Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the two cutest bugs ever!

 So somber...where are my kids??!

 Oh there they are...this is more like it...Grey being a punk & Zoe eating leaves

We had a nice low key Halloween this year. The kids had so much fun, they went trick or treating THREE times today! Grammie brought them to daddy's work then home for a nap before heading to my work.

Playing with the babies at my work-these 3 were born within a month of each other

We came home, had a quick dinner and then hit the neighborhood. Grey had this whole trick or treat business down to a science. He would run up to the door, knock, look for a door bell  - ring it if it was there, then knock again as he would literally say "Are you coming?" We had to remind him to be patient and polite. As soon as they opened the door, he would yell "TRICK or TREAT!" As soon as the candy was passed over, he would say " Thank you & Happy Halloween" before bolting to the next house.  Zoe loved watching it all and looking at all the cool neighborhood decorations.

We met up with our neighbor, Ripley, for a few houses but he just couldn't keep up with Grey.  Grey kept yelling as he would run to the next house, " COME ON, RIP!" or he would just take Ripley's bag for him up to the door while Ripley made his way up a few moments later..then Grey would hand him his bag full of candy as he blew by him, yelling "come on, Rip!"  It was the funniest thing I had every seen! Luckily, we weren't too far from their house when Grey decided he needed to use his potty. Zippy and I just looked at each other...and luckily, they handed Zippy the keys to their house and let them run back there really quick...that could have been an interesting moment in a borrowed Halloween costume!

When we got back to the house, Grey dumped his bag of candy out and decided that suckers were his favorite so he had one while we passed out candy to trick or treaters...then he decided nerds were his new favorite so I let him have that too...he started to see a trend so he would pick out another kind of candy and say that was his favorite. I let him have quite a few more before telling him the candy fairy would be coming tonight and taking the candy back so we can trick or treat next year. We will see if that works :)

Thanks to the Bevan family for letting us borrow the spider costume-Grey LOVED it!

 And the cutest ladybug costume was crocheted by Grammie. She is taking orders for next year ;) I know she is very skilled but this costume came out so seriously cute.

 And Zippy FINALLY got to be the Wolverine. His hair is never at the right length as we forget about it until the last minute but not this year! Love it :)

And look! I was there, too. I am usually behind the camera-Grey looks thrilled, doesn't he? He is mad that we were holding up his trick or treating!

Pumpkin Carving Party 2011

The "second" annual pumpkin carving party was a success! We only had one incident with a finger...but it didn't have anything to do with a knife or the pumpkins. We had about 12 kids and their parents here to carve pumpkins and have lots of fun. I wish I would have taken pictures of all the food-people were very creative and we had lots of spooky and yummy dishes.

Our greeters: They have a future as greeters at Walmart

 Tait had fun checking out all the toys

 Zoe loves playing in her jumpy outside

 The Broski's kicked off the pumpkin carving

 Grey & Andrew trying to figure out what stencil to use

 Kimmy is braver than me...she gave Grey free reign with the pumpkin carvers

 Everyone working hard on their pumpkins

 Zoe's first time carving a pumpkin!

 Grey had to step in as the big brother & help her out!

 Very interesting trying to take a picture of everyone & their pumpkins

Zoe and her "other mommy" Michelle

 Giving kisses or eating Michelle's nose...not really sure!

All the awesome artwork

 Happy Halloween!

Zoe: 8 months

Zo Zo,

We are here again, baby girl. Happy 8 months! As you can tell in the pictures, you cannot sit still for more than a second even with a shoe in your mouth.  You are constantly pulling yourself up, climbing on things-including a whole flight of stairs, chasing your brother or following us around. You are a tough little cookie. I am always amazed at the tumbles you take and you just bounce back like nothing happened. You still laugh when Grey knocks you down.

You are such a silly girl. You love to laugh at your brother and daddy and you can really get them to do some silly stuff for you! Both of them love to "ROAR!" like a lion at you and you think its the funniest thing ever. You love to be held upside down. We have to be very careful when holding you because you will just flip yourself backwards to hang upside down in our arms. You do it in the bumbo when you eat too. I have never seen a kid who loves to be upside down so much. You also really like it when I get down on the floor and we chase each other around. You also love peek-a-boo. You will crawl around a corner and poke your head out at me and crack up.

You definitely have some separation anxiety and stranger danger issues going on. If daddy, Grammie, or I leave the room, you scream until we come back. Even if we leave you with someone you know most of the time...unless there is alot of stuff going on to entertain you. It can be very frustrating sometimes and I hope its something that you get over VERY quickly! And don't even get me started on sleep. 

You finally decided that you LOVE TO EAT. You want to eat anything we have or your brother has. You are starting to figure out how to actually pick things up with your fingers. It is so cute to watch you concentrate on eating peas. After alot of work, you finally get one in. Then you go to get another one, get it to your mouth and the original one falls out. It is hilarious to watch!

You had 2 new teeth come in this month for a total of 4 teeth. We haven't been to the doctor in awhile but I think you have hit a major growth spurt. You were in 3-6 months clothing forever and have basically just skipped 6-9 months. All of us keep commenting on how heavy you seem to be getting!

You continue to amaze me and I can't imagine what our family was like before you joined us. You are such a perfect fit for us!

Love you lots,

Momma

XOXO

Pumpkin Patch-#2

Grammie and I headed off this morning to meet up with Grey's school to go to the pumpkin patch. It was a really great day except that it took us almost an hour to go what should have been 20 minutes. Besides the roads being closed for scheduled construction, there was a big rig accident on the freeway where a tanker tipped over and spilled gas all over the road...and the freeway was closed, too. I actually said at one point that maybe we shouldn't go and if you would have seen the disappointment in Grey's eyes, you would have toughed it out too!

This time, it was nice and cold and foggy so it felt like fall. We got to explore the whole place with his school and his favorite thing this time was the corn teepee's. Zoe of course loved it when we put her down so she could eat the dirt and straw...

AND...Grey got another pumpkin...just as big as he could carry! It was only a couple of bucks compared to the $30 from last time!

We need to convince Grandpa to grow alot of corn next year so we can make one of these!

 Enjoying the morning with Grammie

I need to photoshop the following two pictures together-I can't get both of them to look cute at the same time!!

Future Bull Rider

 Or maybe a farmer?

Hangin' with Grammie-check out those teeth!!

While Grammie and Grey went on the search for the perfect pumpkin.....

 Zoe decided to eat her way through the pumpkin patch

 "What??"

 Grey wanted a GREEN pumpkin...of course.