Open the door.

The crisp Autumn air rushes at you bringing with it the familiar scent of damp rotting leaves. The trees have turned from lucious green to dull red, pussy yellow, and poopy brown! Put on your galoshes, grab your rain slicker, and step outside. Join us as we venture out to The Pumpkin Patch......

Huh?

A "pumpkin patch". What's a pumpkin? Can I lick one?

OH! These orange thingies. Um. They're kinda dirty.

How about this one? Is this a good one?

Ooooooo! Oooooooo! This one, this one!

Dude. Hay mazes are soooo eeeeeezeeeeee.

Follow me! I know the way!

Um. Weren't we just here? Okay. I'm lost.

Hey, you! Hey, Cat!

Why do you sound like a vacuum cleaner?

Do you have gas?

Quack, quack. Ducks are so cool. They rule my world.

Hmmm. It's time to blow this joint. Okay. Here's the plan.

I'll distract them, and we can get to work.

Everyone, look!!!!!

There's Brad Pitt saving a puppy from a burning barn.....

and he's NAKED!!!!

You, kid! You, unlock the wheels! You with the purple coat, get working on that engine!

Quickly, QUICKLY! We haven't got all day!

Damn. They didn't buy it. I thought that would work.....

Mannnnnn. I shoulda went with George Clooney!

Hey! Hey, guys! Forget that old clunky tractor. Here's a truck!!!

The Complaint Box

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to complain about our stinkin' roads. Could there BE any more water pooled on them? I mean, COME ON. We live in the freakin' Northwest, for cripes sake. It's, like, world famous for it's rainy weather. Or did you miss the memo on that one? One would at least think that you could come up with a way to drain the damn water off of the highways. I think I might have to have Q add a "Submarine Mode" to my Xterra.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
"Soused in Seattle"

Ennnnngorge!

We did indeed lose power yesterday due to the wind storm. Katie didn't seem to mind that much. What she did mind was the delay of dinner. Because we had no power, we had no stove. Huzbend got creative and cooked up a pasta dinner using the grill and our backpacking propane stove. It took a while, but it was good.

Meanwhile, stupid me forgot the power was out and threw food into the garbage disposal. The last time we lost power it was for about two days. I didn't want to leave the food to rot. Do you know how gross it is to stick your hand into the disposal and pull out cold, mushy bread, peas, pasta and grapes? It's not pleasant. Of course, thirty minutes after I pulled out all the food, the power went back on. Figures.

Next up........A Tale of Two Boobies:

Sunday was the last day that I breastfed Katie. She's completely weaned. I guess that's good in the sense that I now have my boobs back. But, right about now, I wish that I could send them off on vacation or something.

They are KILLING me. I have about five days worth of breastmilk stuck in there. Do you know what that means? ENGORGEMENT. They pulsate with pain. The only thing I can do is put a little ice on them and try to lighten the load a little by expressing a tiny bit of milk at a time.

Besides dealing with Rock Hard Boob Syndrome, I'm also dealing with a little sadness. Breastfeeding Katie was really the only cuddle time that we had. She's so active now, it's hard to get her to slow down enough for a hug. Breastfeeding was the only time that I could get her to relax on my lap. Now, it's over. We've gone from having a quiet and relaxing fifteen minute feed to me chasing her around the kitchen trying to get her to eat banana.

Moving on......Boys Don't Cry, or DO they?:

Today we stopped by a Children's Museum. Katie had a great time running around like a crazy baybee. It was a pretty cool place and they had lots of stuff for her to get into - a lifesize bird nest, the cab of an eighteen wheeler, musical instruments, water, a bunch of little kid-size houses, etc.

They also had an area that had a lot of push-toys. Katie had been playing with this one wheelbarrow-looking thing for a little while, but then abandoned it for a lawnmower. So, some older boy began to push the wheelbarrow around. I'm guessing that he must have been like 4 or 5 years old. Katie caught sight of it and immediately dropped her lawnmower. She walked over to the boy and tried to pry his hand off of the wheelbarrow. I intervened and tried to interest Katie in the lawnmower.

The boy walked away with the wheelbarrow and Katie quickly began to chase him. So, the boy began to run. Katie picked up speed. She followed him around the room, up a ramp and into a dead end. When the boy stopped, Katie grabbed the back of his shirt and began to pull him away from the wheelbarrow as hard as she could. The boy began to cry. I had to go and pull Katie off of the kid.

My daughter is a bully. Where, oh where, did she get THAT? Must have been from Huzbend. Definitely not me. Nope. Totally not me.

Not About Pumpkins

Today, there was a break in the rain and I decided to head to the playground. Tomorrow we're supposed to be getting the remnants of a tropical storm. I guess we're in for high winds and lots of rain. Could be power outages and stuff like that. I figured we might as well get out while we can.

Anyways, when we got to the playground the first thing that Katie ran for was the little blue slide. She loves slides.

Wouldn't you know it, there was a fine misting of rain water still on it.

She began to bang on the slide while saying, "Mama. Mama. Mama."

Sigh.

Who am I to deny her a "go" on the slide? I helped her up the steps, put her on my lap and down the slide we went.

Oh, it was slow going because my butt was busy sopping up all the water. I had to use my feet to pull us down the slide because we were stuck to the wet plastic.

As we got towards the bottom of the slide, I realized that a small puddle of rain water had accumulated. There really was nowhere else to go, but into that puddle.

I proceeded, with encouragement from Katie, to "wipe down" the other three slides at the playground.

I'll tell you, there's nothing like having a soggy ass on a crisp and breezy Fall day.

Oh, the sacrifices I make.

Pumpkin Fest 2007

Katie has her first field trip tomorrow. We're going to a pumpkin patch with the coop preschool.

Then on Wednesday, we head to ANOTHER pumpkin patch with our playgroup.

Do you know what the forecast is for both days? RAIN.

Good thing I got the Micronian a pair of kick ass ladybug rain boots.

YAAAAAAAA-HEEEEEEEEE!!
(as Katie would say)

Pics and an uber-cool blog update will follow the festivities.

Later, dudes.

Things of No Import

I know. I know. I've been slacking in the blog department.

I think I have a bit of writers block or something. I just can't think of anything to write about.

It also might be that there really isn't anything remotely interesting going on here.

I guess the weather is a good topic to start with.

When we were out visiting the east coast the weather was sunny and in the 80's every day. It was like summer. We came back home to rainy, dreary, cold weather. It was kinda, like, depressing and stuff. We've been able to sneak in a few visits to a local playground and I manage to fit in a walk to the mailbox with Katie everyday.

Co-op preschool is in full effect. My official job at the preschool is "Paint Changeover". There are four easels and each has its own set of 3 paint cups held in a tupperware bin. My job is to clean the bins, cups, and brushes. Then I have to refill the paints. Sounds pretty simple, but think about it. There are kids from ages 1 through 5 using these paints ALL week long. They kinda make a mess.

I found out quickly that Katie has no patience for paint cup cleaning. The first time I began gather up the cups for cleaning, she began to whine and glom onto my leg. Hmmmm. That made cleaning a little bit more complicated. So, after much strategizing I came up with the ultimate "Paint Changeover" technique. I take the cups home to clean while Katie is napping. There's so much less DRAMA that way.

Katie loves the preschool. I'm not sure that I mentioned it before, but it's really not school. It's like a playgroup that you pay for. She gets to play with new toys, she gets to do art projects (with my help of course), she gets to eat new snacks. It's all good. I'll try to remember to post of picture of her first painting masterpeice. Next week we are going on our first field trip to a pumpkin patch. Should be fun.

I've slowly been catching up on house cleaning. Vaccumed this weekend. Cleaned the bathrooms on Friday. Cleaned the moldy shower today. Exciting, isn't it?? We have to paint the trim around our new windows, but the paint can says not to paint if it's going to rain in the next twelve hours. So, I guess that's out. There's a tree that's touching our house. The bug guy says that mice can crawl up it and into our house. So, we gotta trim it. Then there are the down spouts that have detached from our gutters. Wahhh-wahhhh-wahhhh. How whiny can I be?

In other news, Katie says more words now. Here's a list: Dadee, mama, moooo, quackquack, baba, ba-oooon (balloon), cheee (cheese), chhh (cheerios), keys, and durdy (dirty). I think that's it. Katie tries to have conversations now. She'll spout off some lightning fast gibberish and then look at you as if to say, "Got it?"

It's frickin' hilarious.

Well, I've spent enough time typing about nothing.

Tune in next time when I talk about brushing my teeth, picking stray Cheerios off the floor, and how much I hate doing laundry.

My First Vacation: A Photo Essay - By Katie

We just got back from our whirlwind tour of the NorthEast. Man, it was CRRRRRAAAAZZZIIIIEEE!

In keeping with my family's tradition, I started off the trip by getting sick. I had a 103 degree fever the night before we left. This is a picture of me and Mommy on my first plane ride. I spent most of the time in a drug induced sleep. Ahhhhhhh, the wonder that is Children's Tylenol.

Did you know that my Daddy is a superhero?

All my Grumpa has to do is say something while pointing and the lady with her hand over her mouth laughs. She's my Grumpa's brothers wife. Confusing. I know.

Well, there's GiGi. And there's Auntie and Uncle. And then there's......Who the hell ARE all these people?!?!?!

Hey, Nana? Um. Do you think I could have more cake? Quick! While Daddy isn't looking!!!!

I finally met the man that's stolen my spotlight. Look at him trying to get ALL the attention. Jeez. I was doing that LOOOONG before you were born, buddy. Put a little more back into it, okay? You don't even have your Mommy in a panic. Louder, man, louder! Sigh. Amateur.

I thought that if I stole the paper towels, the party wouldn't have to end. But, alas, they caught me.

Did you know that putting rocks into an empty milk jug is TOTALLY AWESOME?? My Grumpa did.

What's wrong with this picture?
As soon as we got to the campground, they put me to work. They just don't understand that being cute is my full time job.

Who's got time to mow, when there's a Granma to play with?????
My Granpa got a kick outta encouraging my new favorite past time - rock collecting. I guess nobody told him that I occasionally try to eat them.

Watch that first step, it's a dooooozy!!

My Uncle is a KICK ASS story teller!!!! Rock ON, dude!


Besides the fever, the rash, and the jet lag, I had a really good time. I got to get a whole lot of attention, I got to eat cheese at every meal, I got to play with new toys, and I got to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed almost the whole trip. You really can't ask for more.

We should do this again sometime, okay?