HandprintTurkey Cookies

With Thanksgiving "hot on the heels" of Halloween, I put some decorations away, and pulled a few new things out, and began to talk about this holiday. One item that caught Kayli's attention was the beany baby turkey, which she snatched up quickly and began to carry around. I told her it was a turkey but she kept referring to it by other bird names: "Mom, where's my chicken?" "Look, mom, I found my hawk!" "Mom, what you say that bird name again?" So, we began talking more about the turkey and as an extra tasty reinforcement, we decided to bake some turkey cookies that we made by cutting out Kayli's handprint from sugar cookie dough. Kayli loves to help me cook, so she was thrilled to put on her apron, roll up her sleeves, and start rolling the dough. Not playdough, but real dough to "play with", Woohoo! The grand finale was some heavily frosted turkey cookies that were yum, yum, yummy!

Yestertime and Yesternight

As a reference to time, Kayli frequently uses two words. "Yestertime" covers anything in the past, happening during daylight, while "yesternight" takes care of evening or nightime happenings. I love this very efficient use of language. Now, if we are talking about something coming up, that would be "amorrow". Amorrow, Kayli's mommy is having a birthday. Woohoo, a celebration. Kayli and her mommy LOVE to celebrate!

Oh, How I Love the Fall!

This Fall has, once again, reinforced everything I LOVE about Fall:

Beautiful colors
Fabulously mild weather in the 60s and 70s
Fresh apples for apple crisp
Fall Festivals, pumpkin patches, hayrides
Leaves falling
Leaves in piles to jump in and run through (Kayli loves it when I run with her in the stroller through long stretches of leaves on the sidewalk!)
Hanging out at the park, and not getting any mosquito or chigger bites (This one is a HUGE plus in my book)

Kayli and I had a recent opportunity to go to a nearby park and hang out for the afternoon. We sat on a cement slab on the edge of the lake and shared our goldfish crackers with the geese that swam right up to Kayli. The nice thing was that these geese were pretty nice (unlike the aggressive bunch that chased Kayli, Jake, and Nick at the park by Marion’s house last year!) The geese at this lake gathered around Kayli as she sweetly and sympathetically talked to them about “turn taking” and doled out the goldfish accordingly. This afternoon was simply a slice of heaven, as we had nowhere to go, no time constraints, not a care in the world, Aaaaahh…

Trick or Treat!

Halloween wouldn't be complete without a Jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner, right? Well, we enjoyed this scrumptious meal the night before Halloween, as a nice "lead-in" to the big day. Kayli was soooo excited this year, with all the talk about Halloween, costumes, parades, candy. Every day she would ask me "Is it Halloween today?" On the big day, Kayli's daycare put all the kids in their costumes and paraded them around the building, stopping here and there to practice their "trick-or-treating skills" and fill their paper bags with treats. They had lots of fun and still took a nice nap in the afternoon, so they would be at their very best for the big night! Kayli loved the idea of ringing doorbells, and was thrilled when she would discover one that she could actually reach by herself. Each time we were leaving a house, Kayli seemed to find something she needed to stop and explore. There were rocks to pick up, trees to shake, hug, dance around, leaves to be thrown, bird baths filled with a nice mixture of water and leaves, etc. etc. We were as much on a nature walk as we were trick-or-treating. Once we completed the cul-de-sac, 5 houses, 45 minutes (including visiting and exploring) we hopped in the car and drove to Grandpa's house for a Halloween visit. Then, we headed over to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Karen's, but nobody was home. So, we just parked the car and grabbed our trick-or-treat bucket and headed down their street for more trick-or-treat fun. Kayli was "warmed up" and talking to people, telling them she really liked their houses, asking about their pets, wishing them Happy Halloween, and getting more candy than she could eat in a lifetime! Once home, of course we had to dump out all the loot onto the kitchen floor and savor the sight, smell, and taste of all this candy! WOW! What a day!

What I love, is that whenever we are in the car, coming home from being at a party, a park, the zoo, etc., Kayli will say to me "Whew, mom, we sure had a fun day, didn't we?" and of course I always have to agree!