Monstrously fun festivities

Halloween festivities with a toddler were fast-paced and exciting. And at the same time last-minute and low-key.

Our good friends invited us to go to a local Halloween party with them again this year.
It's put on by their school and it's always a bundle of fun. This year we went as:
KittyQ and her Mama/Owner and the friendly Vet.

We loved the games, especially that they were fun for all ages - literally. Genius games.




Korrali loved the choosing candy bit. In fact, her verbiage for asking for candy these days is "choose? One?! Please!?!?!"

She loved wearing her cat costume. And the balloon. And the candy. And sitting by herself.



They also had a haunted house, which they geared waaay down for us. Their scary clowns etc just basically stood there while we went through with our friends. Korrali thought it was The.Best.
She walked through, waving and saying hi to everyone - including the guys standing behind a curtain pretending to be disembodied heads - and the lady covered in fake blood on the "operating" table. I had to pull her away from that lady before she climbed up onto the table with her. Heh. She tried to run away with the xylophone from the scary doll room.. and was attracted like a moth to flame to the super-bright strobe light. I shielded her eyes, don't worry. But I think she spooked the spookers - who gasped and several of them twitched as if to cover the light.

She dressed up again for our Ward's party, but we were lazy and didn't.. (wow, that was lazy. Mine was just a sticker!)

Meow softly, carry a big stick.

Her little friend followed her around once he saw her. They played in the bushes, they sat on the sidewalk, they ran down the hill towards the street.... poor little guy being led astray by my slightly wild one. They are so cute when they play - his name was one of her first words and vice versa. His family was the wizard of Oz.

I'm not the yellow legs. That was just happenstance.

We were so grateful that by the time Halloween rolled around we didn't have to plan anything except being invited to Katie's for a little after-party. It was perfect. Korrali still got to dress up in Halloweeny wear - why not be festive? (not a full costume, but definitely a fluffy skirt.) And we all enjoyed relaxing and playing with family. Korrali LOVES her cousins, and I'm so grateful to them for being so accepting of her! They are such good little friends and such good friend examples to her. (Sorry, no pictures.. but imagine her dancing - by herself, in front of everyone - to some tunes with no inhibition and then running around screaming in delight when Eli ran after her. Oh, and disappearing  with her cute cousins upstairs while they helped her feel right at home.) We are so lucky!

ps. Stay tuned. Our traditional Zombie Apocalypse family photos are in process and are coming soon. What, you mean you weren't actually waiting with bated breath for them?

Just some fall fun times

What's new this fall? Well.. I'm rediscovering things I loved as a child. Like running with abandon just because I have legs.. and because there is a giggling imp running away from me and towards the duck pond. Or like climbing lifting a toddler up impossibly high things, discovering what noises look like, dancing to music in public, and chasing ducks and geese. They love to be chased less... but it still happens. Having in incredible energetic child is more work for sure, but the more work you put in, the more fun you have!

we got an auto-awesome from google+ ! The ducks did not think we were in any way awesome. 

 The Arboretum is always so so worth the $5 Wednesday pass. We love every inch of their children's garden.

There is a group of flowers with musical instruments cleverly worked into their design. This one squeaked.

Another automatically edited photo! This fountain could occupy us for hours. I bring a change of clothes and a towel for this specifically.

We love the parks here. Mostly because they are outside. But also because they're very well kept. We've gone enough times to have had some minor drama with them (not pictured here) but hey, now they're not just parks. They're family. 

She was a little terrified of the lawn mower she could hear but couldn't see.
So, like a good mom, I took a picture. (But really, she is never still so this was too good to pass up)

She wasn't quite daring enough to try her chances walking on the "dangerous" side of this wall when I was sternly looking at her around the camera, but look closer and you can see the impish delight she is taking in teasing me by pretending she's going to do it.

Fall is sometimes cold and miserable here, but we go outside every day for hours anyway. A wise friend once said "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes for weather". We agree. And we dress warmly.

Are we done with pictures yet? I need a push.
(She actually has been not a fan of swings until recently.. I think they make her a little dizzy)

Other random things from this Autumn.

She likes to reach onto my dresser and open my boxes of jewelry.
I love how happy it makes her to play with them under supervision.

If this looks familiar, you've probably had a toddler who recognizes a window of opportunity when they see a chair.
Our counters are no longer a safe place to dry knives.

Or  store dinner left-overs. Although, I was happy to let her move the chair herself and finish off that whole bowl of beans after dinner. 1 less thing to put away, and I knew she had eaten enough. The adage "presentation is half the meal" is true.

"Ousside. 'Side? Deor? 'Side!" Every day - even though we spend hours, literally, every day out there. It's never enough. Oh, and her hair is finally long enough for 1 piggy!

Squirrels are a major, major event every time one happens. Every day. Korrali and I can even imitate a squirrel, and they run up and listen to us. Kronk, watch out.

Stickers! Most of the time I am practicing patience as I attempt to teach her not to eat them. Sometimes golden moments happen when she decides to share with her favorite doll - from "Grandma" Eldredge. We call him nino (Spanish for boy) and he mostly wears no clothes at Korrali's insistence. I think Korrali lives vicariously through him.

Bubuh Bulle?

Post by Joe Quillen.

We finally caught Korrali catching bubbles with her mouth (in, you guessed it, imitation of Teo). Note I'm wearing leggings and a hoodie, cuz I'm Fancy.

Just do it

I don't usually share experiences like this in public space. But I felt like I needed to share this one. It's not extravagant but it is meaningful to me.

Sometimes I get promptings to do something and I am afraid to do it, so I push the thoughts away and think oh, but I don't really need to do that; It's just my silly creative brain being over active and telling me to do crazy things that I don't actually have time to do.
To myself, I want to say that from now on, Just. Do. It.

Alert: A spiritual experience is below.

I was on my way home from the General Women's Meeting tonight, and feeling a spiritual high because all of my recent prayers for answers to certain questions were answered during the conference. (So if you thought you didn't get anything out of it, sorry friend, it's because they were talking to me.) I felt a surge of love, and warmth fill my heart and expand into the car, blocking out the music I was listening to, blocking out everything except the urging to tell a certain old friend a message from Heavenly Father.
This old friend was never a close friend. If I was really categorizing, she'd be a high school acquaintance whom I didn't know much about but saw every day. She recently reached out to me and told me she was getting baptized and confirmed. She lives in California. She said her ward is super supportive and loving. At the time I think I said, "That's great!" and that was all I could think of to say.
Nevertheless, I was so strongly urged to tell her this message that I decided not to ignore it. I decided to just admit that all those crazy feelings I'd felt before were probably promptings I should have acted on too. When I gave her the message as soon as I got home, she responded that she had really needed it. That I was one of a tiny handful of people who had reached out to her about Heavenly Father right now, and that she just was having a really really hard time.
I am so glad I acted.  Perhaps someone else would have acted if I had not. Or perhaps her frustration at feeling ignored by her home and visiting teachers would have changed her life very differently. I don't know. All I know is, if I get a prompting to do something I think is insignificant, or silly.. I really need to just do it.

The End.
ps. I know with my whole heart - down to every last node and cardiac fiber - that Heavenly Father is aware of us and loves us so deeply he sent his own son to live, suffer, die, and then rise again in order to give us someone to lean on in times of need, someone to guide us in times of struggle, and an eternal life to hope for and strive for at all times, in all things, and in all places. Our Savior knows us, he knows our pain, joy, despair and hope perfectly. He is calling us to come and be healed and then to find more people to come and walk the only way there is home. Yep, It's true. As sure as my heart is still pumping blood all the way through its atria and ventricles. Wait.. yup. Still pumping. It must be true.

Good bye Summer.. sniff

This last week the weather dropped overnight from 70's with a cool breeze to 50's and rainy. Summer finally ended. :sniff sniff: I feel better knowing we had a truly great summer. I found these older pictures and remembered I wanted to have their memories in words too.. so without further ado, The Other Memories of Our Summer:

Our good friend took us to the Brookfield Zoo. We have been so blessed by friends and Katie picking us up and taking us on adventures in our car-challenged state. I hope some day soon I can do the same for someone because it has meant the world to us.
Korrali's favorite exhibit was the random birds outside the window of the pretend-to-be-a-bird area in the children's play house place. I loved that there were so many areas where  I could just let her play without coaching, because this girl loves her some space.

she really is glaring at me for taking photos. yeeps she can send dagger when she wants to. 

Usually 30 seconds is her max time limit in any one place. Here, I had to drag her away after 10 minutes of inching higher and higher into the window. She climbs when she's focused on something that interests her. 

She also loved the lemurs. She was charmed by the fuzzy outfit she got to wear, and the plastic food she could carry around. Once she spotted the furry little mammals she couldn't keep her eyes off.
We had a short visit from my gravid sister and her hubby. So fun!! Korrali loved them the moment they walked in, which is no surprise because I think they have the same effect on everyone they meet.

We learned about coloring - here she was a pencil pirate (she commandeered all of the pencils) and ran around saying raaargh

Incidentally, roaring is her favorite sound effect. And, I learned that she is not ready for coloring - because crayons are still considered a food.

We played with water on several occasions; we ended up having a lot of fun getting creative with how to bring all the things we wanted to do this summer to us
We had friends over frequently

making this little hollow bird whistle, it also made a fun cup to sip the water out of

I got to walk or run almost every morning with the stroller and Teo. It was so relaxing to run in the park, especially since Teo appreciated the exercise and behaved. We to the park almost every day to visit the ducks and geese (geese are her favorite. She loves to try to pet them. It's all I can do to encourage her not to follow them, while making sure my tone and movements are carefully controlled when she's paying attention so I scare them without scaring her..)

We ate frozen yogurt drops (they're kind of like ice cream!) And we learned the sign for frozen.. which utterly confused her when i made the sign and put in the movie Frozen hahaha..

We went to the pool almost every week - several times with our fun cousins. I didn't realize Korrali knew the word pool until this past week. I said it all summer, and then stopped saying it a few weeks ago. But she started to say it a few days ago when she asked to play with our pool noodle, and when I tried to put away her swim diapers she grabbed them and put one on her head and ran around saying pool and nodding.

  We learned about emotions - this was the tail-end of "happy!"

 We learned we looved cats. This one was hiding at the zoo. But we sure found it!

This past week we started wearing a blanket sleeper with cats on it. She points to legs and toes and yells "MOW!" it cracks me up every time

 She learned to help mommy. She loves the illusion of mopping, also the illusion of vacuuming (i let her pull the plug when we are done, because if she knows she gets a turn she doesn't unplug it in the middle as often), and she loves to get me potatoes to scrub, and to help me unload the dishwasher.

I just realized my dog looks like the big bad wolf here.. hunting my little janitor down .."all the better to clean you with, my dear!"

What else? We spent a lot of time with Daddy too - but he and Korrali move so fast when they play it's impossible to get a picture. There are tons of hysteric giggles though. I will miss the warm (and hot) weather, but I admit I really do love light sweaters and fuzzy socks.. so I'm looking forward to Fall and Winter even too.

League of Legends

The other day Korrali pointed to the computer and asked to "pay". When I said we needed to ask Daddy first, she waited until he was up and the moment he walked in, she asked to get up on our office chair (the only chair she can't do on her own yet). I put her harmless keyboard on the desk, she grabbed Daddy's mouse and started to click it and tap the keys.

She was very focused. And very serious.

I think she really knew what she was doing.
I thought rules about game time on the computer would come much, much, later.

Do-oo?

Korrali loves to go outside - she says it both in English (ous-eye?) and French (do-oo?) French is dehors (day-or), for those like me and not actually savvy on the lingo.
She frequently grabs the sunscreen and brings it to me, yelling "Do-oo! Do-oo! Pay (play) Pay! Seen! (Sunscreen) Sue! Sue! (shoes)". I guess she got tired of me saying "not right now.. it's nap time/lunch time/dinner time/ in a few minutes.. " because one day I heard some weird shuffling.. and she was wearing my outside shoes. She wore them all around the house, and has worn them frequently since.

This is one of those other times.. can you see the concentration on her face to keep those huge shoes on her feet while walking? It was right after dinner and before bed when she wanted to go outside. I was too slow, so she put on my shoes, and went to the door and pointed at the handle. "pay??!!"