Halloween!

We had a great night! Usual tradition of having my best friend and her family over to trick of treat. But also stopped at the new neighbors a few houses down to have them come with...three 5/6 years old boys and three 2/3 year old girls. So fun!!

Piper refused to wear the crown (it hurts my head, mama)...





I've gotten great use out of the $1.49 flamingo hat I got at Savers four years ago!


First house!


The girls!


The moms!


Stopping at one of our favorite neighbor's house


Loot afterwards!

Monday with Piper

Our Monday started by having Piper's friend over for a play date while her mom volunteered in her son's classroom. The girls played so well together!


Piper and I met another friend at Noodles & Co. for lunch. Piper did great while we caught up. While playing with my phone, she decided to take a self portrait! Ha!


When did my little girl decide to get so big??


We decided to take a walk to pick Isaac up (he gets dropped off at daycare, one mile away). Ten minutes after getting back, here's how I found her.


A good day!

Lindsey's Shower

Friday after dropping the kids off, I headed to St. Cloud for the weekend. I was hosting a shower for Lindsey at her house. I didn't get there until late in the evening on Friday, so other than staying up too late talking, we didn't do much.
Saturday morning, we started to get ready for the shower (which was going to be on Sunday). After getting a few things done, we took a break and headed to the gym for a work out.
The baby's room is grey, white, and yellow, so that is what I used for the shower theme. These are what I used to hold the silverware.




And then the silverware for dessert.




After getting back from the gym, we showered and headed out for lunch and a little bit of Christmas shopping. Once we were done, it was back to more preparation.
I got the idea for the French door decoration off of Pinterest; cut circles out of scrapbook paper and attached them to fishing line.




Almond bark dipped pretzels with yellow crystals.




Beverage area. I covered all the pictures in her house with different silver and white wrapping paper. With their yellow walls, it went well with the theme!




These are water bottle labels--there were different sayings on them: congrats Lindsey, little sunshine, and precious baby.




Cupcakes had cupcake toppers with the same sayings as the water bottle covers, in addition it yellow cupcake wrappers.








A grocery store in town had some fall flower bouquets on sale, so I bought a few and took out the orange and red flowers. It was nice having fresh flowers!








I made this decoration before going to St. Cloud. It was tedious but LOVE how it turned out!




Also thanks to Pinterest, I had some new recipes to try. With the shower at 1pm, I didn't want to have a big meal, but certainly wanted to have food. I made a fruit salad with a honey lime dressing, individual apple pie wraps, Swedish meatballs, celery logs with cottage cheese/cucumber/basil, and deviled eggs (they're yellow and white--how could I not?!).
Also thanks to Pinterest, Lindsey helped me paint Popsicle sticks and turned then in to little easels. I then put the food labels on them.








And because I have a MILLION pictures is the mama-to-be opening gifts, I will only chose one.




Lindsey (hopefully) has a few pictures that I didn't get. Maybe I'll be able to add a few more later. Here we are with friend Brooke, that we've known since we lives in Bemidji.




And after everyone left and stuff was put away, my sister and I...




I am so honored and happy to be able to have this shower for her. She is my only sister, my only sibling. I really only had one opportunity to do this. And if she didn't already deserve this, this baby has been a long time coming. She and Paul have been through so much to get to this point. I'm proud of them for becoming a stronger couple through this journey. Baby Menard is already loved THIS MUCH.

Isaac

Isaac has been so fun lately! He is such a sweet boy and is so loving. He loves to work on projects and play with his friends. He ate a smoothie and had a great milk mustache afterwards!


When we were out prepping the yard for winter, Spider-Man decided to stop by and lend a hand by blowing leaves!


Isaac ADORES one of the neighbor boys. I hope their friendship continues for a long time.


And, he lost another tooth! This is the third tooth he's lost. It was hanging by a thread last night, but just couldn't quite pull it. He woke up the next morning, and it was out! Luckily we found it in his bed. He and Piper are spending the night at Papa and Grandma Judi's tonight, so we put it in his overnight bag. He's confident the tooth fairy will be able to find him!

Lindsey visits!

My sister was able to come for a visit. She came out to the bus stop with Isaac one morning...


and worked a puzzle with Piper.


Monday we did some errands, went to a favorite restaurant for appetizers and dessert (and an adult beverage for me!). Afterwards we went to a prenatal yoga class. It was a class I went to when I was pregnant with Piper. Such good memories, going back was emotional for me.


And the preggo girl too a nap before heading for home.


So grateful she came for a visit!!

Little Diva

Piper is going to be the death of me. She has so much attitude and knows what she wants. Must get it from her father, right?! She knows what she wants, when she wants it, and throws attitude when it doesn't happen the way she wants it too. She wants to pick out her own clothes, her milk warmed up a little ("it's too cold, mama"), if she wants her hair down/in a side pony/braid, but wants help brushing her teeth--and tells you how it should be done. She likes her blanket laid out on top of her before bed...but it has to have the soft side up with the bunny on it up towards her head (not by her feet). As much as she is a spitfire, she melts my heart. I hear "MAMA", to which I reply, "yes, Piper", and in a soft sweet tone, she says, "I love you". Many nights before bed when we ask the kids what they are grateful for, she point to me, her daddy, and brother.

Sometimes I wonder if food is simply a vessel to get condiments into her mouth. Here the carrots were gone, so she used her fingers to lap up the ranch dip.


She discovered a set of four little wooden puzzles and has been putting them together several times a day. She's getting pretty quick at them!


I initially took this picture to capture her playing on my sister's iPhone. Then I saw her tummy sticking out of too-small pjs!


She is having a sleep over in Isaac's room while my sister is in town. I love how they are both completely wiped out!

Artists

Our new daycare (that we started in June), does a curriculum during the school year. It's been so fun seeing the artwork and projects Piper brings home. We get reports that she loves working on them. She can write the P-i-p of her name and gets help with the e-r.


She's good with a scissors and loves to use glue!


We've always known that Isaac likes to color and draw. And luckily that seems to be flourishing even more since starting kindergarten. He's been drawing trains for awhile, but they are now getting more elaborate.


And this week he has started to draw rockets!


This mama is super proud of her two artists!

Early Morning, Fun Night

Piper has been waking up early the past few days. So, when ingot up with her at 5:30, what else was there to do except paint her toenails?! She was very excited.


The following night, Eddy had to stay at work late for baseball. So after dinner, the kids and I made ice cream sundaes and played a Scooby Doo board game. It was a fun night.