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Welcome to My zoo! We are having a mid-day slumber party! have you met Moo Moo and his mama?

A fun thing about being a parent of a young child is that Halloween turns into a week-long affair.

On Sunday, we went to “Henry’s Halloween”. I don’t have a picture of Henry (a little monkey) and Natalie (who refused to wear a costume other than a Minnie t-shirt), but we do have some family shots (a rarity, so thanks, Heather!)

Cheese! Okay, now can I have one of those delicious peanut butter crackers, Mom? Before Henry gets another one!

Mom, if you mix it all together, you get purple!

Then, on Tuesday, Natalie invited me to a Halloween party at preschool. Her teacher, Ms. Saba, actually got her to wear her cow costume, no hood of course.

Just because I like milk and cow poo, doesn't mean I actually want to be a cow!

With a few tables of crafts to eat, Natalie soon forgot about her cow costume. Ms. Saba’s table had little graham cracker pies, which you filled with half yogurt, half pumpkin filling. A healthy Halloween treat (much healthier than the table with 90 calorie marshmellows, frosting, M&Ms and candy corn, which was nearly impossible to drag her away from).

Then, on Halloween, Natalie surprised us by choosing the Monkey costume! She may have been influenced by the fact that the monkey had a banana in his pocket, and she and I had just made banana cupcakes.

Our neighbor Katie clued us into the hot street for trick-or-treating… not only was it great to see all the kids, but some houses passed out full-size Kit Kats and giant pixie stix. Just what an almost-2-year-old needs!

Cheese. Okay, Mom, where is the candy corn that you bribed me with to smile for this picture?

The only downside of Halloween is that someone rang our doorbell… living on the 3rd floor and being on an “unpopular” trick-or-treating street, we didn’t expect any trick-or-treaters. I asked Jordan to go down and figured that we could share a couple pieces of Nat’s candy. Unfortunately, instead of just 2 little kids (what I was expecting), Natalie’s pumpkin was ransacked by about 15 middle school kids. Whoops. Less chocolate for Mom and Dad, I suppose. Thankfully, Nana promised to bring over more of the whole grain bunny grahams that Natalie likes.

And, Natalie learned to say “trick-or-treat” and “Happy Halloween!,” so that’s the message she’s leaving you with. I am also proud that she said Thank you a lot! 🙂

Addendum: Natalie is tall enough to snatch food from the counter. I told her she couldn’t have another banana muffin. Jordan then walked in the door, so she snatched one without me knowing to “share” with Daddy (maybe because I had said he could have one). She did share with Daddy, but expected him to share a lot in return. She really is a little monkey!

Natalie made a decoration for Nana

Cheese! Come on Mom. Hurry up with the pic!! I want to see the front side of my artwork!!

More fun photos from the weekend to come (from Jordan)!

Natalie’s BFF stopped by tonight. She ran to the door with open arms. In hopes of influencing Natalie’s willingness to wear her Halloween consume, I asked kaila to put on giraffe ears too!

Don’t be mistaken. My adorable smile is due to Kaila – not this costume!

After a quick jaunt to the Disney store, we met Dado for lunch!

Wee!!! I hope my lunch stays down!

My salt. Mama’s pepper. Repeat. (80 times)

To infinity and beyond!!!

Please note Edmond in the back. When I asked Natalie her favorite part of the day, she said “Edmond”. He seems like a nice boy but hasn’t passed the Daddy test yet.

I was able to go into work a few
Hours late today. We were inspired by last night’s story, Curious George makes Pancakes….

Yeah! Carbs carbs and more carbs!

Dada, back away. There is no way you are getting any of my pancake!

Ps. The other morning, I heard Natalie say a full sentence: I want to see Mama! Impressive language skills – and I love the content! 🙂

Our awesome Aunt Ann is visiting Chicago for two weeks AND today is her birthday!!!!

We celebrated at Nana and Pops yesterday and Natalie was such a help with the candle blowing. 🙂

We love you, Aunt Ann!

This one seems to be my size!

Boy, it’s heavier than is looks. What is in here anyways?

Why, this is a cat, of course!

Thanks, Dado, for picking us up since
It was raining so hard. My pumpkin stayed nice and dry.

Let’s get another one!

Trevor likes to be just like me. When he saw me eating an apple, he wanted to too. Two apples! (PS Two is one of my favorite words)