Trick-or-Treat!

Sammy really enjoyed trick-or-treating this year! He and Jacob went around the neighborhood and Sammy did not want to be done. But he came in, chose two pieces of candy, shoved them both in his mouth (eats like his dad, that one), and then quite enjoyed himself handing out candy as well.


Jacob thought Sammy need to take his Caillou doll trick-or-treating so people would know Sammy really is dressed up and not in his good ol' everyday freaky primary colored clothes. ;-)

Oh, and in case you're wondering what that gaping hole is in our jack-o-lantern, well, a squirel decided our pumpkins would make a tasty treat and ate his way through our festive decor.


More proof. Guessing he figured he could "eat on" this one for a few more days.

Halloween diaper cover :)

Happy Little Scarecrow

Happy Halloween!

Another Jacob-carved jack-o-lantern. (darn, I should post this tomorrow, huh?)

MCM Habitot Halloween

Yesterday the Minnesota Children's Museum held a private Halloween party. Anyone could make reservations, it was just a better deal for members. (thumbs up!) It was so fun to take Sammy and let him trick-or-treat around the different exhibits, decorate yet another Halloween cookie - a giant haunted house!, and play at his favorite spots without a crush of kids and their parents. The best part is that all the kids wore costumes and we had a lot of comments on Sammy's clever get-up - quite a few "Hi Calliou" and "Look, it's Caillou!"

All of the following pictures are from the Sesame Street exhibit as it's new and we've never been there before. Sammy loved it - it's totally geared toward preschoolers and very awesome.






Sammy's on TV with Elmo!


My boys in the theater. :)

Happy Six Months!

Well, Slobber Face has hit a milestone. No, it's not unbelieveable cuteness, he's been there for a while. He's now SIX months old! How in the world did that happen so fast?

Six months and as sweet and smiley as can be.

Trick-or-treating at Minnehaha Falls

Sammy and Jess spent some QT at the Falls. There was a band, trick-or-treating, a hayride, a moon walk and even some pit fires for smores.




He was so pleased that so many people recognized he was dressed as Caillou. Me, too!


The theme this year was pirates. I didn't take enough pictures - the trail and booths were decorated really well and all the candy handlers were dressed as pirates.

And back at home, testing out some of our goodies...

Hannah's Birthday Party!

Fun from this morning. Kids attended in costume.


Eric was cracking Freddie up.


I loved that Lisa got up on a chair with Hannah. She held her through a hello, a prayer, a song and the birthday song. The chair would have surrendered had I attempted that with my three year old, I'm certain of it.


I loved that Shae (holding Matthew) was making sure Cal didn't sample the cake during Lisa's speech. (Leah, Eric, did y'all miss this? :) )


Sammy was so happy.


"I wish I loved anything as much as my kids love [balloons]." (See Knocked Up. You'll get it.)

GMI Fall Festival

our baby scarecrow


Caillou!!!


We made cookies. (Sammy really like the container with M&Ms - he pulled that to him and dug in as soon as he sat down. And kept going back for more to "decorate" his cookie.)


Trick-or-treat fishing


Cuteness. He kept crewing on his hat strings.


Poop. Yep. Part of the Zoo exhibit.

Ghost Cookie

Look what had to happen to Slobber Face's clothes

I had to have them cut and made into shirts. That's what happens when you have a looooong baby, folks. Onsies do. not. work. (And neither do rompers.) These are clothes the fit aside from the snaps, and all hand-me-downs (thanks, Leah and big brother Sammy!) and/or gifted. Now he has a full winter wardrobe. Woot! :)

Little boys, pumpkins and leaves.

Three of many reasons I love the fall. Look at these kids.


Rolling around in the leaves - after Mom and Leah raked them into big piles to bag up, of course! (oooh, look on Sammy's shirt - it's his Junior Firefighter Bagde sticker)


Oh, yeah, this guy is walking! Thankfully he's not too fast yet so he's still photographable. The other two, eh, they move too much or make goofy faces. I think most of my good pictures are of Isaac LOL. And Freddie slept through the whole outdoor adventure.


Leah buried Cal in the leaves and Isaac wanted to get in too!


The boys baggin 'em up!

Raking up leaves is so much more fun when your friends help!

The Firefighter's Visit to Sammy's School

Yesterday a Firefighter opened the door for us at Sammy's school. From the time he got out of the car Sammy was facinated by him, and sure enough, as soon as he got in the car to go home he was Mr. Motor Mouth about the Firefighter's visit to his classroom. He told me, "There was a fireman at our school today. I colored a fire truck." Then, "He said 'Don't touch fire. Don't touch the stove. Don't touch hot water.'" (There was constant chatter the entire ride home - all of 5 minutes, yes - but this is the most he's ever shared w/o prompting.)

When we arrived home he was very eager to go through his backpack and show me his fire book. It consists of about fire pages related to fire trucks and fire safety. He did indeed color a firetruck, and the last page had little boxes with pictures of all the things that are hot and not safe to touch, most of which he told me in the car.

Oh, and he also got a Junior Firefighter sticker in the shape of a badge for his shirt. Last night he took it off yesterday's shirt and put it very carefully on his red chair for the night. Then this morning he put it on today's shirt.

I'd say fire safety day was a HUGE hit! :)

Sammy's been working on his b-day wish list.

Seriously, he's been looking through catalogs and telling me and Jacob what he likes. On Saturday he was the perfect blend of his two parents - watching the Longhorns game while perusing a catalog - without pants. If anyone is interested in this list feel free to send us an email. (It's too lengthy to post here. JK!)

Here's the photographic proof:

Pumpkin Patch

The fam headed out for pumpkins this beautiful fall morning.




On the hunt... (Sammy really enjoyed pushing the cart and the pulling the wagon - see below. That's his thing, though.)


baby pumpkin (Freddie really enjoyed, um, well he tried to eat some straw. So, I guess he liked the straw.)


Soooo many to choose from! (It was muddy and there were a lot of rotting nasty pumpkins to navigate through. Sammy was frustrated each time the cart got stuck on a pumpking carcass.)


Our pumpkins!


....and... our Pumpkins! (Aren't they beautiful? **love**)

Jump Happy

Freddie's been wanting to jump lately so this morning Jacob brought up the jumper. We had one happy baby!

Nose of a...

Couple of cute Sammy things:

When we have to go back upstairs to give him a kiss goodnight or something, he can always tell if we've snuck a treat beforehand. He'll ask, "What you ate?" I like that he knows to use past tense, but doesn't know the subtly of the English language well enough to know that it doesn't work in that question. (Some grammar person could probably explain the reasons behind this more eloquently than I can, but I'm sure most of you regular folk know what I mean :)

One more thing, this evening he was playing a game he started last week in Texas. I must have made a good dinner because, as he's chowing down, he says, "It's yummy, Dianne!" Then he laughs and says, "Grandma Dianne. Sammy Dianne. Papa Dianne." Ah, you had to be there. But I guess he now associates his Grandma with good cooking and a goofy name game.

You are invited! Come! Either on-line or IRL.

**Local friends - look for an evite in your mail box soon!**

You are invited to an Usborne Books eShow to explore the world of Usborne Books. A child's interest in reading and learning is stimulated by the lavish illustrations and informative content. There are over 1300 bright, colorful and fun titles covering activities, puzzles and a wide range of subjects for children of all ages.

Usborne Books - the books kids love to read!

Hosted by: Leah **/Jessica **
Place: www.ubah.com/HOS97185
When: Today thru 11/8/2007 11:59:00 PM
Everyone is welcome, so invite a friend.


These books make awesome presents. Birthdays and Christmas are approaching!!!

I'll post a picture of Sammy's tomorrow. Off the top of my head he has: Farmyard Tales The Complete Storybook, Trucks, Diggers, That's Not My Tractor, That's Not My Bear, The Dinosaur, The Moon, Mouse on the Moon, 1001 Things to Find (can't remember which version), and the thin, informative books on Castles, Dinosaurs, Trucks, and something else. These are awesome books!

Halloween Party

We had SO. MUCH. FUN today at Cal's house! We had a Halloween party! We decorated pumpkins, decorated and ate brownie cupcakes, and jumped in the balls. I am so lucky that I 1.) have a friend like Leah who loves hosting seasonal parties and 2.) have a friend like Leah who is totally cool having about six bajillion kids and their parents at her house at one time. We love you, Leah! (and for more than just your parties!)

Who was there? Me, with Mom and Freddie; Leah, Cal and Isaac; Sarah and Atticus; Holly, Kennedy, Carlos and Rony; Melissa and Andrew.

Here are a few pictures, and there is also a Halloween slideshow of our cupcake making below. Woot!


Andrew kept trying to get Sammy to wrestle. They were having a grand time in the balls. Andrew is a *fast* jumper! I tried several times to get an action shot. But couldn't.


Yeah, he's happy. Melissa was playing with him. :)


Kennedy loooooves Freddie (well, I think she loves babies). Freddie looooves to chew.


Sammy actually playing side-by-side with Atticus rather than terrorizing him. They're hammering. Boys. And I didn't get the redeye out so he looks devilish.


Isaac has a very adorable fluffy butt.


He's pretty cute from the front, too. Poor kid, he didn't get any brownie.


I thought this was so sweet - baby A (guess he's a toddler now) fed his mama Sarah some of his frosting. Sammy would never ever share his frosting with me anymore. Yet expects to get my whole brownie. What is it with these big kids?! ;)


Ah, he's still fun. And my favorite boy. (Big boy, Freddie. There's no competition here, Slobber Face!)


The balls are a big hit at the Cal's house!


Destined to be a drummer. He's the accessories king. LOL

Okay, sorry Leah. I got nothing. Not one shot of you. Probably because you had to keep going back to the kitchen to get more knives because Cal kept eating the frosting off of them. :)