Happy Halloween!

From our little ghost and ghoul, to you.  :)

(sitting so ladylike!  ha!)

Gearing Up For Halloween

Even though tomorrow is officially Halloween, we have done our fair share of celebrating for the last few days.  With as much as we have done, it doesn't even seem like we would need to do Halloween, but now, where's the fun in that?? 

It started on Thursday with a Halloween party at Miley's school...she got to dress up, and she spent her class time playing games.  

Parents got to come to class about 20 minutes till the end, and watch the kids as they passed out treats to each other, and sang some songs that they had learned that day.

Miley was so excited to get to dress up as Belle, and loved seeing her friends, Kayla as a spider, and Austin as a Nascar driver.

And even though this little guy didn't dress up this day, he still looked pretty handsome, so I had to throw a picture of him in here.  :)

On Friday night, we went to the Fall Festival at our church.  I braved this on my own with both kids for the first hour and a half, because Cameron was just getting back from a business trip to Chicago.  I was pleasantly surprised with how well both kids did, considering the party began at 7:00....right around bedtime for both.

Getting ready to go! 

There were lots of fun activities for Miley to do.  She got her face painted with a candy corn, and a rainbow painted on her hand...

She got some help making a "Witch Hand..."

We took some pictures at the photo booth...

But she really enjoyed the "Ghost Walk" (a spin on the classic cake walk, where they handed out ghost suckers instead).  She spent most of the evening just walking around, and around, and around (and acquiring a few ghost suckers in the process!).  Towards the end, when everyone was getting ready to do the costume parade, I looked over, and Miley was the last, and only, person doing the Ghost Walk.

I was not sure how the evening would go with both kids on my own, but if anything, it just howed me how much older and more independent Miley is becoming.  She just went from booth to booth on her own, and hardly looked to me for anything.  In some ways, it was really nice, but just another realization of how old she is getting, which is sad.  She was more interested in playing with her friends than hanging out with Mom...

At least I had the cutest little Beast ever to keep me company!

We had the costume parade, and then after that, Cameron made it to the party!  Just in time for a few photo booth pictures with the whole family, and then outside for Trunk-or-Treating!

Saturday afternoon, we carved pumpkins!  This was the first time we had done this in three years, and Miley loved it!  She gets so excited every night when we put the lights in them and they glow outside on the front porch.

Phew.  Can y'all believe everything that we have done already??  And it isn't even Halloween yet!  Now it's on to actual Trick-or-Treating, and a little party at our neighbor's beforehand!  Can't wait...

8 Month Update

Well, 8 months and a week.  ;)

I had to do an update on Landon, because he has changed SO MUCH in the past couple of months.

While my sister and mom were up here, Landon must have taken some serious lessons from my nephew Cruze, because he started army crawling while they were here (at almost exactly 7 months...give or take a day).  The army crawl didn't last long.  After only about two weeks of that, he started on his hands and knees and hasn't stopped since. 

Proud of himself for crawling over and sitting under my feet while I was doing dishes...

Coming to get me and the camera...

"You can't get away from me now, Mom!"

Along with crawling all over the place, Landon has also started pulling himself up on EVERYTHING!  Stools, chairs, his crib...but his favorite is definitely the TV stand.  This one is kind of frustrating, because he will pull himself up in his crib at night, and while he can get himself down, he just won't get down.  And if we try to go in and lie him down, he is back up two second later. 

We have a little toy cart / walker thing that is Landon's new favorite toy.  He will take a few unsteady steps while holding onto it, and will also test himself by taking his hands off for a second and standing on his own (nothing too stable yet, so I am not counting it as "official"!).  I have to say (and I hate to say it!) that I think this kid will be walking soon.  Miley walked just shortly after 10 months, so it will be interesting to see if Landon beats that.  I am a little worried if he does.  :) 

Last week Landon also got his first tooth (at 8 months and 3 days old - October 20th).  Part of the delay in posting this, is due to the fact that I have been trying to get a picture of that dang tooth for the past few days.  Let's just say it has pretty much been impossible.  But hopefully soon!  Of course, his first tooth had to come in conveniently while Cameron was out of town for work, and Landon has been having some rough nights.

Besides all of the physical changes, Landon is still the same sweet boy that he always has been!  It is so easy to make him smile and laugh, and he is overall just really content.

He was doing really great sleeping at night.  He would go to bed at about 6:30 or 7:00, wake up once sometime between 4:00 and 5:30, and then go back to sleep till around 7:00.  However, since the teething thing hit, this has been much worse.  I have been getting up around 3 times a night, and he has been waking up around 5 in the morning, and not wanting to go back to sleep.  We are hoping to get back to the great night sleeping soon!  As far as naps go, he is taking on3 in the morning at around 9:00 am, and that lasts between 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours.  He will also take a nap in the afternoon at the same time as Miley, around 12:30, and usually sleep for about an hour and a half.

We had a bit of a rough start getting Landon started on solids at 6 months, but now the kid is a bottomless pit!  I can already tell a difference between boys and girls.  :)  So far he has had squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, peaches, bananas, avocado, apples, pears, rice cereal and oatmeal, yogurt, Cheerios, Gerber's Puffs, and Gerber's Yogurt Melts.  He loves all of it.  But he really likes feeding himself Cheerios and Puffs.

I still think Landon's favorite person in the world is Miley.  He just lights up when she is in the room, and she can ALWAYS get a smile and a laugh out of him.  I am sometimes worried that Miley is going to, quite literally, kill him with kindness.  She is always smothering him in hugs and kisses, and will often knock him over in the process.  

Landon is busy, busy, busy.  I can tell that when he starts walking he is going to be all over the place.  We are going to have to do some serious baby proofing here soon - baby gates, cabinet locks, etc.  We never had to do any of this with Miley, because she just didn't get into stuff.  Landon, on the other hand, is into everything.  And everything goes into his mouth.  

Although he is a busy kid, when he is tired and it is time to sleep, Landon is the best cuddler.  I love putting him to bed and just getting to hold him when everything is NOT chaotic.  These are definitely some of my favorite moments throughout the day.

I can't believe how fast the last 8 months have gone, and how fast Landon is outgrowing baby-hood.  I love seeing his little personality shine through, but I also love that we still have some of those sweet baby moments.  It will be interesting to see what the next couple of months bring! 



Another Preschool First...

First school pictures!

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised with how well these turned out.  School pictures are always the WORST, but I think Miley pulled it off pretty well.

Now if I could just show you the class picture....well, let's just say that's a different story.

Oh well.  You can't win them all, right?

Miley's First Field Trip

Last week, Miley's preschool took their first fieldtrip to a pumpkin patch.  I didn't go...they asked for parent volunteers to drive.  Instead, one of my friends took Miley and I watched her younger two.  I wish I had gone, or had pictures from the field trip, because she said it was so fun and cute!

Miley was so excited to be able to pick out two pumpkins (and cut them right off the vine!).  She picked out one medium size one, and a little tiny one, that she has now named "Baby Cruze" and she is always carrying her baby pumpkin around with her. 

Unfortunately, they went on probably the coldest day out of the last few weeks, so when I tried to get a picture of Miley with her pumpkins, this was the best I could get before she wanted to run back inside!

I love that she is having so much fun at preschool, and that they are learning so much and doing so many fun things!

Fall Time In Minnesota

We have been so lucky this year to have gorgeous fall weather.  It felt like summer well into October, and we have been enjoying every minute of it. 

One Saturday, our neighbors were raking their yard while I was out with Miley riding her scooter.  She found her way into their yard, and was raking and jumping in the leaves in no time (in her summer dress, no less).  Before we knew it, all the kids from our street were joining in the fun, and we spent the rest of the morning playing with leaves, throwing footballs, etc.

This next picture of Cameron cracks me up...have you ever seen someone look so happy to be raking leaves?  Ha ha!

Landon took in the action from afar...

...and he was also busy flirting with the little neighbor girl.

Even when we were inside during the nice weather, both Miley and Landon would sit at the front door longing to go out...

But unfortunately, as we all know when it comes to nice weather in Minnesota, all good things must come to an end.  A few short days later instead of running around outside and jumping in leaves in dresses and short sleeves the scene looked a little more like this...

But the rain, cooler temperatures, darkness falling earlier and earlier, and being increasingly stuck inside won't keep these two from smiling anyway...



Although I am missing the warm weather, there is something really nice about fall...the colors, the smells, pulling out the cozy sweaters...I know I will be feeling the complete opposite in a few months, but for now I am glad that summer is on it's way out and fall is in full force. 

It's been a good run, summer....we will see you next year!