Happy Halloween!

There was a Halloween parade on  base today where we all dressed up our toddlers and paraded them around the main base area in strollers and wagons, trick-or-treating at various offices. We had a blast. Emma apparently loves baths now,  so after her bath this morning she got dressed in her Cat costume...she thought it was great that she got to dress up like a cat, and say "meow." Then when went parading around and people were giving her candy,  oh man, every little kids' dream! She thought it was great, except she wanted to eat the candy as we went...and snuck a couple out of her bucket when I wasn't looking. Anyway, we walked and walked, for like an hour and a half we did this. Right when we finished it started to rain. So we came home and took a nap...oh, wait, it's Halloween, doesn't that mean you can eat candy and not take a nap? Hmmm, well that is what someone told Emma, even though she didn't sleep well last night. First we couldn't find a binky, but now she is just up there chatting away instead of napping. Oh well, I guess at least today I can blame it on the candy.'

Mom, they just gave me candy...

I think I like this.

Cat, Moose, Cat

The kitties wanted to pull the wagon together.

I made her pull her load of candy...actually she just wanted to pull it.

Quick! Smile before it rains!

All done!

The only nap she had today.

Dance Class, Take 4

We did very well yesterday...got to dance class early and Emma even wanted to wear her outfit. And we have been practicing "I'm a Little Teapot" for class. However, when we got there I got to talking and never actually her dance...oops. But apparently she did good and had fun. And she got a blue sucker... which she was very excited about.

Decorating cookies

So I get these bright ideas...go to the pumpkin farm, go shopping, etc. They always work out better in my mind than they do in real life. Actually, in real life it has been more of a disaster. So today I wanted to do something fun, and I thought it would go better if we stayed at home. And I suppose it did, but some of my bright ideas are not really age-appropriate for Emma. Oh well. Anyway, today we baked and decorated cookies. I am always surprised at the things that I forget she doesn't know, but she has never decorated or made cookies before, so how would she know that you had to put the whole cookie cutter on the dough, and only once, and you have to wait to bake the cookies before you eat them.  But they are little things. Oh, and I also forgot that you shouldn't put all the bowls of icing in front of her at once. Oops. But she had fun.

'mixing' the dough: she barely touched it

except maybe to eat it

rolling was her favorite part

Emma is pushing down the cat 

that's all?

more rolling since it was her favorite.

and now the fun part....

Steven's first question? Why does it look like poop? oops.

we even got daddy to do one! he had to use his strong face on that icing tube!

if messy equals fun, then emma had a blast.

oh, and it tasted good, too

all done! (except i had to rescue the sprinkles)

see what sprinkles look like when a two-year-old does it.

Hide and Seek (Peek)

When we lived in TX, Guenie (our neighbor) liked to go outside to use the bathroom...not actually in the yard, but the location where the deed occurred...she liked to go out in the bushes. During our time outside, Emma likes to go hide in the bushes...I thought to hide, but sometimes maybe to do her business. :) Anyway, I took some pictures of her hiding.

Pretty girl

I am so glad we had a girl...I love having a doll to dress up. :) She finally wore her dance outfit to class, and she was so cute. She kept watching for us, to make sure we were watching her. She had lots of fun this time. And the last picture is from tonight. Apparently her 'dress' is a size 4T top, but I didn't know that. She and I played outside for a long time playing chase me and hide-and-seek-Emma's version (where you both hide from each other and peek and giggle. (I guess you could call it hide and peek.)

Are you watching me?

Dancing with scarves.

Climbing the tree again

Playing outside

We have been trying to be outside more for a number of reasons: 1. It is finally a comfortable temperature. 2. I am always hopeful that getting outside will improve Emma's mood. 3. Yesterday we were outside bc housing told everyone we had to weed our flower beds. It didn't go so well for me. While I was weeding Emma was being VERY obnoxious, and doing everything I told her  not to do...like being in the neighbor's yard. But yesterday even that wasn't enough, she went all the way around the side of their house and ran into the street before I caught her. Ugh. I felt like a horrible mom for letting her get in the street, so we just came inside and I finished the weeding today during her nap. Anyway, today I saw half of one of the evil teeth coming in. So hopefully this extreme behavior will go away soon. I know tantrums are part of being two, but this is just not my girl. And today is dance class...hopefully it goes better that last week! Oh,  and daddy came home today...they had to switch the schedule around, so his Kday is today instead of Monday. Surprise!

She was trying to get something. I saw her when her legs were sticking up.

Everything is a toy.

She dumped the Cheerios and Cheezits on the floor during the closing prayer of my online Bible study.

The terrible two-year-old molars.

Emma is such a sweet girl. She is usually pretty reasonable, has a good routine...loves to brush her teeth, and even floss. She loves to help me cook or whatever I am doing. We like to play...Mr. Potato Head, MegaBlocks, Night-night, whatever. HOWEVER...We have discovered the two-year-old molars. They have turned my sweet little girl into a very strange version of herself...cranky, unhelpful, unkind, crazy, and very exhausting. Some days it can take hours to calm her down after naps. I call these teeth her evil teeth. I have a couple pictures and I would have had more but my camera battery is dead. Between Emma's evil teeth and my allergies, I am exhausted, so I haven't been super motivated to deal with my slow computer. Thankfully Steven got me a new one so I just need to get it set up and I will upload a real blog...I tried to upload all this yesterday but my computer wouldn't let me. Please be patient with me...I am so tired I can hardly think straight, but hopefully soon it will all settle down.