Halloweekend

I stole the title of this blog from my SIL Jenny :)

We had a great time celebrating Halloween! On Monday we ate soup with friends, painted pumpkins and even had a pumpkin pinata! Tim and I are not usually soup fans, but man we ate some delicious soups!
  This was Kyle's fourth pumpkin he painted. As you can tell, he is quite the artist now and takes it very seriously:

The paints were non-washable, so the shirts came off. Hugh and Kyle were cracking me up together:

My favorite little man seems to always be trying to feed himself. I promise, I feed the kid!:

Kyle doesn't like Nolan trying to be in the photo or in the center of the computer screen when we're iChatting. It took some work to get this:

 Group photo, scary eyes and all:

When we got home Kyle and I walked across the street to check out our neighbor's yard. Every day he was adding some sort of decoration. In my neighborhood there is a contest and so the homes are so decked out for Halloween!

On Friday we had our ward trunk or treat. I was there, but honestly it was a blur to me. Probably because of the 35 minutes that led up to our arrival. Kyle was so excited to be Buzz. Soooo excited that he started throwing fits, being irrational and not making sense. Does this happen to any other children when they are overly excited?
  I love this self-portrait I found on my camera:

The color of his face should be a small clue to how hard he was screaming in the car:

We almost made it to the church, decided it wasn't worth it, and drove back home. About five mins from home Kyle finally calmed down and listened to us so we were able to turn around and make it in time for the costume parade and trunk or treat. 

Check out Kyle and Hugh two years ago:

And look at them now! (with beautiful Addison too)

You may have also noticed that Nolan was sporting the same Superman costume. Kyle wore it at 10 months and Nolan at 5. Yikes!

Kyle loved it! I'm so, so happy that he ended up cooperating!

Saturday we went to Sea World where it was decked out for Halloween. We did the usual rides and also the Sea Lion show.  A much happier boy:

 Too many skipped naps for this boy:

We then rushed home to give Kyle a short and much needed nap, then woke him up to go see Toy Story 3 at the dirty dollar. Maybe it was because the lights were already dark, but it didn't seem as bad as Provo's dirty dollar! We ended the night with frosties and play fighting!

Whew. Are you still here? I think I got a little picture happy taking my small camera everywhere. Today, Halloween, Kyle stayed in and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He LOVED it! He kept asking me if more friends were coming. Some of my favorite moments:

1) When he called the werewolf a "teddy bear!"

2) Every time someone rang the doorbell with a scary mask he would laugh and say, "Look Mama, funny!!"

3) When he had a handful of candy, acted like he was going to give it to one girl, but then dropped it in a different girl's bag and gave the other girl just one piece. She was so bummed, but it was really funny.

4) Whenever he would hand out nerds he would shake the box first and then drop it in the bag.

5) He loved to say, "Uh Welcome!" each time he was thanked.

We also made our traditional chewy caramel popcorn. Now I'm sick to my stomach and ready for bed. We felt really lucky to have so much fun with friends and as a family. I hope you enjoyed the holiday as well!

In case you were wondering...

...My sister's hair is real in this picture:

And in this one:

Just combed my hair after showering. (Yes, it's 4:52 pm). Why must I deal with so much of it falling out after having a baby?!?

Oh, and my curl is now really weird too. Is this normal?

WILL I EVER GET MY HEAD BACK?

Pumpkin Patch

We joined some friends and drove over an hour to go to this pumpkin patch a week ago. It was so nice to get out of San Antonio and do something "seasonal."
  Here Kyle is painting his third pumpkin of the season. He gives me that fake smile all the time now when I pull out the camera:

Nothing fake about how bright it was:

Going through the maze:

Petting Zoo:

Can you spot Tim?:

Happy Nolan:

The families.

The Parkers: 

The Collettes:

Us (our second photo as a family of 4!):

I can't get enough of him!!:

  Kyle loved it and even treated us to a tantrum the entire way back to the car because he just wanted to, "run around!" I love fall and the fun things that come with it!

What We've Been Up To

Just eating hay and having deep thoughts. 

Things were slow. Then they got busy. Very fast.
I've gotten really good at leaving the house with two kids.
Problem is, it looks like I ransacked my home every time I leave.

Have a great week ahead!

Kyle-isms

Kyle's speech is really taking off. Every day he is saying something that makes me laugh, or something new that makes me smile.

Sometimes (most times) when I take Kyle somewhere fun we have a little drama when it's time to leave. I try to remember to talk about it before hand and it seems to help the situation. On the way to the park today our conversation went something like this:

Me: Kyle, I need you to be a good boy. When I tell you it's time to leave the park today you tell me, "Ok," and then we go. Ok Kyle?

Kyle: No. I say, "Hold on."

He knows exactly what he's doing to me...

Other things from this week:

- He told Tim, "You need to be patient Dada."
- While on the phone with Uncle Chris, all on his own he said, "Alright, I gotta go." It cracked me up!
- "Thank you Mama for saying sorry." (I had laid down on his doggie on accident)
-  "Hurry Love."
-  While laughing, "What's Nolan saying Mama?"
- "Are you going to swaddle him?"

- We have had quite a few no-nap days. One day I went in to get him and when I asked him why he didn't fall asleep he answered, "I'm resting!"

- "I share with you. I'm happy!" (I try to talk about how we feel when we share)

-Kyle: "When's Dada going to be home? In just a bit?"
  Me: "No, in awhile."
  Kyle: "When's Christmas?'
  Me: "In awhile."
  *He has started asking me about Christmas and I always tell him it'll be awhile before Christmas is here. I loved that he made that connection!


- Last time when we were almost to Sea World he exclaimed, "I love Sea World! It's delicious!"


- On the way home from Church two weeks ago, "Can I watch football Dada?"
   Do you think Tim loved that or what?

He seems to (finally) becoming easier for me to handle and I love the fun we have together. I feel so lucky to be his mom!

It's What's Inside that Counts

Q: What do I have in common with the following ladies?

1.

A: We share the same last name.

2.

A. Finances are not our strong point.

3.

A. Considering she's my mother, several genes, but apparently not her talent in the kitchen.

I need some take-out, and I need it fast. It's been a rough time in the kitchen lately.

(the following pictures will all be from my phone)

Exhibit 1:

Minute Rice Fail

Exhibit 2 (the next day):

"Cover" the potatoes Fail

(Thank you to Tim for realizing that the smell of burning plastic was indeed coming from the oven)

Exhibit 3: 

Peach Pie Fail

Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Well, what about from this angle?

Perspective is funny. Or how about a few steps before this:

Perhaps the crust was a little too flaky.

(Don't worry, I'll clean the oven soon).

If you thought this was the worst part of the experience, you're wrong. It was occurring during the almost forty minutes I spent "cutting" the shortening into pea-sized amounts. Picture me, almost to tears, telling Tim that I'm never baking a pie shell from scratch again because I'm having such a hard time using two knives to cut the shortening.

A quick phone call to the mother enlightened me. The shortening was supposed to be in with the other dry ingredients. Wow. That went much faster!

In the end, we dished out the peaches and threw away the crust. The inside was delicious!

 And that's what counts.

p.s. Here's a picture from the summer of my mom and Kyle making pie together. She makes it look soooo easy.