Trick or Treat

I have already mentioned that Halloween was lacking a little for me this year. Apparently, that lacking also caused me not to take very many photos. Looking back at them, I realized that I didn't take nearly as many shots of them trick or treating as I normally would. We were lucky enough to be graced by Velma's presence briefly. Just long enough to get a shot of her in her costume and with Nana. That is the real reason she got to come by our house. She begged to see her Nana who was handing out candy at our house. I was just happy to see her for a bit, and I loved her costume! She kept telling me she wanted to be Velma from Scooby Doo, and I thought that was so odd, but it really cracked me up when I saw her in it.

Mr. Bennett looks asleep in the leaves, but really the sun was in his eyes. He acted kind of fussy all day, and later in the evening (after trick or treating) he had a fever of 103! Poor guy!

Headed to their first house.

Jeremy's head got cold, so he borrowed Olivia's pirate bandanna. NICE!

Olivia and Grandma Dolores

Leo and Olivia with Nana after a long night of trick or treating.

Leo was all about the candy, and a pro at running up and knocking on doors to say "Trick or Treat." Most of his candy got opened on the doorstep where he received it. Our normal shy boy was all about the strangers handing out treats!

I was happy when they pooped out early and we were able to go home. It was a successful Halloween in their eyes, and that is all that mattered.

{Falling} for Fall

In between all of the cold days and rainy days this fall, we did have some beautiful warm days that begged me to take my baby outside so I could capture some photos of his chubby cuteness. However, said baby is so enamoured with all of the world going on around him, that I couldn't get him to pay attention to me or my camera at all. He seriously couldn't hold still he was so busy looking every which way to see what was going on. He tasted several leaves and handfuls of grass and received a puppy kiss or two. He loves being outside, but he didn't show much love for the camera. I liked these shots anyway.

{Belated} Pumpkin Patch 2009

Are we really already at Mid-November? Where has this year gone? Well, while it seemed like we were going to be too busy to fit it in, we did manage to get a short visit in at the pumpkin patch I've been visiting since before I had kids. It seems like this fall has just come and gone, and Christmas is here already. I really don't know how it happens, but time speeds up exponentially with each child you have.

It was a very brisk morning at the P-Patch, but the kids had a good time. Bennett slept through the entire thing in the car. I considered waking him up for pictures but thought better of it.

Totten's Pumpkins always has a hay tunnel for the kids to go through. Kate and Olivia really love it....Leo considered entering, but then quickly retreated when he realized it was dark!

Next time I put a onesie on my super tall, super skinny 2 year old, someone please alert the nerd police to come and arrest me. Poor guy, I have to cinch his adjustable waste as tight as I can so they will stay up, but they are still all too short on him. I fear he is doomed in this department for life!

They also let you feed the deer pumpkin bites. Last year Leo wouldn't get near them. This year, he couldn't shove it through the fence fast enough! He really loved it.

Jeremy and the girls went on a hayride, and Leo and I stayed back with Bennett. Leo wanted no part of the hayride. ???? Who knows ???? He really enjoyed climbing on the pumpkins and trying to roll them around and pick them up while the girls were gone.

PUSH!!!!! Then he would say, "Oh, its heavy!"

Daddy and his girls when they returned from the SPOOKY hayride. Kate was not a fan of being scared.

Since, Bennett slept through the whole trip I thought I would snap a few of him when we got home. This is what he thought of that idea and my black "back drop".

Notice his eyes are all watery. They think he has allergies. It is still too early to test, but they do have me giving him Claritan when he feels poorly.

Once again it was a successful trip to the pumpkin patch. I can't believe we only made it to one, we usually make a couple of trips, but that wasn't in the cards this year. Pumpkins this week....Christmas trees next. Yeah, I'm so not joking.....

SNOT.

This will be short. My husband doesn't ever read my blog, so on occasion I will make him look at it to see what I've been working on. Tonight, I asked him to come see my new banner. It wasn't anything great, but it was several pictures he hadn't seen. I called him to come see it tonight and Kate came along with him, and said "Why am I tiny?" Now, I knew that I felt the composition was a little off because her pic wasn't a close up like the others, but I didn't have one like that of her so I just made it work. Jeremy, was a big help, and said, " Well, I do see what she is saying, her head is tiny compared to everyone else's." Kate followed with, "Yeah, it is just all off, it doesn't look right at all, because I don't match."

Great, I'm getting composition advice from J-Dog who doesn't care, and an 8 year old who shouldn't be giving me advice. GRRRR! Dammit they are right! Anyway, I will show her. I'm going to make her pose for a close up of her head, so she isn't "tiny" anymore!

Since I am doing such a random blog post, I think I will add in these lovely tidbits from my rotten kids and hubs!

I don't know how many of your kids watch Ni hao, Kai Lan on Nick Jr., but Leo LOVES it. Actually that is a total understatement, but I digress. They sing a song that goes, "When you feel mad, find out what's making you mad, and you'll feel better!" For a few days the girls and I have been making up alternative words to the song that had gotten as bad as "When you feel mad make somebody else mad, and you'll feel better." Not exactly a message I should be giving to my kids, but fun to sing anyway. However, this morning, things got a little out of hand. Olivia belted out "When you feel mad FART in your mommy's face, and you'll feel better!" I lectured her in the fact that we don't use that word, and that what she said wasn't nice. When Jeremy came home tonight, I really couldn't wait to tell him the story, and we laughed hysterically. We are AWESOME parents, I know! It gets better though....here are Kate's versions she came up with when she heard Jeremy laughing at Oli's BAD rendition....

"When mommy feels mad give her a glass of wine and she'll feel better."

"When daddy feels mad give him a big 'ol beer and he'll feel better."

Nice, Huh? and truthful, I'm enjoying a glass right now.

It REALLY Pays to Plan Ahead.

The title of course is pretty sarcastic. I planned ahead to take pics of the kiddos in their costumes before Halloween, so I could do a new banner for the blog and make some Halloween cards. Guess what? None of that got done. Although, I am glad I went ahead and took some quick snaps while there were some warmer days and our neighbors leaves were still pretty.

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, and I will post actual Halloween pics sometime, but my little goblins weren't real cooperative for group photos. I was super happy to have found some really cute pirate costumes on sale super cheap at Old Navy for the boys. I then just had to hunt down a girlie pirate costume for Olivia. I will admit that I felt a little guilty stealing Kim's fabulous theme from last year, but I really did it out of cheapness more than anything. I was less than excited about Halloween this year, because Kate was going to be away at her dad's for the first time ever for Halloween (it fell on his weekend). I didn't really plan ahead at all and when I came across the boys costumes on sale I snatched them up.

Arrrggghhhhhh, Here's my pirates.

Leo actually says "Arrrgggg I'm a Pirate" and "Yo Ho Ho" all the time, thanks to Max and Ruby. He really got into it, and loves looking at the pictures of himself as a pirate.

I had to snap a shot of his hands like this. He does it all the time when he is walking around, or especially when he is dancing. I love it!

Isn't this fake pout pitiful?


As I said before, Kate wasn't gong to be with us trick-or-treating this year. I can't tell you how actually depressed I was about it on Halloween. Jeremy kept asking me what was wrong, and it took me a while to realize that I just didn't want to do all the fun stuff without her. It just wasn't the same. I still wanted some shots of her to commemorate the holiday anyway.

I have to say that she wasn't really wanting to take any pics. I caught her right after she got home from school and I asked her to come outside with me for a couple of shots before it got dark. She groaned, because OH MY GOD she had already taken her shoes off. I got her to participate, but only by agreeing to carry her out to the swing so she didn't have to put her shoes back on. Lord, she is gonna make one manipulative teenager. :)

What a difference a year makes...

I won't even mention the obvious, and I will apologize to all my favorite bloggers out there who I have not been showering with my comments. I'm a slacker in the blog area, but will hopefully make a come back soon?!? I'm not promising anything because life in this neck of the woods is hectic. This post was even going to include a picture of Olivia's School Picture Day, but I'm too tired to finish editing, so you just get this one of Kate.

Here is the annual school picture day photo, I'm cheesy I know. This one takes the cake though. I was driving Kate home from school and I made her get out of the van in the cold in front of these bushes for a pic. I've been eyeing them for awhile, and figured they won't be around much longer. I just took a couple of quick snaps, and I love this one of her. Gosh she is beautiful! I know I'm her mom, but when did she quit being cute? You know, not like I want to smoosh those cheeks cute, but instead a young lady? Anyway, here it is. I will come back to blog world soon I hope...with a heap of blog post in a day. I have so many pics just waiting to be published.

Oh, and just for fun, this is Miss Kate last year...what a difference a year makes!

{ Half a Year }

I really need to be doing laundry, cleaning house, getting ready for a garage sale, yadayadayada, but as I scrolled through the pictures I took on a whim a couple of days ago, I just loved this one.
I had to go ahead and do a smidge of editing and post it. Hopefully I will do a full "HOLY MOLY How Is My Baby 6+ Months Old Already?" post sooner rather than later, but for now you get just one.

Yeah, he's on the table again. ;0)

The Biggest Melon.

Right before we left for vacation my dad called because my grandpa Alvin, who grows watermelons every year, had a watermelon for my kids. Dad said he needed to bring it to us soon. I had NO clue that it was the biggest watermelon I had ever seen! My grandpa has somewhere around 50 grandkids/great-grandkids. I've lost count really, but there are a bunch of us. He picked this one out just for my kiddos, and they loved it! Well everyone except Bennett, who hadn't been feeling well.

I really like this picture, because he rarely ever throws actual fits. He fusses but doesn't get really upset very often....unless of course you put him on a giant melon!

Olivia Grace enjoying her first slice of watermelon.

Jeremy said it was the best watermelon he had ever tasted. It really was DELICIOUS!

Kate loves watermelon!! She ate until she was sick I think.

If I was an honest blogger most of the pictures I would post of Olivia would be in this attire. She prefers to not wear clothes. She is very much like her daddy that way. ;0)

HA!

Thanks Grandpa Alvin for the wonderful watermelon. We all LOVED it!!

I'm Still Laughing....

Every time I go back through our pics from Puerto Vallarta I laugh a little more. We truly had a great time, and I can't wait to do it again. I just had a few more shots to share.....

One day we went on a catamaran to snorkel and to visit a little beach. It was a good time, but I really enjoyed laying out on the front of the boat with the ocean right below me. Oh, and I had a drink in hand...can't beat that!

Thanks for letting me borrow your glasses after I lost mine in the ocean, Dawn, but after looking at myself in this photo, I realized how funny I looked in them. LOL

Jeremy fell in love with another MAN while we were on vacation.

He was really in love with this really ugly.stray.mutt.Mexican dog we came across on the beach.

On the same day we also were lucky enough to help Steve celebrate his big 4-0!! The waiters brought out a cake for Steve and then promptly shoved his face in it. He was a great sport though.

Someone put this pic in the local paper. I'm not sure Steve will ever forgive the person who did it, so I hope he never finds out who it was. ;0)

I just really liked this picture of Steve-O and Dawn!

It isn't quite as sweet as this one of Steve and Jeremy enjoying the sunset though.

On the last night while a bunch of our crew went into town, we stayed behind with the Youngblood's and enjoyed a relaxing last evening. We had a great waiter who found us some sushi somewhere even though it wasn't on the buffet. Even better was when I mentioned something about Saki bombs and he came running at us all excited to make us one.

It was a really REALLY fabulous vacay. Great food. Great drinks. Great laughs. Great friends.

A GREAT TIME!!

{Just a Little Taste}

This is just a little teaser of pictures from our AMAZING trip to Puerto Vallarta. How fun to travel with 5 couples to a tropical {ALL INCLUSIVE} paradise. I hope to add more pictures later, but I really wanted to post at least a few before Katie and Dawn beat me too it. LOL Girls!

Now "Let's get this @*%#er moving!" (Just one of the many quotes from the trip.)

A group shot in our shades before dinner one night.

The Ladies.

How we spent a whole lot of our vacation.

A couple of girl shots on the beach at sunset...minus Shelly. :0(

We had such a great time. I can't wait to do it again next year. I have about 1,000 more pics....only about 5 more of them are blog suitable. Cause what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico..... ;0) I hope to get to post more soon, but if not I'm sure my other blogger girls will have it done rapido.