The Call of the Wild

A couple of days ago, Mike was cleaning up the laundry room and discovered a frog under the wash tub (don't ask...we have NO idea how he got there). Naturally, the first thing he did was pick up the little guy and gently wash the dryer lint off of his face. After that, naturally, he hunted around for a large jar. Finally, he went outside collected various twigs, rocks, and leaves in order to create a suitable froggy habitat...naturally....I mean...isn't that what you would've done?

When Paige returned home from her visit from Grandma and Papa's, we videotaped her reaction to meeting mister froggy for the first time. To my knowledge, he was the first real froggy she has had a chance to get up close and personal with.

While 8 minutes and 43 seconds is quite a lengthy clip, we certainly enjoyed watching it!

Some highlights include:

Paige stomping her feet and yelling "HAVE IT!?"
Maggie inadvertently trampling mister froggy.
and Paige trying to cram her entire head into the jar for a closer look.

enjoy!

PS. Paige and I returned mister froggy to the wild last night after dinner. He now resides in the bushes outside of Chipotle in the Riverdale shopping center.

Paige and Mommy (& Grandma) make a scarecrow!

Bachman's had a really cool event this weekend where you could make a scarecrow for free! They provided the lathes, twine, hay, burlap, and instruction while we provided the clothes and stylish scarecrow accessories.

I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a let down when we got there, BUT we had a good time despite Bachman's best efforts (Nobody knew what they were doing, then the lady they sent out wasn't happy she got stuck with the job, we got scolded for using too much twine...lets just say Mr. Scarecrow wasn't the only one with a stick up.....I digress).

We took a few cute pictures of Paigey (imagine that) sitting in the hay and on the "baby" pumpkins. When we got home she helped me set up our "guy" and decorate a little more. Yes, this should tide us over until her birthday...then bring on the Christmas decor!!!!

Little Falls or Bust

Not sure about how many more times we'll make it up to Little Falls for the big craft show (especially with Grandma & Grandpa's house on the market) we decided to make a real event of it this year. See the jazzy t-shirts we made?



I walked away with the show's "hot-item", a pumpkin-witch-bird-feeder-thingy, as well as the cutest item of the day, a pink beanie with giant flower for Paige.

We ALSO left with a whole bunch of sweet toys. I remember playing with these when I was a kid and it was really cool to see Paige playing with them...and LOVING them! I was pumped when "ol' Gramma" said we could take what we wanted. We took them home, sorted them out, cleaned them up and have played with them EVERYDAY for the last week. Paige is especially enjoying the bell on the cash register. She also uses the blocks and pokey-legos to make "food"(she stirs them, scoops them, seasons with salt and pepper etc.) as well as furniture for her doll house...mostly couches and potties for her "peoples."

Car Show with Daddy

Paige takes a "powder" nap in the middle of the day...

Not sure if Paigey will ever get a big girl bed if this is what happens in her crib!

Big things to hug

Just a few pictures of Paige sized things she loves to hug.
The lion is from Grandma and Grandpa G and Sponge Bob is from mommy and daddy. Sponge Bob was a State Fair find.

First Book Return

It was time to return Paigey's library books so she and I drove out to the library tonight. Neither of us knew how she would react to having to say bye-bye to her second favorite pumpkin book (next to Five Little Pumpkins) but she did wonderful.

We talked to Paige about how it was time to return her books now and got a tote for her to put her books in. She carried the bag to the car like a big girl and set the bag right on her lap. She took her pumpkin book out on the way to the library and was enjoying the "silly pumpkins" one more time. When we got to the library, we walked up to the book return and I explained that the little book door was were we send the books back to their homes. She thought it was pretty cool and started taking her books out all by herself. Since the books were about half her size, daddy had to help a little.

I am just amazed at what a good girl she has become as she gets older. I was talking to someone about her the other day and they said "Oh, so she's getting into those terrible 2's huh." and I said to them, "No actually, she's awesome and no trouble at all."

Thank you Paigey, for giving mommy and daddy these kinds of memories. It does unbelievable things to our hearts to see you succeeding so much.

Fun with dad's skateboard

It's almost been two years so I figured it was about time for Paige to learn to ride a skateboard :-). I pulled my skateboard out of the garage (she doesn't get her own pink iCarly skateboard just yet) and tossed it onto the ground. Her eyes lit up as she watched it roll across the patio. "Daddy's... toy!", she said pointing at the scratched and dented board almost as big as she is. Being a little monkey in sunflower shorts and pink and white velcro tennies , she wanted to climb right on. I helped her up, making sure to place her right foot toward the front of the board so she can learn "goofy footed" like her pa. She bent her legs on her own and kept her center of gravity right where it needs to be to "shred". She held both my hands and we went back and forth from one side of the patio to the other. When we got to one side, she would step off, pick up the skateboard with all her might and turn it around so we could try it again. I sure do love her.

I don't know if she will want to pursue the 2017 Olympic Skateboarding Vert Competition that I was planning for her during our fun, but at least we will have shared this "first time on dad's skateboard" experience together, which is really just as good, if not way better.

-Dad