Fun things to do with chalk

I saw on my new favorite website a fun idea that I wanted to try with Esme.  I mixed pink sidewalk chalk with water and painted it on Esme's hair.

Wet

 

Dry

Super cute and it washed out easily!  We will be doing this quite a bit!

Ready to go!

If it were up to Esme, she'd have her driver's license already.  If it were up to me, she'd wait until she's 30.  At least she's having fun practicing! 

Playing with the camera

I've been trying to play with our camera more and more since taking our photographer Ali's class on how to take better pictures of your kids.  It's harder than I thought it would be because I'm shooting in manual and Esme moves pretty fast.  So as soon as I get the light and focus done (not to mention the white balance and a gazillion other things) she's gone.

I feel like I'm slowly getting better.  Here are a few of my practice pictures.

Halloween

Esme had a great time for Halloween.  She was much more aware of what was going on this year.  For weeks, every time we drove by a house with pumpkins on the front step, she would say "There's a Happy Halloween house!".

Early on we thought maybe she would be Handy Manny for Halloween because she loves him so much.  We had a giraffe costume (Annika and Laurel's hand-me-down) that I thought would be cute.  But when you asked Esme what she wanted to be for Halloween, she said "a witch".  And so she was.

With the neighbor boys

She was very cute as she went from house to house.  The only downside to the whole night is that she was scared of anyone dressed up like anything scary.  She once screamed (a blood curdling, horror movie scream) when we walked though a fog machine and her hat fell off.  She thought for sure that someone GOT her.

Her innocence is what made this year so much fun.  She was the cutest witch in St. Michael!

Crow Hassan

This is our family... 

...in motion.

Dreams

I'm not sure why, but I love that she's looking at Christmas catalogs.  :)

Annie

Today, Esme came up to me and said she was playing with Annie.  At first I thought she said "Ernie", Aaron's brother.  But nope, she clarified that Annie is what she meant.  A few minutes later she came over from playing and pointed beside herself and said "I'm playing with Annie".  Naturally, I said "Hi, Annie" and Esme giggled and said that she and Annie were picking flowers with Annie's mom.  Then she (Esme) pretended to pick a bunch of flowers.

Later we went to the grocery store and as I was getting Esme out of her car seat, she told me that Annie wanted to come a long.  And so she did.

I'm not sure what age kids have imaginary friends, but for Esme it's right now. :)