Halloween Fun

We've had lots of opportunities to have fun this Halloween. For school, Dylan had a costume parade. Since Dylan wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up, I had to by Gymboree's zookeeper costume, on clearance of course.  He choose to wear that to school for his costume parade.  We had a hiccup that morning as he wanted to take his snake as his prop, but it couldn't be found. After a small meltdown (it could have been worse), he opted for his spider. 

My little zookeeper

 After the parade, the kids took their costumes off and had an hour or so of normal school day.  Then the parents came back for a little Halloween party. First things first, they had to work for their lunch by bobbing for apples.  Out of 11 kids, only one actually got their apple with their mouth.  Some refused to put their heads in at all. I was really hoping to be entertained.

 After lunch the kids gathered to make a scarecrow goody bag.  (Shortly after this picture, Dylan had a huge meltdown. At that point, I had to threaten leaving the party. Finally he came around, all because I helped push his scarecrow's mouth down. Sheesh...pride starts early)

 Then on Saturday, we headed downtown Franklin for Pumpkin Fest. It doesn't hold the candle for us as it once did (maybe because we can't go with the Browns). Our church no longer does the kids area so now the kids area cost money and it's not all that.  Boo! (not the ghost boo either) Sadly I didn't get more pictures but with two kids, mommy doesn't get the camera out as much as she would like. Maybe when Natalie gets bigger and is more independent...maybe.  We left pumpkinfest with Dylan saying "I never want to come back here again" - Meltdown party of one please....this time it was because he did the dinosaur bounce house but because there were so many kids, he didn't get to make it to the top to slide down.  That meltdown was a little more reasonable. I'd be mad too if kids were in my way and I didn't get to do the fun part.

 On Sunday morning, Dylan grabbed his glasses and some mardi gras beads and said he wanted to wear them to church.  I remember it was creative Sunday. they encouraged kids (and adults) to get crazy.  I told Dylan he could wear whatever he wanted. He came down with the frog hat and his batman cape.

 Halloween day, we visited Daddy at work. His team had a Super Mario Brothers theme. They won best costume and best pod decorations for their department.  Here is Wario (the evil Mario for those who didn't know like me) (minus the mustache and deflated belly)

Dylan wanted to wear his vampire costume to see Daddy.  

 Then Halloween night, my little vampire and mermaid.

 We met up with some new friends that just moved in down the street. They have a boy that is 18 days younger than Dylan, and a little girl 6 weeks younger than Natalie.  What a difference a year makes. Last year, Dylan mainly rode in the wagon and we stopped at the occasional house if I knew them.  This year, he ran, I mean ran from house to house. I had to keep yelling for him to wait, to slow down and to stop. whew, energy.  He would go to the house and say Trick or Treat, Thank you and Happy Halloween, all why I waited at the side walk. I think it made a huge difference that he had a friend with him too.

Here's a shot with our pumpkins (one is Mike from Monsters Inc.)

Pumpkin Patch

After last year's bust on the horrible pumpkin patch, we risked it and hit up a new one. I had heard great things about this one, so I thought it was safe.  It was better than safe, it was awesome!  I cannot wait to go back. The cool thing about this farm, is that it's open a lot throughout the year, not just for fall.  We could have spent all day and all night here. There's so much to do and only for $8 per person.  I was super impressed. I kept saying how we were done with G's and of course the lame one we went to last year.

They had a cute petting zoo, where you could actually buy feed and feed the animals. Donkeys, billy goats,  pigs, llamas, chickens, sheep and horses could be found at the petting zoo. Then they had sinks and sanitizer everywhere. Impressed. Have I said that yet?

Natalie loved the animals 

They had a huge playground area for the kids of all ages. There was a cute little water trough were you could pump the water and race rubber ducks.  Creative!

Bounced a little

Not to mention a huge sandbox like area filled with corn.  (we brought some of this corn home accidentally)

Dylan spent a lot of his time on the slides.  He hit all of them up (3 different kinds) and he was not shy about going down on his little burlap bag.  He even went down on his belly. He was kind of scared half way down, but I can't blame him, he ran out of slide and hit the hay bales at the end. He was going fast.

 

We did the hay ride (which I won't lie, that's the one thing I wasn't impressed with) and the train ride, which was very cute.  Of course, Dylan wanted to ride in the green one.

Damien and Dylan bought tickets to launch small pumpkins with a slingshot. As we were buying the tickets, Dylan was jumping up and down with excitement. They got pretty close to the target. Check out the gear.

Of course we checked out the pumpkin patch, had some good grub and had our photo op moments.

 

Checked out baby chicks and even learned how to milk a cow

I really felt we could have spent all day here. We didn't even play on all the equipment nor did we do the walking trail or the corn maze. I can't wait to go back.  Did I say how impressed I was? Maybe I am easily impressed or this place was just that cool.  It was very clean and well done.  Two thumbs up from this momma.

You Just Got Skunked

It was a normal night. Our day was a good one, and then bed time. I put the dogs out like every other night.  I look and Turbo is just staring at me through the door.  He didn't even get off the porch, so I march out there and scoot him off the porch.  As I come back inside, I hear Sophie barking. Sophie only barks when kids are crossing behind our yard or if something is in our yard. Earlier in the day, my neighbor and I had smelled skunk.  My gut told me there was a skunk in our yard. I run outside to see 2 black critters in our back yard (one of which was Sophie). Sophie is some what smart, she kept a safe distance and barked while it retreated. Turbo, well I won't say he is stupid, but more inquisitive in a not so smart way. I see him creeping up on the skunk. Turbo is getting up in his age and he's loosing his hearing. I start yelling like a crazy "No Turbo No No No Turbo No"...scream a general scream, pound my open hand on the railing of the deck. Yell for Turbo and Sophie to come back.  It was too late.  The skunk left our yard and now Turbo was using the bathroom. I come inside and collapse in anger.  I was livid. (not to mention that apparently none of my neighbors were concerned about my well being as I screamed bloody murder).  I crack the door when the dogs come back on the deck, and realize there is no need to open it any further to verify if they were sprayed...I could smell it.  I assume Sophie didn't get a direct hit as she was at a safe distance but it was windy.  Turbo on the other hand, probably was a direct hit.  We start researching what we should do.  Every site said to take immediate action.  We get scissors and mix up a little hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dawn to bathe them. We put on clothes that we are willing to throw away (Damien dawns a pair of black dress pants) and we proceed with caution.  Trimming hair that we feel was a direct hit, then bathing them with the mixture and rinsing.  It didn't smell that bad, but they slept in the garage.

Here's their conversation....

Turbo: Thanks Sophie
Sophie; Me? What did I do?
Turbo:  You barked at it and got me all excited.  I am deaf and blind. I wouldn't have known it was there.
Sophie: I didn't tell you to sniff it's butt.
Turbo: Well you didn't tell me not to either. I think you owe me an apology. What you did was unfair.
Sophie: What I did was unfair. You got us sprayed old man.
Turbo: I did no such thing.  By the way your hair cut is horrible.
Sophie: You should see yours.  Oh and in case you haven't noticed we are sleeping in the garage.
Turbo: I am still waiting on my apology.
Sophie: Well, I am sorry.  What about you?
Turbo: Did you only apologize so that I would?

Okay, so maybe that conversation wasn't just Turbo and Sophie's but you could totally see how it could go down.

They made a trip to petsm@rt today to get shaved and de-skunked. Let's hope it works.

Family Pics

We made an appointment with Rebecca Kelly for family photos (more for Natalie than anyone since we have cheated her on the professional pictures).  I was so excited. I think they turned out great and I can't wait to use her again in a few months.  Here are a few of my favorites.

he fell asleep on the way there and didn't wake up in a good mood. i love the pic still

Watch Natalie Grow - 8 months

Natalie is officially 3/4 of the way to 1 year old. I cannot believe it.  You know I hear all the time, she's small, when I tell people her age.  I know she is in the smaller percentile, but she's pretty much were Dylan was at her age....both at 16%. I say we just make small, hairy babies.

She's is so ready to crawl. I see her getting fustrated when she wants to be on the go, but she just can't figure it out. She gets around pretty well either scooting backwards or inching forward, laying down, sitting up, and repeating.  It will happen any day now.

She's eating 3 meals a day: cereal in the morning, fruit for lunch and vegetable at dinner. One day, I tried to do vegetables and fruit at the same feeding...up came all the food.  My baby has a sensitive tummy that's for sure.  We have tried puffs a few times, but she gags on them and doesn't understand what to do with them. They usually end up getting pushed out of her mouth.  She eats about 25-28oz of breastmilk a day. I still pump exclusively.  I am doing it 3x a day, but will soon cut down to 2x and rely on my freezer supply for a month and evaluate later.

She sleeps decently.  I would say most nights she sleeps 6 hours and wakes up, may stay awake for 30-60 minutes and then back asleep until 6:30.  However there are those nights like last night when she woke up at 12:30, 1:30, 4:30 then 6:30.  I am chalking that up to teething.

She is starting to loose her curls. Not so much loosing them, I think her hair is getting longer, so it's weighing them down.  As for eyes, we get compliments all the time how blue they are.

Chicago Trip

Damien signed up to run the Chicago marathon at the beginning of the year.  It would be our first trip without kids since Natalie was born. I was a little apprehensive...ok a lot apprehensive but I knew I could do it.  After dropping them off at my parent's house, I cried a little but it would be the only time I cried, let me just say that.  I was worried how Natalie would do without me as we have never been apart for more than 4 hours. We are like paper and glue.  I knew that it was good for all of us to have a break.  It would make us stronger.

We got to Chicago early Friday morning and after checking in, we hit up the runner's expo so Damien could get his bib number and other things.  This expo was huge. All kinds of vendors and things to be seen.  Wow.  I even found Damien's name on the Nike wall.

We didn't do too much touristy things as Damien was trying to rest and I was trying to shop. We did manage to get a picture with the larger than life Marilyn Monroe.

We ate some delicious food as a couple, with friends and solo.  Did a little shopping. Got a massage after the race (obviously more for Damien than for me).

The big event though was the marathon.  I tried to find Damien and 3 different points (1 mile, 3 miles and 13 miles). The 1 mile was crazy chaotic. With 50,000 runners, they were all packed in tight. I didn't tell Damien I would be at that point so he didn't know to look for me.  After watching for a while, I trucked on to the 3 mile stop.  Snapples! There's a split in the road.  I stood on the right side and Damien took the left side. We missed each other again.  I joined the race at this point for a block so I could safely cross the runner's traffic. I tried to snap a picture of my "running" the marathon but I only got curb in the picture. Finally at the 13 mile point, did I see him. I got to there early and got a good spot, right after the drink stations.  Then I finally saw him.....

Damien ran for Holiday Heroes which is a local, Chicago charity started by two teenage sisters.  It's awesome.  They go to the local hospitals and cheer up the kids on their birthdays and Christmas with gifts and visits from athletes.  Learn more about the organization here.

Damien's goal was to run the marathon in 4 hours. He was ahead of that goal up until mile 16, then hip fatigue sat in.  He really felt the toll and had to walk a little more than he had hoped.  His final time was 4 hours and 30 minutes.  He did amazing.  We tried to meet up after the race. I went to the Holiday Heroes tent and waited for him but he was too tired to walk back so he went to the Hotel.  Thankfully, I met some really nice people at the tent, including Santa...

Damien said he would never run a marathon, well now that he has, he's checked that off his list and....is already thinking about doing another one!!!  I told him that for every marathon he runs, I will get a tattoo (I was debating one in Chicago but think I have opted out).  I said, so basically it's up to you how many tattoos I get.  :)  Of course I am joking.  Maybe one day the running bug will bite me, but until then, I will stand on the sidelines and cheer him on, like this guy....

I love seeing people run marathons that have fun doing so...

One lady ran the marathon 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. She finished in 6 hours and 30 minutes and 7 hours later had her baby.  Talk about dedication.

Oh, and the kids, they did great.  Why did I worry?