Ho-Hum, what to do on a rainy Sunday?

On Sunday, we woke up to rain -- one of those cold rains that hung around all day. Those days are so rare in Utah that all we wanted to do is stay in our pajamas all day, curl up on the couch, watch movies, and order chinese delivery. Unfortunately, that is not an option with a busy toddler in the house.

At first, Carolyn kept insisting on going outside and playing in the rain. Thankfully, she has a new raincoat that made that possible. But, after a while, that got boring.

So, we invited her friend to come over and play, which turned into a VERY FUN FILLED afternoon. We started out with lunch and baked a batch of peanut butter cookies. During lunch, I was most impressed with the girls' competitive nature and their ability to carry on conversations with one another. One said, "I like peas." So the other said, "I like peas too." Then they proceeded to stuff peas in their mouths until their bowls of veggies were gone. After the pea-eating contest, one girl said, "I have to go potty." So the other said, "I have to go potty too." Then, they both ran together to the bathroom. Hmm, peers can be a good influence, just as they can exert negative pressure as well.

Next, we painted pumpkins. The girls only wanted to use the colors pink and purple, of course, to paint their pumpkins, and they loved adding the curly hair and the googly eyes to their pumpkin faces.

After painting pumpkins, I cut open a few of the pumpkins so the girls could play with the "gooey guts" - or as Carolyn's friend says "gooey gumps." I roasted up the seeds. Carolyn said she liked the "nuts" but her friend did not even want to try them.

Next, they helped me make pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Carolyn could not stop tasting her batter, while her friend was very dedicated to her stirring job. Instead of dumping a handful of chocolate chips in the batter, they had to count each one they put in. They took their jobs very seriously. And, it was delicious.

As the bread baked, the girls got sparkly unicorn tatoos. They also entertained us with a singing and dancing contest. (warning for when you watch the videos, carolyn lost her pants somewhere. She is good about going to the bathroom by herself, but apparently it took too much time to put her pants back on. I guess, she was afraid that she would miss out on something fun).

As the girls said their goodbyes, they decided to trade their stuffed animals. Carolyn is now taking very good care of her friend's elephant, while her friend is taking care of her kitty cat.

What a day!

I would not trade it, even for one of those longed-for lazy rainy Sundays.

the dance contest
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

the singing contest
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

gooey guts in a pumpkin
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

painting pumpkins
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

In her words ...

Just another funny thing out of Carolyn's mouth:

The other day we all went and got our flu shots. Carolyn was a big girl and stopped crying as quickly as she started. The crying stopped because the nurse gave her a lollipop and a sticker to distract her. In the car on the way home, she was very much enjoying her lollipop (one of those mini tootsie roll pops). As she got to the tootsie center, she said, "Mom, the doctor put meat in my lollipop." I guess the chewy, gooey brown center resembled meat to her.

In her words

On our way to school this beautiful autumn morning, Carolyn said to me, "Look, mama, the trees are purple!" She pointed to four trees lining the road that had turned a beautiful redish purple. She then started muttering something about how they were not green and how trees were supposed to be green. I asked her how the trees might have turned purple. She said, "those little boys must have painted them," while pointing to a few kids who were standing by the trees waiting for the bus.

Carolyn, 30 months

I haven't done a monthly/birthday photo update in a long while, so here is one. Carolyn at 30 months. This particular evening, she kept asking me to take her photo because she was very proud of her new purple boots. She is no longer a baby; she is a kid. (makes me kind of sad)

12-Month Family Photo Challenge

Here we are in October of 2010. The photo was taken at Kim & Nick's Oktoberfest party. (photo by Josh - thanks!)

October Visitors

First, Scott came. It was a short trip, filled with lots of golf, but Steve so enjoyed having his brother come visit.

Next, my dad came for a week. He helped with some front-of-the-house projects (he built new stairs going to the garden), and he enjoyed spending time with Carolyn. He even babysat one night, so Steve and I went to a movie. A great trip!

We love having family visit us. We wish we could see all of you more often.

12-Month Family Photo Challenge

Here is our family photo from September..... it was taken in our workclothes and amidst the construction and progress on the front-of-the-house project.

So, what have we all done? Steve rebuilt the front part of the deck. We are getting a new metal railing. We poured a new concrete planter box and concrete stairs. We are also getting a metal gate and screen to cover the garbage cans. Next spring, we will then landscape the whole front yard, getting rid of most grass. The front of our house has never looked that great, but we are certainly trying to give it a bit more curb appeal.