just a hint...

There's a running joke in my family that, while I may be pretty good at keeping secrets, all bets are off once I start giving hints. I've basically ruined every Christmas and birthday surprise ever for each of my parents because I am so phenomenally bad at giving hints that don't completely give away the exact gift itself. And apparently the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree...


Mike and I did a lot of Christmas shopping over the Black Friday / Small Business Saturday / Cyber Monday explosion of online deals, which has resulted in several boxes arriving at our house yesterday and today (thanks to Amazon prime) and several more scheduled to arrive in the next few days. And when I got home from work today, Rose was thrilled to show off the freshly wrapped presents that she and Mike had just finished up for me!

Knowing that she is just three years old and (understandably) terrible at keeping secrets, Mike immediately told her, "remember not to tell Mommy what we got her!!"

Rose was agreeable, but responded: "I'll just give her a hint!"

"Okaaay," I replied hesitantly.

"It's round," she offered, "and goes like this..." (moving her arms out and back together).

"Did you get me an accordion?!" I joked.

"No, it's a watch!" she yelled proudly.



Argh!! 


But I am super excited to receive my present in a few weeks! :)

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In other news, Rose and I worked on Christmas cards tonight after dinner. I finally have a family member who wants to help!!! (Writing Christmas cards is like Mike's own personal waterboarding, so I've had to do it alone for the past 12 years.)  She and I had so much fun licking envelopes and sticking on stamps, all while listening to Christmas music. It was great!!!

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In other Christmas-related news, we went to Jack and Marsha's last weekend to help them decorate (and to eat delicious food).

It was my first time making gingerbread houses, and I had so much fun!!  Now I want to make gingerbread and frosting myself and try it again from scratch...


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Finally, we had yet another bout of illness in our house the last few days. As a result, Rose had a lot of quality time dressed in princess pajamas, ate a lot of smoothies, and watched a lot of movies. Thankfully she appears to be on the mend and was able to go back to school today!

November photo round up

Rose asked me to paint her toenails. She was bored during the process, but thrilled afterward!

The "proper" way to eat PB&J: with a fork.

We had a "playdate" at the zoo yesterday.

Rose and Emma had tons of fun! (And Emma's mom, Anna, and I got to do lots of talking!)

From my friend Danielle's wedding back in September.

 

"Just like Mommy..."

Our little reindeer

Let the planning begin!

another accident

If a picture tells the story of a thousand words, here it is:

note the red abrasion and the HUGE black-and-blue goose egg surrounding it

We had a SUPER busy weekend, so we tried to get outside for a little bit of relaxing "family time" this afternoon while the weather was still nice. We went across the road to the construction site in order to play on the dirt piles and pick up some of the extra rocks to "steal" for our yard. Mike had a backpack on and was handing me rocks to fill it up....

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Rose ducked in between us, leaned down to climb up a dirt hill on all fours, and Mike swung a rock back to hand to me.   And BAM.



I HATE accidents where Rose gets hurt!!! Inside, I was crying just as much as she was. It was awful.

And the poor girl had to put up with me trying to do a mini concussion eval on her - do you realize how hard it is to test the orientation, memory, and processing speeds of a three-year-old?!?  Thank heavens she didn't lose consciousness and did not report any post-traumatic amnesia.

Now I just have to practice self-forgiveness yet again.

Rose-isms and Halloween

The other day Rose and I were eating breakfast together as Mike was carrying things outside to pack up his car in order to go fishing after work. As he carried his HUGE tackle box outside, Rose yelled out "Be careful, Mikey!" (Where did she come up with that knickname?!)


Another day I gave Rose the option to go to school right away so I could get gas after dropping her off, or to go with me to get gas before I dropped her off. She thought about it for a long time, then responded "maybe Daddy should get gas for you and we play."   (I like the way she thinks!)




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In other news, I LOVE when Halloween falls on a Saturday! Extra time to dress up and have fun, and no worries about having to get to school/work the next day. Rose was also THRILLED to be able to wear her costume all day. She had asked to be a princess, in blue, with a dress that reached "all the way to the ground!" and with a cape. I think we succeeded! She's my favorite Cinderella ever.

Putting on Cinderella's magic slippers.

The Shops at West End hosted a little Halloween event for kids.

 At one of the first stores they asked her "who are you for Halloween?"  She paused, then responded "I'm Rose."  :)

So hard to pick just one treat!

"Trick or treat!"

We even ran into her best friend from school!

 

We had yummy Indian food for lunch!

After lunch and a few errands, we returned home for nap time. And after nap we finally carved our pumpkin!  (Bought way back when we went to Mankato for the day!) We haven't even tried carving pumpkins for the past few years, so this was Rose's first experience pulling out the "guts."

"You want me to do what?!"

One seed at a time...

Then shake that one seed to the ground...

30 minutes later!

I love this photo!

"Hurry up, Mommy! It's getting dark out!"

I love her reflection in the door!

It got dark fast!

Look at that stash!!!

THAT'S what we call a "sugar buzz!!"

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

family photos!

A few weeks ago we had family pictures taken by Chelsea Madsen Images. You may recall that "Ms. Chelsea" is one of the teachers at Rose's school, and she has taken Rose's school pictures for the past couple years.  We had SO much fun at Westwood Hills Nature Center, and I was thrilled with the results. I highly recommend Ms. Chelsea if you're looking for a very reasonably priced and excellent photographer!!

Here are the highlights of the 300+ that she took that morning. You can look forward to seeing my favorites (of these) on our holiday card this year. And speaking of holiday cards, if you've moved in the past year or if you haven't previously gotten a card but want to start, let me know your address!

P.S. If you want any of these as prints, let me know!