Jolly Days at the Children's Museum

mommy and i went to the children's museum over the weekend with my friend madelyn and her mommy (our mommies used to work together, and we were born 2 days apart!). it was the first day of their Christmas exhibit: Jolly Days Winter Wonderland. santa hadn't arrived yet (he doesn't come to indy until after thanksgiving), but madelyn and i had fun playing in all the areas.

first, we went ice fishing. our mommies helped us hook a fish, and then we carried them around on our pole.

then we cooked special treats in the big chef's kitchen. i need one of these at my house. the kitchen had everything, even a huge baker's oven. i was very careful not to touch the oven racks when i put my cookie sheet in because mommy always says the oven was hot. but this one must not have been on yet because it didn't feel too hot to me. i was also careful to put on my oven mitts without mommy even asking me to.

next we played in the snow castle, which was my favorite in the Christmas exhibit area because it had a slide and places to climb and peek out windows. i liked to hide in the castle and pop up to peek out at mommy. and it was tall so i felt really high!

while we were playing on the snow castle it started to get really busy with lots of kids, so our mommies took us to a different area in the museum that is a favorite of mine: playscape. i love playscape because there are lots of contraptions with balls and a big enclosed climbing area. there are also sand tables where madelyn and i would sit and shovel sand and dump, shovel and dump, shovel and dump. mommy liked that area a lot because there were stools where she could sit (silly mommy).

i had so much fun at the museum with madelyn. i hope i can go back soon, but mommy said it might be our last big outing before baby sister comes. daddy keeps telling me baby sister will be here very soon, and i'm really excited about it. i like to give her kisses in mommy's belly. i hope she lets me give her kisses when she's outside mommy's belly too. stay tuned for the big announcement -- i'm told we'll get to meet her soon after thanksgiving! :)

Halloween

As Ford gets older each year, Halloween, of course, becomes that much more fun. This is the first year he started talking about Halloween (he always calls it "Halloween Day"....cute), so I was really excited about doing all the fun things that we do around Halloween: pumpkins, costumes, parties, trick-or-treating. His enthusiasm did not disappoint -- until it came time to dress up in our costumes. More on that later. First, let's kick off with my favorite: Halloween treats! :)

As you know, Ford LOVES to help.....with EVERYTHING! Naturally, we just let him. So of course when I started making our treats for the Halloween party, he immediately ran to the closet to get "his" stool. I set him up at the counter where he helped make the pudding. He thought pouring the milk in was REALLY cool (ha!!..... I have no idea why he thought that was so funny) and then he stirred and stirred and stirred. While he worked on our Graveyard Pudding, I worked at the stove on our Ghost and Frankenstein Pretzels, and then we did Mummy Dogs. Everything turned out really yummy and was a big hit at the party!

After a day in the kitchen, it was time to put on our costumes for the annual party at our friends' Ryan and Erin's house! Unfortunately, Ford WAS NOT into the costume thing. We talked about and showed him the costumes all week before the party. He loved ours -- he kept putting our headpieces on and saying "I'm a green dinosaur" or "I'm a monster" -- but absolutely refused to try on his Ghostbusters uniform. David was eventually able to bribe him with food to get him in his costume, as long as it was unzipped. That child is so particular about what he wears....geesh. In the end, though, it all worked out. Our costumes were a hit, and Ford actually left his on all night. We had a great time at the party, and with more kids being added to the mix each year, they have a blast playing together.

We did our pumpkin picking in mid-October with some friends. It was a cold, wet day at the pumpkin patch, so we didn't get to do as much as we would have liked. We started out with pumpkin donuts and cider, then headed out to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard for some picking. Ford liked pulling the wagon (in fact, he wouldn't let me pull it at all -- he pulled it by himself the entire time, even loaded with heavy pumpkins).

The weekend before Halloween we enjoyed the amazing weather and sat outside for some pumpkin painting/carving. Ford painted two little pumpkins, and David and I painted one and carved one. He loved painting his pumpkins and didn't get TOO messy (thanks to regular crafting/painting at school). He was pretty proud of his work when we finally made him stop.

Unfortunately, the best part of Halloween -- trick-or-treating -- was ruined this year by Mother Nature. It was so cold and rainy out that we decided not to venture out for candy. That didn't stop Ford from enjoying the experience though! He helped pass out candy to every kid who braved the weather (not many, I can tell you), and I think he liked the attention from the older kids.

Dave and Connie were here for the long weekend, so we had extra fun with them. Kirk and Laura hosted their annual Scary Movie Fest at their house, and with the Kassenbrocks and Stelsels both in town, you know it was a grand ol' time! Ford was in rare form and entertained us as much as the movie.

Pretending to take a nap with Laura

Showing off David's half marathon medal (which he ran in the blistering cold on Saturday) while wearing his spider hat that he made at school.

Helping mommy make pumpkin puree from our Halloween pumpkins. Don't worry -- the stove wasn't on!!

After an eventful weekend (plus throw in the time change adjustment!), we all crashed on Sunday -- no one more than Chase though. I don't think he moved all afternoon. :)

Butler 10-Year Reunion

Last weekend David and I celebrated our *gasp* 10-year reunion at Butler's Homecoming. I can't even believe it's been 10 years already! Gosh I feel old.

We had a great day tailgating with our friends and all our itty bitty Butler legacies. :) We had two tents reserved this year, so plenty of room for all of us (and kiddos) to spread out and enjoy the sunshine.

We didn't see Trip (Blue III), but there was a Zeuss in the tent next door. Ford liked to go over and pet him.

 Ringing the bell before the Butler football team made their entrance.

Mommy and Ford :)

Ford LOVED the inflatable footballs. He would've played with them all day if we had let him.

Time for lunch -- nacho bar! :)

Family photos. Baby girl even got in on the action. :)

Playing cars with Rowan.