KerryAndGabe.com

My work hosted a Halloween festival called “Fright Night.” We liked the opportunity to put on costumes more than once this year.

We got there just before they opened, so we had to wait outside a few minutes. It was chilly, and Maddie does not like being cold!

Cullen loved playing in the bounce house, and I was glad he got a chance to do it before it was overrun by bigger kids. He only had to share it with a couple of little kids at first. This wasn’t his first time in a bounce house, but it was the first time he could really play. The other times we have tried it, it has been too crowded for little kids.

He enjoyed playing the carnival games, throwing balls and beanbags in hoops and such.

Maddie went down the slide several times before the lines got long. It was funny to see her come down as her dress flew up into her face each time.

We went to get our pizza dinner and watched part of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This was the first time the kids had seen the movie, and we DVRed it the next week.

This is the best photo of the kids in their costumes that we got all Halloween, I think. That’s not saying much.

They weren’t terribly cooperative for the photo ops.

We did a quick trunk-or-treat. I think they usually have more trunks, and they are usually decorated, but it was cold and rainy outside. They just had a quick one-stop bag of goodies. We grabbed some fresh popcorn and headed home for bedtime.

We carved fancy pumpkins from kits again this year. Since the kids were Minnie and Mickey for Halloween, we chose to do a Mickey pumpkin and a Minnie pumpkin. Gabe carved Mickey, and I carved Minnie. We roasted the pumpkin seeds afterward (separating them is a messy business).

I didn’t hurt myself or others with the big knife.

Our pumpkins turned out pretty well. The kids were excited to see them on the porch over the next week.

Here’s how they looked in the dark!

Whew, the last couple of weeks have been extremely busy. We had a great time with Halloween festivities. Maddie’s classroom had a parade in the morning, and Cullen’s classroom was set to go and see the parade. The teachers indicated that some of the kids would be wearing their costumes to view the parade.

We decided to send Cullen in Winnie the Pooh since he discovered the costume recently and had fun wearing it around the house. Maddie was also excited to be Minnie Mouse. I tried to take some photos before we left the house. Maddie did not want to cooperate. It was chilly that morning, and she does NOT like to be cold.

We’re not really morning people around here.

We finally got the kids to sit together and smile by telling them that Mommy or Daddy had a booger on their face. We have a new trick (that works for now!).

Cullen was a very happy Winnie the Pooh all morning! He watched the parade with us.

Maddie didn’t look like she was enjoying the parade. She was definitely a bit cold. She refused to wear her ears. It was fun to see all of her classmates (and kids from other classes) parade around in their costumes.

She was a bit happier when we got back inside of the classroom. The parents lined up outside first, and the kids went trick or treating. As if we needed more candy. Some of the parents handed out baggies of candy, so we had way more candy than any 3.5 year old needs, and we hadn’t even gotten to the real trick or treating.

After work, we lit our pumpkins, had a quick dinner, and headed out for trick or treating. Melissa and Jason came over for the festivities. Jason stayed at the house to hand out candy while Melissa went trick or treating with the four of us.

It was a drizzly start, but it cleared up a bit while we were trick or treating. We had initially planned to only visit a few houses on our street, but we ended up going to about a dozen. The kids demanded to be carried between houses while it was raining (and for the rest of the time). Cullen wanted Melissa to carry him most of the time. Next year, the kids are walking…let’s hope for better weather.

This was Cullen’s first time really trick or treating (though he tagged along last year). He loved it. He even said “trick or treat” and “thank you” (though not at every single house).

The kids had fun examining their loot when we got back home. I think that they were just as excited about looking at and sorting the candy as they would be to eat it. Cullen had a bag of pretzels but no candy. Maddie started on a sucker that took her 3 days to finish.

We gave Maddie a choice between being able to keep all of her candy or to give all but ten pieces of candy to the Halloween witch in exchange for presents. She chose to keep only 10 pieces of candy and exchange the rest for presents. It was entertaining to see how she selected the candy. She opted to keep all four of the lollipops she had, and swapped out other pieces of candy several times. Every time she came across a new piece of candy that she wanted, she had to decide which previously selected piece to give up. I love their thought processes at this age. She also gave several pieces of candy to Daddy (ones she knew were his favorites). The Halloween witch brought the kids new buddies!

Despite the yucky weather, we had a wonderful time with the kids!

Something I’m thinking: I need to see an allergist again. I’m back to being congested every morning, which is how things were before I was pregnant with Maddie. I had this issue at the beginning of the pregnancy with Maddie, but then I was fine for the majority of the rest of it, through both pregnancies and nursing. Now the issues are back. Boo.

Something happening around the house: Gabe’s mom, grandma, sister, and nephew are visiting for a few days. We have a full house!

Something I’m reading: A Feast for Crows. I like the series, but I don’t think I love it as much as the fanatics out there. I think I’ll have to read some quick and easy things in between A Feast For Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Something Gabe is reading: The Well of Ascension.

Something I’m watching: New episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Ha!

Something I’m playing: We played King of Tokyo, Telestrations, and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It with Gabe’s family.

Something tasty: Gabe’s family requested rainbow cake. It turned out pretty and tasty! I also made cookies from a new recipe, Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They were pretty yummy, too. I finally posted Gabe’s Chicken Pot Pie recipe. He made it for his family last night, too.

Something about both kiddos: Despite a cold, rainy Halloween evening, we ventured out to maybe a dozen houses for trick or treating! I hope the weather is better next year as both kids demanded to be carried in the drizzle.

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): She had the Halloween parade at school, but she looked like she was having a miserable time! She does NOT like it when it’s cold. When we tried to take photos before school, she was a surly little Minnie Mouse! When I asked her if the parade was fun, she said that it was. She sure didn’t act like it! She had her first ballet class in a set of 3 that is being offered at my work. She refused to participate for the majority of the class. She was slightly more interested when the props were introduced. I broke down and finally went out and bought her a leotard, ballet skirt, tights, and shoes to try and entice her to participate. I think I convinced her that the reason she didn’t want to participate is that she didn’t have a ballet outfit. On Halloween, Maddie chose to select 10 pieces of candy to keep for herself and gave the rest to the Halloween witch (who brought small stuffed animals Nala and Minnie Mouse). It was fun to see how she selected the candy. She kept every lollipop that she had. When she came across a new piece of candy that she wanted, it was fun to see how she decided which previously selected piece of candy that she wanted to put in the bucket for the witch. With 10 pieces, she still has enough candy to last a while. It took her 3 days to eat a tootsie pop! She has shown more interest again with Annabelle and Henry and “baby sister.” This causes a lot of grief for her brother.

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): Cullen is speaking in sentences more and more often. He’s often saying things like, “Daddy has ABCs on his shirt” or “I want a muffin in my bowl.” He has started shaking his head “no” when he wants to say something is not true. Like when Maddie had a snack and Cullen didn’t, he said, “I have a snack” while shaking his head. He had fun trick or treating, though we didn’t let him have much candy at all. He doesn’t really know the difference this year. We were glad he finally agreed to wear his costume since he was so against it for weeks. He was also excited to be Pooh for school that morning! He made an adorable Pooh! The Halloween witch also brought him a Nala and Minnie Mouse. If you ask Cullen what Santa is going to bring him, he says, “my Annabelle.” I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get away with giving his new “Annabelle” a different name, or we’re going to have “Maddie’s Annabelle” and “Cullen’s Annabelle.” He is still very into Annabelle and throws a ton of tantrums when Maddie won’t let him play with her. Christmas can’t get here fast enough! He has started asking for my iPhone more often to play Peek-a-Boo Barn. He’s learning his way around that thing. He’s not getting an iPhone for Christmas!!

Something I’m looking forward to: A shopping trip to the outlet mall, lunch with a friend, Maddie’s ballet sampler class, dinner and games with friends, and games night!

Something captured: The kids checking out their Halloween loot.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something I’m thinking: I’m glad that I do these to keep up with the timeline of what the kids are doing and their developmental milestones. Sometimes, I don’t feel like filling out all of it, but I always want to make sure I record what’s going on with the kiddos.

Something I’m hoping: I hope the weather isn’t too bad for trick or treating.

Something I’m reading: I decided to start reading A Feast For Crows, the 4th book in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Something Gabe is reading: He finally finished Mistborn and started The Well of Ascension, Book 2 in that series.

Something I’m watching: The new episode of Beavis and Butthead! Huh huh.

Something tasty: I used the pumpkin from our Produce Box this week to make both a pie and pumpkin pancakes.

Something about both kiddos: They wore their costumes at the Halloween Festival at work on Friday. They were so cute in their Mickey and Minnie costumes! I hope that we’ll be able to get a decent photo of them on Halloween night (though it looks like it’s supposed to rain, boo!).

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): She was sick with a mystery fever and out of school on Monday and Tuesday. We took her to the doctor on Tuesday, but they didn’t find anything. She didn’t have good reports from school on Wednesday. It looks like her stubbornness is striking again. She straightened up after we had a few talks with her. It helps her behavior when she knows that the teachers are going to be talking to us. It seems that both kids act up at school just before and just after illnesses. While Maddie was sick, she played a new (to us) iPhone game called Monkey Lunchbox. She does really well at it. I think Santa may be bringing her a Leapfrog tablet for Christmas. Maddie attended her first play, stage adaptations of Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. It was a very neat show with special puppets and black lights and glowing props. Maddie seemed to enjoy it quite a bit! She got a little restless during the second half (along with the majority of the audience), but she did very well. I am hopeful that the kids can watch a few short shows on the cruise. I forgot to mention that last week, she had a flu shot. She was all excited about her shot and visit to the doctor’s office. When the nurse administered the shot, Maddie went from being excited about getting the shot to giving her a dirty look that said, “what the heck?!?” She didn’t cry at all, though!

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): I was walking Cullen into his classroom one day this week, and he saw a set of twins in front of him. He saw the kids, and he said, “Two Ninas!” Apparently, he has gotten to know just one of the kids (even though they are both in the classroom next to his). This cracked me up! Plus, I’m impressed that he has picked up the concept of “two.” He has been doing this a lot. It’s hard to say if he really knows the concept of two or if he refers to any number of items greater than one as “two.” Either way, he is getting it right quite a bit. Cullen also likes to play on the iPhone, though we limit the time that the kids are allowed to touch our phones. Cullen likes to play Peek-a-boo Barn.

Something I am struggling with: Eh, not everything went as planned this week. It’s OK.

Something I’m looking forward to: Maddie’s Halloween parade, dinner with friends, a ballet class at school for Maddie, a visit from Gabe’s family, and a Sugar Plum Fairy Tea. Fall is a busy, busy time!

Something captured: Our little tech junkies playing on our iPhones (and can you tell they are siblings?!).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about when we will have our next games night. I love that we’ve been able to have one almost once a month. We should be able to fit in one more before our New Year’s Eve party.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that I’ll be happy with the image quality of the new point and shoot camera that I ordered. My goal is to leave the SLR at home for our cruise as it would be a pain to lug around. It would likely be left in the cabin the majority of the time that we’re on the ship, too.

Something happening around the house: Gabe has been busy! Last week, he nearly finished the deck, and this week he painted the utility room (with awesome colors from the bonus room) and installed an organization system for the alcove. It’s the best thing ever! We’ve been wanting to do that for a while, but we hadn’t gotten a chance. We have two shelves at the top for items we barely use, a place to hang coats on hangers, and two drawers for hats, gloves, and scarves. We also have a place to hang our keys and two sets of hooks on the opposite wall – one set for our every day jackets and the other for the kids’ every day jackets. The kids were excited to hang their own jackets on their level. I love it!

Something I’m reading: I finished Rebel Angels, and I started on both Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and The Sweet Far Thing (the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy). Miss Peregrine is quite interesting and different so far. I look forward to the book club discussion in a couple weeks. I better get moving on it, if I’m going to finish in time.

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. Still.

Something I’m watching: We’re getting ready to watch Amazing Race in a few minutes.

Something I’m playing: King of Tokyo (several times), Die Burgen von Burgund, Quarriors, Palazzo Paletti (first time in a long time!), Die Mauer, Trivial Pursuit 6, and Medici.

Something tasty: Homemade banana bread! Gabe has been buying more bananas than he thought we would need the past several times he’s been to the store. He has been secretly hoping that we wouldn’t be able to eat them fast enough, and that I would make banana bread. It worked out for him this time!

Something both kiddos are doing: Both kids are helping me in the kitchen quite a bit these days! They love sitting on the counter, pouring in ingredients, and stirring.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): Maddie had a dental appointment and did great! She’s a wonderful little dental patient. She’s so wiggly. The child cannot sit still! She falls out of her chair at dinner at least once a week. We have started to make her stand when she can’t sit properly in her chair. That seems to help a little. She’s excited about going to the fair. Maddie gobbled up pureed butternut squash like it was pudding tonight. She also loved the butternut squash muffins that Cullen, Maddie, and I made together. When she helps me in the kitchen, she says, “we have our own bakery, right?”

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): Cullen is more attached to Annabelle than ever. Twice this week, he cried all the way to school because he couldn’t hold Annabelle. Maddie lets him play with her a lot, but it’s her doll. We don’t force her to share the doll. The last four nights in a row, he has insisted on having Annabelle in the crib with him. He’s very sweet with the doll. I think Santa is going to have to bring him his own Bitty Twin. He tattled on Maddie twice this week. Both times it involved Maddie hitting him, once in the car with a stuffed animal and once at home with a broomstick. Both times were accidental. Cullen exclaimed, “Mommy! Maddie hit me!” His ability to communicate is incredible. He’s using more adjectives, prepositions, and articles. He often says things like, “close the door” instead of “close door.”

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I signed up our Team for 2012′s Walk MS event. I guess that’s step one when it comes to the fundraising.

Something I learned: I installed the OS upgrades for both my MacBook Pro and the iPhone. I’m still getting used to the new gestures on the MacBook. I also learned that when you put “7pm Event Name” on my Google calendar, it picks up the time (I already knew if you put @ place name, it would update that part). I’m not sure how I missed this previously, since it gives an example of it under the prompt. I have been finding it annoying that I would have to edit the whole calendar entry in order to enter a time, so this will save me a lot of hassle.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to getting my new camera, hopefully in time for the fair with Maddie, a food tour in downtown Raleigh with my girlfriends, and our anniversary dinner!

Something random: Is there a fruit or a vegetable that cannot be made into a tasty baked good?

Something captured: The kiddos in their coordinating Halloween jammies (they also glow in the dark!). Cute!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Family fun and traditions. We went to the zoo and the pumpkin patch this weekend.

Something that makes me tired: Family fun and traditions. Whew.

Something I’m thinking: How are we ever going to make it through a week of Disney? I’m exhausted after two days of zoo/pumpkin patch, and I would think that Disney is way more exhausting.

Something happening around the house: The usual chaos.

Something I’m reading: Rebel Angels. I should finish in the next day or so, and then I’ll probably need to start Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children for this month’s book club (before reading the last book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy).

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. He doesn’t feel like he’s making much progress here.

Something I’m watching: We are recording on the DVR these shows this season (though I can’t say we’re exactly watching all of them): Glee (haven’t watched any this season), Gossip Girl, 90210, Grey’s Anatomy, Alphas (I think this one finished), Falling Skies (more Gabe than me), Ringer, Survivor: South Pacific, The Secret Circle (only watched 1 so far), The X Factor (watched 1 or 2 so far, though Thursday doesn’t record due to conflicts), The Amazing Race, Supernatural (haven’t watched any), Terra Nova (haven’t watched any), and Hart of Dixie. I think that’s all of them. Most of these, I end up watching while working on photos on the laptop or writing blog posts (except I haven’t been writing too many blog posts lately!).

Something I’m playing: Ooh, Gabe’s birthday was this week, so I gave him Die Burgen Von Burgund. We played the 2-player version, and I like it! It plays well with two, so that’s a big plus for us. Hopefully, we will get another chance to play it this week. We also played King of Tokyo with Melissa and Jason on Gabe’s birthday.

Something tasty: I made a pretty (and fairly tasty) rainbow cake for Gabe’s birthday. I’ll need to post photos of that soon.

Something about both kiddos: The kids enjoyed their first visit to the zoo! This was their second trip to the pumpkin patch. We visited the same one that we went to last year. Kristin joined us this time, and we had fun visiting the attractions, eating funnel cake, and picking out our pumpkins! The kids were a bit cranky this evening. I think we were all a wee bit tired after our weekend adventures! I love the fun family memories.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): She had her 2nd bike day at school. We don’t get too much notice for these, so I’m glad that Gabe and I were both able to arrange to see it. She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to do her tricycle, scooter, or balance bike. She decided on her tricycle, which is probably best since that’s the one that she is able to ride the best. Her teacher sent us some photos of her in the classroom. It’s neat to see her with the “work” that they talk about doing. She has finished the first basket of letters for the phonics section, and she’s been doing a lot of number and counting work. Her teachers were impressed with her number roll work which has numbers 1-9 on a large mat. She has to count out the appropriate number of stones for each one. I know she can do this sort of thing, but I’m happy that she is able to demonstrate it in the classroom! She does a lot of coloring when they do the “special” closet work.

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): His constant repeating of what we say (especially what Maddie says) can be hilarious. He has started enjoying the knob puzzles and has gotten very good at the ones with the same picture on the puzzle piece and underneath it. We have an animal one, and he loves to name the animals and tell us what sounds they make. Of course, most of the animals say, “roar” as that is their default sound (complete with pawing motion). “Cullen, what does a pig say?” “Roar!” When he puts in all of the pieces, he stands up and pumps both of his fists and says, “I DID IT!!!!” He’s very big on doing things himself. He has been buckling his high chair buckles (when not in the high chair) for at least a month or so. He has a jacket with that style of buckles and loves to buckle them over and over. At the pumpkin patch, he was hesitant about getting into the corn box, but he loved it once he was in it with Aunt Kristin. He kept saying, “corn! corn!” In the hay jump, he kept saying, “Hay!” On the hay ride, he said, “hay ride, hay ride.” When it stopped, he tried to push himself through people and said, “I get off. Excuse me. Excuse me.” Earlier today, he tooted and said, “Excuse me, Mommy.” At lunch today, I gave him a french fry, and unprompted, he said, “Thank you, Mommy.” He’s my sweet boy. Cullen’s class had an ice cream social, and it was nice to get a chance to chat with other parents. Cullen enjoyed his first ice cream!

Something I am struggling with: Too much sun! I had a little sunburn on Friday from bike day. I used sunscreen on myself and the kids at the zoo and at the pumpkin patch, yet I still got too much sun each day. What can I say? I’m very sensitive to the sun.

Something I learned: Ice cream comes in little prepackaged scoops.

Something I’m looking forward to: Lunch and dinners with friends and games night.

Something captured: So many photos this weekend! Here’s one from today of Cullen and Maddie at the pumpkin patch.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

It’s been a busy few weeks for us, so I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to be able to get both letters done on time. I can’t believe that Maddie is closer to 3 years old than two and a half. I guess I better get used to saying that she is “almost 3″ instead of saying “two and a half.” Here’s another letter to Maddie. I’ve been working on it since the 20th when she was 33 months old. It might take you until the next 20th to read it all. (more…)

Something that makes me happy: Being caught up on the uploading and sorting part of photo organization. I have a lot of work to do when it comes to doing something with those photos, but sorting/uploading is a huge step.

Something I’m thinking: We have so many fun things to do this time of year, but it is quite busy!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get some good photos of the kiddos in their costumes tonight.

Something happening around the house: We got rid of our big, tall bushes in front of our house. Yay!!!! I have never liked them much, and they tended to harbor spiders who build webs across our entryway. I’m so happy to have them GONE!

Something I’m reading: I finished Enchanted, Inc. and started on our next book club selection, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I enjoyed Enchanted, Inc. and hope to read more of that series eventually. I’m thinking about getting back to the library habit before too long. Gabe has been reading a lot, too. He’s going to be finished with The Hunger Games series soon!

Something I’m watching: We finished Shutter Island after my last somethings post. Eh. By the time we got to the “big reveal,” we had already figured out the gist of it. I wonder if it would have felt different to watch it all in one night or to watch in the theater. Gabe said he saw some reviews of it that suggested that we weren’t the only ones to feel underwhelmed by the end.

Something I’m playing: We played Euchre with our neighbors on Friday night. It was fun to play some cards!

Something tasty: I had pizza last night. So far so good with Cullen today, so we’ll see!!

Something Maddie is doing (32 months old): We have been introducing more movies to her lately. This week, she watched Cars and Monsters, Inc for the first time. Well, she watched part of the movies, anyway. She usually loses interest within the first 15 minutes of anything. Her eyes were as big as saucers when we turned on cars. After watching for a couple of minutes, she said, “The cars are talking!” and then matter-of-factly, “Some cars talk. Some cars don’t talk.” We tried to get her to play a little Mariokart, but she’s still not quite getting the hang of that!!!

Something Cullen is doing (40 weeks old): He continues to scream the majority of the night. He had his 9 month check up this week, and they didn’t find anything obvious wrong with him. I don’t know if it is teething since he doesn’t seem to be better when he has Tylenol. I do think he’s probably doing some more teething. He still only has half a tooth, and I think he’s getting the second tooth on the bottom. At his check up, he weighed 18 pounds, 12 ounces which is about 20th percentile, according to the CDC. He’s 29 1/4″ long which is about 80th percentile. He’s long and lean! The student shadowing our pediatrician seemed to be concerned about Cullen’s growth chart, but I am not at all concerned. This is the pattern that Maddie followed as well. I refuse to get stressed about weight again unless the doctors really are concerned. I don’t think that they are, but they did recommend focusing on foods higher in fat. He continues to hate his antibiotic. It’s a major struggle to get him to take it every day. We decided to start giving it to him in the morning as we weren’t sure if it was upsetting his tummy at night. We are also giving him probiotics to see if that improves his nights.

Something I am struggling with: As mentioned, giving Cullen his antibiotic is a huge struggle!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I worked a little bit on our 2010 photobooks! Whew, that is a lot of work!

Something I learned: I learned that you can display coupons on your phone and use them at the Carter’s outlet. I love not having to remember to print coupons!

Something I’m looking forward to: Trick or treating tonight!

Something random: You know what’s random? Halloween weather around here. You never know if it’s going to be 35 degrees or 88. Looks like tonight will be nice, but we were just outside early this afternoon and it was HOT.

Something captured: Tigger and Winnie the Pooh are ready for candy tonight! Too bad Tigger’s hood doesn’t fit terribly well.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

We decided that we wanted to try our hand at pumpkin carving this year. Maddie has been so excited about pumpkins, and we’ve been talking about how we were going to carve them into fancy jack-o-lanterns. We had some pattern books – a Disney one and one with UK designs.

Gabe scoops out the pumpkin and gets it ready for carving.

Let the carving begin! Gabe selected the UK logo.

Maddie was fascinated by what I was doing. I wanted to do the treat-or-treat Mickey as well as Winnie the Pooh (since Maddie’s costume is Winnie the Pooh this year). I’m punching out the trick-or-treat Mickey which was a bit tedious.

Cullen didn’t want to miss out on the fun.

I later carved Pooh while Maddie and Cullen played in the front yard.

The jack-o-lanterns look great, even in the light of the day.

They looked even better at night!