The best month of the year...

What's not to like about October?

It's fall, but usually not too cold.

It has great birthdays:  a nephew, 3 friends, me, my godmother and my dad.

And then there's Halloween!

Our boys went as a bullfighter and a bull this year.

The idea came out of nowhere.  Our local library had a costume exchange, and Kaden fell in love with the bullfighter outfit.  Right away, he started yelling TORO TORO.  Of course we had to get it.

And then one of us came up with the idea of having SamCub as the bull.  His costume was super easy:  black sweats, a sock pinned to his pants for a tail, and a knit hat fixed up with felt.  He was kinda like Ferdinand, though- often looking anywhere BUT the red cape.  Inside was a different story- he'd crawl after Kaden, who was waving the cape and yelling TORO TORO again.  Fun times.

Around these parts, Trick or Treating isn't on Halloween Day (I don't understand, either).  So on 10-31, the boys wore other holiday-ish clothes.  I surprised Kaden with a teeshirt that had Darth Vadar and stormtroopers trick or treating.  He loves the Star Wars part, I love the incongruity:  win/win. And of course I couldn't pass up a Tigger costume for the babe.  He kept pulling off his hat, though.

Birthday selfie!  We adventured out to an alpaca farm... where a baby alpaca had been born an hour earlier!  and so they named her after me!  See?  BEST MONTH EVER.

Funny Things my kid has said sometime in the near past, that I can still remember

Really, this blog ought to be written by Kaden, since he's obviously the most clever and cute of us all.  And perhaps it could be within the year, since he has the idea of "texting" and can spell out his name on a keyboard, and adds nice smileys too.  But then again, he'd probably write all sorts of things about what I say, or tell him to do, or how much I yell at him (all the time, apparently).  Huh, maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

Anyways, here's the best of lately:

• Nana asked him how the Halloween parade was.  "Great!  Look at all this candy I got!"  Well, she said, what else did you see, besides candy I mean.  "Girls dancing," he replied immediately.  (This in a parade that featured a zillion fire trucks and 2 dancing groups.)  What else, Nana asked.  "Little kids watching a movie, and scouts and football players.  It had all sorts of people."  Didn't mention a single fire truck.  Isn't this the kid that was obsessed with them just 2 years ago?!

• Later, when asked if he would share some candy with me, he said, "No, I can't share any with you because candy isn't good for the baby."

• After Jimdad teased him, Kaden yelled across the house:  "We don't LIE in this house!!"

• "Mom, is watermelon a fruit or a vegetable?"   Good question, I'm not sure.  "Fruit.  Definitely a fruit."  Huh, could be.  How do you know?  "Years of practice."   

• After I told him to pipe down in the backseat since he didn't have a drivers license yet, he replied, "Yes, I do. I have one from Chuck E. Cheese.  So I CAN tell you how to drive, Mom."

• "What's a butler, Mom?"  A person who takes care of stuff for you, like around the house.  "Hmm.  I think we need 5 butlers, one for each of us and the baby too."

• "When I'm bigger and you're still alive, I'm getting a convertible."  That's nice, hunny.  Wait, why when we're still alive?  "So I can give you a ride around.  I think you'll like it."

Required Holiday Photos

I suppose it's time to drag out the tree, eh?

and dress up to go to holiday stuff...

But if there's still pumpkins around, that's okay.

There's plenty of imaginary characters around this time of year,

what's another three?

Because we'll still smile for the camera,

even when we have no idea what else to do.



Because, as Kaden often reminds us:  "It's okay, we're family."

We can barely contain our excitement at that...

And we'll dress up like Pop.



And remind ourselves, it's all about the Light of the World

(which is, of course, "ME AND JESUS")



Our goal is for a simple, meaningful season.

Being sick and unable to decorate the first two weeks is helping.

So is crafting an ornament each day (part of an Advent calendar/devotion).

Though I use the term "craft" lightly.  Maybe I'll post some examples later.

Peace, y'all.

Random October-ness

We once again bought an annual pass to a butterfly place (thanks, Groupon).

Here's hoping we use it more than once this time.

Kaden came home with the following 3 scratches/cuts on his face.  He told me that he was tickling a friend while they were getting a drink at the water fountain, and his friend fell and he fell and hit his face on the water fountain.  But it didn't hurt.  Later, he told my mom his friend pushed him at the water fountain and he hit his face on the step- but it didn't hurt.  Still later, when a lil' friend asked him :"hat happened to your face", Kaden said "I don't know."

This was on Wednesday, and the photo is from Friday. I took it after I called the daycare and asked 1) did anyone know what actually happened and 2) why didn't I get an incident report?    The woman in charge is new- she didn't actually remember/know who my son was, nor did she know what happened as she "wasn't on the day crew."  I used to work at a daycare, so I get this, but still:  would you be upset at this?  BTW, later I asked Kaden if he told the teacher about getting hurt and he said, no it was a secret.  So we had another chat about the importance of NOT keeping secrets from teachers or parents.  But I think 4 yr old boys who wear superhero shirts are starting to have more influence than I am.  Sigh.  It's almost enough for me to quit working right now.

And the pic above is a random fireman.  We were at a school gym one weekend, to see a friend in a karate tournament, when the fire alarm went off.  Someone checked and assured us it wasn't a real fire, but since I remembered the recent station visit (where we learned that it takes less than 5 minutes between "fire starting" and "house-consumed-and-everyone-dies", I talked our boys into a stroll outside to look for the fire trucks.  And then they showed up!  Very calm but quick, grabbing axes and shrugging into oxygen tanks.  The driver stayed near the truck, and let Kaden go in to explore a bit.

I love this philosopher pumpkin photo.  Not scripted (exactly).  I also love the avocado peeking out, just to the right of kaden's hat.  Well, that and the palm tree.  We've actually gone to this church "pumpkin patch" for many years-- but I can't find the other pics of Kaden as a wee one next to the orange globes right now :)



the Many Incarnations of Halloween

Whew! Unlike our northern friends, who have Halloween on whatever day their local authorities decide (wha?)... ours is always Oct. 31. That does not stop us from beginning the celebrations early. A full week ahead, we went to our first party: Kaden as Woody and us as, well, Mom and Dad (the fact that we went straight after a Saturday Mass contributed to our lack of parental costumes). There were, oh, maybe 30-40 kids in costume running around. They had pinatas, guessing games, tossing games, decorations ALL over, themed food, even bobbing for apples (extra funny with toddlers involved). It was THE kickoff of Halloween season!

Pirates dance around after looting, yes?

Then came Kaden's "school" parade- he went as Woody, escorting his friend Tinkerbell. She came instead of Cinderella due to a glitter explosion. They climbed in and out of police cars, walked around trick or treating, ended with a class party, and then came home with an ungodly amount of candy.

The boys went out by themselves, as Mrs Potato Head was feeling a bit green!

Later that night was the church's Halloween family potluck at the park. Jim and Kade went (see above) and had a great time running around, eating good stuff and taking a hay ride. Our boys came home before the train ride (shh) since it was getting a bit late, even by holiday standards.

So the next day, the 3 of us headed off to the town's Fall Festival. We ran into some friends, about 3 random single "Buzz Lightyear" kids (one of whom asked our Woody to pause for a photo) and climbed in and out of a fire truck. There was a lot more to do, but it was over 80 degrees and our kid was sweating up a storm in his PJs. I mean costume.

Lollipops cure anything, though. Just ask "Monkey George"

All this brought us to... October 31st! We dressed Kade in his pumpkin shirt and talked about Grandpa Carl, whose bday is on Halloween (and who would have been 74 - hard to imagine). After church, we headed to Toys R Us, to buy Kaden a present from Grandpa Carl in honor of his birthday. (Yes, we had a hard time explaining how a dead relative he's never met was giving him the DVD he saw us pick out!)

Some friends stopped by to Trick or Treat, and despite a bit of a cough and sniffles, Kaden was all excited to go out. We headed to a friend's house, except by the actual holiday he was refusing to wear the Woody PJ/costume, and just kept his pumpkin shirt on. They lended him a pirate hat, which made for some fun "arrrr" and goosestepping. Then, 2 hours later we came home with even MORE candy and a very tired boy.

Whaddya mean this isn't a real costume? They gave me candy and I hardly sweated!

You know what all this led to, right?? Yep, up all night together and then a sick day today. We need to get better by Thursday, though, because we have our very last (previously postponed) H'ween party. Yes Ma'am, the holidays have begun :)

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween edition

HALLOWEEN TOUCHDOWN !!

Because it's never too early to take the field!

I should have taken more closeups, so you could see Kaden's lacing and my ref patches. Though technically I was a line judge. Notice the down indicator on my right hand! Yes, we are football geeks. You didn't think it was possible? My favorite detail was calling Kaden "Wilson" all day...

The more traditional pic !

Thanks to Aunt Erin, "Auntie" Elizabeth, and "Aunt" Suzanne

for the various holiday gear!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

It's time to start making Halloween costumes!! Nevermind any writing deadlines or filing Kaden's hospital records! People, we've got to narrow down our options and commit to a character already!

Favorite costumes from the past (all homemade)

Childhood:
- Clown (Mom still has this one)

- Knight (did I mention I was a tomboy?)

College Years:
- Oscar the Grouch, complete with a real (!) trash can, (clean) trash, Wormly & insults! Great for accolades, not so much for sitting down...

- Winnie the Pooh & company: we seriously had everyone from Tigger to Owl to Christopher Robin to Roo! The best part? No costume cost more than $12!

Adult Years:
um... I'm not sure what happened here, but the few times I/we dressed up it was fairly lame. Or routine. Pirate, cowgirl, etc.

But THIS year, I have a BABY. A very smallish child who CAN'T VETO any idea my overactive imagination comes up with! So as long as JimDad stays out of my way agrees, the sky's the limit! We may just have to host a party this year ;)