Happy Halloween!

This is Ben's 2nd Halloween, and while he may still be too young to "get it," that certainly didn't stop me from running out to purchase a costume and planning holiday related activities.

When Tim was growing up his family was pretty conservative with the holiday; he was only allowed to dress up like historical figures (Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, among others) and only allowed to carve crosses into pumpkins and attend church harvest festivals.  We still giggle with his parents every time the topic of "holiday traditions" comes up.  My parents were a little more liberal with us; we could pretty much dress up like whatever we wanted (as long as it wasn't evil/scary) and we carved pumpkins and went trick-or-treating together every year.

Tim and I haven't really discussed how much our family will do or where we will draw the line at "celebrating." We still have a couple of years to decide.

Last weekend we took Ben Mickey Mouse to First Baptist Arlington's fall festival. We kicked things off with a foot-long corn dog dinner, because good nutrition is really important, especially on holidays.

After Ben's Mickey's gourmet meal, we moved on to trunk-or-treat.  He can't say "trick-or-treat" yet, but seemed pleasantly surprised every time someone dropped candy in his pumpkin.  (Tim ate more than half of it after Ben went to bed that night, and he's not even the pregnant one!)

Spitting image of his daddy at the same age!

His ears were a little floppy, but is he seriously not the cutest little Mickey you've ever seen?  The coat tails just made the outfit!

Carving pumpkins is one of my very, very, very favorite traditions.  My parents always made it really fun.  They took us to the pumpkin patch and let us pick our own pumpkins.  Dad always claimed to have found the best one in the whole patch.  Then, while mom dutifully spread newspaper all over the kitchen table, dad would solemnly declare that he had a fantastic idea and his pumpkin would be the most creative.  We took the competition very seriously, and Mom (the photographer/judge) could never quite manage to decide exactly whose was best, which left each of us to confidently declare ourselves the winner.

When Tim and I had only been dating a month, I made asked him to carve pumpkins with me.  My pumpkin was supposed to look like Tim.  See the ears and the spiky hair?

Throwback to 10 years ago! 

Last night, we "carved" pumpkins as a family.  Ben was skeptical.  Perhaps it had something to do with last year's series of events. 

In any case, after Tim cleaned the pumpkin out we just let Ben finger paint on it.  In hindsight, we didn't really even need to gut it.  There's just something kind of necessary about scooping all those slimy seeds out, though. 

Ben wore his jack-o-lantern shirt to Bible Study this morning.  He can kinda-sorta-barely say "pumpkin," (ba-yum?) but he sure does say it with confidence! 

Tonight Ben was in his jammies and in bed by 6:30, just like any other night.  Of course, we had to go outside to say goodnight to the pumpkin first.

I have a good feeling that maybe, just maybe, next year could include some trick-or-treating.  Hey, there are some things you just have to work your way up to.

Happy Halloween!

Hall's Pumpkin Farm.

Ever since we visited the field filled with pumpkins, I've been on a quest to find a decent, kid friendly, real pumpkin patch.  Last weekend we visited Hall's Pumpkin Farm in Grapevine. The place was packed (we did go on a Sunday evening), but there was so much to do!

The Hall family has clearly been in the "pumpkin patch" business for a while.  They had dozens of cute spots staged for parents to drop little ones and take pictures.  Of course, we're pretty much at the age where the only pictures I can capture are Ben running away, but I appreciated their efforts and made mental notes for next year.

 

Although Ben was much too busy to be bothered with picture taking, we still got a few cute shots.  He loved riding the old tractors.

Not one, but TWO old tractors to drive!

Gramma and Grampa came with us, too.  Not only is it fun to make sweet memories with them, it's helpful to have three additional sets of hands to help wrangle Ben while I'm snapping pictures.

They have a petting zoo, too!

 And a hay house.  Fun!

Of course, Ben was a little small for the corn maze.  The hay rides out into the actual pumpkin patch (where you get to see more animals and real cows- "Meeeeeeewwwww!") didn't start until 5:00pm, and Ben didn't last that long. If you're planning a visit, check the website for hay ride times before you go. I'm thinking we'll definitely go back next year.

Pretty Exciting!

We are so excited about having a new little baby on the way!  Ben's feeling pretty good about it too, obviously.

13 weeks along... counting down the days to meet this little one around May 3, 2013!

Please join our family in praying for baby's healthy growth and development.

Just so I don't forget...

Ben, you are officially 18 months old.  Time flies by and you change every day.  Here are some things I hope to remember about your little one-and-a-half-year-old self...

You just love anything you can drive!

 You are sleeping from 7pm until 7:30am with (usually) two naps during the day.  Our schedule is pretty wonky with morning commitments three days a week, but you handle it well.  Sometimes your second nap is just "rest time" where you lay in your crib and babble and read and throw things out onto the floor.

Favorite foods are (flavored) oatmeal, eggs, cheese, "peanut butter bread," any fruits, and any sweets.  We don't give you many sweets because Gramma and Grampa give you enough sweets to split between five children.  They keep a big bowl of m&m's on their counter, and when we walk in to their house you go straight for it.

Okay, SOMETIMES we give you sweets. :)

 

You love wearing our shoes, "mmmeeeeeewwww"ing at any large patch of grass (even if there are no cows), and yelling "vroom, vroom!" at trucks.  If we're able to catch both the garbage truck AND the recycling truck on Wednesdays, your week is made.  The drivers always honk and wave to you, and you just stare back with your mouth open in awe.

 

Daddy's shoes are the best!

You ask for Dad alldaylong. From the very first moment I walk into your room in the morning, you expectantly ask, "Dada?!?"  Five mornings out of the week are very sad when I have to tell you that Daddy is at work.  We call him on the phone a lot, but no matter how often we talk to him you continue to ask for him over and over and over.

"Dadda, Dadda, Dadda!" is such a fun buddy.

Sesame Street is really the only show we let you watch, but you loooooooooove it.  The minute the theme song starts, you squeal and jump either start dancing or running laps around the room.  Elmo is your favorite, by far.  I have to admit, for the second time in my life, Sesame Street has become one of my favorite shows.  Daddy laughs out loud when he watches it, too.  Funny stuff.

 

Totally over swinging, way into sliding!

Even though you seem to understand pretty much everything we say, you still aren't talking a lot.  Your sign language is pretty consistent, and you are getting to be a pro at animal sounds.  You can do a dog, cow, frog, bird, snake, tiger, and turkey.  The "gaaawbullgaaaawbullgaaaawbull" is the best, by far.

You are still our favorite little guy in the whole world (in case there was any question)!

Grasshoppers and Milestones.

This weekend our small group headed south to our sweet friends' ranch.  We had a maaaaahvelous time relaxing chasing our kids around, breathing in the fresh air, and enjoying a few days with little-to-no cell phone service.  The ranch is beautiful and the weather was perfect.

While at the ranch, Ben officially reached the 18 month milestone! I know most moms would say, "I can't believe how fast it's gone," but mostly I just can't believe we've only had him for a year and a half. I've actually almost forgotten what life was like before he was ours.  It seems that we've loved him forever.

Our big boy at 18 months!

 Perhaps the biggest deal about the big 1.5 birthday was that Ben slept in our bed.  It's probably been a year since he has actually slept with us, and not because we haven't tried.  I can't believe I'm admitting this, but there have been several nights where Tim and I are laying in bed talking about Ben, and one of us will say, "I just miss him.  Let's go get him and bring him in here to snuggle."

Every time we bring him in our bed, regardless of how careful/gentle/quiet we are, Ben wakes up.  We will lay him in-between us (lights out) and just try to soak in that sweet little jammied bundle.  His excitement about being in our bed trumps any chance at sleep, and he lays there and giggles, pulls our noses (hair, fingers, ears), claps, talks, etc.  Inevitably, after a decent stretch of time, we are even more tired and he is even more awake and we return him to his crib so we can all sleep.

All that to say, while we were at the ranch, Ben was having some trouble in his pack-n-play so we brought him to bed with us for the night.  None of us got great sleep, but we loved the time with that snuggly boy.

Ben had a ball exploring the ranch.  The last time we were there he was only crawling, and this time he enjoyed all the space to run.

 We took advantage of the beautiful Friday and flew kites with the kids.

 Ben wore his boots at all times.  He is a very serious rancher.

We spent a decent amount of time out on the mule exploring.  I'm checking my Bible for something I might have missed regarding a plague of grasshoppers.  Central Texas is swarming with those darn things and it's no joke, y'all!  Have you ever been hit in the face by a grasshopper(s) and lived to tell about it?  I barely survived.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  I know he looks so tough and cool, but I could kiss those sweet little lips all day long. (As long as I'm not distracted by grasshoppers).

After being scarred by the grasshopper incident(s), I decided my time was best spent back at the house.  We lounged as much as the kids would allow, and that part was really glorious.

It's just hard to beat time spent with good friends, no matter where you are.  And the best, best, best part of that time was most certainly game night.  Hilarity and inside jokes abound. There's something about the combination of crisp nights and hot tubs that lends itself to funny, truth-or-dare type (priceless, totally embarrassing) stories.  This is the stuff of life, friends!

Kara cooking up some serious eggs for breakfast

Don't be fooled, though- it wasn't all fun and games.  I realize ranching is hard work, so I sat and took pictures while the guys filled the feeders and worked on a few other projects.

Ben's very favorite part of the weekend (and the highlight of his 18-month milestone) was time spent viewing the cows.  I've never heard someone "mmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeww" with as much intensity and passion as Benjamin. He was totally smitten.

"Mmmmeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!"  "Mmmmeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!"

He was so taken by the cows, that this was his reaction to "Bye-bye, cows!"

Then, there was this:

And this:

And this:

Which is exactly how I felt when we had to leave the ranch and return to the big city to resume our "normal" life. 

This weekend we are thankful for sweet, generous friends, time off from work, a chance to get away, cows, and a healthy, growing boy.

And shelter from grasshoppers.

Punkin'

A few pictures from Ben's visit to the "pumpkin patch."  For the grandparents, of course...

When we first walked in, Ben had to survey the scene.  There were so many pumpkins.  His little walk just cracks me up- so much determination and direction.

Not really a fan of the hay.  He's kind of got a "thing" with textures and dirty hands.

 Best smile ever.

 

Of course, all little boys must stand on the pumpkins.

Ben frequently watches daddy pull weeds.

  So many choices...

 Ben finally picked a pumpkin that is just his size.

Again, the whole "dirty hands" thing came back to bite him in the car on the way home.  Other than the aversion to yucky hands, he is all boy.

So hard to believe that this was a year ago: