The Halloween Extravaganza has Begun!

"AAARRGGHHH Pirates!"

We went to a children's Halloween party today at Geoff's work. I know I am biased but I LOVED them in their little pirate costumes. And W must have enjoyed being a pirate because he surprised us by wearing the hat the eNtIrE time...including for an hour before the party and for about an hour and a half after the party. Jack didn't have much for it though. He humored us by wearing it for about 5 minutes while we took these outdoor pics and for the parade. I really really like this picture. It makes me smile big:

Still running (at the building before going into the party):

J in a rare moment with the hat on:

The boys had plenty of treats at the party. They started out the sugar-fest first with dum dum lollypops:

and moved on to pretzel rods and newton pops:

Then they filled their homemade paper bag with more goodies including goldfish, teddy grahams, M&Ms, fruit snacks, pumpkin medallions, crayons, play tatoos, and mini play doh containers. Then they did a fishing game in which they scored three matchbox cars each. And they made sure to get a couple of more dum dum lollypops after the pumpkin pinata was busted open. It was a challenging pinata....all the kids at the party had a few whacks at it and it wasn't budging. So one of the dads had to beat it to a pulp.

After all those goodies, the boys kept a close (clutch) grip hold on their treat bags:

Here is W checking out what J got in his gift bag:

J trying to swat at the pinata:

W's turn!

J proudly/smugly marching through the end-of-the-party parade set to Michael Jackson's Thriller jamming in the background:

Tennessee

Alright, my 3rd and final post in this series.  We stayed at my parents house to and from Indiana. The trees were turning there too and it was so pretty.  We enjoyed visiting and the boys loved chasing their two cats around.  They also enjoyed the rooster that lives a few doors down.  The first time they heard it they bolted for the porch.  They have heard roosters before but I guess this one sounded too close for comfort!  

But after a day or so they were saying "bye bye rooster" when they didn't hear it and "night night rooster".  Their vocabulary sky-rocketed in the last two weeks.  They are repeating everything we say and saying lots of new words including "mine" (my least favorite).  They must have picked that up at MDO because I certainly did not teach them that.  The other day W said "mine" and we said "that is not nice" and he said "mine please."

W has become quite the horder as well.  He gathers up as many toys as he can manage and stores them in a truck or something and then spends the rest of the time trying to maintain his toys from J or any other kiddo that might be around.  Poor thing.  He can never rest.  He is always on the lookout for thieves.  

*On a side note* here is a snip-it of a conversation Geoff and I had in front of an Indiana Starbucks.  

Me:  What do you want?  (Geoff is a Starbucks rookie and he doesn't drink coffee)

G:  Just a hot chocolate.

Me:  Do you want a tall then?

G:  No, I don't need anything that big.

Me:  A tall is a small.

G:  OK, yes a tall then...

Me:  Sigh.  Hahaha!  My poor, sweet, patient husband.

But while we were there the nice barista (I had to find a way to get that word into this post) let me have a sample of the salty caramel hot chocolate.  It is good.  It does seem strange watching them sprinkle sea salt onto a hot drink though.  

Ok, back to Tennessee.  Some pics with the family...

Here is J and W with Papap, Uncle PJ and Grandma...

The boys...

The boys enjoying the beautiful view from the back porch....

 

And some pics from a  rest stop (doesn't everyone take pictures at a rest stop???)

 

Indiana

On our Indiana trip we stayed with one of my best friends Claudia (we went to Purdue and high school together) and her family. We celebrated Geoff's birthday, we played Euchre, we jogged (Claudia is the one that got me into running), we went to a great pumpkin patch/apple orchard, we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, and we visited my Grandpa. It was full-up fall (at least the week we were there) and I loved wearing jackets and sweaters again.

Here are some pictures from our visit.

Audrey with the birthday candle--she ate the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen.

Putting final touches on Geoff's b-day cake (decorated by Audrey and Geoff):

Liam, Claudia, me and Wyatt at the Children's museum:

At the pumpkin patch...in front of a skyscraper of pumpkins, gords, and corn...you don't get to see that everywhere!

I asked W to stand next to the pumpkin....so he turned around and s.l.o.w.l.y backed up to it.

Up close to a gazillion live bees:

J holding a baby pumpkin:

W posing with his wagon:

W running out of the maze (like his hair is on fire):

J running out of maze (also with his hair on fire):

Claudia, Liam, and Jim (Audrey was at school):

Tasting apples in the orchard store...we didn't get W's apple away fast enough...he already ate a good bit of the core (guess he was hungry):

Eating apples back at the house:

Claudia ran Liam to sleep...

W with Claudia:

Trying to get a group shot...3 out of 4 looking isn't bad-thanks for having us Claudia and Jim-we had so much fun!

Family picture with Grandpa/Great-Grandpa:

Enjoying the view from the porch:

Grandpa and I...we love you!

Purdue

We took a trip to West Lafayette, Indiana last week. Where!? Yes, my alma mater is tucked in the middle of corn fields in Indiana...I wanted to show Geoff and the boys where I went to school. It felt like I was home when I was there. I didn't realize how much I missed that place. There were a lot of changes in the past decade (lots of new cafes, yoga studios, new hotels, etc.) but everything was so familiar. Even the weather was the way I remembered fall to be...cool and windy with overcast skies. A big part of missing Purdue are the friends I met there. So many good friends and the BEST roommates ever. I couldn't have been more blessed with the people I met at school.....

We walked around the campus. The boys walked in front of the Memorial Union backwards. I don't know why...they just did...while they were busting up laughing. Then we had lunch at the Union and I had to go to a bookstore to get a new stash of Purdue gear.

W and I in front of the Memorial Union:

The boys and I sitting by the fountain in the Engineering mall:

The boys playing around the fountain:

Go Purdue!

Going Bananas....

A first!  The boys can hold a banana by themselves and (kind of) peel it as they go.  They were quite excited about this new found independence. 

J very proud:

W:

 

Another first...I gave them their first taste of chocolate milk.  They LOVED it....can you tell?

I don't think J took the glass away from his lips:

Mmmmmm good!

Playing in the Ocean...

...the fun way!  You know, fully dressed in really nice clothes, a normal diaper, socks and shoes. What could be better?  They loved it.  No, this really wasn't my intention.  I just wanted to walk down to the beach behind our house and one thing led to another....before I could even get their shoes off, they were in the bay.

You would think J has been carrying that net around his whole life...he just flung it over his shoulder and carried it around the beach:

 

I don't know if you can tell, but they have some wet drawers and check out W's feet:

W's bucket:

This is W VERY angry at mommy.  They both wanted me to carry them home-hard to carry two soaking wet 25-lb boys at the same time for a good distance (again, I didn't plan this through very well).  But I decided to just walk and see if he would follow me...and just stood there...fuming....and thinking hard about what he was going to do next.  He decided to take off further away from me.  So my plan backfired.  =)