Classic Fall

The sky looked like this today.




So we spent most of the morning doing this....

...and this...

I love classic fall days when you get a glimmer of 60 degrees again with the crisp air and crinkling leaves.

Guess

We did something really fun this weekend.
Can you guess what it was?!

The Tickle Spot!

We know exactly where Colby's tickle spot is...
see...

Doug the Dino

This is Doug!





This is Doug the Dinosaur!

Any questions?!

Leaves, Leaves and MORE Leaves

When you have a backyard that looks like this...

...it is time to bite the bullet, spend the money and invest in a new toy.
So as of last weekend we now have one of these fancy leaf blowing contraptions.



Funny though, after 1 day and more wind and rain, our yard once again looks like this....

I have a feeling we will get our money's worth after just 1 Fall!

Lightbulb moments

You know you are sleep deprived when:

- You get in the shower in the morning with your glasses on!
- You go to nurse your 4 month old baby boy and forget to take down the flaps of your nursing bra!
- You give your 2 year old son a banana with breakfast and forget to peel it down!
- You run the same load of laundry twice because you thought you switched it to the dryer and actually hadn't.

Shall I go on? :0)

Devlish Fireman!

Trick or Treating Time!!!


Our little Devil.
Yes, this costume is making it's 2nd appearance as will probably all costumes until probably age 5 when Parker realizes he is getting repeats from 2 years before. :)

Check out that tail!

And in case you need rescuing our fireman, Colby, will come to help.

Radio and all, he loved that ingenious last minute addition to the costume thanks to dad!


Halloween is here again!


Our little street was just perfect for pint size legs to get their fill of doorbell ringing and candy receiving. And since he won't eat any of the candy anyways, mom and dad were happy our neighbors had some great selections this year! :)


Parker, however, decided that trick or treating at 10 houses was far too exhausting and it was time for a nap.

Pumpkin Carving Time

Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year we got to carve our pumpkins on Halloween, how fun! Usually we carve it the night before or some other time that is convenient for the schedule but this year worked out great. We had a pumpkin carving fest just after breakfast with the pumpkin that we picked out a few weeks ago - everyone was well rested, fed, happy and very excited about making our pumpkins into 'jacks'!

Cut open a lid

Hide from the camera because mom is picture happy!

Look, with 2 year old amazement, at what happens when you lift off the lid.



Don't forget to scoop out the goo...

Mom's turn to carve.

Our 2 punkins!
How cute is that photo?! I love it. Definitely worth a frame!

Parker was proud of his little "Jack" too!



Colby decided the holes were a great opportunity to practice his shape sorting.
(I do have video of this, but for some reason it won't upload. I'll try again later and see what happens.)

PJ thought this was silly!

And if you have been reading this blog for any amount of time then you will realize that the creativity level has clearly not changed much in 1 year... why? Because if you look back at last year's Halloween pumpkin carving festivities you will see that our Jack had the exact same face then as it does now. Oh boy... perhaps next year will be different! :)

Happy Halloween!

Forget the rice cereal...

Parker who is still exclusively breastfed has decided there is no need to move on to rice cereal. Which, by the way, in case you were wondering, we weren't planning to start feeding him anytime soon as there is a link between allergies and beginning solids early. And, from experience with Colby, remember this day?, rice cereal and solids didn't really excite him in the least nor make him a better eater later in life. Actually, Colby wasn't reeeeally interested in baby food for quite some time, here he was at 8 months old still only haven't rice cereal for breakfast, and if I recall correctly he didn't even think about eating a 'real' food until he was a full year old at least. Then suddenly, at 14 months he switched completely and we haven't seen a jar of baby food since. Despite drinking his way (40-50 ounces a day at times) through most of his first year he is the most well rounded eating toddler I know. Sooo we aren't rushing into things in the food department since what we did in the past seems to have worked out just fine thus far.

Parker on the other hand has some different ideas. Instead of slurping down some rice cereal at some point in the coming months, he has decided to move straight ....

Ok let me back up a minute...

It's pretty common in our house 1. for me to have lunch up in the office or on the run during our "Nanny Days" (yes, post on this still to come at some point) and 2. for me to use Parker's bouncy seat as a carry all (with him in it most times) because I can stuff things around him and take it all with me in 1 trip rather than taking him, putting him down, going back for the stuff and yadda yadda. So if I just put my phone next to his left leg, the mail under his right leg, and a few pieces of newly folded laundry on top of his thighs I can get it all, including the little guy, all in 1 trip.

So the other day when I - tucked a spoon under his right leg, stuffed a yogurt next to his left side and put a plate full of celery and cream cheese on his belly - and grabbed him and his seat with my lunch to head upstairs was certainly nothing out of the ordinary!

That is until

I

Looked

Down

To

See

This

...

Ummm YEAH!!!

Perhaps someone should let Parker know that celery and cream cheese are not considered "First Foods"!

It appears that enjoying celery and cream cheese is a growing trend in the house. Colby certainly took a liking to it - remember?!

So, as I said in the very first line of this post. "Parker who is still exclusively breastfed has decided there is no need to move on to rice cereal." Nope, he has instead decided to skip right past that icky bland stuff for the goods! I think it's safe to say that he may too be a good eater.

Please don't call and tattle on us to his pediatrician! :)

Tool Time

1 mom... 4 boys...
I'm outnumbered!

Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar????

Who me???

Yes, you, PJ!

Mega Block Box

Much like a few weeks ago when we had 2 Lego kings sporting their love for Legos, the other day, Colby decided to put his name in for a spot on a Mega Blocks ad! j/k But yes, this child does like to climb in and out and be a silly, silly boy!

Check out a new use for our Mega Blocks box.

In and out, in and out!

3 for 3 for 3

Ok so where did the title for this post come from?

Let's just say that it will speak for itself when I tell you that...

For 3 days straight, Parker has managed to have 3 blowouts (for those of you without young children that would be AKA huge clothes changing nearly needing a bath poopie diapers) 3 consecutive times. Thus the child has played, pooped, been changed into a new outfit, slept, pooped, been changed into a new outfit and so on - 3 times in a row for the last 3 days!

Help! :)

Our Punkins!

More on our Halloween adventures coming soon, but for now, enjoy a picture of our little punkins!

Halloween Parade 2009

A town near us has a Halloween parade each year. It's a pretty big event (as you can see from the schlew of people in the streets with us and we weren't even the front of the parade gang), kids dress up, parade around the town and back from the firehouse where there is refreshments, goodies for the kids, a magician and more. The last few years we haven't been able to come. Well, last year we had planned to go, but our son the sleeper decided to nap through it so we missed the fun completely. I was not waking him for a parade he wouldn't remember anyways. After all, we do NOT wake a sleeping child in our house for anything. Well, except maybe a smoke alarm going off or an emergency like that of course.

It was a fun time. Colby absolutely loves parades so he was thrilled to actually be in one this time. And his costume was a hit! Why? Because the party was at the firehouse of course! :)

The other funny part is checking out some of the other costumes. Ok so I'll clue you in on this one thing. The parade is in what we would call a little fruoo fruoo town. Ya know lots of Burberry, expensive homes with no land just because there is water around, wine sipping restaurants, you get it. No, we DO NOT live in this town, we went there for the festivities and because we had lots of friends going too. Scott nor I could ever live in that part of that town because it is a bit too stuffy for our tree and yard loving selves. We like grass. We like neighbors, but not that much! We like the water but are willing to drive the 7 minutes to get there.

Anyways, I digress.

So we were there for the parade with our $12.95 Fireman costume found the day before at Toys R Us while some of these kids had costumes that were probably made by well-known designers. We were chuckling walking down the street cause this one little boy was dressed up like a shark. Scott laughed and was like that is a great costume! So of course just strolling down the street in a kids parade, we told the mother how great his outfit was and I asked her where she found it. Here I was thinking she was going to respond with something like iParty, it's home made or yadda yadda. No, oh it's from Pottery Barn was her answer.... WHAT?! There is nothing in that store or catalog for less than $60... I know, we have a Dr. Seuss room remember. And Pottery Barn Kids had some Seuss items in it last year. I refused to buy anything having to do with the set except for 1 bedsheet because there was no way I was spending $99 just for a silly crib bumper that the doctors tell you not to put in the crib anyways!

Oh well. Then there was this funny little girl. She and her twin brother had matching Octopus costumes. Her's pink and his blue - of course! :)

So parade we did with loads of other families...

Took our picture with the fireman's firetruck at the fire house...

and went home for breakfast for dinner! I like our low-keyed family style.

But despite the few wacky people who always make for interesting outtings, it was a great way to kick off some Halloween fun!