Hey I'm 2

Santa Claus is Coming

She asked for a sucker.

But then later, once we were home she revised her request:

"Mommy, need giraffe, Santa"!

50 States In 6 Minutes

I have to give Noah a little bit of hard time here.

He's been wanting me to see if I could write down all 50 States in less than 6 minutes {We've been watching a lot of "Friends" lately and there is an episode where the gang plays this game and no one can do it.}

Two nights ago Noah sat down and tried.

After 15 minutes he had resorted to drawing a map and by 20 he had given in with 49 States on his page. Incidentally, it was New Jersey he forgot.

But here's the thing, he forgot one state, but check out the map he drew.

Are you kidding me? This thing is awesome.

My husband is talented and cool.

{I've yet to take my turn, I'm afraid it will be pretty scary.}

I Rock Black Friday

Check out the "Total Savings"

and the BEST part is . . .

I didn't leave my house until noon!

While the lady was cutting my fabric, {that I scored at super awesome Black Friday prices}, I asked her how much fabric I needed to do a queen-sized quilt.

She asked if I was doing a rag-time quilt and I said, "No, I'm tying it."

At this point she set down her scissors, cocked her head to the side and said, "No, sweetheart . . . you have to . . . sew it."

She had no idea what I meant when I said I was going to, "tie a quilt."

I explained it to her but she still gave me a kind of glazed-over, skeptical look. Apparently quilt tying is not too common around here!

October Round-Up

We spent our October like this:

Looking at exotic animals at the pumpkin patch petting zoo . . .

Riding gigantic slides, and eating fried apple pie . . .

Having lots of kisses and snuggles . . .

Being {looking} a little silly . . . {just me really, Noah looks great!}

Baking Halloween sugar cookies . . .

Loving Halloween frosting . . .

Eating Grandpa Hendrickson's apples {thanks Mom} . . .

Wielding deadly weapons . . .

Staring at "pumpkin faces" . . .

Mingling with the local zombies . . .

{One small bit of explanation, if you live in Lexington you can dress up like a zombie and dance Michael Jackson's Thriller down main street with other zombies in a parade held on October 30th. Anyone can be a part of the fun, you just have to go to a couple of rehearsals and learn the dance. I didn't hear about this until a couple of days before the parade, or I totally would have done it. Who wouldn't want to be a dancing zombie?}

Loving the concept of "trick or treating" . . .

By the end of the month we all felt a lot like this . . .

Parenting Milestone

A couple of days ago, Noah was talking to some friends of ours who don't have kids. He was telling them how having children tends to change a person. For instance, you realize that your ability to love is exponentially greater than you could have ever conceived. And that, although your patience may be stretched so thin, that you really think the next time you hear that winy little screech screaming for fruit snacks that you may just break into a million pieces; all it takes is a smile from your little one and the world suddenly rights itself.

These are some of the wonderful, amazing things about parenthood. These are the Hallmark card snapshots of parenting. I'm sure that he shared those types of sentiment with our friends but he also mixed in this little reality that only experience can fully teach -- once you have kids you are completely responsible for caring for them (obviously); this includes multiple diaper changes every day and subsequent interaction with "potty" as your child grows up. I think this thought might have terrified our friends.

Well we've come to a milestone with Eden, she's given up the diapers (and the pull-ups and the padded undies), we threw them all away on November 1st.

She's entered a new phase.

She's a big girl.

I don't know at what point you can officially state that your child is potty-trained. Is it when they go a day without an accident? A night? A week? A month? Or is when the whole, potty in the toilet thing, clicks for them. Who's to say really? All I know is that we're down to only buying diapers for one and we are exceptionally proud of Eden!

Back Seat Babies

We have a compact car.

Both carseats barely fit in the backseat.

This little expression of love is an unexpected positive that has

developed as a result of the cramped quarters:

Eden holds Ruth's hand when we drive, especially when Ruth is sad.