lunch, totally unprompted.

Callie: (leaning over to her Daddy) You're the best, Daddy.  I love you.

Heart. Melt.

On to the weekend...

Friday
We went out for dinner just the three of us and had a lovely time with our goofball.

Lemons are SOUR!

Saturday

Callie hung out with G-pa while Auntie Cat, G-ma and I went to a baby shower for our cousin-in-law Rebecca.  It was so fun to hang out with the family and Callie had fun with Pa.  After the shower, we all played in Callie's room.

Then the Helds came over for pizza and cookies and an all around fun time.  They are becoming our usual Saturday night dates.  It is a way to entertain the children without having to go anywhere!

What cookie dough looks like when handled by 2 toddlers
The cookies still came out delicious

Sunday

After a busy morning teaching Sunday School, we had a relaxing afternoon watching football and hanging out with Uncle Dan.  Tonight we headed downtown for GAME 1 of the WNBA FINALS. 

We had the best of intentions of actually breaking our 8:00 bedtime rule and staying out late, but we just couldn't do it.  So we left at halftime and Cal was in bed at a reasonable time.  We were able to watch the 2nd half of the game at home.  Thank goodness for DVR.  But argh.  Unfortunately they lost.  The next game is at home on Wednesday, and you can bet we'll be there...at least for the first half! :)