Ghosts of Halloween's Past.

Halloween is hands-down my favorite holiday! Who doesn't love the opportunity to "be" somebody they're not for a day? I vividly recall Halloween in the past - from bobbing for apples as a young child (or for potatoes when we were in college ... apparently apples were too expensive?), waltzing through the grade school halls in our costumes, trick-or-treating and winding up at my Uncle Joe and Aunt Lina's house, to one year being so proud of my sister and her friend Melissa for their unique M&M costumes. Halloween has always been a memorable holiday and this year has proven to be the same.
After putting Kailer down for the evening on the 30th Dan and I got out our carving and scraping tools and got elbow deep in pumpkin "goop" (yes that is an "official" Halloween term for the inside of pumpkin). After debating what we would carve into each of our pumpkins (I chose a bat with a pumpkin and Dan chose a spider), we finally decided and got right to work ..... two hours later we were done! The only thing left to do was bake the seed - YUM!!

On the morning of the 31st I hear Kailer waking up and usually it's with a stretch and a whine of "mom come and get me," but on this Fall morning I hear him wake up with a laugh! Not joking. I go to get him and when he sees me he smiles and coos; I am 100% positive that he knows it's Halloween and he's excited as his mother. I had been wanting to put his costume on him for days - okay, maybe more like weeks if you ask Dan - but I have held off until this morning. Dan kept telling me that I was worse than a kid on Christmas morning. That's quite possibly the truth too. Finally, my anticipation has gotten the best of me and I tell Dan that I "must' try on Kailer's costume before we go to the mall this afternoon, in case I needs to "tweak" it in any way.
After getting my little guy dressed, I laugh out loud, he is the cutest little boy I have ever seen on Halloween day!! Now I am super anxious to head to the mall, to meet up with friends, and show off our baby.

We arrived at the mall just in time to meet up with our friends for the start of the Trick-or-Treat parade. There were a TON of kids there and Kailer sat in our arms and took it all in. I think he really enjoyed being out and about and seeing everybody all dressed up! We got home around 6, took more pictures of Kailer and then answered our door for all of the spooky little ghosts and goblins that came for their treats. Finally around 9 p.m. the crowds outside were dwindling down, as was our candy bowl, so we shut off the lights and settled in to watch the new Friday the 13th.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday and I can't wait for next year to make more memories with Kailer. I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!

As Bad As Hot Coffee!!

Yesterday morning while I was juggeling getting Kailer changed/dressed for the day, eating my banana for breakfast and herding the dog around the house I got a phone call from Dan, "You should read the article on Yahoo! about Baby Einstein." Yeah, I ask, why? Needless to say Dan didn't have much more information than "I should read it," and that was enough to strike my curiosity. So I finished getting Kailer dressed, polished off my breakfast, put Mesa in the backyard and anxiously moved to the computer to read this article that involved one of my son's favorite things ---- BABY EINSTEIN!!

Now I don't know how many of you read the article, but apparently there are some parents in this world who feel the need to sue Disney because their children are not "true einsteins" after watching the video series! Yes, you read that right, there are actually people out there who truly believed that if they sat their child down in front of a t.v. for a 25 minute video their child would become a genius. Now that's sad! Honestly, that's as bad as suing McDonalds because their coffee is hot.

Needless to say, Kailer is still watching his videos and I suspect that by the time he's 15 he will have won the Noble Prize and we'll make a special "thank-you" to the Disney company. :)

My Little Genius Reaching For The Stars!!

For the Love of Sweet Potatoes!!

For the past 2-3 weeks we have been introducing Kailer to "solid foods." We started with rice cereal, which was not a big hit and after tasting it myself, I can see why. I then decided to move onto oatmeal, which went down "okay" but still not a huge success. So as a last attempt to see if Kailer was ready for solids, I got him some bananas, sweet potatoes and sweet peas. Needless to say, thus far these have been a hit! We haven't tired the sweet peas yet, but he thoroughly enjoyed the bananas and sweet potatoes. As you can see in the video, he's enjoying them and even helping me with the spoon. We've been wondering for quite some time now if Kailer is going to be a "lefty" and now I really am beginning to wonder since you can see he reaches for my hand with his left hand. I guess we would be okay with that (do we have a choice?), after all there have been eight left-handed presidents, Michelangelo and Raphael were lefties, Babe Ruth can be added to that list along with Bill Gates, Neil Armstrong, and Einstein (Don't forget, Kailer LOVES Baby Einstein. :) ) ... and lets not forget Kailer's Uncle Mark - all of whom have left their imprint on today's world (Yes, Mark, we believe that you have too)! So with time we will know if he needs "special" scissors and more elbow room at the dinner table.

Enjoy the video of our little bald baby enjoying his potatoes. Dan keeps telling him that his "hair is filling in nicely." It cracks me up everytime he says it ... though he is starting to get his hair back. Thank God, too, because daddy seems to think it's my fault he's bald. Good thing he hasn't seen many of my baby pictures or I might have to live up to his claim. Ha! Hey - bald is"in" - right?!?

Fall Fun!

Well we did it - we finally had what I would consider a "real" Fall day this past Saturday!! There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature was in the upper 60's and the crisp autumn air lured us outdoors for some Fall activities. It was finally time for us to rake up the leaves (which had been covered in snow up until a few days prior) and enjoy a day outdoors before winter finally settles in "for good." It's funny how two months ago my perception of 60 degree temperatures would have been that it was cold, but in mid-October, it feels like a warm summer day!

We actually started our day by Dan getting his H1N1 vaccine. As a 1st responder he was able to get it, so we headed to the County Health Department bright and early. Dan is not a big fan of needles, so when finally came out (it seemed like it took awhile) I asked him if he hung around inside a bit longer to allow his tears to dry?!? :) I don't think he thought I was very funny. Needless to say, he informed me that that he got the mist as opposed to the shot - CHICKEN!!
We then headed up to the hospital to visit one of Dan's co-workers who had a baby boy on the 9th. Little guy is only weighing in at 3 lbs. - my, oh my, and we thought Kailer was tiny!!! He was born approximately 9 weeks early due to severe pre-eclampsia for Mom. Thankfully both Mom and baby are doing well and they should have him home by the end of November. A situation like that makes one truly appreciate modern medicine.

So home we headed .... I put Kailer in his bouncer seat in the yard, grabbed the rake and got to work while Dan washed our vehicles. After piling the leaves I decided I better capitalize on the situation and take a picture of Kailer "playing in them". Mind you a 4 month old doesn't do a lot of "playing" per say, but at least I got some pictures to capture the moment. Aunt Jamie says it's a good thing he wasn't in camo or I may have lost him for good - she has a valid point!! However this cute little onesie he has on has ghosts that glow in the dark, so I at least would have been able to find him by dusk!

The Way Daddy Does It ....

We are experiencing an early winter here in Montana and I'm afraid that if it doesn't warm up soon, it's going to be a VERY LONG winter!! So this past Saturday I decided to be a total bum and lounge around in my PJ's until early afternoon and snuggle with my little guy (the big guy got some snuggle time too!). Around 4 p.m., Dan decided it was time to return a movie to the Red Box and pick up a few things at the store. So he leaves and about 20 minutes later my phone rings, it's Dan asking if I wanted to make Rice Krispy treats? Sure I say, that would be fine and I proceed to tell him that he will need to get some cereal and marshmallows. ..... Five minutes pass and my phone rings again. "What kind of marshmallows do I need? Big, small or the cream? The 10 oz. or the 16 oz. package? Should I get strawberry flavored." I tell him to go ahead and get the big package and he can get whatever flavor he would like. Three minutes pass (Not kidding, I verified my times by looking at my cell phone). "What's the phone number on our Albertson's card." (So we could get our store discount, which I still haven't figured out why you have to have a card?! But that's a whole different story.) SOOOO Dan finally arrives home and he's made it home with all the ingredient and instead of strawberry marshmallows we got vanilla-caramel and Halloween sprinkles to go on top!! It just made me laugh, because from my perspective I would have zipped into the store, gotten exactly what I wanted and been out in no time ... but daddy does it different!!
Once we got our treats made, we all settled down for a nice evening of Sunday Night Football. This same t.v. watching occurred last weekend and I've snapped a few pictures of my guys watching the games! Last night we were cheering for the Patriots - er- rather I was and Dan was cheering for the Donkeys! Needless to say my night was ruined by a Donkey win! :(

Kailer and Daddy Watching Daddy's Steeler's("Yes" that's spit-up onDan's shirt ... I keep telling him that it's not a big deal! Kailer and I usually go through at least one outfit a piece per day!)

Kailer Extremely Focused on the Game ... or maybe just extremely focused on his teething ring?!

The Boys Lounging!

Last Sunday (10/4) Kailer also "found" his feet!! He does some of his best work while lying on this changing table (i.e. dancing), so I was also able to get a picture of him holding onto his feet. We're having to be careful now, as he's starting to roll a little bit. Oh dear, it wont be long I'm afraid before he's on the move!