Go Vikes!

I thought a picture of my Vikings fans would be appropriate for this very fine November Sunday. I can't believe how well they are doing this year. Who would have thought we'd be in this position this year with Brett Favre being one of the main attractions? Is Greg going to get to go to Miami in January?!? We'll see!!!

I've been gone for a while so I have nothing huge to write about. I spent the last nine days out in San Jose, CA (actually Santa Clara). It was quite the long trip but I managed to meet up with a couple friends, go to Santana Row a couple times, and I spent one afternoon up in San Francisco and one afternoon up in Sausalito. And the weather was great! This is my second trip out there in the last six weeks so I feel like I live there almost. Last time I got to spend a day up in the Napa Valley region. It will be a while before I make it back there but I feel lucky that I got to see some good sights on a couple of business trips.

halloween

This year marked Meredith's 3rd Halloween. I really made an effort to get into it and it really rubbed off on her. She is at an age now where she 'gets' things. I had her halloween costume picked out and completed back in August - how's that for being in the spirit? I might be biased, but I think she was the cutest little bee I ever did see. And oh my, did she LOVE being a bee.

Last year we went to Mall of America because she was so little still and almost too young to go door to door. It wasn't too bad from what I remember so we decided to go again this year. BIG MISTAKE. Maybe it was because halloween fell on a Saturday this year, but that place was packed. Ridiculously packed. It was not fun. And because there are like 5000 kids there, the stores all hand out crappy candy like suckers and jawbreakers. I'm not going to let my child eat jawbreakers. Meredith got better loot trick-or-treating at my office the day before. At any rate, Meredith had a good time and that's all that matters. I think next year we're just going to do some good old fashioned door-to-door trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

We made it home by 7:30 or so and we lit up our jack-o-lanterns and turned on the light so we could hand out candy. Meredith loved that too. She kept saying "more people".

Here she is all smiles on the way to the mall.

Getting some tricks-or-treats!

Hanging out with Grandma Schwake (Juana as Meredith says)

Here we are going up to the second level to try to escape the first level crowds.

Lovin' those Old Dutch dill pickle chips. My child for sure.

carving pumpkins

We carved pumpkins for the first time this week and Meredith loved it! She didn't accomplish much but she enjoyed it nonetheless. I bought one of those pumpkin masters carving sets and asked her which one she wanted me to carve. Of course she picked the HARDEST one to do. It was a scary pumpkin scarecrow. Greg carved her pumpkin into a kitty.

Once they were done, we put them out on the front steps and lit candles in them. Meredith was scared to go outside in the dark so we had to strap her into her carseat and drive the car around the front of the house. Once we got back to the house, she got kind of used to the dark and ventured outside for a closer look. She was so cute.

emma krumbee's

I have had a trip to Emma Krumbee's planned for quite some time now and I must say, I have great timing. We went on Saturday to meet up with my friend Barb, her husband Todd, and their two girls Erin and Sara. The weather was so nice - I couldn't have asked for more being how horrible the weather has been lately.

If you've never been to Emma Krumbee's and have kids, I highly recommend it. I went last year and had a blast...this year was even better.

We started off the day with a pony ride - Mimi picked this horse herself to ride on. The white one.

And this is AFTER the horse ride was over. Poor girl. This marks a theme for the day.

Next, we climbed up a giant haystack with Daddy.

That is Erin up there in the purple coat with Meredith.

There was a camel!

Then we rode on some neat horse shaped tire swings!

There was a giant hill with a giant slide that was so much fun to go down! And there was a petting zoo where you could feed and pet ponies and goats!

We went on a train ride that Meredith was less than thrilled to go on. She was having so much fun doing everything that whenever we would move on to another thing, she would get so upset.

Then she cheered up in the music tent. Here she is showing off her triangle.

She got all upset when we took her out of the music tent to drag her into the pumpkin patch. She cried the whole hayride out there and back. I only got one picture with pumpkins and here it is.

Then she was all smiles in the car after she heard we were going to McDonald's.

first haircut

We decided it was time to take Meredith in for a trim. Her hair was getting really shaggy and she had a little mullet going. Here's what $15 and about 5 snips gets you.

Before:

During:

After - no more mullet!

UGGs

I have scored the best bargain to date from Goodwill. So good that I have to write a whole post about it. Every Thursday, I stop in at Goodwill after work because all the kids clothes are 50% off. Many times I walk out of there with nothing and many times I walk out of there with some nice Gymboree or Gap clothes.

Today I was browsing the kids shoe section when I saw a beautiful pair of pink boots on the top shelf. Assuming they were Target knock offs of UGGs, I pulled them down anyway only to discover that the were REAL Uggs! And they were $3.99. I almost wet my pants.


These exact boots are retailing right now for $113. I am so thrilled. I don't know whether to hold on to them until her feet fit them (hopefully later this winter) or sell them on Ebay.

Elmo Party!

The theme of birthday #2 was Elmo. My daughter has a severe obsession with Elmo. We slummed it this year for her birthday - had the party at our small house, had just family over, and had Little Caesars to dine on. It was a fun day - I know Meredith enjoyed it.

Her favorite balloon (poor Elmo is barely floating as of today :-( Meredith is pretty distraught by that.
Here she is rocking the gangsta' Elmo look.



Grandma and Grandpa Schwake got her a shiny new red wagon for her birthday which she loves to ride in. She won't sit in the stroller but she seems to have no problem riding in the wagon - at least the times we have used it so far.


Meredith helped Daddy and Grandpa put it together.




And here is the finished product!

On to the fun stuff! An Elmo birthday isn't complete without an Elmo cake!











On to presents - she loved trying on her new clothes.

And she can't wait to play with Play-Doh this winter!

And the art desk from mom and dad...well...the verdict is still out on that one.

2!

Meredith turned 2 on September 2! I didn't even realize it was her golden birthday. I can't believe she's 2 already - she has turned into such a big girl now. She is very independent and likes to do things on her own. She always says "Mimi do". She is quite a chatterbox and a smart little girl too. Her birthday was on a Wednesday so we took cupcakes for the toddlers at daycare. Then we went to Chipotle for dinner and Build-A-Bear. Don't take a 2-year-old to Build-A-Bear. She kept grabbing animals and wouldn't pick just one. Then when it came time to stuff it, she had a fit because she didn't want to let go of it. She cried almost the whole time we were in there. Hopefully she had fun though - things were better once we left the store. She ended up getting a pink bear and a kitty cat (it even has a button inside that meows!). She loves the cat - I hear random meows coming from the monitor at night every now and then. I heard one last night even.

We had her annual check-up last week too. She is 34.5 inches tall and weighs 26.8 pounds.

Stay tuned - I'll post pictures of her Elmo party soon.