Getting Spooked

Just a few fun things we did to get in the Halloween spirit...
Ryan had to work late a few nights at Xango convention so Max and I made some Halloween sugar cookies.

Last Monday for FHE we went to the little pumpkin patch down the road and let Max pick a few pumpkins for carving. We bought them from the nicest old man whose granddaughter who lives with them and grows the pumpkins year after year to pay for her ballet shoes. When we learned she was picked to play Clara in the Nutcracker this year, we came back with about 12 little pumpkins. How sweet!

Then we headed to Jolea's house for a night of pumpkin carving and fun!

Ryan always wanted to carve pumpkins like this...after about 2 1/2 hours, this is what we came home with. Pretty Spooky! (Ryan's are the good ones.)

The Witches Are Out

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Gardner Village to show Max "the nice witches". He informed us that there is no such thing. All witches to him are scary & spooky and he only wanted to see them from a good distance. He loved the petting zoo of course...which led to a total meltdown when it was time to say good-bye.

You can sleep on my floor

Yesterday I was talking with my neighborhood women friends and we were discussing childhood fears and how our moms' would let us sleep on their floor, beside their beds, in a sleeping bag if we were scared. We know a little boy who gets grounded for going and getting into his parents bed at night if he's scared. I don't like that. My kids can sleep by my bed if they are scared. Okay, let's be honest. Once they quit sleeping in my bed half the time and they start sleeping in their own beds, then if they are scared they can then sleep in our room, by our bed. I just think it's nice. I remember seeing a story on the news about a little girl who was taken from her bedroom window when I was like 10 years old and I was terrified of being kidnapped. Thanks Mom for letting me sleep on your floor.

I also remembered that in conjuction with being kidnapped, I was afraid of this happening to me:

...and for some reason these guys (along with oompa loompas, and the weird little guys on that movie "Willow")

Father Time...Please Push Pause

Luke turned 8 months old today. I don't know how that much time has gone by, but it has. That also means that Max is 2 months shy of turning 3 today. I need time to pause for a while. If only your mind could burn memories like you can burn music, movies, or pictures. These are ones I want to be able to recall all my life.

No surprise that Luke still loves to eat. Do they suggest portion control at 8 months?

He loves it when his Daddy comes into the room. His face just lights up and he squeals for Dad to pick him up.

Max is still his best buddy. I think he secretly wants to be Max, like most kids want to be superheros.

He says "DA DA DA" "MA MA MA" "NA NA NA" "BA BA BA"

Will be moving out of the way to small co-sleeper bed and into the pack-n-play tonight. This "waking up 3 times a night because I don't have enough room to roll over" is killing me. Oh, and then he thinks he is hungry...again.

Luke is now mobile. His method is sit, nose-dive, then scoot.

This captures Max perfectly. He personifies 'the wonder of a child'. All of life is so fun, new, and exciting to him. He makes us grown-ups see life through the eyes of a child again. Life is so amazing with him in it.

My Three Little Men

Who knew this...could clean up so nicely.

FALLing

Milestones

At 7.5 months Luke:

• prefers company. He doesn't like it when Mom or Dad set him down and leave the room and he voices his disproval before you can get up the stairs. He also loves to have Max around.
• is perfecting his fine motor skills. He is very good at picking up objects and transfering them from one hand to another. Speaking of motors, he must have one attached to the inside of his pants because he can get across the room in a matter of minutes, and he isn't crawling yet.
• shows no signs of a loss of appetite. He often eats multiple helpings of rice cereal at one setting. He has added to his vegetable repatoire green beans and peas. He somewhat likes the chicken flavored foods.
• continues to feed his "chewy" addiction. He still loves to chew on everything, especially blankets.
• has found himself sleeping many hours in Mom's arms as he has been fighting off this lingering sickness that just won't seem to go away.
• chooses to be the picture of happiness despite not feeling well. He is so good to just sit and play in his basket of toys and he loves to watch shows with Max.
• continues the family's love for running. This little guy loves to go for jogs in the stroller...usually falling asleep about half way through.
• is a future Olympic swimmer? He loves the water and kicks, kicks, kicks his little froggy legs.
• has contracted a mysterious rash on his face and head, only. Nothing on the body. Just appeared out of nowhere. Hmmm.

"All Right Let's Do It!"

This is Max's favorite new phrase to say. Last week I was feeding the baby downstairs in the morning. Max came downstairs eating candy.

Mom: "Max, you can't have candy for breakfast. No more. You need to eat eggs first."

Max proceeded to go back upstairs and I could hear him pulling a chair up to the counter.

Mom: "Max, No Candy!"

A few moments later he returned downstairs with a napkin.

Max: "Mom, I wash it."

I didn't see or smell anything on his hands and I just figured he had pushed the chair up to the counter to get a napkin. He went back upstairs. A few minutes went by and he came downstairs again, with what appeared to be wet hands.

Max: "Mom, wash hands."

I realized that his hands were a slimy-wet. I promptly set Luke down, picked up Max as to not have him touch anything, and ran upstairs to wash his hands thoroughly. My suspicions were confirmed upon arrival.

Max: "Mom, I make eggs!"

Mom: "Oh, yes. I see that."

Max: "All right let's do it!"

You can't get mad when they are just being obedient. Although, I wouldn't have had to disinfect everything had he just ate the candy.

State Fair Fun

Last month we went to the State Fair.

Here is what I took home from the experience:

1. You don't break tradition. It was rainy and mucky, but we still went.

2. Rainy and mucky = no lines and no crowds. Worked out pretty well-especially since the rain stopped about 30 minutes after we had been there.

3. Animal barns provide shelter from the rain.

4. Going with Ryan & Jolea always promises good times.

5. As if the absurd attractions weren't enough entertainment alone, even more absurd and entertaining is the fact that Jolea paid to see "The World's Smallest Woman & Smallest Horse". She would have done this one if we would have let her too.

6. My brother once told me of a Dad who paid for an hour/half worth of pony rides for his son...I'm pretty sure Max would have been okay with that.7. Max didn't get the worst Loveless trait...motion sickness. He rode all kinds of whirly, twirly rides...which means I had to ride them too as Dad observed from steady solid ground.8. Luke is a joy to take anywhere.9. Some things shouldn't be deep fried...like peanut butter sandwiches. However, the Beatty family reported that the deep fried brownie was worth trying.

10. Admission-$12; Dinner-$20**; Watching Your Kids Boogie Down-Priceless.

**Note to self: Don't eat dinner at the fair. You can leave and come back in. Lesson learned. Dually noted.

Worth Checking Out

Many of you might know or know of my amazingly talented friend Michelle Virtue. Or you may have seen her as a regular on Studio 5 showing how to decorate for many and all occasions. Well, what you also need to know is that she has a little side business where she makes the most adorable albums for weddings, babies, baptisms, families..etc! I happen to own two very special baby books from her! She delivered one for my little Luke just today. Check them out here! She also manages BYU's Campus Craft and Floral which deserves a dropping by if you are ever at the Wilkenson Center on campus. All her stuff, like her, is cute, cute, cute.

Also worth a perusing is my awesome friend Emily's jewlery shop (make sure to check out her 'sold' items as well as she can make more!) and her jewlery blog. If you love vintage or dainty jewels, you gotta check it out. She also created a great new earring set for YW. If you need a great value activity for you YW, or advancement or Christmas gifts, this is such a great idea!

WOW. I have amazing friends.