Fall weather

E and I set out to enjoy what seemed like it was going to be the last nice weekend of fall. We went to the Monona Fall Festival, they had a candy hunt (E only found gum and had a tantrum, screaming "I want gum" after I told her she couldn't have any), a hay wagon ride, horse rides, pumpkin decorating and more. Most important to E of course, was the popcorn in the concession stand.

We stood in line for a LONG time to ride the ponies, but as soon as it was E's turn, she realized how big a pony was, and refused to get on one. She did love the hay wagon ride though. She also made a great decorated paper plate in the arts and crafts tent.

But, by far the highlight of the weekend was getting her Captain America Halloween costume

Ballet

E has taken a few dance classes, but is anxiously awaiting being able to take more formal classes. She's got two "leader-tards" and she loves to wear them. She usually wears her princess one to bed, over her regular PJs, and today, insisted on wearing the purple one to daycare.

Fall

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather to take our annual trip to Peck's and Heck's farms for pumpkins, caramel apples, and popcorn.

The day started with E's flu shot, which she handled like a pro, she was very proud of the tiny circle band-aid and fairy sticker she got when she was done.

We started at Heck's were they had a new kid area this year, E loved playing in the corn sandbox, they had little tea cups to scoop full of corn, and shovels, she had a blast.

E fell in love with these cement lions, she asked to have her picture taken with them

When it was time to choose pumpkins, E got her own wagon and pulled it around the place.

She chose pumpkins, looking for Bert and Ernie ones

We even tried one of these picture spots, she's not quite tall enough!

It was a long walk back

We only had a short visit to Peck's, we were a little tired after Heck's, but we got to ride in a horse drawn wagon, just like Aerial does, and we saw some animals. Most importantly, to E at least, we ate some popcorn!

September

Catching up on most of September in one post!

September 22-23 Dada was helping Grandma and Grandpa move out of their cabin, so E and I had a girls weekend. The part she was most looking forward to was Sunday morning, where she had been promised a "pajammie day." We fit a lot into the weekend. Saturday morning we parked cars for the football game and walked to the stadium to take part in the "football party" we also got lunch at Mickies, which was a special treat for E.

After nap, we went to the Chocolate Shoppe's birthday party, were E got her face painted (she chose the Ws herself) and she got her first balloon animal. She bit the animal in the car, and popped it. The head survived somehow, so now she just has part.

I finally finished the knit elephant I'd been working on for her. I made one for her friend A, and it was the first item I've ever knit where E immediately asked, "where's mine." Since she napped, I decided to finish it up.  Here's what I got when I asked her to smile nicely for a picture with it:

Trying again:

For our pajammie day, we wore our PJs all morning, then we headed to the 100th birthday party of the hospital where E "got borned." She asks about her "born day" all the time, so I thought this would be a nice way for her to see it. We had lots of fun touring around with Ama, eating snacks, and having cake. Strangely enough, E's favorite part was the historical movie about the hospital. It may have been because she go to eat popcorn while watching, but who knows.

E kicked off pajammie day by announcing she was going to do some cleaning, so she spent a solid half hour cleaning her picnic table. She has baggies on her hands because she told me she needed gloves.

Each Thursday, E, Ama, Ada, and I go to Mickie's Dairy Bar for breakfast. E loves to have a cinnamon roll (or a cinnamon) and some of a scrambler (she mostly just eats the ham)

She likes to make herself a piece of toast with "sprinkle" on it, as Ama says, "what happens on Thursdays stays at Ama's"

 September 15 we headed to Epplegarden to pick apples. E wasn't too impressed with apple picking, but she loved picking raspberries. We are lucky she managed to put some berries in the basket, each time I looked at her she was picking them and eating them!

She did warm up to apple picking, particularly once she found out that you could eat one while you worked. E loves to snack.

Here, E is wearing my sunglasses, she has gotten really particular lately about the sun shining on her. 

We've spent a lot of time hiding behind this curtain this month. Sometimes dada or I hide too, other times E runs behind it and says, "where's me" and we have to look for her. She likes to collect brochures (or maps as she calls them) that is what we are reading here.

September 4th, dada started school again. Here is the traditional first day of school picture

Adjusting back to the school year has been a big change this year. Although E's transition to daycare went smoothly, the overall transition has taken some work, we are so spoiled to have dada home in the summer, its hard to figure out how to do things with him back at school.

Labor Day weekend, E, Ama, Ada, and I went to visit some family in Trempleau. E had a great time. She got to see her cousin's chickens and dog. After this trip, E isn't as scared of little dogs as she was before. She even pets the little ones now! This is a huge accomplishment for her.  E did a great job of being around her bigger cousins, and they did a good job of including her when they could. The cutest event of the weekend was seeing E standing on a coffee table to play foosball with a 13 year old boy. She had a blast.

Finally, August 31st, E and I headed back to Circus World for a last trip of the summer. Circus World is probably E's favorite thing she did all summer. She still talks about the clowns, the jugglers, the horse rider, and the "rope lady." I'm sure she is ready to go back next season.

We got there just in time for the circus and after the performance, E got a picture of her two favorite clowns. She insisted on having her picture with the picture. It was funny though, she wouldn't stand near the clowns for a picture with the actual performers.

We stayed and watched the miniature horse show which is something we hadn't done before. E loved it! I think the size of the horse made it much more interesting to her. She didn't sit down the entire time.

We also did the circus skills adventure, which we hadn't done before, E got to hula hoop and jump off a big ball. She loved being in the performance ring. She can't hula hoop yet, but maybe by next summer.

Princesses

Princesses have arrived at our house. We fought it for as long as we could, but first came the Bubbies, then came the dress up clothes, and then came the tent. We are in it now. It helps that E has no idea the difference between a fairy, a princess, and a baby doll. They are pretty much all interchangeable. But, she loves them all, and they make her so happy its hard to begrudge her them. She's up to a Cinderella, Snow White, Aerial, and Belle dolls, and a Tinkerbell and Snow White Costume.

I love this picture, there is just something so little girl about wearing a beautiful outfit and then checking herself out in the side of the car. When I took it, I had no idea that is what she was doing. It wasn't until we saw the picture that we realized!

Snow White joined us for ice cream. E was so set on wearing this outfit that she even agreed to wear a bib.

I got a call at work the other day, it was dada telling me that E refused to get dressed, she wanted to wear her Tinkerbell costume and diaper to daycare, not clothes. He got her dressed eventually.

To top off the princess-mania, E wore pretty dresses three days in a row, just like a princess.

Big Days

We've had a series of big days at our house in the last week.

August 20 was E's first day back at day care after spending the summer with dada. She joined right in like she hadn't been gone at all. She walked into the classroom and said "where's my chair, where's my juice" and she was ready. We had been planning on sending her for a half day only, since last year's transition went so badly, but she didn't need it, she was ready!

August 19- We went to the Milwaukee Public Museum to celebrate the last weekend of summer. E loves the kachina dolls, and the Native American exhibit. She is scared of the "breathing" dinosaurs (the T-Rex). Her favorite part of the museum is the Streets of Old Milwaukee, since their is a candy store there, and she gets dinosaur gummies! 

On a less great note, E learned how to climb out of her crib tonight, as she put it "I just slid out"

She did very well with the butterfly landed on dada's shoulders, she is usually scared of this sort of thing, but she tried to touch it and then just looked at it.

August 18- E got her first pet! While momma was sleeping, dada and E bought a fish. She named him Sebastian, and has taken very good care of him thus far. Her favorite part of fish ownership is the feeding, Sebastian would get three meals a day if we let her control the feeding. As it is, the meals are pretty generous! Sebastian sleeps in E's room and his tank serves as a night light for her.

August 17- Was E and dada's last day of summer vacation. So they started the day with pancookies shaped like princesses. Then they headed to the Children's Museum where she painted and played in the kitchen. Then they went to the State Capitol and looked around, and then the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. After all that, they walked down and met momma and grandpa Ada for a picnic lunch. We at at "coffee break" and afterwords E came back to my office for a little visit. They spent a little time on State Street, and even found a little time for a trip to the comic book store!

August 16- E's bedtime has been such a problem lately, that we decided to make a big change and see what happened. We'd been putting E down to bed about 8:30 and she spent from that time until 10:30-11:00 calling for us, crying, and playing. Since that meant that momma and dada couldn't get any housework done, or any relaxing done, we decided to try the "big girl bed" we really talked it up, and then put E's mattress on the floor. The first night it went great, E only called for us once, and then went to bed and slept through the night. We thought maybe we'd solved the bedtime problems. But the next night, she was everywhere. Dada ended up reconstructing the crib at 10:30 at night. Oh well.

Chicago

We took our family vacation in Chicago this year, partly based on Chicago Comic Con. We headed down to the city and went straight to the Field Museum. E loves the Milwaukee Public Museum, but she told us the Field Museum was "to loud." We were surprised at her reaction, but many of the exhibit rooms were on the dark side and had high ceilings, so I'm guessing the place made her feel a little small.

The first part of the Museum E warmed up to was this reconstructed house in the Indonesian area of the museum.

Then, she loved the kid area. There were several big kids playing kitchen with the corn and E was so excited to get to play with them, she kept taking the corn out of the pot, running with it, and bringing it back to them.

The kid area also had a bunch of of dinosaur themed things, but aside from the station where you could dig a dino bone out of sand, she wasn't very interested.

The next day we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, it was quite a trip to get there, E got to ride on the L, or as we called it, the "Dinosaur Train." She didn't mind the train too much, although she found it loud at times.

She had a lot of fun in the children's zoo, they had some water to play in and a huge climber set (which she refused to go on).

Clowning around with momma during a popcorn break

 

Playing with her "Kercheck" bubbles. We got to see a training session with one of the gorillas, so she got some bubbles to commemorate the event. She named the blue ones Kercheck, and the purple one Kala after the gorillas in the Jungle Book and Tarzan

First time riding the bus

Too tired on the bus, it was a big day.

We wanted a picture of the Bean at the "bean" but she was still pretty tired!

Saturday morning, E went to Comic Con with dada, she got to see her favorites: the Hulk, Captain America's dada, and Natasha Romanov.

Then, E and I headed downtown to go to tea at American Girl Place. I have been looking forward to taking a daughter there since December of 2008. When I first saw that place, I called Andy and told him we needed a little girl!

So, off we went. The two of us rode the L, walked up Michigan Avenue, stopped to get dada some chocolates (E claimed the white chocolate piece), went to the Disney Store (a new Minnie Mouse and Cinderella came home with us) and got to tea.

Our first stop was back to the bean, E enjoyed it this time, although she didn't want to play in the water at the other part of the park.

E and her baby at tea

E loved having a high chair for her baby, she couldn't decide where the best place was for it! Then, we had to get chairs for the new Minnie and Cinderella.

 They provided tiny doll sized cups and plates, E insisted on having some water in the cup for the baby, and put a sandwich on the little plate.

Here are all our tea guests in their chair, unfortunately, just after this picture, E tried to move the baby's chair and fell out of her chair. She insisted on sitting on my lap, and fell asleep in minutes.

The final day of our vacation, dada went back to Comic Con for a little bit and E and I hung around the hotel room. E got to watch "live" TV a few times, instead of the Netflix she's used to. Since she saw Olivia she expected that to be on all the time. She also enjoyed the hotel breakfast, although the said that the cinnamon wasn't as good as the ones at Mickie's. She also loved the evening reception, she got a chance to drink bubbly, and eat what she called a "spicy" snack.

After Comic Con, we went to Momma's con, Stitches Midwest. E was a very good sport, and at first was excited to see the "knitting ladies." They weren't quite what she was hoping for, but she made it through most of the convention anyway.