37 Weeks

Woo-Hoo!! This is the first picture we have captured of you standing all by yourself!! (Which is part of the reason your clothes are a mess - we got excited and grabbed the camera after you finished eating) You can stand for up to about 20 seconds without support and are practicing and getting stronger every day.

Trick or Treat

Last night we celebrated Halloween by passing out candy and trick-or-treating. My sister and nephews came over and we made tacos for dinner.

Deacon helped me get the basket of candy organized for passing out...

Our boys were ABSOLUTELY adorable in their costumes! And Deacon was sweet to stay awake long enough for pictures.

I love that my boys are still young enough to wear nice, sweet costumes because I know that they will one day choose the scary, gross costumes that my nephews like and there won't be much I can do about it.

Deacon crashed out on a blanket in the yard by the time we took family photos...

Carson loved having matching Mario costumes with his Dad.

We have been projecting movies on our garage for a few years now, and it seemed appropriate to play a Mario themed cartoon...

Ethan and Brian stayed at the house with a sleeping Deacon to pass out candy, while Joni, Carson, Melissa, Caroline, and I made our rounds getting candy. We tried to talk James into going, but he wanted to stay home and pass out candy too.

We did lots of walking and the kids got tons of candy. Everyone thought Carson's costume was hilarious, and would say "Mario" with the Italian accent every time he walked up to a new house to get candy.

It was dark and we were tired and hungry by the time we made our loop back to the house.

Carson ate his taco, and then dug into the candy before bedtime.

Deacon didn't even know the excitement that he missed...

Halloween Parties

We had a jam-packed weekend full of Halloween festivities!

Friday night the junior high where I work had its 2nd Annual Boo Bash. Stephanie and I are the Student Council sponsors and were in charge of organizing it.
The kids decided this year that they wanted a haunted house, so with the help of an amazing parent we worked some magic and made a Haunted Hallway that lead to the dance. Some of our students, teachers, and parents helped out by acting in the house and scaring our students! (I'm hoping to have some great pictures from a mom and our yearbook staff soon!)

It was fun to see everyone dressed up in their costumes and having a good time. We were able to get a picture with our staff too.

Last night our friends parents had a Halloween costume party equipped with a dj and amazing decorations. It was held in their huge garage, and the weather was nice and cool for sitting outside. My sister had Carson over at her house and Brian's parents kept Deacon for his first night away from both of us.

My friend Lindsey (on the left) is 8 months pregnant with her 2nd boy, so she let her belly hang out and went as a white-trash man. I wish I would have gotten her belly in this picture.

Brian and I had lots of fun in our matching costumes. I had to explain mine to a few non-gamers, but was excited when people guessed mine correctly.

Brian thought he would be funny and scare the homeowner by pretending to fish in her pond. Our friends Corey and Stacy came in their homemade plug and socket costume.

We are dorks and had to get one picture of Brian hitting the box to get a coin...

We must be getting old because by the time midnight came we were both partied out and ready for bed, and also so excited to go home and sleep in this morning!

Ren Fest

Brian's dad used to take him and his brother to the Renaissance Festival when they were kids. When we started dating, we also started a tradition every Fall to make a trip out there as well. We typically take a new group of friends there with us every year and take them to the funniest shows and yummiest booths we know. The way it works is you pay an admission (around $20/person, the boys were free) and then all of the shows (and people watching) are free. Other booths and activities are at an additional cost.

This year we took the boys, and although they were free to get in, we spent a fortune for Carson to do all the activities. We may alternate taking them every other year, and make a grown-up trip the other times.

When we entered the gates, Carson set his eyes on this sword, and of course talked us into purchasing it. He had so much fun just swinging that sword around out there.

Next up, face painting:

Pillow fighting with Dada:

We made another attempt to take the boys pictures together in one of the garden chapels...

They were so adorable in their matching shirts

Carson also tested his strength:

They had a booth for the kids to throw tomatoes at this heckler. He called Carson a girl.

...Carson proved him wrong by throwing like a BOY, smacking him right in the face with a tomato!! Look at Carson laughing!

Our favorite show is the Mud Eaters, where there is lots of audience participation. The crowd getting rowdy scared Deacon, so he and I walked outside of where the show was to hang out in the grass. I didn't mind a bit, since we see the show every year...I could about recite the whole thing.

Deacon didn't mind either because he got to stand up and stretch his legs.

Before we left, we saw this box and had to participate.

One of the vendors had given Carson a pet rock, he used this box to exchange it for a AA battery...lol I'm sure it is a dead battery, but that was what Carson wanted. Who says nothing in life is free?? haha

36 Weeks

We have been so busy this week I just now had time to take and post your picture! You were ready for bed, so this is the best I could get...you are still completely adorable even when your tired.

My Mario Costume

When we were deciding on costumes for Halloween this year for the grown-ups in our house, Carson convinced us to go with Super Mario Brothers. Brian already looks kinda like Mario, so that was an easy plan to make. We went shopping last night and bought his hat and gloves; he owns a long-sleeved red shirt, so this week we just have to hit up some thrift stores to locate the overalls.



Carson suggested I be Princess Peach, but the costumes are goddy and I didn't want to spend the whole month hunting down a fluffy pink dress. I decided to go for the coin box instead.



After a little brainstorming, we came up with the easiest and cheapest make-it-yourself costume.

Free box from Brian's job

1 can metallic gold spray paint, 1 can glossy white spray paint


Gold glitter and spray glue

We sprayed the box gold first, then sprayed the glue and sprinkled the glitter when it had dried:

I googled an image of the coin box online, blew it up in Word, then printed it out. Once it was printed, I cut the question mark and traced it on poster board. Using an exacto knife I cut the stencil out of the poster, layed it down in the center of each side of the box and sprayed it white.

Here's how it turned out:

We kept the flaps on top and just pushed them inside so that we could run black ribbon through it without it showing the knots. The folded edge also helps the box from rubbing against my skin.

I have more accessories to add to the costume, but will save those until my pictures on Halloween weekend.

Sk8ter Boy

Meme recently bought Carson a mini skateboard and Tony Hawk jacket. Carson was so excited to test it out when he got home, and even though it was over 80 degrees outside, he insisted on wearing his jacket because he said it helped him skate better.
He somehow got skateboarding logistics confused with surfing and wanted to demonstrate how you lay on your stomach first and then hop up on your feet to skate.

He was so adorable I didn't even want to correct him.

With a little practice he will be skating up and down our street before we know it.