Man I Wish I Could Sew

Was window-shopping on the net today and came across this super cute little top on Zakka Craft. Just love it. I also love the sweet little dress below from Pretty Me.

People are just so darn talented. I truly wish I cold sew.

Growing Up Too Fast

Today Maddie flipped over from her back to her belly all by herself!

My friend Amber had her little boy this week and we went to visit her in the hospital last night. Wyatt looked so little compared to Maddie. She's gotten so big already. It's very cliche to say, but they really do get big fast.

The other day I was telling Katie not to grow up so fast. She asked "why" (of course) and we somehow stumbled into a conversation about how when she gets older and becomes a grown up she will live on her own.

Katie, who was eating lunch looked up at me eyes welled with tears and proceeded to say in a very sad little voice, "Mommy, I don't want to live by myself, I want to live with you."

Oh, I felt so bad.

Today was our mom's group Halloween park playdate. I love this picture of Katie and Dylann. It's like the start of a joke, "So, this mouse was pushing a dragon on a swing..."

Finally, Some Carvin'

That's right, the Little Wickies visited their third pumpkin patch of the season last weekend. This time the intent was to, in fact, buy pumpkins. We didn't want to lug a bunch of pumpkins with us on the Pumpkinliner train. And then, when we went to Underwood Farms I was by myself with the two Little Wickies and didn't have a lot of arms free to carry pumpkins. So, this weekend we bought pumpkins for everyone.

Even propped Maddie up for a photo shoot...

Katie went to work looking for pumpkins for everyone. We're not sure what the deal is with her but she always picks the ones with all the "warts" all over them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

Then, it was time to carve the pumpkins. Papa took pictures because he doesn't like to get his hands all yucky. Maddie was there to supervise the activities.

Super Katie

One of Katie's little friends Kai had a truly Martha-worthy party this weekend. His mom Jenn --you can see her creative wares at Ambrosia Girl -- did a more than spectacular job dreaming up a super-fun morning. I kept bumping into Jenn at Michael's (I personally am not a regular there, I was just getting something framed) and now after this weekend I understand what she was up to. She had parents help make a little craft upon arrival: a cool cape for the kids marked with their initial. And, of course there was a mask to complete the ensemble.

Katie wore the mask on and off the entire weekend.

Some pictures of Super Katie...

And, some help flying from Papa.

I have to stop and interject here before the next photo. Some of you may have noticed in the previous two pictures Song is wearing a Raiders hat. Those of you who know him are probably thinking "what?!" as he is a known 49ers fan. My husband the brilliant man that he is made a bet with a friend of his. Guess who lost the bet. Now Song will be wearing this hat every weekend until the Super Bowl.

Nice pins all over the hat right?

And, yes that is patent leather on the sides.

I'm not sure who lost the bet, him or me as I'm the one who has to be seen with him every weekend until February.

Super Katie and her partner in crime Super Dylann.

Birthday boy Super Kai.

Tee it Up

For the past couple of days Kaitlyn has been asking to throw the football around. Where the impetus for this came fromI do not know. I told her we could take the football to the park. A friend snapped some pictures of us playing catch. I also showed her how to tee up the ball and kick it. This she loved doing. With each kick she would start her run farther and farther away until she was starting literally 50+ feet away from the ball. Take a look at the video below.

Man that girl cracks me up.

Maddie

I snapped this picture of Maddie sleeping on me because I love when she is cuddled up against me. While she loves being held, she is not exactly cuddly. What I mean is she always pulls away from your body to see what is going on. One of her favorite -- if not her favorite -- positions to be held is propped up over my shoulder like the picture below. This position in case you're wondering wreaks havoc on your shoulder by the end of day.

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

We See Dead Things

A couple of months ago we had someone new move in next door. She is the owner of three cats. Since then the sound of cat "gang" fights have become the norm. The first time I heard the screeching of one of those fights I was sitting by the open sliding glass door at night -- it scared the begeezes out of me!

Besides picking fights, the cat gang also enjoys a good hunt. We back up to farmland -- an orchard, so the hunting is apparently plentiful. We have found many, many "presents," as of late. The other day I went to get the stroller out for a run and found a dead blue bird in our driveway. I hurried to shovel it into the trash before Katie could see it. Later that same day I was mowing the lawn and found a little dead mouse in the grass. Nice.

The very next day I found a dead lizard on the side yard. The following day we were outside and my husband found another little mouse in the backyard.

Friday, I was feeding Maddie when Katie came up to me and said, "What's that?" She pointed out the window. "What sweetie?" I asked as I turned my head to look and there was a mouse -- no let me re-categorize that -- a rat lying there on the back patio. I panicked and said "I don't know honey."

Katie very matter-of-factly stated, "Mom it's a mouse." She studied it for some time and asked, "When is it going to wake up?"

Umm....

I skidded around questions. I mean she's 2 for peet's sake, what am I going to say?

I forgot to pick it up that morning, so Song came home while we were out and took care of it and another small "sleeping" mouse he found in the yard. When we were pulling back into the driveway before nap time Katie asked me, "do you think the mouse woke up?"

She ran into the house and to the back glass door and said excitedly, "Mom it woke up and it's gone."

I swear, that kid's brain is a steel trap sometimes. And, then other times she can't tell you what she had for lunch!

Don't worry, there are no pictures with this post...

Down at the Farm

Today we went to Underwood Farms to feed the animals, drive some tractors, check out a corn maze, ride a train and of course, get a pumpkin for Halloween. It was not exactly a crisp fall day -- 91 degrees with a very warm Santa Ana wind (note the word wind, not breeze).

As always, the kids didn't care too much about the weather. They seemed to have a great time.

Looking for the perfect pumpkin...

We told them to close their eyes when the wind picked up ...

The corn maze was a dousey. We entered with gusto. The kids were excited, the parents optimistic. Let's just say there were a lot of dead ends and I think we found pretty much all of them. In the end, we didn't make it. We had to back-track to the entrance. The kids did great, walking the whole way (thank goodness). They had to be tired. It was hot, there was no breeze in the maze and oh yeah, we did this right before lunch which could have severely backfired on us. Sometimes you get lucky...

What better way to finish off the day than with a train ride.