New videos...

Since we're off to Charleston, South Carolina, tomorrow, I figured I would upload a few videos today to make room on my camera for our upcoming trip. Sadie has asked us each morning if we are going to Charleston that day, and every time we try to tell her how many days it will be before we leave, she cries and says "I want to go to Charleston TODAY!" So, tomorrow, she'll be a happy camper when we she realizes that the trip is finally here.

Here are a few clips from the past few weeks...

Sadie's class had a Halloween party, and parents were invited. Here she is, distractedly singing "Five Little Pumpkins" with her class. She was constantly looking around to make sure we were watching her...



These next few clips are from a recent trip to the Museum of Life and Science...

Watching the alligators and owls...



I know a lot of people find possums squicky, but this one was rather cute...



Sadie had fun playing in this little space shuttle...



These clips are from Hailey's birthday party at the Puppet Theater in Raleigh-

All the kids got to be part of the puppet theater and hang out on stage during the program. Sadie, however, is showing early signs of being just like her mama; in her own little bubble world. Here, she plays with a stuffed turkey while the other kids participate in the play.



In the next two clips, Sadie enlists her little friend Lila in the "I'm not going to pay attention to what's going on around me" game.

Trying to move past Halloween...

So, Sadie is clinging tightly to Halloween. Though it's mid-November now, she still asks almost every day if we are going to go "Trick or Treat" with Malcolm and what our costumes are going to be. I've tried to transition her to Thanksgiving, but face it, turkeys and pilgrims are just not as exciting as witches and ghosts, and the concept of "being thankful" is not nearly as compelling to a three year old as the concept of being frightful and scary. We're trying...

Sadie's favorite activity these days is dressing up. We have a cedar chest we fill with costumes that I've been collecting- we run the gamut from mummies and pirates to princesses and "fancy ladies". Some days, she actually wants to go to school dressed up as something. I've noticed that some professions lend themselves to costuming more than others. I see so many little firemen and women running around, but I rarely see an "accountant" or a "librarian" costume. Feh, I say!

I have a bezillion little films- I'll try to put them up later this week. I was out of the office last week at the TRLN Management Academy and was crazy busy, so I've fallen behind on blogging. I'll at least post some pictures.

Here's Sadie in what she calls her "clown costume", which consists of several pairs of underwear- one on her head, one on her shoulders, and several around her ankles, and Play-Doh on her nose. She squeezes her "nose" and makes the sound of a honking bicycle horn.

We attended a friend's birthday party this weekend. Hailey turned three. The party was at a puppet house/comedy club in Raleigh, and the theme was "princesses". As tomboyish as Sadie can be, she is, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, beginning to embrace the whole princess meme. We recently joined the minivan brigade and now have a Honda Odyssey. We pulled up in the parking lot and found we were minivan #21, and as our daughter exited, we looked around and saw 21 other princesses, and I realized that my punk rock days are officially over. ;-) Here she is preparing to dig into a beautiful piece of candy made by Hailey's mother, Lisa.
Missy and Lila, who managed to escape the princess theme. We attended Missy's baby shower shower later that day.

Two weekends ago, we took Sadie to the Museum of Life and Science, for, like, the 25th time. Thank goodness we're members! Each time is a different experience, though, because she grows increasingly engaged with her surroundings and has picked up new skills and interests. We have some cool films of some of the wildlife there that I will post later this week.

Racing to get down the stairs to the butterfly house...


Yay- time for a train ride! We'll be riding the "Santa Train" there next month.
Waiting for the train to start moving...
Hurry!
Ugh. I'm not crazy about this picture of me, but we have so few pictures of us as a family, that it's going to have to stay here...
Halloween night, we had dinner with Sadie's friend Malcolm and his mother, and then went out for trick or treating in their neighborhood, as trick or treating in my neighborhood would consist of walking in 180 acres of woods, shining a flashlight, and asking the woodland creatures for acorns. Malcolm was an octopus, and Sadie was, as she called it, a "fancy lady". I don't have the heart to explain to her what a "fancy lady" actually is; nor would she understand the concept, so there you go. She picked the dress out of the chest and insisted on wearing it, even though we already had a nice, complete witch costume.

Malcolm, the octopus.

Knocking on doors... Malcolm is almost three now, and he had a hard time restraining himself from actually entering peoples' homes. He also kept dropping his candy into Sadie's bucket. Nice guy!
The fancy lady and the octopus eat their dinner...



I think I like this picture of myself even less than the one on the train. Blech! Ah, well, it is what it is... This was taken at Sadie's school Halloween afternoon, during the Halloween party.
Sadie's pumpkin mask...


More to come...