Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween this year with Jack being old enough to kind of understand it and be excited by the events leading up to it. 

We started with a trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful day, everyone was in a good mood, but I forgot to charge the camera battery.  BOO! I am still mad about it. Then we invited Grams and Gramps over to carve the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch.  My Dad always carved our pumpkins growing up and always did a great job, no matter how ornate the design.  It's one of those treasured childhood memories of mine, and even though Jack wasn't as excited about  pumpkin carving this year as I might have hoped (he mostly wanted Gramps to play soccer with him instead), I sure enjoyed it!    

Jack wasn't much on helping prepare the pumpkins for carving...

 

He rolled his sleeves up, ready to dive in...

  but quickly changed his mind once he saw what was in there!

Max wasn't much help but did look super cute in his pumpkin jammies!

Gramps and Jack sketched out a few possible designs earlier in the day.  We only had two pumpkins, so we couldn't do them all, but we'll save some of the ideas for next year.

 

 Jack decided he didn't want to help with pumpkins but would like to color while Gramps carved.

 Look how great they turned out!

That's a "J" nose and an "M" mouth!

Max got a few snuggles from Gramps before they left.  What a nice night!  Thanks Grams and Gramps!

Jack was a monkey this year after much deliberation.  Every day we asked what he wanted to be, he had a different answer!  Dinosaur, giraffe, monkey, conductor, and lion all made his list.  I was hesitant to buy anything for fear he'd decide it wasn't the right thing on Halloween morning.  I did find a really cute monkey costume for Max though (thanks Dianne!) and once Jack saw Max was going to be a little monkey, he wanted to be a big monkey!  They were super cute!

Friday, Jack's class paraded their costumes through Carytown. Max and I had planned to go and see their cuteness, but Max didn't sleep much the night before (hence I didn't either) and so our morning was a bit rocky and we had to miss it.  Next year will be better!  Jack was the line leader though and seemed to have a lot of fun.  That evening, there was a party at school.  We always look forward to those - Jack loves them and we love meeting the other kid's parents and getting to watch Jack interact with everyone.  Max even got to meet Miss Gay, who loved on Jack while he was a baby bird, and will get to do the same for Max here soon.  Jack's class pumpkin was really cute...

 He loved playing the games and winning treats!

Saturday the Seaborns invited us a Fall Festival that was a lot of fun!  Jack got to decorate a pumkpin...

 and decorate a trick-or treat bag...

Max got to snooze while looking extra cute in his monkey suit...

I think Jack enjoyed the Carillon steps the most though.  I can't tell you how many times they went up and down them.  I stood at the bottom in awe of my little life.  Just 4.5 years ago some of my best girls and I gathered here for a lunch on the day before my wedding.  And look at how that all turned out!  I still have that wonderful husband and now we have these 2 perfect little boys!  I am just SO lucky!

Halloween morning we set off to explore a part of the River we'd never visited before and had such a good time.  It was a gorgeous morning and everyone was cooperative (even me!)!  I think it's my new favorite spot and look forward to going back soon!

Saturday night we headed over to Grams and Gramps house for trick-or-treating.  Their neighborhood had a haunted walk for the kids that I was sure was going to scare Jack to death, but he loved it and asked to go through it again as soon as he got done the first time!  He kind of got the hang of trick-or-treating, though I think he only actually said "trick-or-treat" a few times.  He loved getting candy though - lollipops are his favorite!   Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too and are enjoying your treats, or "Halloweens" as Jack calls them!

Two of a kind

So it looks like these two cuties have more in common than their good looks and dinosaur pj's!  

Max seems to have inherited Jack's reflux and possibly his milk allergy as well. :(  I don't think his is quite as severe just yet.  Cross your fingers!

6 weeks

Max is 6 weeks old today and look what I got this morning...

Yes, I am smiling too!  There is nothing sweeter...

Granny & Uncle Aaron come to meet Max!

Granny and Uncle Aaron both came to town last week to meet Max and visit with Jack!   While they were here I happened to turn 34 (!) so Daddy cooked us up a great supper and meet Max too. We had a lot of fun and as usual, it was great to see everyone.

 

Uncle Aaron taught Jack how to "boop" which, according to the urban dictionary, means "to poke an animal or something cute in the nose."  Jack surely qualifies as something cute...Uncle Aaron...well...that's debatable! :)!

Jack and Uncle Aaron tried to play baseball...but then Jack picked up all the bases and moved them!  Oh well...

 

Jack was a huge help opening presents.  I got an awesome new camera lens.  Watch out boys!

Uncle Harold and Judy brought Jack a great train set for as a gift for becoming a big brother!  He fell in love immediately and has played with it nonstop since then!

 

At some point something went wrong and Jack decided to consult the "instructions."

Grams and Max are pretty smitten...

 Thanks so much for coming to visit everyone and really looking forward to seeing everyone again next month for Thanksgiving!

Weekend fun with FOUR!

 A few  weeks ago, on our first real weekend settling in as a family of 4, we had a lot of fun. We went to the State Fair...

 made pancakes for dinner...

 danced on the kitchen counter...

 read a LOT of books...

 and snuggled...

We can only hope all the weekends going forward are so much fun!