I’m not sure how this has happened, but my baby girl has suddenly turned into a little girl.  A big girl, according to her.  By the looks of this pic, I think she might be right.

The pic below is from Halloween two years ago.  How on earth do they grow and change this quickly?  I just can’t take it.

My friend Traci and I recently decided to give yoga a try and had our first class last night.

Yikes.

Who knew yoga was so serious?  Evidently, everyone except for Traci and me.

I’m so not the type to ‘get into the zone’ on something like this.  Pretty sure our uber-serious-cheese-ball-instructor hates our guts.  Mostly because we both refused to join in when we were instructed to do the whole “ooooooohhhhhhmmmmm” sound.

I actually told Traci on the drive to class that I hoped it wasn’t going to be “that” kind of class.  I specifically said, “They better not break out the ol’ ‘ooooooohhhhhhhmmmmmm’ thing.”  She said something like, ” Oh, I don’t think they will.”

Plus, it totally didn’t help that the instructor was wearing capris.  Call me sexist, but I grew up out in the country among lots of cowboys, and I’m of the opinion that capris should only be worn by females.

Not to mention the fact that the capri-wearing-cheese-ball kept spouting off stuff like, “Smiles are money, ladies, and I want you to pay me a lot.”

*Record screech*

Say what?

Then there was this lady directly in front of me that took the whole breathing thing a bit to far.  I might be a newbie and all, but come on.  It seriously was ridiculous.  Just imagine the scene in E.T. when the guys came into the house in their Haz Mat suits and how loud their breathing was.

Or just imagine Darth Vader.

Traci and I decided we need to start a yoga class for the not-so-serious-types because, even though the instructor was cheesy and loud-breather-lady was driving me up the wall, we really did enjoy the actual yoga.  To be honest, it pretty much kicked our butts, but in a good way.  It definitely made me realize how tight my muscles are.  It felt good to get ‘em all stretched out.

We each bought five sessions, so we’ll see how I feel after four more rounds.

My goal is to be able to do this pose.

Wish me luck.

A few months ago, just saying the word “clown” sent shivers up and down Arle’s spine.  She was not a fan and I was sure she was going to be one of those people that forever feared any and all clowns.

One of our neighbors’ had a circus birthday back in August and his dad dressed up like a clown for the event.  I did my best to prep her for the fact that there would be a clown at the party.  I told her over and over again that the clown was Nate’s daddy and he will be a nice clown.

At the party, she definitely kept her distance from the clown, but didn’t have a meltdown or anything crazy like that.

I was shocked a few weeks later when somebody asked her what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween.  She didn’t even know what Halloween was, but quickly answered that she would be a clown.

Soon after, I decided to start searching for the perfect clown costume.  I found this one on Etsy and absolutely fell in love.

Not even being a fan of Halloween, spending $88.95 on a Halloween costume wasn’t exactly what I was looking to do.

One day, I was chatting on the phone with a friend that asked what Arle was going to dress up as.  I told her Miss wanted to be a clown.  She said she had a great costume that her mother-in-law made years ago.  She packed it up and sent it my way.

I was so excited when I opened up the package and found this cutie-patootie frock:

Side-note:  Not sure what’s up with Arle’s Taylor Swift face these days, but it’s become a frequent visitor around here.  She’s constantly squinting her eyes when she wants to add emphasis when telling me something.  Or when she’s on the kitchen runaway during a photo shoot.

Halloween is still two days away, but she has already dressed up two separate times.  I’m absolutely in LOVE with clown Arle.  As far as I can tell, it looks like this was sewn from the exact same pattern as the one on Etsy, just with different fabric.

The first party she dressed up for was last Thursday.  Trav’s office has a big Halloween parade each year.  All the kiddos come in full regalia and prance through six floors, while collecting candy from each and every attorney’s office.  Arle only made it through two and a half floors before declaring she was done and wanted to go back to Daddy’s office.  Here are some of the pics from her jaunt.

Uh, could my face possiby be more oily? I think not.

The photo directly above is Travis introducing Arle to her first Pixie Stick.  She was a fan.  Big shocker.

Her other dress-up event was this morning at Gymboree.  All the kiddos looked adorable in their get-ups.  My mom had sent Arle a box full of super cute clown accessories including make-up, a hair piece, and fake eyelashes.  I got one of the eye lashes on her and she immediately flipped out.  “It buggin’ me!  It buggin’ me!”  So, I pulled it off.

She really wanted a blue nose, but I didn’t realize the paint worked better when wet.  I figured that out this morning and she got the blue nose she was hoping for.

She refused to wear the hair piece to Trav’s office, but couldn’t wait to wear it this morning.  Go figure.

So, 42 photos later, any questions on what Arle looks like in her clown costume?  Didn’t think so.

Happy Candy Day to all, and to all a good night.

The end.

To any parents of toddlers out there, this is for you.

A huge shout out to my friend, Kristin, for putting together a great list of sites on her blog to help parents out with creative activities for their wee ones.  As Old Man Winter quickly approaches, I’m definitely going to be hitting up these sites for ideas on how to pass the days away.

Check ‘em out by clicking here.

Something is definitely wrong with me.  I’m seriously losing my mind.  Seriously.

Within the past two weeks, I have stood up not one but TWO different people for coffee/lunch dates.  I’m the biggest jerk EVER.  It’s so ridiculous because I literally just flat-out forgot, even though less than 24 hours before the dates I was talking about how excited I was to get together with these girls.  How can something be on my mind that recently and then I just completely flake out?

Then, last week after coming home from Target with my bag of junk that cost me $100, I couldn’t find my keys anywhere.  Losing keys really isn’t all that unusual for me, but I usually find them fairly quickly.  Not this time.  Days and days had gone by and I couldn’t find them anywhere.

Meanwhile, I had been devouring a jumbo sized bag of Laffy Taffy purchased on my trip to Target.  It was on sale that day, so I thought I would do something ahead of time for once in my life and bought it to pass out to all the kiddos that knock on our door on Halloween.

Huge mistake.

I didn’t even make it out of the Target parking lot before I ripped it open and had some chewy green apple goodness sticking to my teeth.  I should have bought something I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole like plain M&Ms, Milky Ways or Hershey Bars.  I guarantee you I will have to return to Target and buy more Halloween candy because, let’s face it, Saturday is still four days away and I have no self-control when it comes to non-chocolate candy.

Yesterday, when I went to the cabinet for my daily dose of high fructose corn syrup, guess what I found INSIDE the Laffy Taffy bag.

My keys.

Seriously.

I’m kind of afraid to leave the house for fear of forgetting where I live and not being able to find my way home.  Or perhaps it’s just for fear of being to far away from my humongous bag of Laffy Taffy.

You know how sometimes you’ll see some crazy expensive item for sale somewhere and you’ll say, “Even if I was rich I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on that.”

That is exactly how I do NOT feel about this jacket that I found in the new J.Crew catalog that showed up in my mailbox yesterday.

Goodness gracious, me-oh-my.  I’m pretty sure if I had a clothing budget of $2500, I would have no problem dropping it all on this ridiculously gorgeous shearling beauty.

Last week Trav and I took Arle to see Toy Story at the movie theater.  She had been to a movie last Christmas, but didn’t seem to remember the experience.  The look on her face was priceless as we walked in and she saw the humongous screen.

Me:  Do you want a big T.V. like that?

Arle:  Yes, I do, please.

We got settled into our seats and she refused to take her coat and hat off.  It was the first really cold day of the season and she was thrilled to be sportin’ her winter gear.  The only reason she took her mittens off was so she could eat her gummy stars.  Her 3-D glasses topped off the look nicely, I think.

So, remember a couple of weeks ago when Arle called the pretty-scarf-clad-Muslim-lady a snowman?  Yeah, well she totally outdid herself yesterday when we were checking out at Target.

Somewhere in the store, she spotted this little candy/fan/flashlight thing.  She picked it up and was carrying it around with her while I filled my cart with approximately five non-exciting items that somehow totaled $100.

How is it that I can’t seem to make it out of Target without spending at least $100?  And I’m not even getting anything fun.  I would be OK with spending that kind of $$ if I were leaving with some of their cute p.j.’s and  maybe some cute new serving pieces for the holidays.  But, no.  All I escaped with was some night-time Pull-ups and stupid Halloween candy.

I digress.

As I was paying for all of our junk, I told Arle we needed to give her candy/fan/flashlight to the lady because we were certainly not buying it.

She looked at the lady, then back at me and said, “But dat’s not a lady, Mommy.”

I assure you it was in fact a lady.  A not so happy lady after my dear sweet daughter basically told her she looks like a man.  She handed me my receipt without even a thank-you.  I wished her a good day and got the heck outta Dodge.

What in the heck is it about kids in p.j.s?  I mean, we always think Arle looks cute, but when she’s chillaxin in her “j’s” Trav and I can’t seem to refrain from talking about how stinkin’ cute she is.

Here she is last week when she was using her Handy Manny tools to work on the drawers in the kitchen.  She decided it was much easier to keep the tools in her “pocket” than her tool box.

Later in the week, she was wearing her new frog j’s.  She woke up super weepy that morning, so when I pulled out the ol’ camera to shoot some pics of her j’s, she immediately fell to pieces.

But then, just like any good mother would do, I bribed her with gummy bears and she turned her frown upside down.  Funny how easily her mood swings when gummy bears come into the picture.  Just look at the transformation that took place.

Back in August, when my family came to visit, my sister had her senior pics taken by my favorite KC photographer, Isaac Alongi.  He has taken pics for us a couple of times and always does such an incredible job.

Alexis’ pics turned out amazing and I just wanted to show off my beautiful lil’ sis.  Click here to check ‘em out.