Halloween

It's almost Thanksgiving and we are about to fly off to Texas to celebrate. We thought it was about time I posted something about Halloween. Camden was our little Lion boy and he looked so cute. Halloween turned out to be a fun filled day of firsts for us.

The day started with trick or treating at my mom's office. Camden had never been trick or treating before. Camden took to taking candy from other people and putting it in his bucket so quickly. He was a good sport keeping his costume on the entire time.

I can't tell who had more fun.

Later that evening my sister and her husband brought over our niece "peanut" to have dinner. My mom came later with her friend Steve. Before dinner we took Camden trick or treating in a neighborhood close by. This was our first time taking him out. His costume was so warm and cozy that he didn't need to wear a coat. The rain even stopped long enough for us to trick or treat. Camden learned to say the word "candy" on Halloween and hasn't stopped saying it.

I am embarrassed to say he did very well for his first time out. Looks like Mom and Dad have to help him eat all his candy. For the health of his teeth of course!

Pepper even got into the fun by wearing his pumpkin shirt and going trick or treating with us.

I Have...

This was so fun. I saw this on a blog and took the challenge to try it myself. It' s really a lot of fun. Just cut and paste the list to your own blog and put in bold all of the things you have done. You really learn a lot about a person. The things I have done are in dark blue.

I HAVE….
1. Started my own Blog
2. Slept under the stars-unfortunately
3. Played in a band-Don't ask
4. Visited Hawaii - Honeymoon
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain - Does hiking count?
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo-my first and last
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris-age 15
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child-Maybe someday
16. Had food poisoning-I'll never eat sushi again!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France-It was tiny
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Took a sick day when I wasn't ill-Who hasn't?
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-Hopefully someday with Steven
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-Not me, but Steven has
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing -Not me, but Steven has
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris-Been underneath it, waiting to go up it with Steven.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain-Are you kidding, we live in the Northwest!
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia-Not me, but Steven has several times
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check-Oops
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar-You have to try it once
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone-Just ask my sister
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle -Unfortunately
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-Pretty sure Steven has
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible-No but I need to
86. Visited the White House-Stood outside it
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life-gave the Heimlich to a friend in a restaurant
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-Sir mixalot lived at the end of my street.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Kissing cousins in matching shirts

I was very dissatisfied this fall with all of the pumpkin shirts that were for sale (especially since we had such a cute shirt from last year). After looking high and low and giving up on finding anything cute (in our budget), I decided to attempt to make one myself. It was pretty easy with fabric paper, a computer and a printer. I think they came out pretty cute for my first time.

Camden's "ti ta" (aunty) and "dic a dy" (Uncle Ty) were nice enough to take Camden to another pumpkin farm this October. I also got the chance to make a matching shirt for Camden's cousin "little peanut". We were lucky enough to get a date night, and "ti ta" and "dic a dy" got to try their hand at two kids. We really appreciate them taking our wild child out in public so we could get a chance to spend some time together.

Kissing Cousins

They really do love each other.

Munkin Patch

Camden's language has exploded in the last month and it has been so much fun. He is not perfect at every word but he is having fun being our little parrot. We have been doing a lot of talking about pumpkins this month, thus came the word "munkin".

We took advantage of a nice Saturday in October and drove to a local farm and munkin patch.

We had a great time exploring this farm with Camden. He enjoyed the animals and the abundance of land to run on.

In the end we came home with four munkins (one for Pepper) to sit on our front porch to welcome visitors.

The great munkin search begins.

He was mostly just looking for a munkin he could pick up.

Not quite Camden, try again.

Now you have the idea Camden.

Good pick Camden.

Dada found the good munkins we had to pick off the vine.

Camden's first time rolling around in the hay barn.

This area was filled with tons of little dried corn kernels.

Camden could barely walk in it, but we had a hard time pulling him away.

Election Day

In honor of election day I thought I would have a little fun. Camden has been interested in coloring lately so we have been doing a lot of it at our house. I thought it would be fun tonight to give him a blue marker and a red marker and let him predict who is going to win the White House.

This is what he predicts.

This in no way reflects our views of either political party.

Just having a little fun!

Happy Birthday Granna!

Happy Birthday Granna!

We hope you have a special day.

Looking back with you and Camden,

Meeting Granna for the first time.

Having dinner at the Oasis

Sharing your favorite ice cream with the ice cream monster.

We love you!

Kids Table

Some friends of ours threw a little reunion party for our old Sunday school class of young marrieds. Most of us are still at our Church spread out through different ministries and others have moved to other Churches. It was so fun to get back together and catch up and look at how our families have grown.

The kids table has come a long way since I was a kid. They sat in the nice dining room with the linen table cloth and a candle. These kids don't know how good they have it.

Thanks Melanie and Ryan for hosting such a fun party. Can't wait for the next one!

All about Camden

This made me laugh. We were all out to dinner celebrating Steven's birthday. Steven was holding our niece Ava so I thought I would take a quick picture. Camden was sitting next to Steven and thought that I was taking his picture (honestly, why wouldn't it be about him?). It turned out cute enough with everyone smiling. Camden doesn't have to know it wasn't about him.

Bye Bye Binky

Shortly after we got home from our Olympic Peninsula weekend we talked about getting rid of Camden's binky. It was something he seemed less and less interested in anyway. We debated about it for a couple of days before deciding to just get rid of it cold turkey. The first nap he cried about five minutes. The first night he cried twenty minutes (the longest 20min). Each day over a week it gradually became less and less. It took about two weeks for him to totally forget about it. He has done so well and we are so proud of him. We are so happy we took advantage of this opportunity.

Thanks to all of our friends who offered support, advice and encouragement. We appreciate all of your kind words.

I sometimes still miss that binky face. It's so cute.

Much better!

Who has time for a binky when you have a popsicle and a sippy cup.