Cake Mix Crazy!

Okay...now the cake mixes are really starting to worry me. Corey went to the store last night and bought chocolate cake mix and frosting and a package of birthday candles so he and Natalie could make me a birthday dessert today (sweet, huh?). Well, Natalie is soooo excited about another cake mix in the house that she can hardly control her hydrogenated oil induced excitement! She carried the 3 products around all evening and then asked if they could "take a baf" with her. Oh, my. So, there sat the mix, frosting and candles on the bathroom toilet while she took a bath. And then she promptly asked if she could take them to bed with her. She did. When we went in to check on her around 11 they were resting on the pillow right next to her head. This is some well loved cake mix and frosting. Anyone want to come over for dessert? Just try not to think where it's been!

Stickows

Corey was out of town all of last week so I needed to get creative with Natalie so that I was not certifiably insane upon his return. I resorted to bribery, of course. I promised Natalie rainbow alphabet stickers for every cooperative effort. "Finish your dinner and you can have some stickers", "get out of the bathtub without screaming and you can have some stickers," "stop whining right now and you can have some stickers." By day 2 she just asked for stickers first thing in the morning for doing nothing but sleeping through the night and by day 5 I was handing her an entire sheet by breakfast just to give myself 15 minutes of peace. It got a little out of control...I'm still finding stickers around this house.

Well, not only does the girl love to collect "stickows", she loves to sport them, too. She puts them from knuckles to shoulder on her left arm and wears them all day long, losing a few throughout the day on the car seat, my shirt and the grocery store cart and then finally fishing for the last hold outs floating in her bathwater.

Good cheap fun...of course, not at that dispensing rate.



Quite obviously, this is day 4 or 5...that's the whole sheet of stickers (2 complete alphabets)up her arm. The grumpy post office lady even smiled.

Cupcapers

As you all know, Natalie is crazy for cupcakes. She asks for them all the time and only occasionally are her requests granted. This past week has been filled with a sick and sidetracked mommy, a busy daddy, a freaky little owie on her face that will not stop bleeding unless she has a band-aid on it, and too much indoor time as we are still wrapping up our "too hot for much outside time" season. Corey thought the perfect cure would be a batch of cupcakes.

Corey's cupcake criteria? That I leave it all up to him (his way of making sure I didn't attempt to make these cupcakes healthy or nutritious in any way). Betty Crocker was to be called upon and they were to taste like REAL cupcakes. The combination of a special trip to the store with Daddy, white cake mix straight out of a box, frosting out of the tube and sprinkles filled with red dye #5 was a sweet success, as you can imagine.

Boy, is my next batch going to be a disappointment! Here's our sugar high story in pictures...

Miss Manners

Who was worried that this kid wasn't talking? Oh, yeah...me. It seems like another lifetime ago but there was once a time when Natalie's language repertoire consisted of just 3 words (2 of which were animal sounds) for over 6 months. All of a sudden after her 2nd birthday, as if making up for lost arguments, she started spitting out full sentences. We've been working diligently to make those sentences a little more polite and a little less demanding, but we're amazed at the comments that come out of this kid.

A recent conversation:

Natalie: Will you have a tea party wif me, Mommy?

Me: Of course.

Natalie: (after setting up her cups and plastic desserts on the coffee table) What do you want to eat, Mommy?

Me: A cup of coffee and a brownie, please.

Natalie: No, Mommy, you say...may I have some coffee and a bwownie pease.

Me: You're right, Natalie. That's how I should say it. May I have a cup of coffee and a brownie, please?

Natalie: Yes, you may. That's nice asking, Mommy. Good yob.

Seriously. This child that wouldn't put three words together in a sentence 6 months ago is now quick to use our own corrective words against us. And so it begins...

A few pics of Miss Manners in Michigan (I've been really bad about pictures since we've been home, hence the lack of blog posts)