Trunk Or Treat

Our church had a Trunk or Treat event for the community again this year. This is where folks from the church park their cars in the church parking lot, decorate their trunks and then hand out candy to all the kiddos who walk through. When they're done getting candy from the folks outside, there are fun things going on inside the church for everyone as well. The kids can take part in the kiddie carnival that's set up in the sanctuary while the parents grab a bite to eat in the fellowship hall. Several of the church people bring homemade chili or other soups and crackers and toppings such as: cheese, sour cream, chives, etc.
*
It was so fun! And probably the safest way for kids from the neighborhood to be out trick-or-treating, too! And I think this is the first year in quite a while that I haven't been sick during Halloween! I was able to help out by bringing my crock pot full of chili and a bag of grated cheese and I could participate in the trunk decorating and candy giving! Well, Brent was really the one who handed out all the candy. But it was fun to be there and take Mac around to the other cars, trick-or-treating and showing off his cute costume! :) Good times!
*
After the fun Trunk or Treat time, we decided to head over to Derek and Stephanie's place to say "Happy Halloween" and see what they were up to. They were out and about with their kiddos so we just waited in their drive-way for them to get home. :) Ten minutes later, they were pulling up. At this point, Mac was really tired of his costume so it was time to change out of that. Luckily, we had a change of clothes with us. Kind of another Halloween costume... of sorts. Actually, it was our back-up plan... just in case the giraffe didn't fit for some reason. So, he got to wear both outfits after all!
*
Yes, he is really standing on his own in this next picture! And he stayed that way for, like, a whole 2 seconds! He's becoming more and more independent... where he wants to stand up so badly but he really doesn't want to hold on to anything! So he'll just let go, without warning, of whatever it is he's holding on to! He's just not quite sure-footed enough to be upright and mobile. If he tries, he lands on the floor and has to start all over. He's getting so big and strong these days... I'm sure it won't be long before he's running around all over the place!

Nothin' Like...

...waiting until the very last minute to carve pumpkins!! But that's what we did. Brent and I are up at 11:30pm carving our pumpkins for Trunk or Treat tomorrow night. Better late than never, I guess. Right? :)

*

Mac even woke up after a few hours of sleep to join us. Here he is having a bedtime snack and watching. He was so interested in what his daddy was doing!

*

The final product:

Today.

Mac and I were supposed to go visit Stephanie for lunch but we had to go to the tire store to repair a flat tire instead. Ugh. We spent about 2 hours there (they estimated only 1)!! Way too much time to be spending at Les Schwab for only a flat tire and with a baby in my arms, in my opinion! Mac got a nice long nap though, so that was good... at least he wasn't screaming. :) Turns out, there was a bolt in that tire. Hmm. Wonder where we picked that up?!?

*

After we resolved the tire issue, we stopped by dad's office to do some trick-or-treating. They were announcing the employee costume winners when we arrived so that was fun to watch. Surprisingly, Mac didn't seem too concerned about all the "weird-looking" people. ;) He even let Art, er, Hulk (Brent's boss) hold him for a while.

*

Once we were done there, we finally got over to see Stephanie! We walked around the clinic to show off Mac's Halloween costume. Everyone loved it! And in case you can't tell, Mac's a short-necked giraffe this year. ;)

*

Back at home, we decided to change out of the costume since it's a fairly warm one. And Mac doesn't really care to have that hood on his head anyway. Go figure. Plus, we need to make sure we keep it clean for tomorrow evening. :) Anyway, as I was changing Mac (We use the ottoman as a make-shift changing table... Hey, it works for us. :D), he apparently wanted to try and shimmy down between the ottoman and the play yard. Again. In the past, I would typically grab his legs and pull him back up. This time, however, I let him go. With caution, of course. He landed... but quickly realized that he couldn't move. Poor little fella. *chuckle* ;) I grabbed the camera, took a few pics, then figured I should probably rescue him before he gets too mad. Maybe he'll think twice before doing that again. Wait. Do babies think twice?

*

Lastly, here are a few random shots of Mac hangin' out by the couch. He's pretty good at standing up now. So he spent a good portion of the afternoon standing up... then plopping back down on his rear... I think just so he could stand up again. ;)

*

Ah yes. And we certainly can't forget about the latest discovery: If he pulls himself up via the cat tower... he may just find the cat sitting up there! Oh joy!! :D

Happy To Be...

Stuck. And on top. Any hang time with dad is always a good time! Here are just some random shots from this evening. After dad got home. Obviously. ;)

So Proud

... of himself! Such a talented boy standing at the couch with only one hand holding on! And he's turned to look at me! :)

Here's What I Saw...

...when I came into Mac's room this morning!! He wasn't even crying at all... just talking and giggling to himself. Our baby boy is getting so big!! :*)

Snuggle Time

Caught my boys snuggling tonight. Love it! :)

Poop & Pillows

Ok. I realize that's not a very becoming title... but here's the deal. When the child has a bright red diaper rash and it gets to be kinda raw and yeasty... and when everything I read says to let it air out and the best way to do that is leave the diaper off when putting them down for a nap... it's really, really, really important that the child has already gone poop. Beforehand. Because today, I just learned that if they haven't pooped - pre-naptime - there's bound to be quite a significant mess to clean later. Especially if said child happens to find his poop interesting enough to keep him quietly preoccupied for, oh, say, a half hour or more!! Heh. A-hem. Ew. What stinks is (well, besides the poop) my brain wasn't even coherent enough to realize, "Hey, this truly is kinda funny and I'm sure we'll laugh hysterically about this later!" So, regretfully, there are no pictures of the unsightly mess.

With the mess finally about 80% contained (thankfully, Mac's not yet able to reach the white walls from his crib!) and the 1st load of laundry going, it's already time for another nap! We decided to take a rest together (mommy felt a rest time for herself was well-deserved!) on mom and dad's bed. This is where I learned that Mac likes pillows! They are not only useful for climbing (no-brainer) but for resting your head as well! And surprisingly, I did have my camera nearby for this!

New Hat

We broke down and bought a new fall hat for Mac last night! It's been downright breezy lately with fairly frigid temperatures so we figured it was about time!! When he tried it on in the store, he immediately reached up and yanked it off his head. He's been so good with leaving his hats on, I just guessed he didn't want it on inside the store because he was already warm enough. Turns out, it doesn't matter whether he's in or out, he really didn't want that thing on his head!
*

Well, we decided to go see daddy at work today and, once again, it's cooooold out there! Perfect chance to wear the new hat! Mac made it from the house to the car with it on. Once inside the car however, the hat came off. That's ok. I can handle that. When we got there, dad had plans for us to walk to the corner mart. Time to test Mac's hat-wearin' endurance. :) Surprisingly, he did quite well! I think once he has it on and is distracted by something else, he forgets about it and leaves it alone.

*

Back at the office, it came off again. Fine. I have no problem with him taking the hat off once we're safe from the blasting cold. But we put it on again to walk out to the car. We sat in the car for a little bit and Mac was looking so cute, I just had to take his picture before he reached for that silly hat! Enjoy...

*

Hmmm -

I'm not sure why he's laying across his musical keyboard toy but it seems to be just the right height for him to do so. OH. It just occurred to me... He probably does it because he can, right? Silly me. Why else do babies this age do things? ;) And, as usual, it's pretty cute!

Oh Yeah...

Here's something else that Mac did today... all on his own!!!
p.s. Please pardon the diagonal-ness for part of this... the tall boy wouldn't fit otherwise. ;)

Mail!

Mac got a card in the mail today! What a nice surprise! It's a "1st Halloween" card from G'pa, G'ma and Aunt Shawna. How fun! I think he likes it. But you can determine that for yourselves:

Thank you G'pa, G'ma and Aunt Shawna!!! :)

Fall & Pumpkin Patch 2009

I love Fall. I just love everything about it. I love the cooler temps, apples and pumpkins. I love the way the leaves change colors to brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. I even love the blustery days when the hefty breezes carry those leaves from branch to ground. In fact, my birthday is only 2 days before the actual start of Fall. Must be why I love it so much. :)

I also love going to the local pumpkin patch. Funny how I don't really remember ever going when I was a kid but we've just gotta go! Especially now that I'm a mom! Walking in a field, searching for the perfect pumpkin - awesome! Going on a hay ride - FUN! The farm we like to go to has a corn maze for the adventurous, a hay bale maze and a jump castle for the kiddos, a carnival-style swing ride, a milk-barrel train ride, and concessions where you can buy hot dogs and soda pop or a pastry with some hot spiced cider. I've heard some places even have petting zoos of sorts! Either way, it's all just fabulous!!

So today, we decided to go! I had a feeling it would be crowded and it was. But it didn't even bother my normally crowd-loathing self. (Yeah, not a big crowd fan.) It was actually refreshing to be in the open air, watching all the kids running around laughing and having fun. Come to think of it... it probably didn't annoy me as much because it's fall. Everything's better in the fall.

We went with our friends, Derek and Stephanie and their kiddos. The more the merrier, I say. :) Anyway, Steph brought her really nice camera and ended up getting some really great shots of Mac! I'll put a couple here but feel free to check the rest out in my Facebook album.

Halloween is just one week away! Yipee! :D

Random

Just some random shots of Mac crawlin' around. I think this was after the floors were cleaned... especially where the cat food was. The cat food has since found a new home in a different part of the house, by the way. One that's not so accessible to crawling babies. :)