Happy Halloween!

A Girl And Her Mouse

(This one's for Becky!)

Mommy's got that camera thingy again...

I'll give her a little smile to make her happy...

OK that should do it. Wait, why are you taking my hoodie off? It's cold today. All you're gonna get now is a picture of me looking grumpy and cold.

Uh oh... here comes that Nathaniel kid and he's got a funny gleam in his eye.

OUCH! Why are you tugging at me?! Mommy, stop taking pictures and help!

Oh, hello little friend. Where did you come from?

Answer Key!

Here are the answers to yesterday's Pop Quiz!

1. Nathaniel
2. Mary
3. Nathaniel
4. Nathaniel (I think this one REALLY looks like Mary!)
5. Nathaniel
6. Mary
7. Mary
8. Mary
9. Nathaniel
10. Mary
11. Nathaniel
EC: Mary

Congratulations to Kim and Chris - bonus points to Chris for his observational skills because he has never even met Mary!! Nathaniel INSISTS these are all Mary, so the rest of you can all be proud of at least getting more correct than a two-year-old. :)

Before You Carve Your Pumpkins

Practice here first!

Here's my unoriginal attempt:

Pop Quiz

Take my quiz and post your answers in a comment. I'll reveal the correct answers tomorrow!

Mary or Nathaniel?

1.

2.3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Extra Credit:

Tell Me Again

"Tell me again why this is fun, Mary?"

A Good Point

I promise not to begin incessantly pointing you to my favorite blogs but as a follow-up to my Politics post, this article has a really good (and pretty scary!) point.

Joy In My Rearview Mirror

This morning on our way home from an errand I pulled the car over a few blocks from home so Nathaniel would see a mail truck pass us. A few months ago he was on a big motorcycle kick, and I coasted a little in the slow lane so one would zoom around us and Nathaniel could catch a glimpse. Once we were crossing a busy street and he started frantically pointing and waving at a motorcyclist. There's nothing more amusing than watching a tough looking biker dude break out into a smile and wave at a two year old. While driving I routinely point out construction equipment on the side of the road, and excitedly call out, "Tanker truck ahead! Look at that flat bed rig over there!" Let me tell you, six months ago I knew none of the proper names for any vehicles bigger than my SUV, and now I feel like a truck encyclopedia. With a toddler you really do learn something new every day. Today as the boxy white and blue USPS truck sped by I wondered: Is there any greater feeling than seeing a look of pure joy on your child's face?

Breaking News

Nathaniel just said "yes, please" without me prompting him first. It's the little victories in life, I tell you!

On Politics

I have to admit that I've been too nervous to blog about politics up until now. It's a little intimidating writing about something I don't feel totally knowledgeable about. I fully admit that this election is the first that I've had the opportunity to pay close attention to what's happening. Four years ago I was in grad school, and eight years ago I was planning a wedding. Don't get me wrong, both times I made an educated decision in terms of my vote... but I just didn't have the time to get into the nitty gritty details on the different economic policies and foreign affairs. I don't feel too confident in my ability to speak very eloquently on the topic now, but I don't want to completely ignore such an important issue. It's really been on my mind and in my prayers a lot the past few months. Jeff and I have had some wonderful discussions and my stance on certain issues has been strengthened.

If you're interested in my perspective on which candidate I think we should all be voting for, read this. And then read this.

And for anyone who would like, please join with my household in praying a novena prayer for the election. A novena is a special nine day prayer for a specific intention. Praying for nine days in preparation for something is a tradition the Church holds because of the nine days the apostles spent in prayer before receiving the Holy Spirit. This prayer was written by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, and it can be started at any time, but October 27 would be the last time you can begin in order to complete it before the election is over.

St. Thomas More, patron of politicians, pray for us!

"Pickeen Punkins"

Jeff and I always look forward to our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. When we bought our house five years ago we received a flyer in the mail shortly after moving from the realty company we used. It said we could pick out two free pumpkins at a farm a little north of us. We were so excited, we drove up almost immediately to check out the patch. We were happily surprised our second year in our house to receive the flyer again. And again the next year! Five years later, we still have a small celebration in our house when we receive that flyer in the mail at the end of September. Oh the little joys in life!

This year was especially fun because Nathaniel was so excited about "pickeen punkins" as he calls it. We let him pick out two little ones for him and Mary to paint later. Jeff and I picked out our two big free ones for carving. Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Feeding the chickens!

First Pair Of Overalls

Spoiled Rotten

I've had to take a small haitus from the blogging world because of two reasons: 1) Last Tuesday the computer decided it didn't want to turn on anymore and 2) My mom was visiting from Chicago all last week. Normally not having access to a computer would either have me in a panic or in a really bad mood (or both!), but neither happened because we were all too busy being spoiled rotten by Grandma! Nathaniel is just now coming down from his week-long high of having a constant car racer, puzzle player, cookie baker, walk taker, Cozy Coupe zoomer, book reader, and Little People player by his side. I was able to sleep in a couple of days with Mary while Grandma played with Nathaniel. And with the free afternoon babysitting service my Mom provided, I went shopping ALL BY MYSELF during the kids' naps. I had forgotten how quickly errands go when I only have myself to buckle in and out of the car!

Jeff fixed the computer issue so I am happy to be able post some pictures from last week!

Grandma Sandy & Mary:

The cookie bakers:

What's Your Favorite Color?

My friend Becky blogged today that she just discovered her favorite color. Mine has been the same for awhile: blue. When I was a kid it was purple, and then it was red for tiny bit. I finally settled on blue sometime in college. When Jeff and I were engaged, I read about the Catholic tradition of having a Marian wedding, and because this meant dedicating our big day to the Blessed Mother and using my favorite color blue, that's what we decided to do. At the time "periwinkle" was all the rage, and I actually had some difficulty finding a good light blue shade for the bridesmaids. Here's what having the color blue for a favorite says about my personality, according to the author of "The Healing Power of Color":

"Soft, soothing, compassionate and caring, Blue is the color of deliberation and introspection, conservatism and duty. Patient, persevering, conscientious, sensitive and self-controlled, Blues like to be admired for their steady character and wisdom. They are faithful, but are often worriers with somewhat inflexible beliefs and can be too cautious, and suspicious of flamboyant behavior."

I seriously couldn't think up a better description of me! Well, the patience and self-control is a work in progress, of course. :)

Go here to check out what your favorite color says about you!

This is Getting a Bit Ridiculous...

So Nathaniel keeps asking to bring more and more things into his crib, and he gets mad if they are taken out. Out of fear of disrupting the beautiful sleeping arrangement we have with him right now (we read him a book, tuck him in and walk out of the room with no issues) we have let him amass quite the crib collection. But today it occurred to me that it's quite possible we will have to move him to a big boy bed merely because he is running out of room in his crib!

The list of important nigh nigh items are as follows, in no particular order:

• 4 stuffed animals
• blankie
• pillow
• emergency sippy cup with water
• Mail truck
• Fire engine
• Goodnight Moon book

Maybe he's waiting until he has enough things to pile up on top of one another to make his big escape!

Happy Birthday, Papa Bob!

Have a great day today!