Halloween

As a kid, my family did not officially celebrate "Halloween."  We never got to go trick-or-treating.  We were allowed to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters' though.  That was really hard when I was very small.  But when I got older, we were allowed to participate in church "Harvest" parties, which basically meant everyone dressed up in a costume (but nothing scary or gory), went on candy hunts, broke open a pinata, played games, ate good food, and carved pumpkins.  

Josh on the other hand was allowed to trick-or-treat as a kid.  The funny part is he hates everything to do with halloween and I do not.  So, we weren't sure what to do with Ryan at first.   For now, we've decided he can trick-or-treat with his daycare.   

This year, he wanted to be a bat.  I was not willing to pay twenty bucks for something he would wear once.  So I set about making his costume out of a pair of sweatpants, a hoodie, an old umbrella, some felt, black duct tape, and a lot of safetey pins.

I think it turned out rather well!

What a week!

What a week! It seems like forever since I've been able to update this blog.  So, here's a short re-cap....

October 20th-Ryan get's a fever.  Josh stays home with him so I can go to work.  This makes me jealous.  I want to be snuggling my baby in his hours of need!

October 24th-Josh appears to get what Ryan has.  I am no longer jealous.  However, I am concerned considering Josh does not slow down to rest and recover.   Instead he continues to go in to work.  This is because he is supposed to propose his Thesis (BIG deal) on the 26h.

October 26th- Josh passes his thesis! Thank you to all who said a quick prayer for him on this day :)  We celebrate this monumental step to his degree by going to the airport to pick up a friend.  We get to hold hands on the way (Josh and I, in case it needed to be clarified). Aw.

October 27th-For some reason I just feel lousy.  Josh comes home with a bunch of sweets-icecream, s'mores, and stuff to make peanut butter cookies in celebration of passing his thesis.  I just don't feel like participating.  He ends up celebrating with Ryan while I go to bed early.
October 28-Today:  I have strep throat!  I do nothing most of the weekend. 

Three Stooges with Balloons.

I think this video is pretty self explanatory....

Zonked Out

Ryan got to stay home from daycare today because he had a  fever.  It finally broke this evening.   The plus side was that I enjoyed a night of peace and rest because both of the boys were zonked out on the couch together.  It was so sweet I had to take a video....

Jack-o-Lanterns!

How do you make a jack-o-lantern?

Get a design and tape it to your pumpkin.

Then trace the face with one of the little tools they give you in the pumpkin carving packet. 

Then let Daddy take over for the heavy duty cutting. 

Be grossed out by what's inside. 

Help pick up the pumpkin guts  with heavy duty coaching from Mommy. 

Sit by your pumpkin so Mommy can "ooh" and "ahh" over your Daddy's handiwork.

Admire the cute baby who is cold and wet.

Go inside and admire your Daddy's handiwork!

Stereotypical but Cute Pictures of Fall Fun

Fall would not be fall without a trip to the pumpkin patch. 

Josh and I have different feelings about fall festivals and pumpkin patch fun.  Josh feels this way:

I feel this way: 

And so we go every year.  Because he loves me and is willing to put aside his feelings about crowded fall festivals.   And I think every year he manages to have a smidgen of fun.  This year, we went with our friend's Joy and Joel and their two boys.

It is also getting more fun to share these experiences with the boys. 

Ryan loved the hayride.  He enjoyed spotting the pumpkin people and sheet ghosts as the tractor wound its way up the hill to the pumpkin patch.

The day was clear and bright, windy and cool.  It was the perfect day to pick pumpkins. 

Joy and I could not resist taking a few photo op's with the kids....for the scrapbooks.  Our husbands were of course on their smart phones trying to get the updated football scores.

They had a corn maze. So of course we had to go through it.  We are apparently very very good at corn mazes and found our way out within five minutes.

 And no pumpkin patch farm would be complete without a petting zoo.

When we were done picking our pumpkins, we took another hayride back down to the festival.  We let the boys pick a few special things to do.

They picked.....the train ride....

....the bounce house (sorry no good pictures came of this event.)

....and going inside a giant inflatable pumpkin filled with balloons....

Ryan also got to "ride" on a big red tractor... 

Dylan just hung out while his big brother had all the fun. 

Change of Perspective

In our "early" marriage, Josh and I used to talk about how the queen sized bed we had was perfect.  We discussed how a full size bed was too small but a King size bed was too big.  Josh would say, "because then we couldn't snuggle.....it would be too much space."  Awww.   Now imagine my eyes full of hearts and rainbows and other dopey expressions of love. 

Now we have a different perspective on the issue.  A queen size bed is too small.  

I try to put the baby in his bassinet to start the night.  But then reality sets in around 2 or 3 a.m. when I am simply too tired to put him back after/during his feeding.   

This little man has some magic baby superpowers.

Even though he starts the night on the far left side of the bed and he is supposed to be "immobile", when we wake up, he is somehow in the middle, I am invading Josh's side and Josh is half off the bed, only managing not to fall out completely because he is wedged between the edge of the bed and the large cedar chest next to the bed. 

Then around 5 or 6 enter the two year old who usually slides in next to the baby for a few minutes.  It is only a few minutes because by that point there are way too many people in the bed and Josh and I couldn't continue to sleep even if we wanted to, which we usually do. 

Some nights the dogs want to join the party.  They know this will anger us and we will push them off. So they are sneaky.  They sneak up (and I do mean sneak) and lay at  on our feet.  When we are sleeping this usually buys them a half hour or so until one of us wants to roll over and discovers we can't because we are pinned down in one place.

  This morning we woke up to our entire family in one bed.  Two children of varrying sizes. Two adults of varrying sizes. And two dogs.  

We woke up and and looked at each other and I said, "A King size bed sure is looking good about now."

Funny Sayings

Ok.  Ignore the cute baby (I know it's hard) in the bouncy seat and focus on the stupid dog in the background.  This is Esteban.   He's not the brightest. I think I've mentioned this before.  He also has a bad habit of chewing up Ryan's books and eating them.  No joke.  On one hand because of this everything is clean before bed.  But sometimes one escapes.   Like last night.  Old McDonald was shredded. 

I went downstairs to break the bad news to Ryan.  He loves Old McDonald.

"Ryan, last night Esteban ate your old Mcdonald  book.  We need to make sure we pick up our stuff ok."

Ryan replied, "We buy a new one!"

Trying to instill in him good values, I replied, "I'm not buying you a new one.  I'm not made of money."

He pondered this.  Then said, "You need  get more money first.  Then buy a new one."

Happy Little Guy

I just love this little guy.  He's such a happy little fellow.  He's recently started doing "baby" crunches; he is trying so hard to sit up.  He even held himself up for about five seconds before tipping over the other day after I sat him up and leaned him against some pillows.

The drooling and gnawing on things is out of control.  He soaks everything in close proximity, including me. 

And he's really getting some height on his belly during tummy time.  Today he rolled from back to front.

It won't be long before I'm chasing him around the house!

Have I mentioned it's fall?

Have I mentioned it's fall?

And the oranges are brilliant....

The yellow's are golden....

and the red's.....

are brilliant......

I mean....fiery.

Have I mentioned fall is my favorite season? 

The further east we go, the richer the colors! I can't help but be amazed by the beauty of fall out here!