Oh the weather outside is frightful...

I'm not the hugest fan of the snow. I don't ski, sled, or make snowmen...so to me, snow, is just something crappy that i have to drive in. So when our little town got a snowstorm I was less than pleased. It has been soooooooooooo cold, the roads have been awful, and the snow isn't going away any time soon. 

This was our driveway the morning after the huge snowstorm. about 3 feet of snow, and no way to get out! After a few phone calls, we got a friend with a tractor to come out and clear a path.  Even the tractor almost got stuck!

 Emily, showing how deep it is!

 Scenes from our window. I tried staying inside. Cuddled in a blanket, and trying to keep warm.

 Q enjoyed looking at the snow from inside, but had little interest in going outside. She's not a fan of the cold.

The day after the big storm hit, I had to go pick up Mitch from the airport. I was originally supposed to drive to Seattle, but was feeling very uncomfortable about that decision, so that morning I bought him a ticket from seattle to spokane. The drive over to Spokane wasn't that bad. The roads were a little snowy and icy, and I had to drive a little slower than normal...but the drive back was ridiculous. Apparently there was a major accident outside of Sprague and there was miles of stand still traffic.

aghhhh. oh I how I dislike the snow. 

Maybe I need to consider a move to a very warm location!

repeat after me...Yo gabba gabba Yo....

This past weekend I took Q to her first concert.

The "there's a party in your city..Yo Gabba Gabba Live tour".

OH IT WAS JUST AS FUN AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

It was a room full of parents and toddlers, and everybody was ready to have some fun.  Unfortunately, I do have a beef with some of those parents. See, I am not a souvenir person. I don't buy stuff at concerts, that later becomes junk....but then I went to this concert. This place where every child around us, had a glowing stick that their parents had bought them. A glowing stick, that Q was obviously coveting, as she tried to take them away from the children around her, then threw a fit when she realized she didn't have one. I debated staying strong and refusing to buy such over priced crap, but I knew my child would not be calm for the show unless she had a glowing stick of her own. So I bought one. A stupid $10 glowing stick. aghhhhh. on the bright side, it kept her happy through the whole show, the ride home, and the days since...so maybe it wasn't a total waste of a purchase.

Then, the lights when down and the party started. We danced, sang, and watched as Q's favorite show came alive before her eyes.  She moved around from my lap, to her seat, to standing, and wasn't afraid to just lay down and soak in the music.  

 This is what her face looked like most of the show. She was in awe.

Before the intermission, they released a bunch of balloons into the crowd. into the center of the crowd. Q was devastated that she didn't have a balloon, as we were seated near the aisles. I didn't want to leave her to go in search of an extra balloon on the floors, nor did I want to carry her over a bunch of people in search...I didn't know what to do, to calm this child. Luckily the couple next to me, had gone and retrieved a balloon for their little boy and brought one back for Q. Oh she was heaven for the whole second half.

At the beginning of the second half of the show, 2 characters came down on each side of the theater. We were but 5 feet away from Toodee and Brobee as they sand their way onto the stage. Q just sat there, mesmerized. The characters were almost to the stage, when Q finally realized that she could touch them and she took off running. I was able to catch her before she followed her heroes onto the stage, and quickly convinced her that we should go sit down so we wouldn't miss the show.  It would have been awesome to get pictures of her with them, but I wasn't about to be one of those parents that holds up a production just to get a few pics.

 One of Q's favorite parts of watching the show is Biz's beat of the day. Where hip hop star Biz Markie (yep THAT Biz Markie...the "you got what I need.." Biz Markie) teaches the kids a beatbox beat. Well, when that part of the performance came up, I had no clue that Biz would actually be on stage!!  He came out, taught a few beats and sat on stage and had kids come up to beatbox. It was awesome.

Here are some of Q's favorite songs, and her reaction. Oh she loved it. 

What a good day. 

i said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop...

I often keep things on my DVR that are funny or just make me smile, so I can watch them over and over.
I have watched this too many times to count. There is so many things about this that make me smile...thought maybe I should share the smiles.

...but we'll get together then... You know we'll have a good time then

Every morning, as I'm getting ready for work, my sweet little girl sits on my bed and watches cartoons.

Every morning, she yells for me, I come into the room, and she smiles, pats the bed beside her, and asks me    to sit. "sit mama, sit."

Every morning, I tell her I can't. That mommy has to get ready.

Every once in awhile I will sit down, and she quickly snuggles into my body, and smiles up at me. When I get up again, she calls for me... "sit mama. sit". And I tell her I can't.

Every morning, she cries a little.

my girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time...

Yeah, it's a late Halloween post...

We had to get away. get a little break from Moses Lake. So Q and I packed up and went to Idaho to spend the Halloween weekend with Kimmy, Elsie, and Aaron.

We had a fabulous time.

Our first night there, Myca and Alysha and their group came over for dinner and hanging out. Oh it was so good to hang out with them. The kids just ran around and played, while the adults sat and mingled. Perfect night.  Q was so wound up from the excitement of the night, that she had a hard time sleeping that night...which is so unusual for her.  Good thing we were able to fit in some naps the next day.  

Q and Elsie are so funny together and fun to watch. Q loves Elsie and almost suffocates her with love at times.  Poor Elsie, is a girl who likes her personal space and Q is a girl that has no boundaries...so you can imagine the stress this causes poor Elsie.

But they played every day, as hard as they could. I know Q enjoyed having someone to play with.

  

A lot of the time we just hung out, played, watched tv, and danced.  Elsie loves the songs from Lilo and Stitch, so I dusted off my old hula skills and taught her a little something.

On Friday I went with Kim and some of her friends to this bouncy house place in Nampa. Q was very hesitant for awhile. She usually just walked around, played with the bouncy balls, and played in the cars.  

 When she did get on the bouncy things, she held closed to the side and was quick to get off. 

But, like most things, once SHE decided to like it and have fun.... She had a blast. She played in a bouncy house with either Elsie or alone, and was perfectly content. 

While we were down there, we headed over to Kimmy's ward Trunk or Treat. Last year, we just answered a few doors at my friends Clinton's house, so this was Q's first attempt at trick or treating.  Oh the girls looked so cute! I went back and forth about what I wanted to dress Q up as for halloween, and I loved her final outfit.  It was unique, and I loved it. 

 My little sailor girl working the phones...I wonder if she knows Morse code. 

Elsie rocked the Disney Cinderella.  Oh these girls make my heart melt. 

Q pretty much just ran around the whole time at the dinner before the trick or treating. She is so crazy sometimes, but you gotta love her. 

 yep, that's a roll on a fork....

not the most flattering shot of me, my red face, and my bulging sweater...

then it was time to hit the cars, and do some trick or treating. Q held my hand the whole time, but was pretty excited about it. She said trick or treat and thank you to everyone that was hanging out candy. At our first car she got a dum dum sucker and she would have been happy leaving after that. She's not the most clean eater in the world, and I had no need to keep candy around, so we took a lot of the candy she got that night and added it to the basket we used to pass out candy over the weekend.  

Aaron and Elsie did some carving of a pumpkin for the weekend's trick or treaters and Q did this...

Just sat on the kitchen floor...and played with this toy pumpkin...the girl is easily entertained....

the girls were pretty excited to just answer the door on Saturday and Sunday night, and passing out candy...so we just hung out and let the kids in costumes come to us. Elsie would pass out the candy, and Q would watched the kids and bye.   

While I was down there I had my friend Zandra take some pictures of Q for her 2 year old birthday. I'm pretty excited to see how they turned out. We did more of an urban theme, which I think will be cool.  

Kim and I made some cupcakes one of the days. It was a flavor pairing I had put together based on one of Kimmy's favorite combinations...pretzels and peanut butter. We did a pretzel crust under a chocolate cupcake, topped with a peanut butter frosting, and sprinkled with crushed pretzels. It was pretty delicious!  We could have used a little more crust on the bottom..which will be changed the next time...oh and there will be a next time!  

Overall, it was such a fabulous weekend. So relaxing. So fun.  Gotta love family.