happy thanksgiving

:)

makin' it monday // footprint mural or - A HUGE MESS!

on saturday we had a warm afternoon so i wanted to get outside and try a "footprint" mural. what started out as innocent feet stomping soon developed into full body mural painting.

needless to say, we did not make a footprint mural this week. we just made a MESS! however, the fun we had was well worth the paint in our hair and all over our arms and legs.

to make your own mess mural, you will need:
- kraft paper (or poster board, newspaper, construction paper, etc.)
- finger paint
- shallow tupperware containers
- toddler who likes to get messy

simply roll out the paper in the grass and squeeze some paint into the containers. hold your child's hands and help them step into the paint, then stomp all over the paper! also, hope that they don't love to smear paint all over their body like mine does ;)

here's how our afternoon went:

nice and innocent feet stomping

hands too? ok no big deal

uh oh

really, norah?

i guess we'll be needing a bath

wow

doing "home alone" // "look sky! paint!" - actual quote

high fives for daddy

and again

so much fun

:) :) :)

i guess she still didn't think she was messy enough...  ::side eye::

so long, summer

this morning was so very chilly. summer is finally gone but fall is welcomed with open arms. it is my most favorite time of the year. i think many would agree that they can't wait for sweater weather, crunching leaves, or pumpkin flavored coffee. however, there are some things about summer that i'll miss. like walking barefoot in the grass.. staying up late catching fireflies in the backyard.. sitting on the curb eating popsicles.. swimming at night..

i realized that the things i'll miss the most about summer are the things from my own childhood that i hold near to my heart. norah has allowed me to relive these experiences through her and with her and so it is the new memories we make together that i'm sad to move on from.

but now it is fall and we'll have new memories to make and share and next summer will return in less than a year. so we said goodbye to summer on one of the last 80 degree afternoons we'll likely have. i pitched a makeshift 'tent' and we blew bubbles in the grass, barefoot, in the backyard. here's to the memories we made this summer, and all the ones we'll make in the future.

** p.s. i thrifted that checkered sheet ages ago (when i was pregnant!) and i finally brought it out of hiding. isn't it wonderful? one day it will go on norah's big girl bed. :)

wednesday night bubble-o-rama

when i tell norah it's time for bath, she asks for a bubble bath every. single. time. besides the fact that the expense of bubbles adds up quickly, being exposed to all those suds every night are just not good for her skin or um...lady parts. so as not to ruin her childhood forever, i decided that one bubble bath per week would be good and she can have just a regular old bath every other night.

wednesday night is THE night where she gets to have all the bubbles she wants. she gets super excited and rolls all over the tub, rubs bubbles in her hair and on her face and has so much fun. i know that our bubble bath nights will be something for her (and me!) to look forward to each week while she's still young enough to have them.

tickle fight (i won)

{{ wordless wednesday }}

linked with:

the paper mama

parenting by dummies

project alicia

jenni from the blog

bree: his honey and her mommy

live and love outloud

fresh mommy

5 minutes for mom 

sarah halstead

love bug

 seven clown circus

a little act of kindness

norah has always loved her books. lately, she is even starting to "read" them (i.e. when she sees the boy sitting on his potty in this book, she knows to say "what's that?" - because we've read that book 19,000 times) and point out familiar things in the pictures instead of just flipping through the pages. 

this past spring, i introduced her to our local library and she fell head over heels in love. they have story time 3 days per week and there were some weeks where we went for all three! they usually have a craft or play time afterwards, and norah gets a chance to be social while i get to read a magazine in peace. every morning i ask her, "what do you want to do today?" and she almost always asks for "ly-barry?" ("swings" is a very close second).

the librarians all know her name, too. it's not hard to know when she's coming for a visit, since as soon as we walk in the door she yells up to the dome ceiling to hear her echo, announcing to everyone inside that she has arrived. she likes to check out her own books: she helps me put the books on the counter and then hands them my library card. they humor her, and let her "do it herself."

i wanted to do something for them as a thank you for their kindness and hard work, so last week we brought cookies and a thank you card with us to storytime.

but i wasn't prepared for the reaction we got! 

at the check out counter, i lifted norah up and instead of handing over books, she handed the librarian this container of cookies and a folded up piece of paper. she looked confused, so i chimed in, "these are for you, for everyone here. we just wanted to say thank you for everything. norah loves coming here so we just wanted to do something nice." (i probably stammered a lot in there. i'm not good at this kind of thing).

she looked at me a little funnily, like she didn't believe me, then down at norah (who was still holding the cookies) and said "THANK YOU!" with the biggest smile on her face and happily accepted the gift. she opened the paper and saw the drawing scribbles, then called over two more librarians who were standing nearby. the three of them were making such a fuss that two MORE librarians came over to see what was going on. they were all talking at once, saying things like "oh they brought cookies" "how nice" "how sweet" "what a pretty picture you drew, norah" and so on and so on. 

all of the women were so happy from such a seemingly small (in my eyes) gesture that I couldn't help but feel like we were the only ones in the world to ever show appreciation at that library. i'm sure (i hope) that that is not true but their reactions told otherwise. norah got lots of hugs and big smiles from everyone. as we left, we waved goodbye and said "thank you, again! see you next time!" 

i was so happy that we were able to bring a smile to those women's faces that day. i really didn't think that what we did was going to be such a big deal to them. i figured people did that kind of thing all the time. maybe i'm wrong, or maybe i'm not and others have shown thanks before. i don't really know. all i know is that we seemed to make their day.

it got me thinking about other people in our lives who could use a smile. i've seen things on pinterest, like random acts of kindness to do with kids or the birthday project and it's all making me think about what we can do to make even a small difference in our little part of the world.

i am definitely inspired to do some good and to teach norah that everyone she encounters in life deserves kindness, respect, and love. a little act of kindness goes a long way!

the bearded baby

this girl LOVES to get messy. anytime she has paint, markers, chalk, FOOD, etc. it always ends up all over her arms, legs, and face and not just because she's a slob. she purposely paints or draws all over herself and thinks it's absolutely hilarious. which in turn makes ME think it's absolutely hilarious. i'm going to be in trouble if this is still how she paints and colors once she gets to preschool ;) 

today we used crayola fingerpaint and this was the result: 

so happy

this happened about 5 seconds in

oh yea, rub it in girl

don't forget your forehead

lol mom

:)

i really am not a fan of cleaning up messes like these (who is?!). the paint gets everywhere! every little nook, on the chair, on the floor, on the table, plus she was covered head to toe. activities like this always require a bath afterwards. but if that smile is a result of making huge messes then i say BRING IT ON!

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last photo was entered here ("green"):