"Happy Trick or Treat!"

Evelyn hasn't wanted to go trick or treathing in the past, preferring to stay home and help hand out candy on halloween instead. This year, however, she started talking about early on and was quite excited to go out and get some candy!

Our fun started at my mom's. Both my Tinkerbell and my monkey were happy to see Grandma and Grandpa Doug!

*Just so you know.. some of these pics are blurry! :( My camera battery was dying.. some are good, some not so good!

My sweet Monkey

Tink

SO hard to get a good picture of them together.. sheesh! But I love Evelyn's face in this one!

Matthew with Grandma and Grandpa Doug (and Sophie the dog!)

Matthew raiding Grandma's pantry!

Since Evelyn has never been trick or treating before, Grandpa Doug suggested they "practice". She and Grandma knocked, Grandpa Doug answered. The first thing out of her mouth was "Happy trick or treat!" No prompting needed! It was so sweet! Thanks Grandpa Doug.. good thinkin'!

We left my mom's and headed to our friends the McIlraith's for their son Colin's first birthday party. He has had quite the year and we are so thankful that he is now a happy and healthy one year old!

Singing to "baby" Colin (as Evelyn calls him)

Happy Birthday Boy!

From there we went to Jody's. I am bummed this picture wasn't better cuz the kids love her so very much!

She just had knee surgery so that's why she is positioned the way she is!

FINALLY.. we made it home to grab our pumpkin basket and head out to get some loot! First, tho, daddy put a glow stick in our pumpkin. Evelyn thought it was SO neat that its face was lit up!

You have to click and enlarge the picture to see her face. Priceless!

She didn't want to wear a coat so I made her put pants on under her outfit!

She was squealing and giggling the entire time we were out, loving every minute of it. She was SO cold.. but there was no way she was going to go home!! She was polite and would always say, "happy trick or treat!". She just had a blast!

We ended or evening at Troy and Lucille's. They live across the street and are the dearest people.

Here is them with Evelyn in 2007 (we just took her over there her first halloween). Yes, that is the same costume Matthew is wearing this year!


And tonight...

Troy is the most gentile of souls, but Evelyn has always been a bit timid around him. Tonight, tho, she sat right next to him without a fuss. He was pretty happy about that!

And I'll just end this SUPER long post with this...

This is what it's all about!!

It Was A Pumpkin Patch Kinda Day

We took advantage of the glorious weather today and headed to the pumpkin patch. We went to our favorite spot, Baggenstos. It's the perfect size for our kids and all the stuff is FREE, except for the pumpkins, which aren't that bad. Once again we had a great time, although I do think/hope next year will be easier. I am sick and my energy level is down. Matthew really just wanted to crawl around and eat the weeds and Evelyn just wanted to run around. Hard to keep up with the two of them and try to get pictures. Oh, well.. we had fun anyway!

My sweet pea all ready to board the hay ride!

Doug entertaining Matthew with his hat while we wait in line.

"We're heeeerrrreeeee!!" She said as she jumped of the hay ride and ran into the field of pumkins. SO excited!

Matthew? Well.. he just wanted to be moving!

What are these orange things? Hey.. I can stand up on these! Cool! Oh, and notice the drool... lovely addition to the picture, don't ya think!

Evelyn's proud of her pumpkin pick!

This is mine? Oh, okay.. whatever.... can I eat it?.. cuz now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry!

Hanging out watching/stopping Matthew from eating things...

Baggenstos is also a Christmas tree farm. Evelyn really wanted to run in the trees.

Evelyn schooling Matthew on the art of picking the right pumpkin.. or just telling him not to touch hers.

My happy boy!

A sweet moment

Both the kids were worn out tonight and went to bed quite easily. Thankful for a beautiful day with my precious family!

Happy Halloween!

So I put Matthew in his crib..

like I usually do after changing a dirty diaper. As we did with Evelyn, we don't put the yucky ones in the diaper genie as to not stink it up. We just take it to the garage trash can, go wash hands, and then get the child out of his crib.

Today I got back from the garage, washed, walked into his room and found this:

HI MOMMY!

I wasn't sure weather to laugh or cry. He's pulling himself up onto things like crazy lately, but not the crib. Evelyn didn't do this for a long time (like, after she was one!), and she never figured out how to climb out of it the entire 2.5 years she was in it.

I think I'm in trouble, people.

Oh, and have I mentioned that he's teething? Another thing Evelyn never had issues with was teething. Yeah, she fussed some, but not bad. Tylenol, motrin, or a teething toy did the trick to help. Unfortunately my little guy isn't so lucky. He has been quite cranky about it, and has some difficulty sleeping, too. Not fun for him. Or me!

You know its bad when he is biting on a frying pan lid!

I've tried pretty much everything except for alcohol (like burbon or whiskey) on the gums. I just can't quite bring myself to that. Yet. I hope now that he has 2 the rest will follow quickly.

I can't end without a picture of Evelyn. She is so silly lately... so silly she gets her self into trouble sometimes! But I so enjoy being her mommy!

And now, I'm off to look for a crib tent to keep my monkey in!! Ha Ha!

Happy Fall 2010

I think this such a beautiful time of year! I love the crisp air, colorful leaves, the smell of smoke coming from chimneys, and of course, the smell of pumpkins and spice! Even tho we are not big Halloween people, the annual "$5 Target Halloween Shirt" photo is a must! I couldn't find one that I liked for Matthew, so I settled for a plain orange one with monkeys (very fitting, really..). Enjoy my orange-clad babies...

Wow.. it can be tough to get a good pic of both of them together! This is the best I could get!

Cheesy boy!

My pretty baby girl

For previous "Happy Fall" pics, click here, here, and here!

Enjoy the season!!

In Denial.. Part 2

What's even more unbelievable about Matthew being 10 months old is Evelyn turning FOUR in a little over 2 month. FOUR, people... she is gonna be FOUR! *sigh...*

She is such a smart kid. She listens and learns well. She talks well. BUT.. she still is 3, and three year olds can say the funniest things!! I wanted to write down some of her "sayings" if you will. I thought I would just bullet point them. I may add to them later!

• "You two need to stop all that silliness" (to me and Doug if we are laughing about something)
• "I just got all.... crazy."
• "Look, momma.. the sun is rising down!!" (noticing the sunset)
  
• "The Quesadilla Place" = Taco Bell
• "The Puuuuubbb" = McMennimens
• "The Five Dollar Footlong Place" = Subway
  
• "Well. I'm pretty.. and I'm sensible. I just get shy around people sometimes"
• "I forgive you mommy" (this is what she says when she is asking for forgiveness!)
• Old MacDonald (Doug's old "big boss" had McDonald as his last name. Evelyn started calling him this.. not to be silly.. it just is what she called him!)
• "I can't wait to get to Heaven and see all the Polly Pockets that are there!"
• After falling down "I must have been overcome by gravity!" Huh????
• "Who was in your work class today, Daddy?"
• Coloring in her "cow" book from the fair: "Look, mommy, I colored the cow yellow with pink gutters"
  

I could go on. .she can be so funny. She also can be a little stinker, but we'll keep her anyway!! We really can't imagine life without her! She just is growing up way too fast!

Her are some latest pics of my sweet pea!

First night of AWANAS. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's sort of like Cub Scouts, but from a Biblical perspective. This is Evelyn first year (they start at age 3). She is a "Cubbie"

She was SO excited and could NOT settle down to sleep when she got home.. too much to talk about and think about.

This past week she got her Cubbie vest and workbook.. and oh, boy was she proud and excited!

I think she is really going to enjoy this activity!

Grandma just got back from Hawaii so we went to welcome her home.. at Krispy Kreme! She works next door, so its a logical (and yummy!) spot!

Halloween sprinkles for the girl!!

Grandma brought her home a hula outfit. Its cute.. but I think she looks WAY too grown up in it! I thought about it as a Halloween costume, but after seeing it on her, I think not! She loves it, tho, and it will be a great dress-up thing. Thanks for all the goodies for the kids, mom!

I love you, Evelyn Joy. That's all I have to say about that!