Winter!

winter is the time for building indoor baby hammocks

and wearing poofy jackets

or reading up on electricity atop a warm kotatsu

and definitely for playing in the snow!

In the bottom 2 pictures, you can see the Moose's fashion sense.  She loves to wear overalls & my slipper socks and refuses to trade in her rain coat/boots for the winter set. 

the Halloween Post

The Friday before Halloween, the Moose & Yobo got dressed up and we went to my nephew's school's Fall Carnival.  That was pretty fun - we played some games, ate pretzels, shopped a book fair, and won some cookies  :)

Yobo did an excellent job of setting up lights & decorations at our house for Halloween night.  He made it super easy, too!  I only had to unplug 2 things to shut everything down.  He set up a space heater & chairs in the arctic entry for easy door answering; made it all dark & spooky! 

We didn't think she'd really be into trick or treating yet, so we just passed out candy.  The Moose answered the door with me, but then she froze when she saw the kids LOL  she was done after about an hour and ended up sleeping REALLY well that night... which was  great because the power went out about a 1/2 hr after she went down and stayed out until about 6pm on the 1st.  From what we understand, it was just in the park we live in.  We did notice a shredded bumper next to a newly replaced transformer box at the front of the park when we went out for breakfast... Yobo & the Moose spent the day at Grandma's house, warming their toes & filling their bellies.

November had kind of a sucky start - no power, then I got sick & migrainey for a week  :(

Big Wheels & Superman

So... next Friday, we're going to meet the surveyor's out at the property & have the lot lines recorded.  I think we may try to knock out some clearing while we're there.  Yay! for progress!

I went out with some friends last night to see a live performance of the Rocky Horror Show at Mad Myrna's - it was FANTASTIC.  We had SUCH a good time!  The show was amazing -  laughed & smiled so much, my cheeks are still tender today  :D  My hands & throat were sore from a whole lot of clapping & call outs.  B & I even dressed up a little - black blazers & leggings with colorful undershirts & boas  hahaha so much fun!

The Moose has been taking off at break-neck speeds.  She has learned to vault - she now vaults bath tubs & tables.  Yay.  She is starting her "no" phase.  Apparently this is a thing most kids go through.  Hers is actually more of a "nah" phase.  She shakes her head and says "nah."  Sometimes twice even.  LOL so far this only really gets annoying when she says she wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and then 30 seconds into it says "nah", so I turn it off & she says "nah, nah", so I turn it back on and she says "nah."

A couple of weekends ago, while at Mema's, auntie Mimi visited with us & brought the Moose's Christmas presents.  She figured the kid wouldn't remember, so they opened presents  :)  The Moose is getting some Superman pajamas (with detachable cape) and a Radio Flyer Big Wheel.  Sadly, the Big Wheel's a little big - the Moose can't quite reach the pedals.  Luckily, it's a problem that won't last for long!  By the time it's summer, this kid's going to be racing everywhere.  Oi vei.

The Moose & Auntie Mimi building the Moose's early Christmas present from Mimi

I think she likes it.

Trying Mimi's Christmas present pajamas a little early...

I love that you can really see her curls in this one

w00t!  Christmas in October

Super Moose!

Even the Tater Tot's playing with it

A Moose & a Tater Tot   :)

Paradise Valley, Meadow Lakes

Doesn't that just sound lovely?  We closed on Friday and should record tomorrow (seller dude lives in Vegas).  Once we get the call saying it's legally ours, we'll call the surveyor to flag the property line - make sure what we're going to cut down is actually ours to cut.  Then we'll get some tools and start chopping away! House-building dreaming officially commenced.

The Moose has added 2 new phrases to her vocabulary:  "uh-oh" and "wazzat? or "whozzat?"; with none of which does she use discrimination.  She doesn't fully understand "uh oh", so it's used for everything.  It took me a couple of days to stop thinking it really meant UH OH!  And I am sure almost every parent says these, but... I can't believe how much she knows & does now!  Or how happy she is almost all of the time!  We just keep telling ourselves "we must be doing something right!"  We wonder how long that will last... however long, we're definitely enjoying it while we can  :)  Tonight she threw away her diaper, put her dirty clothes in the pile, pushed her toy bin back to the living room, put her toys away, grabbed her blankie, laid down to get changed for bed, came and sat on my lap to get her teeth brushed, said good night to dad & kitty, then put her head on my shoulder, thumb & blankie in her mouth when I scooped her up for night night time.  Certainly a most excellent way to end this weekend  :)

     

Firestarter

So... the Moose started her first fire on Saturday.  Not just any fire, but a plasma fire!  She waited until Yobo was indisposed in the bathroom, pulled the cooler that we keep the kitty's food in from the pantry to in front of where the microwave sits on the counter, climbed up the cooler, put paper trash in the microwave & pushed buttons.  When Yobo came out of the bathroom, he heard the "wom wom wom" sound and ran around the corner to find our kid standing on the cooler with a big smile on her face.  Luckily, he is so cool under pressure!  He flew across the kitchen and dumped out the paper flame into the sink.  No damage done.  The door to the pantry will now be shut at all times.  Crafty little bugger.

We got word last night that the realtor got the signed offer papers back from the seller!!!  We officially close on the 19th and will be property owners no later than the 23rd  :)  Happy Halloween!  There are some serious wheels turning in our heads now LOL

House of Mau5

We're coming to a lot near you!  Yesterday, we met with a real estate agent & signed offer papers for a 1.68 acre lot in Meadow Lakes, Wasilla   :D  If all goes well, we will close on the 19th & officially be land owners on October 23rd (weekend, bank holiday) - holy crap.  This is just the property, no house; we plan on building.  We plan to start clearing in November, maybe even put in a driveway; saving up all the money we can over the winter; then definitely put in a driveway, a foundation, and start the fence & greenhouse next summer.  Hot dog.

Part of the plans include a large greenhouse (larger than the house house?  with hammocks and banana trees!  Oh!  being fanned & shaded under a banana tree while looking at the snow through the windows - yes, please), the house house, a garage kind of thing, and loads of trees.  Maybe someday we could even get goats.  I want a sheltered walkway to walk between the house, the greenhouse, and the garage.  It should be translucent, like rather lengthy windows.  That would be cool.  And, once it's fenced, we can run out in the woods with the city twist - low on the wild animals, high on the playability.

If you'd have asked me where I'd be in 5 years 5 years ago, this was nowhere near it, but is (mostly) way better.  My original plan probably had something to do with working a day job to support my TV-watching-while-eating-cheesy-poofs habit, not having a care in the world; optimistically slacking my life away.  I mean, I still do that, but just on a less than daily basis now.

The Moose had her 18-month check-up at the doctor's today.  She walked herself into the building, all around the waiting room, down the hall, past the bathrooms, and right passed the patient room.  In fact, she kinda refused to walk into the room herself - she knew what that room was all about.  She decided to show the doctor exactly how... developed her gross motor skills are by repeatedly climbing into and out of an empty shelf, then up the chair to the windowsill where she crawled (because she knew she'd get in trouble for trying to walk) across it to the other side to get what she wanted.  She also crawled onto the doctor's rolly chair (you know the ones without backs or sides, kind of look like an ottoman on an office chair base), pulled up to the computer, and started typing away at the keyboard while occasionally moving the mouse.  She's seen us on the computer occasionally, but we both have laptops - I have no idea where tapping the mouse came from, but she knew what was what.  Oi vei.  And we didn't let her see computers or TVs until just recently.  The poor kid also flipped a nut every time someone other than me or Yobo tried to touch her too much.  A hand on the shoulder was sort of ok, but trying to hold a stethoscope to her?  She just kept shaking her head, saying "uh uh" and wiggling around, pushing the stethoscope away.  When the doctor tried to check her ears?!  Crying, shaking her head, "uh uh", and trying to wriggle out of dad's arms. Poor, poor baby. 

When it was time to talk communication skills, they asked if she knew more than 8 words.  I asked "in what language?"  The Moose speaks Moose.  She has words, a lot of them, but most of them are not English.  She can carry an entire conversation, but most of her current English consists of "Mama!", "yum yum", and "hoo hoo".  I am not the only "Mama!"  Yobo is "Mama!"  Monkey, the cat, is "Mama!" when she finds him.  Every balloon she sees is "Mama!"  All food is "yum yum."  When she's REALLY hungry, all food is "yumyumyumyumyumyumyumyum".  Monkey, the cat, is "yum yum" when she's looking for him.  Her water cups are "yum yum."  The blankets are "yum yum."  Her toy dog Violet is "yum yum" but Violet can "hoo hoo".  Dogs are "hoo hoo"s, Yobo's mom (Grandma) is "hoo hoo" - she has many dogs & is (almost) always with at least one of them.  Kids are "hoo hoo"s.  Moose are "hoo hoo"s.  Airplanes are "hoo hoo"s.  Cats other than Monkey are "hoo hoo"s.  Birds are "hoo hoo"s.  Sensing some reason here?  She's also fairly adept at "uh huh" and "uh uh", as well as her versions of "thank you" and "you're welcome."  The rest of it is... I can't even explain.  There's no imitating it.  She is so very sure of it and, somehow, it actually sometimes makes sense  :) 

Today is (Possibly) the Biggest Day of My Life #4-ish

If it all works out well, it will soon be bumped to #5 - will have more details later this afternoon!  Excited & a little skeered :)

P.S.  still sick, still home  :(  going to class in an hour though, then off to Wasilla to see what's what.  I was going to skip class, but I didn't go Monday & I'm afraid of falling too far behind.  Thankfully, what I missed seemed to be easy enough to do on my own (I think I kind of love multiplying & dividing exponents - is that weird?), but don't suppose that luck will hold out.  Plus, I need to find out when our Chapter 3 test is due - I expect this week for sure!  I think I'm finally ready for it - been studying like mad all day yesterday & this morning.

Oh!  The Moose is awake!  I have LOVED being home with her the past few days - this kid just seems to know :)  Every time I'm the one to go get her out of bed, she just seems to have an even bigger smile on her face.  Talk about an much needed ego boost!