Happy Halloween!

That's my thumb in costume;) Happy Trick-or-Treats!

TIGF

I'm a lucky girl...I was going to say I'm thankful for an Urgent Care right up the road (and a short wait) and for a hubby who didn't pass out while they put in my stitches, but I have gotten a lot of nice e-mails, text and notes on my facebook page and here...THANKS guys! And Josh even went to lunch at McDs today to get me more pieces since I threw away my cup...How sweet is that? And did I mention my friend Shan coming to the rescue? I have great friends and family and that's what I'm thankful for on this Halloween...What a TREAT! Have a good night out there and be safe!!

No More Pumpkins!

Here's a fun adventure for ya! I type this one finger...well I'd say short, but that would imply that it no longer exists...it's there, but it's heavily wrapped in gauze and stitched up tight:( We were carving pumpkins tonight and I sliced my finger open and 2-and-a-half hours later (with the novacain stuff not working very well I might add) I'm home from Urgent Care with 6 stitches in my left thumb (I'm left-handed!!!), an Elmo ice pack and a new fear of knives...and I had to get a tetnus shot too! And to top that all off, I made Josh take me to McDonalds to get a chocolate shake after so I could get Monopoly pieces...I'm a baby and I like to reward medical trauma...and I THREW AWAY the cup before I remembered to take the pieces off:(

HUGE thank you to Shannon who came and got Riley and brought her home to get her ready for bed so she didn't have to watch Mommy get fixed up...I owe you BIG TIME!

Strong recommendation to buy those safety carving knives for kids...or maybe paint the darn things next year!

That's Delicious!

Zacky has a few funnies I need to mention today. Last week at my grandparents the recessed lighting was loose and hanging due to some roof work they had done. Zack was concerned..."That's too bad that they can't get those up!" Also, they had "special chocolate milk" according to Zack...and today I was over there watching to kids so Katie could do some grocery shopping. She picked up McD's for me for lunch (yes, I'm a Monopoly addict!) and the kids were eating their Happy Meals. Zack was having issues using a straw without playing with it so Katie put his milk in a big boy cup. He took one big swig of it and said, "That's delicious!" This kid is 2 and a half! He's so smart:)

Remember When It Was Kinda Warm?

I know this is a terrible picture, but if you zoom in on it you will see both a bluebird (on the red-leaf vine) and a woodpecker (in the tree, duh!) in the same shot...how often does that happen? In Champlin, not very much! We don't see many bluebirds so they must have been migrating...this was about a week or two ago before it got so blasted cold! Did I mention I'm a bird nerd???

Green Monster

Riley has an imagination that is so amazing to me. She now has an imaginary friend who is a small green monster. (Don't worry, it's a friendly monster, she assures me.) I think she is female, but Riley has issues with assigning gender to anyone...Daddy is sometimes "her" or "she" and her fish Quinkie appears to be a hermaphrodite. She/He is a different gender every time we talk to her/him.

I bring up the green monster friend because yesterday and today she has been very attached to her. She "held her hand" and tucked her in on the floor of her room before bed last night and tonight she fed her friend dinner...which helped Riley eat GREAT because after she fed the monster she ate to food she was "feeding"... even her meat! The monster even hides and Riley finds her, usually behind the chair in the living room. It's fun watching her imagination at work!

In other news today, I feel bad because i forgot my camera, so there are no pics of all this (or the Green monster for that matter). Riley and I and my sisters and kiddos and my mom had lunch at my grandparents place. Grandma made "goulosh"... I'm not at all sure how you spell that...and had "special chocolate milk" according to Zack. After that we went to my mom's for Riley to nap and then to the nursing home. I tried to wake Riley up for that part, but she was having none of that! I let her finish her nap while Meg and Adrienne and I went to see Lois and A-dee wore her costume for a little holiday fun. Then back to get the kiddo. Whew! That was a busy day for us!

Bar Night with the Girls

Ok, yes, I took my kid to a bar, but we didn't KNOW it was a bar, we were shooting for a restaurant/sports bar type place close to my friend Breann's house. (As you can see she has a neck issue so we picked her up...she's going to kill me for posting this picture!) Turns out Willie's is about as bar as you can get...high-top tables, bar bingo and meat raffles. We stayed as close to the door as possible, but the food was good and Riley got to "play" bingo for a while. The waitress brought us a used bingo board and a dawber so she could pretend to play with the big people. We had a good time with the girls and I can now saw my child has been to a meat raffle!

More Trick-or-Treat Practice

Maple Grove has been our Halloween Headquarters for some reason this year. On Saturday we took the kids to Maple Grove for a Trick-Or-Treat (TOT) concert with the Teddy Bear Band (by we I mean: Josh, Riley and I, Jim, Erica and Ashley, Katie, Darin, Zack and Kiley, Tommy, Adriel, Mark and Linda, Jessie and Cory, Mike, Deb, Ava, and Michelle, Doug and Colin - I hope I got everybody)...There was a costume contest (I guess we didn't win!) and face painting. Each kid got a FREE pumpkin (good size pumpkins too, not the dinky little guys you see) and there was TOT stuff with the local businesses too...We kinda skipped that part because the kids were having too much fun running around the vacant store that used to be Snyders.

The little Yoda and Fish don't belong to us but they were cute...and I missed getting a picture of "Captain FeatherSword" also known as Colin, but I think I got the rest of the kids here.Sorry about the quality of the pics, the lighting was terrible and my flash is useless!

Afterwards, Jim, Erica, Ashley and the boys came over for pizza until it was time for Ashley to head home for bed. Riley had a fun day:)

Maple Grove Farmers Market

We started practicing our "Trick or Treat" skills at the Maple Grove Farmer's Market. Riley has already gotten to use her costume 3 times this year and will get at least 3 more uses out of it! Not bad for a $10 Costco Special! Anyway, last Thursday the MGFM had Trick-or-Treating for the little folks so we ventured up with my sister, my nephew Zack and niece Kiley. Ran into Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mark and some neighbors of my parents while we were there. It was a bit blustery so we didn't stay long but we did buy some pumpkins and some cool flowers called Cabbage Flowers (from the cabbage family, but not edible). I guess they last up to three weeks, we'll have to see!

Fall Green Tips from Living Green 365 Newsletter

Partake in these fall traditions and you'll make a positive impact on Minnesota's air, water, and waste stream.

In the yard
• Next time you need to buy a mower, consider a mulching mower. It will break leaves into tiny pieces, put nutrients back into your lawn, and you can skip the raking!
• Don't rake leaves onto the street or sidewalk. It washes unnecessary nutrients into our lakes and streams. If you own shoreline, don't rake leaves directly into lakes or streams.
• Burning twigs and yard debris releases more air pollution and carbon than decomposition. Compost your yard waste at home or at a county compost site.

Around the house
• Be sure that exhaust pipes and vents around your house are clear of debris and nearby bushes are trimmed.
• Clean out the garage by recycling your vehicle batteries and properly disposing of paints, solvents, and cleaning chemicals.
• Get your furnace and hot water heater inspected.
• Weatherstrip and caulk your windows. Learn about other low- and no-cost ways to save energy this winter.
• Purchase a programmable thermostat and set the temperature lower while you are away or sleeping. Every degree above 68° adds about 3 percent to your heating bill.

Two Year Check-up

I should probably mention that we had Riley's two year appointment yesterday morning and everything is great. She is 27.5 lbs which is in the 50-75 percentile if you follow that stuff, and was about 34 inches (we measured her at 33 inches at home) so she should be somewhere between 5'6" and 5'8" if you multiply her height at age two times two...that's how they estimate adult height I guess...this is also in the 75th percentile in height...kinda tallish for her age I guess.

She did have to have two shots and those went as expected...not so good...I HATE the face she makes when they stick her with those darn shots and the huge crocodile tears:( Thanks again to my dad who is my moral support when Riley has shots...and Grandma Trish sent along a special treat to make it all better too. Thanks Mom! When we got home Riley said, still kinda sniffly, "The lady gave me owies!" No more docs until she's three! (knock on wood!)

TIGF - Quinkie!

No, I didn't make that word up, I'm thankful that our new friend has a name...FINALLY! My mom bought Zack and Riley a gold fish for Halloween and brought it over on Tuesday.

We asked her what the fish's name was and gave her probably 100 suggestions...what about Boo?

No!

What about Twinkle?

No, Not Twinkle....

What about Candy(or Candy Corn)? Toby(for October)? Pumpkin...etc, etc, etc. None of these names were good enough. So Wednesday afternoon I went back to it...

What about Twinkle (my personal fave)...

No again...

so I said, how about Twinkie...

Quinkie! She said...

and I repeated it...

Yup, she said...

so Quinkie it is!

HAAAAAPPPPPYYY BIIIIRRRRTHDAY TOOOOOO Roo!

So I didn't get many great shots of Riley's b-day so I'll have to post some from my sisters later. These are some that I took, mostly before I was making dinner...Auntie Meg made the bobber cake and Riley wanted to blow out the candles 5 hours before anyone was even at the party! Thanks Auntie Meg!

The one of the four kids in costume is a sneak peek at Halloween this year. Yup, she's gonna be an Elephant! (NO she's not a Republican!) My niece A-dee is what Riley was last year...the ladybug costume fits perfect! And Zack and Kiley are matching dinosaurs! (Zack is technically a dragon, but he thinks it's a dino and he likes that so we'll go with it!) This is the first official all four cousins shot since Kiley was born (I think?)!

As always our family spoiled her rotten!!! Thanks everyone:)

More funny Riley-isms

Last week were were driving around...I think on our way home from the nursing home? Can't remember...Anyway, Riley and I play this game when we're driving where we blow on the red lights to make them turn green so we can go. We got to one red light and "it was broken" meaning when she blew it, it didn't work. So I asked if Mommy should try it..."Go ahead" she said! Really...go ahead? So I blew and it worked (obviously timing is everything with this game!) "Good job Mommy!" she said:) Silly girl...

So a little later, same car ride, she starts talking to the ghost...Huh? What ghost Riley? Right here...she points to the back of the passenger front seat. I have a sticker in my rear side window that is wearing off and the reflection was making it look like a ghost on my seat! It gets better...

"Come here Ghost, sit with me!" she says...patting her lap..."Right here!" And when the car turned and the light wasn't making the shadow anymore she said the ghost had to go see his mommy.

Later the same shadow was a dolphin:) Who knew!?!

One other funny...Tuesday morning Riley woke up early so I brought her in bed with me...we were talking and I said, "Today is the last day you're gonna be one!" and she said, "On Wednesday, I'm two!" Where did that come from?!!? Yup, you're right:) So yesterday was Wednesday and she did indeed turn TWO!!!

Happy Birthday, Riley Roo!

Two years ago today at 3:08 p.m. our little Riley Rose was born. Happy Birthday, big girl!!!!!!

Bowl, Baby, Bowl

Bowling for Babies!

Last night was a crazy fun party for my friend Kelli who turned 30 yesterday. Kelli's dad hosted a fantastic shindig at Park Tavern and Riley continued her day of firsts. Not only did she have her first PB&J for lunch but her first Special K Bars at the party (a fave of mommy's and one of Kelli's specialties! They also have peanut butter in them...)

AND she bowled for the very first time and LOVED IT!!! She loved the lights and the sounds, she loved seeing the ball come back up the chute, she loved rolling the ball and didn't even care where it went...she even cheered for gutter balls! Even better, she had her own bowling shoes too! How cute is that!?! No we didn't buy them for her...the bowling alley carries down to a size 8 and technically she's a 7 but close enough! When she was tired of rolling the ball down the ramp provided for little kids, she loved watching everyone else bowl. She was really on her best behavior last night! We were out a bit past bedtime (really just like half an hour or so) and of course that meant a nightmare in church this morning, but what can ya do???

Adrienne's favorite part of bowling is the blower fan at the end of the ball valley:)

Here's some of the highlights...

NOTE: I'm trying to load video, but I'm having some issues...not sure if it's user error or blogger error. I'll try again later.

Our Big Girl

Josh thinks the dress makes Riley look all grown up:) Friday we had a play date in the morning and a dinner date in the evening so I thought a dress would be kinda fun...Yes, I know...I really did put her in a dress for no apparent reason! C'mon, I'm allowed to play dress up once in a while!

PB&J - Take 1

Today is a big day in the Schuster household...Huge, even...Today was Riley's first Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich! why is this so exciting you ask? Kids aren't allowed to have PB&J (and eggs and honey, etc.) until they are 2 years old because doctors worry about peanut allergies.

So this being about 5 days before her big birthday, we figured today was a good day to test this new food! (Didn't want to do it on her b-day since we're having a party that day and don't want the b-day girl to end up in the ER if she did have a reaction.) So far she's doing great. I worry about putting her down for a nap, but she had no immediate reaction and she was snuggling Daddy on the couch for a while too.

Please excuse the video, Josh thought this day was video worthy, but I don't think she liked being on camera for this momentous event. (You have to understand, Josh LOVES peanut butter! He can't wait for Roo to have PB&J toast for breakfast with him now!) So here it is...PB&J Day!

TIGF

Hmmmmm, things to be thankful for this week...My kid makes me laugh! She says the funniest things at the most random times. Yesterday, Riley and I came home from going to dinner with my friend Cheri. She was walking up the stairs to go say hi to Daddy and she says "My daddy is smart!"... no clue where that came from, it was unprovoked and certainly unrehearsed:) Then last night she woke up in the middle of the night (like midnight I guess) and she had her jammies unzipped half way down. If you know Riley, you know why she might do this...she needed to get to her belly button:) She couldn't find her pluggy (her first method of soothing herself at night), so she unzipped her jammies to find her other means of calming herself...I don't know what this kid is going to do when we start taking that pluggy away soon! Who ever heard of a belly button being used as a calming method???

Short Hair!!!

I mentioned that I got my hair chopped off now that Jimmy and Erica's wedding is over. Obviously I finally have my camera working again, so here's the pic I took of myself the day I got it cut. I'm not very good at taking pictures of myself, but I think this one shows the hair cut pretty well. Did I mention if you go to New Reflections they give you a hand massage, head and shoulder massage AND they put some lipstick on you before you leave so you feel all sassy and cute:) I probably can't afford that luxury all the time, but I highly recommend it if anyone needs a little pampering once in a while!

October is....

I'm sure you have all heard that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month (can't miss it all ever the talk shows, news, etc.), but did you know it is also Choose to Reuse Month?

Hennepin County has partnered with 84 earth-friendly retailers to offer coupons for discounts and reuse opportunities valid from Oct. 1-31, 2008. For more info contact: Hen. Co. Environmental Services at 612-348-3777 or e-mail: desmail@co.hennepin.mn.us ~ Save Money, Save the Earth, have fun!

• Source: St. Gerards Church Bulletin

Riley Apple Seed

I'm just going to try to load this photo because I think it's so cute. My friend Shannon took it when we went to the apple orchard a few weeks ago and she played with the image and sent me this:) Shan is a bit of an up and coming photographer! I think it's mostly a hobby right now but she should do this for real...hint, hint...

At the Park

Since we're lucky this year to have had beautiful Fall weather, Riley has gotten to go to the park a lot, especially with her grandparents when they babysit. Grandma Linda and Great Grandma Mary meet at a park about half way between both their houses with Great Grandma's dogs Sully and Spicer or "Spicey"...Josh recently had a day off so he went with to take pictures.

I Love Lucy

Over the last week, we have been watching my friend Missy's dog, Lucy. She was an AWESOME guest and I'm not sure if all of you knew our Nala, but Lucy has a lot of similarities to our previous pooch! Lucy and Riley got along great and we're already missing our furry friend!

Pumpkin Fest 2008

We had a very fun day today! It was the 5th Annual Pumpkin Fest at our church and all the kids were there. PF is a free event that my Dad and sister Katie help run...This year the Teddy Bear Band was even there! I don't have pictures of Kiley because she was sleeping most of the day, but here are some of the fun shots from the day. The last picture is Riley's friend Nolan. She loves him:) Sometimes when we get ready to go to church I ask if she wants to go see Zacky or Auntie Katie or Uncle D, or whatever before we go...often times she will say no to all of the family members until I ask if she wants to go see Nolan:)

TIGF

Hmmmm, it's been a long month of expenses, so today I'm happy it's payday!!!!

Lots of updates, no camera:(

Ok so I have lots to update right now, but my camera battery died half way through the wedding and I haven't been able to go get a new one. So here's the short version...more to come...

1. Happy Anniversary to my hubby yesterday:) We went to Stillwater for the day and despite the rain managed to have a nice lunch and do some shopping:)
2. Babysitting my friend Missy's dog, Lucy. Riley keeps mushing her face together and telling her "Lucy, you're 'dorable!" More on that later.
3. Chopped my hair off today. Love it, but wish I had a daily hairstylist and unlimited haircut/color budget! I love the experience at New Reflections and GRETCHEN ROCKS! (If you go, tell her I sent you, I get bonus points!) It's just soooooo much better than stinkin' Great Clips...I wish I didn't love it so much:(

That's it for now. I'll post pics as soon as the camera situation improves. Tomorrow and Friday I will be baking all day for the Pumpkin Fest activities at church on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Happy Honeymoon!

Today our friends Jim and Erica McKnite...yup, Jimmy changed HIS name...leave for their honeymoon after a beautiful wedding this Saturday. Jim chose to change his last name because he is now officially 5-year-old Ashley's daddy too! Ashley has pretty much known Jim as daddy for most of her life anyway. They had a really cute sand ceremony where all three of them poured their own color of sand into a vase showing their family is now one family. Ashley loved that part;) Josh and I were both in the wedding and can I just tell you it was a crazy party! I'm super sore and recovering from sleep deprivation too! Part of that has to do with the fact that I had to be up at 4:15 A.M. for work today, but most of it was a long weekend of partying;) This old body doesn't Electric Slide like it used to!!! And as of Wednesday afternoon, I will have short hair again!

TIGF

Today I'm thankful for free babysitters! The past couple weeks I have had to drop Riley off at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mark's quite a few times and a couple times they had to come to our place...and this weekend she is staying with my parents because Josh and I are in Jimmy's wedding and have to be there early for pictures, etc. Since she was born we haven't had to pay a babysitter yet and that is a HUGE help when planning for a sitter for whatever reason it may be. Thanks to our friends and family, we really appreciate it...And I think now that the wedding will be over, we can go back to occasional babysitters instead of the somewhat frequent needs of late;)

Get out and VOTE!

This is a PSA about registering to vote. It's both hilarious and RELEVANT! Please watch it. Register. VOTE!

State Fair Green Scene

More from the Living Green newsletter

Each year, we survey visitors at the Eco Experience at the Minnesota State Fair. From this, we know that:
• 25% of visitors would like to make "green" changes to their lifestyle, but they need help getting started.
• Another 68% have already make some changes, but they want to do more.

This means that, in total, 93% of visitors want to try more living green actions.