Anoka Tree

Yesterday I got a call at work from my mom that my dad wasn't feeling well and they had called the Ambulance to come get him and take him to the hospital.  He had a heart attack 20 years ago and it seemed very similar to that.  The ambulance took him to Mercy hospital because they have a great cardiology department there.  I left work a bit early and met them.

By the time I got there, he was feeling better and they weren't really sure whether or not he had another heart attack.  Even today they still don't know but are keeping him in the hospital for some additional tests.

Aaron and Esme met us at the hospital and after awhile we decided to get a bite to eat.  We went to Anoka and parked right next to this -

Downtown Anoka has this delightful tree decorated for Christmas.  Esme thought it was the most beautiful tree she had ever seen.  It really was pretty spectacular, especially with a little help from Instagram.

Anyway, we'll know more Monday about how Dad's doing after his tests.  Then hopefully he can get back home and recover in his own space.  My guess is that they'll probably tell him to eat vegetables, lots and lots of them... :)

Writing to Santa

Today Esme wrote a letter to Santa.  I hope he can deliver!

In the top two pictures you may see a little brown horse on the table.  That is Sneeze and Esme just got him today a few hours before she wrote her letter.  She wanted him to be a friend to her other horse at home. That horse has never had a name, but she decided that she wanted the new one to be Sneeze and the one at home to be Hachoo.  How sweet is that?!?  After she mailed her letter, we went upstairs and looked at Christmas ornaments/decorations because they were on sale.  We found a lot of cute ornaments and even some flannel sheets since we were in the home department.  But we lost Sneeze.  We didn't realize it until we were in another store and by the time we got back we couldn't find him.  Esme was really sad.  But we told her that since Sneeze was lost in the Christmas area of the store, maybe Santa found him and could bring him home.  So now I had better go get a new Sneeze so Santa really can deliver! :)

Funny Toes

A couple of months ago Esme was sitting on the sofa watching television and playing with her feet.  I looked over and watched what she was doing because she was being very deliberate.  Finally I asked her what she was doing.

"Mom, I'm making my toes like yours!"  

yay...

Half Birthday

Esme got to celebrate her half birthday at preschool today.  Who knew that they do this for summer birthday kids?  Not me!

We're supposed to send a treat.  It has to be prepackaged.  I just assumed food so I sent fruit chewies for her that were in the shape of Tinkerbell.  Some other mom sent sunglasses.  The kind that are in the party favor area of the store for kid's birthdays.  What a great idea!  Maybe something that I should have thought of, yes???  Maybe next year!

It snowed a little bit today...

Preschool Christmas Party

Today was Esme's preschool Christmas party.  I wasn't sure if the kids would be dressed up or not, so I decided to have her wear her Christmas dress.  I figured she doesn't get to wear it that many times so why not.  Plus, I would rather have her be the only person overdressed than to show up with everyday clothes and have everyone else in their dress up clothes.  So here was her outfit.

oops!

better!

When we got there, there were a lot of fun things for kids to do.  Each room had different activities.  Gym time

There were a lot of different art projects.

We dressed up like elves.

 And she got a tattoo.

Finally, Santa and Mrs. Claus visited.

Esme was going to tell him that she wanted a Pink Princess Scooter but at the last minute she decided to tell him that she wanted a toy restaurant.  We're not really sure what that means exactly so we'll have to investigate a little more.

She had a great time.  And she looked beautiful in her dress!

Here's a picture of Esme in her favorite sundress.  She would wear this dress every day if we'd let her.  Here it is amended for winter with leggings and long sleeves.

Oh no, Oh NO!!!

Whenever Esme has to go potty, she says "Oh no, Oh NO! I have to go potty!".  And if she really has to go there are a few more 'oh no's' and they get louder and louder.

Since she's been potty trained, she hasn't really had too many accidents and when she has, they've usually been when she's sleeping.  If they happen when we're out and about she usually catches herself and we get to the bathroom as fast as we can.  She's never had a full on blow out accident until today.  And boy did she.

We went to a never-to-be-named playground.  We started out swinging and playing with some of the equipment.

Looks fun right?  Well, see that green tube in the background?  Right after this picture was taken, Esme crawled up in that tube and was crawling through it.  Suddenly I heard "oh no, oh NO!, I peed a little in my underwear".  I asked if she could hold it and we'd go home quick.  She said yeah, and I told her to come down.  Evidently, she overestimated her ability to hold it because soon there was a mysterious liquid dripping down from the tube into the mulch.  A lot of it.  Oops.

I apologize to everyone who lives in this neighborhood and has small children.  Oh, and I hope it rains pours soon...

Four wheeling

Uncle Ernie had people over today and Esme got to sit on the four wheeler with her friend Alyssa.  They had a lot of fun playing.  They've played together before, but usually they are mostly playing in the same area but not really together.  I think they call that parallel play.  This time they were interacting a lot and it was really fun to watch them.

 Later she got to help Ernie move the four wheeler in the garage.

 This helmet is a little too big!

Thanks Uncle Ernie!

First Snow 2012

Today it snowed a little bit.  Esme was so excited!  She wanted to get her snow boots, snow pants and new coat, hat and mittens on and go outside.  Even though it was only a dusting of snow, she was going to have the whole outfit on.

 Just enough snow to coat the deck a bit.

The window on the screen door was frosty and it was fun to take a few pictures through it and then play with it on Instagram. :)

Esme and Cricket tried to play fetch.  I say try because if you look in these pictures the ball never leaves the chuck and Cricket knows it.

 We will have to keep practicing with the chuck.  And we will hope for more snow.

Trick or Treat!

Oh my gosh, Halloween was so much fun this year!

Esme wanted to be a Watermelon Fairy.  We got a catalog in the mail that had a bunch of costumes in it and she chose this.  It was a bit lot too expensive, so we improvised with a strawberry watermelon costume from Old Navy and accessories from JoAnn's Fabrics.

This is the first year that I think Esme really "got it".  Last year she sure had fun but this year she had no fear.  She ran from house to house with the neighbor boys and didn't stop until her feet hurt too bad to walk.  I had to carry her home the last little bit because she was limping.

This year the boy's costumes were a little more scary than last year.  They had gloves with blinky, glow-y fingers that I didn't get a picture of but they were very cool.

My funniest memory of this year is how she reacted to the other kids at one of the houses we stopped at.  She went up to the door with Nathan and Zac and said her "trick or treat" and "thank you".  Then she turned around and there were all these other kids in line to come up to the house.  She got this great big smile on her face because she thought that they were there to see her!  She said "Hi, my name's Esme and I'm a watermelon fairy.  What's your name?".  She had no concept that they wanted her to get the heck out of the way so that they could get some candy.  Obliviously sweet - that's my girl.

Happy Halloween Watermelon Fairy!

Carving Pumpkins

I've never been a big pumpkin carver, so I didn't really expect to do them this year.  But Aaron came home and said - Let's carve pumpkins!  So we did.

And the results?

Not too bad!!!