Best music video of 2008

The other day I was strolling through Gap Kids with Annie and the song "New Soul" came on. You might not have downloaded it, but you surely have heard it. It is the song that features a long string of "la-la-la la lala la-la-la la lala" for almost the whole song as if she were on a deadline and ran out of lyrics. All that to say, the song is pretty cute.

So we are strolling along and Annie is repeating her new-found words "la la la la." I thought surely it was a coincidence, but she seemed to be singing along. :O I get home and tell my sister, Molly, about it and she informed me that she was one of the people that downloaded this song and that we could test it out.

No coincidence here. We ran several tests on Annie and she definitely has an affinity for "The La La Song." We played several other songs and we got some dances and shakes, but no words. The minute the la-las hit in "New Soul", she starts-a-singing.

Now presenting the best music video of 2008.

A new-found love...

... the door jumper! The other day I was giving my niece, Ellie (3), a bath and needed a place to stick Annie. I remembered the doorway jumper. The last time we used that thing Annie would put her hands on the outside of the tray in the front of her and then swing herself into the doorway, smashing her fingers ... so we ended up putting it away. Annie is a couple months older now so I thought I'd bust it out as the "look, I have a new toy" trick. (Whisper: They are never new toys. They are always old ones I put away and then get back out. Shhh... don't tell Annie).

Not only did this sucker get us through bath time, but it is her new favorite toy (with the exception of paper, which also doubles as her favorite snack).

Happy Halloween, Goat Girl!

As I was shopping for the perfect first Halloween costume for Annabel, I saw all of the cute butterflies, princesses, bumble bees, etc. and knew that of course they would be adorable on my precious daughter. But then I saw the billy goat costume. I thought to myself, "how long has it been since I thought about a billy goat?" Maybe a decade. Not since that Saturday Night Live skit about the goat boy. I started to picture Annie with the cute little horns and the little ears, but then when I thought about the beard, it sealed the deal! She was the cutest billy goat I have ever seen!

This is Annie with one of her new friends!


Here is Annie with her seasonal gourds.

As if we hadn't been to enough pumpkin patches, we made a last ditch effort to go to another on Halloween. It was, of course, all packed away, but that wasn't going to stop us. Me, Judy, and Annie took ourselves to Central Market and set Annie up in the gourd bins in her costume and took some pictures anyways.

Here is Nonnie (Judy) taking pictures.

Every year since we have lived in our house in North Austin, we invite our North Austin friends over, move our lawn furniture to the front yard and have dinner together while being entertained by small children walking around in costumes. This year we put forth a huge effort to be known as the best house because we all chipped in for the BIG candy bars. Maybe that will deter our neighbors for leaving the neighborhood to go to the fancier neighborhoods. SPREAD THE WORD, KIDS! We also had appearances from Sarah Palin, a pegasus, a garden gnome, a shark, the color purple, and a turtle. I am kicking myself for not having pictures!


We ended the night with all of the kids asleep in the house and the adults getting some much needed adult time.

Our friend Micah (age 19 months) fell asleep on the couch like a teenager while we were all outside. What a cutie!