Halloween Costumes

Behold: Surf 'n Turf

Trunk or Treat

Living smack dab in the Bible Belt has its advantages: eager to put a Christain spin on historically pagan holidays, each church does their own version of "Trick or Treat" the weekend before Halloween. Where cars pop open their trunks in the   church parking lot and pass out candy to kids. There's usually food, bounce houses, prizes for costumes (including "Most Christain"...obviously an angel won). Perfect for a 2 year old. 

Saturday was "no nap Saturday", so as soon as we got in the car for the 7 minute drive, Corinne conked out. Which means that she was an unhappy camper when I woke her a few minutes later. She just wanted to be carried and did not find the prospect of going up to strangers for candy appealing. At this point, I was glad I left Evan at home (although I'm sure he would have won cutest costume...a lobster! I die) and could carry Corinne around. However, about 30-45 minutes and a bag of M+Ms later, she got the idea that if you go up to strangers, you got to pick candy. And eat it! Sadly, it was right around that time things were closing up, so she only got to truly enjoy begging for sugar for about 15 minutes. 

Have I mentioned that we perfected the "smile and say 'cheese'" face?

13 months

Evan is starting to cruise. He's a master puller-upper and has now started to shuffle next to the couch to get where he wants to be. If we're sitting on the couch, there is a 99.9% chance of an Evan head poking over the side of it. 

He loves the dishwasher and opening cabinets. He still loves to eat crayons, so I can only give Corinne one crayon at a time and then put it away when she's done or else Evan gets a snack. 

He is starting to shake his head yes or no in response to a question. I don't know if he truly understands the question, but his responses seems to indicate that he does. 

He will put his arms up and say "Up?" When he wants to be picked up. Which is a lot. 

He loves swinging, he does not like meatballs. 

Speech milestone

Corinne just said a two+ word sentence!

As she was on the steps chucking shoes down them for entertainment purposes, I had the audacity to remove her from said steps. As I did that, she said (screamed) "No Mommy No!"

Boom. Milestone met. 

Pumpkin Farm

Last Friday, I took the kids to a local farm that highlights different items, depending on the season. Currently: pumpkins.

 She searched for the perfect pumpkin. But these were 4 times the price of the grocery store ones, so we left them there.

Then she found some gourds that were more her size and picked out a few.

 During the wagon ride, Evan kept copping a feel of the leg belonging to a woman sitting next to him. She had a hole in the leg of her jeans that he ha a hard time keeping his fingers out of.

Smiling on command. Nope, that's a not a fake smile at all. Never. 

I delegated transportation duties to her. They lasted 3.2 seconds.

Corinne found a friendly horse to pet. At least I hoped it was friendly. Maybe it was hungry.

And some cows to "moo" at: 

Look what our kid can do!

She amazed me today by doing this:

Big girl!

Many times I don't get too many pictures of Evan, because he's on my back 95% of the time, doing this:

Daddy and the kids

New house helper

I now have TWO household chore helpers. So far, Evan enjoys the dishwasher and the laundry basket. 

Introductions

Corinne is great at introductions. Even reintroductions. Actually, she excels at reintroductions. 

When she meets someone new, she points out "mom, da, and ay-den (Evan)". Then, in case they forget, she reminds them of this fact 15 seconds later. And again 15 seconds later. If there's a lull in conversation 10 minutes later, she reintroduces everyone again. 

When Matt or I come into the room, she reintroduces us to the other members of the family that were previously in the room. Just in case one of us forgets that we have a spouse and the name of the male child. 

Sick day

The kids had a cold on Thursday. Not knowing the state of their health for Friday, I cancelled our MOPS event for Friday morning. 

By Friday they were pretty much fine, and I lamented my decision. But, we were determined to have a fun day and burn off some energy anyways. 

So, we went to the park and then to McDs. 

But first I needed to tackle the that's best that had become Corinne's hair. Ever brush curly hair? This is the result: a 'fro and a pissed off kid. 

Then we went to the park:

Then we went to lunch. Looks like the kid's cone has been super sized. Corinne and Evan (since I gave him spoonfuls) were in kiddie dollar menu heaven. 

Good naps were had by all upon arriving home. 

Kiddie ride fail

Corinne and I had a girl date (along with two other friends) at the local county fair. For the first hour, they offered free rides and admission, so I tried to find the most kiddie friendly ride I could. 

Bingo. A "Nemo" ride. The kid sits in a fish and the fish turns around at like 0.0064 miles per hour. 

So I set her in the fish, and then the carnie had me get her out so she could be measured to make sure she hit the height requirement. Seriously? The height requirement was 30 inches. Crawling babies are 30 inches long. After seeing that she was at least a few inches above the height requirement, I set her back in the fish. Then the meltdown began. She started crying. I hoped that once the ride started she'd calm down and enjoy. Nope. The fish made it two time around before the over zealous height carnie stopped it so I could get her. 

Ride fail. 

I took her on two other rides where an adult could ride with her: a spinning boat and the teacups. With each one, she was clingy for the first half of the ride and then was asking for "more" at the end of the ride.

I didn't take her on the carousel, as carousels now freak her out. I attribute it all to one carousel ride where they put a belt thing on her that she didn't like. Ever since then, she's been anti carousel. 

Before we went to the fair, we stopped for breakfast at ihop:

Going out to eat with just one kid at a time is a freaking breeze. 

Night night

Corinne's new game is to lie down random places, say "nigh nigh" and pretend to snore. 

And when I say random places, I mean random places. 

Smiling on command

Today I told Corinne to stand next to the Lego city she built (she was very proud of it and during the building process kept pointing it out to me for verbal accolades) and smile. 

And she did!

Maybe the days of photos like these are behind us?