A Caroling We Go

The whole neighborhood now knows just how full of holiday cheer this family is.  It's not because of the Christmas tree in the front window... it's not because of the lights strung through the front yard... it's because of the cute little girl scooting a sled down a snow-less slope in the front yard, singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at the top of her lungs.  As my darling daughter's inspiring rendition of this holiday classic reverberates throughout the entire neighborhood (lucky for us, our house sits high so everyone can hear everything we say as if we were shouting it from the mountain tops), I laughed a little at the silly scene.  I was quickly put in check though by my budding songstress, "Mom!  What are you doing!  Stop laughing!"
"Um, I was laughing at that duck Maggie, not you.  Oops, it's gone now.  Keep signing."
"OK.  RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEERRRRR...."

Get ready for the Christmas everyone, it will be here before you know it!

Where do you eat your dessert?

Catie eats hers in the bathroom. 

We warned Catie that if she walked away from the table with her cupcake that the dog might get it.  But my super-smarty-pants has a solution for unwanted dog advances.  She toddled her little self into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.  I opened the door and found her sitting sweetly on the step stool, contentedly licking her cupcake.  It's a sad day in the Calhoun house when your cupcake is only safe if it's consumed in the same room as the toilet. 

Boulder of a Milestone

I think I've mentioned before how strange it is to look at your baby one day and realize that some kind of window has opened up in her brain and all this stuff is just flying through it.  Over the course of one week, Catie has gone from primarily crawling to primarily walking, has almost doubled her small vocabulary, and shown me all sorts of big girl tricks. 

Today, at the grocery store, she was helping unload the cart onto the conveyor belt.  This is something she's watched her sister do many times, and today she insisted on helping as well.  She also showed off her vocab by attempting to say "Excuse me!" after she and her sister had a little fake-burping competition (while unloading the cart - so classy).

Trick or Treat!

 Minnie Mouse and her Pink Flamingo.

 Catie enjoying her candy.

 Mom and Minnie. 

The Pink Flamingo with Butterfly friend from school.

Preschool Halloween Parade.

Halloween Aftermath

At Walmart today, perusing the clearance Halloween stuff.  Moms all around, we're scampering through the aisles like ants on a day-old donut.  Now safetly at home, I consider this particular shopping trip and crown myself the queen of suburban moms for the day.  At the store I had let myself be convinced by my three-year-old to use the "kid" cart - the enormous cart that has two extra seats for kids... and as I repeatedly bash into the displays of plastic spiders and Halloween pop-rocks, I'm probably (definitely) wearing mom jeans.  So those two poor decisions combined make me queen mom for the day.  Yay me!

At the check-out Maggie decides that she is going to talk to everyone in line.  She corrects the man in front of us when he calls Cate a boy, yelling, "She's not a boy, she's a girl!  And she LOVES candy corn!"  She tells the cashier to have a nice day.  She is obviously in a precocious mood today.  She sees the collection bin for Children's Charities (one of those things you put a nickel in and it winds through chutes and ladders until it falls to the bottom) and asks for some money. 
"I don't have any more money, honey."
"Well mom, then gimme one of those green things."
"A dollar?  A dollar is money too baby, and if I don't have a nickel for you I definitely don't have a dollar."
"Welllll... mom... just gimme your wallet."

I couldn't help it, I laughed at that one.  That deserved a reward (I type sarcastically), so I fished out a penny for her.  The whole time her sister is sitting in the cart, frantically, hysterically, trying to pry open a bag of candy corn.  My little Sweet-tooth. 

Good times.