The Snow Angel

We got about 1.5" of snow on Thanksgiving, enough to make the roads a little messy, but not enough to slow things down too much on the holiday. It continued to snow throughout the weekend, and we ended up with a good covering outside.

Caitrin has always been a trooper. When she was 5 days old, we put her in the stroller and took her to our local county park, Independence Oaks, for a walk with Ivie and Barrett. We continued to bundle her up and take her out that first winter. Last year, Caitrin played out in the snow a little bit- she had a snow suit, boots, and a sled, but she was really too little to enjoy it.

This year, I'm not sure we are going to be able to keep her inside! First thing in the morning, she heads into the mudroom to get her boots. Then she goes to the back door, sits on the floor, and puts them on (all by herself!). She doesn't care that she is still in her pajamas, or that she doesn't have a coat or hat on. She wants to go outside and play in "the snowflakes."

This was her first time off of the deck in the snow. She didn't walk down the 3 small steps... instead, she sat down and scooted on her butt. Here she is picking up the cold snow!Playing on the drain cover... it's great fun to jump off of it! An action shot... trying to throw the powdery snow.
Chasing around her pal, Ivie!
Mmmm... eating the cold, clean, white snow. We'll have to teach her about yellow snow soon, I think!

Here she is, dressed and ready to play outside again. This time, its almost dark out!
Caitrin's first snow angel!
Checking out the snow angels that she and her dad made...
Demonstrating how to do it! If you ask her, she will show you, too.
Caitrin on her favorite rock in the berm in our backyard. She spent the spring and summer climbing up the little hill to sit on it. This picture was taken on Friday, 11/23/07. The one below is from May, 2007.
More snow pictures to follow, I'm sure. The winter is just beginning, and we've got a lot of playing to do.

Girls Love Make-up!

Papa Bill gave Caitrin a real treasure the other day... it was one of our old Caboodles! She had it at Aunt Patty's house, and next thing I knew, it was filled with make-up. I really tried to leave it at Patty's house, to play with over there, but it ended up in my car and back at home.

I've done a pretty decent job of keeping it out of sight, but tonight, we did get it all out to play.
Caitrin sat at her chair in the kitchen, and before I knew it, she was all glammed up! If only we had somewhere to go! And she did it all herself! She seemed to almost know what she was doing, although she had a little too much on her cheeks, in my opinion! Check out how dirty her shirt is!
She even stuck the eye shadow applicator up her nose for a minute!
When she was all finished, she put everything back into her Caboodle for another time. I've already hid it so we don't have to play again too soon.
Mommy and her little Beauty!I have to admit that the make-up play transitioned nicely into getting ready for bed. Caitrin knows that all big girls wash their faces at night before they go to sleep. And of course, she had to wash the make-up off. Nami Barb will be happy to see her brushing her teeth!


Here is a little video that I took of the event on my camera. You can see her in action!

This is Caitrin's impression of Patty!?! Isn't she cute?

Halloween 2007

Halloween is my very favorite Holiday. I like it because it is fun, and imaginative, and helps me ease into Fall. And because I can celebrate it the whole month of October. And there is candy. I love candy.

So I started telling Caitrin about Halloween back in, like, August. She was a goldfish last year, and I really wanted her to be a squid this year. Then I tried to talk her into being an owl. But she had other ideas! We went to the Detroit Zoo a lot this summer, and she's got a thing for the peacocks that roam around there.

Well, Halloween 2007 was a great success.

I was up late the few days prior to the big day, trying to get the Peacock done. I probably didn't plan the best work schedule for myself and will have to remember that next year. I was up until 4am on the 30th, trying to finish the darn thing, but it turned out beautifully. Better than I could have imagined, being that I didn't have a pattern for the tail, just pictures of real peacocks to match colors.

We got up at our normal time, had breakfast, and then I put the finishing touches on the costume... figuring how to attach the tail to Caitrin. Jeff took the day off, which was wonderful... last year, I hauled a just-walking Caitrin all over Southeast Michigan and it was exhausting.

When Caitrin got up, we talked about Halloween and Trick-or-Treating. For some reason, instead of saying "Trick-or-Treat," she says, "ME!" When I asked her what she was going to be for Halloween, she said she wanted to be a GIRAFFE!!! She gave me the sneakiest of smiles, and then said, "Noooo..... Peacock!" LIKE SHE KNEW SHE WAS TEASING ME!

We got her dressed in the Peacock bodysuit, and she wanted to wear her new yellow crocs (which matched well, since I ran out of time to make the feet). We then tried everything on one last time, and we were off! Jeff, Caitrin and I, plus our 2 dogs, Ivie and Barrett, were in the truck by 10am!

First stop, UHY in Sterling Heights to see Aunt Amy... We paraded all around her office and did some practice trick-or-treating.

After that, we headed over to Clinton Township to my Grandma's house. Caitrin loves her Grandma Gracie! We had a short visit there, and then went outside to head off to our next location. Caitrin had to stop to check out Grandma's pumpkin first.
Our next stop was a visit to my Mom and Dad's house in Washington Township. Caitrin did well... she went right up to the front door and said "Trick-or-Treat!" We had a quick lunch there, walked around the yard to see all of the decorations, and then loaded back into the car again. Off to the Jeff's parent's house in Romeo. Caitrin played outside by Nami's Scarecrow display, and then did a little bit of sweeping for her once we went inside. After our half-hour time limit was up, we headed off for our next visit. Caitrin was exhausted by this time, and had to take a little nap in the car.

In Rochester Hills, we visited Aunt Patty and also the Maternowski cousins (and their bunny friend), who thankfully, live next door. We were running out of time to get home and do our own trick-or-treating! We had a quick visit with all of them, and then picked up our Thai carry-out (YUM) and headed home!

PHEW!

Uncle Mike came over for trick-or-treating. I stayed home to pass out the candy, and Jeff and Mike took Caitrin around the neighborhood. Our subdivision is basically a big loop, 36 houses in all, so it's not that big. They took the wagon, and off they headed when the alarm went off at 6pm. She ended up with one good sized bucket of candy (which we later gave to Uncle Mike), and made it around the inner loop.


Aunt Sara came over after her trick-or-treating was done, and then it was off to bed for Caitrin!

In some ways, I can't believe I agonized over the costume as much as I did for one day of wear. But it turned out much better than I could have expected it to, and it was a lot of fun to take Caitrin around to see everyone.

Caitrin woke up this morning still talking about Halloween. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to start telling her about Thanksgiving.

Caitrin Turns 2....

I find it hard to believe that I have a 2 year old child. Caitrin Skye turned 2 at 9:09 am this morning.

She woke up in her Halloween PJ's and breakfasted on a special custard donut, complete with birthday candles, compliments of her daddy. We tried to get her to blow out the candles, but she just didn't have enough wind to do so! She really enjoyed our serenade of "Happy Birthday," so much so that we had to sing it to her 3 times, and by the third, she was singing it to herself as well.
Aunt Amy began the birthday phone calls for the day. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said "Peacock," and then, "Giraffe." Since Jeff goes into work at 1pm, we had the whole morning to celebrate! We had considered getting up and going to the Detroit Zoo, but it was very chilly in the morning, so we opted not to. Instead, we played around the house for a while, and let it warm up a bit outside.

When it was 50 degrees out, we threw the jogging stroller in the back of the truck and loaded up the family for a Fall walk at Orion Oaks County Park. It was really nice for all of us... the dogs got to run around and get some energy out, Jeff and I got some much needed exercise, and Caitrin got to go for a ride and collect some beautiful Fall leaves.

With still some time left after the walk, we headed over the the playground at Baldwin and Clarkston Roads. The slides were a little on the wet side, but we didn't care. While Ivie and Barrett rested in the truck, the 3 of us jumped, climbed, and slid all over the place! Caitrin had a great time showing her Dad how brave she was going down the twisy slide by herself! When it was time to go, our little Birthday Girl was not happy! Soaking wet and cold, she wanted to stay and play more! On the way home, we stopped and got a pizza so we could eat lunch together as a family before Dad had to go to work. The lady at the pizza place gave Caitrin a bunch of stickers and this is what she did on the drive home. Then it was time for Caitrin's much needed nap, during which, I worked a little on her Peacock costume.
When Caitrin woke up, she asked for some chocolate milk, and we settled on the couch together for some afternoon cartoons. Thursdays are a special day for us already because Signing Time is on our local PBS station at 5pm. And it was perfect... we may not have made it to the Zoo, but it was the Zoo Train episode, so she got to see animals anyways.

For Caitrin's Birthday Dinner, we went to the Rainforest Cafe. And dinner was even better because Dad met us there! She was amazed by the fish and the animals, especially the elephants. She was clapping, laughing, oohhing, and aahhing at everything. She even had a special birthday dessert and the people at the restaurant sang to her.

I wasn't able to get Caitrin the peacock that she was asking for for her birthday, but at the Rainforest Cafe Gift Shop, we did find a Ty Stuffed Giraffe. I had to get it for her, of course! She immediately named it "Jujy," or "Suzie," or "Juicy," I'm not sure which, as they all sound the same! This is a picture that I (safely) took of her as we were driving home.

Back at home, we had a few more birthday phone calls, including one from her "Gracie," AKA my grandma, Grace. Once she was in her PJ's, we finished out the day by watching some of "The Little Mermaid." It was one of her later nights, she was up until about 9:45 pm, but I think she had a really good day. I know that I did.