Halloween Fun

We had so much fun trick or treating this year. We had the privilege of Nana's (Josh's mom) company, who was in town for the weekend, and that made it extra fun. Howie was NOT happy about putting his costume on, but I guess once he saw the candy piling up, he forgot all about the costume. The weather couldn't have been more lovely.

Here he is... Curious George! Complete with a banana in his pocket! Already testing out the candy before we even left the house! (Side note: Tuesday morning Howie told me his teeth hurt. Excellent. Only 3 and already following in my awful teeth footsteps. Mental note: must take Howie to the dentist and hide the fact that he eats lollipops when Mama needs extra leverage.)

Justice, our precious little shark. It was 4:00 Sunday afternoon and we still didn't have a costume. Josh was going to make him a Peyton Manning jersey out of a brown paper grocery bag, but to save him from bad costume humiliation, I ran to Old Navy real quick to see if they had any cheap baby costumes left. Sure enough, scored the last baby costume, this shark, for $5. Please leave a comment below to tell me how impressed you are. He curiously had absolutely no issue with wearing this costume.

The boys with Nana, ready to go

Meeting up with pals... here they found Mya (the little mermaid, of course) and Maggie (a rabbit!). It made me a wee bit sad that this was our last Halloween in St Louis with these precious friends.

Justice with dear friend Lisa, making the rounds. I think everyone knew that candy given to him was going straight to Mom and Dad, so that was slightly embarrassing.

Howie and Mya, checking out the haul afterwards.

Have you ever seen a shark:

Drink milk from a sippy cup?

Check his cell phone for messages? I think not.

What the Kids Look Like Now

Dad pushing the boys like a madman. What's not to like about this scenario?

When Howie plays dinosaurs he really means it. Notice the straining blood vessels and intense roaring going on. It's a sight to behold (and of course hear).

The boys and their good friend Caroline

Mom, do you mind? Even in my crib?

The closet is a fabulous place to hide

Honking the horn on this tricycle at Grandma and Grandpa's is the best part of my day

Howie, Justice, and cousin Pax visit Tanners Apple Orchard in Illinois. The apple cider! The apple cider donuts! The pumpkins! The goats! It's just too much fun!

It's so hard to get a pic where they are both standing still and looking mostly normal... even if part of Howie's head is cut off!

A Funny Conversation

Context: Howie is fascinated by watching live music. He loves hearing music at home too but enjoys it even more when he can watch people play, and he wants to learn himself. To that end we're hoping to enroll him in suzuki music lessons. Suzuki is a method of teaching music that even very young children can learn- they are taught to play by ear first and then read music later. I don't know how many instruments you can learn through suzuki, but I know violin and piano are commonly taught. Hence the purpose of this conversation.

Me: Howie, would you rather learn violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: That's not a choice, Howie. You have to be bigger to play the saxophone. Would you rather learn violin or piano?

Howie: Guitar.

Me: You have to have long fingers like daddy to play the guitar. Would you rather play the violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: (Seriously?) Howie, violin or piano?

Howie: Drums.

Me: Howie, violin or piano?

Howie: Guitar.

Me: (SERIOUSLY?) Howie, you have to be bigger to play the guitar. Violin or piano?

Howie: Saxophone.

Me: (How am I not getting through here???) Howie, you can only pick violin or piano right now. Violin or piano?

Howie: Violin.

There we go. Took about a million tries to get what I was looking for.

Howie & His Buddies

Howie has been playing outside like a madman over the past several months. It's been so much fun for me to watch him learn how to ride his little bike (yes, a girl's bike that cost $10 on craigslist to which we added the spoke beads that I always wanted when I was a kid... that's definitely living vicariously through my child) and run around with his little pals and pretend. I love it! It just reminds me how much he is growing and changing because when we moved here he wasn't even walking yet! Yesterday some of them were playing duck duck goose and Howie apparently thought he was the perpetual goose because he basically got up and ran anytime anyone was the goose. I love listening in on their little conversations too. (Howie to one of his lady friends: "You're a princess. I'm a man-princess." etc.) I'm so grateful that God has provided such good friends for Howie in this season of our lives!

(P.S.- I wish you could see Howie's pants better in that picture- they're old man plaid skinny pants. They're so funny.)

Look What I'm Wearing

It's so cold outside today!! Yay!! I woke up this morning, it was 71 inside our apartment, and I had to put on a sweatshirt. I've been dreaming about wearing sweatshirts and sweaters and scarves over the long summer, especially when it was back to 90 last week... I'm sooo over summer (at least for now... by December I'll be blogging about how bad I want summer to come back). Now it's down to 69 in our apartment and I can't wait to pull out some warm jams for the boys to wear to bed and think about that space heater down in the basement!! YAY!! I almost made some hot chocolate last night I was so euphoric about fall coming. This might be a wee bit premature since it will probably warm back up for a while, but for now I can just be glad for what's coming. Until after Christmas, when summer can come back.

Oh, How Things Change

That was then...

This is now...

Newest Obsessions: finding electrical cords to pull on, pulling books off the shelf to thumb through and occasionally rip pages out (including Mama's Bible... oops), pulling down the floor lamp in the living room, eating random items on the floor (yuck), laughing hilariously at big brother, standing up and shrieking like a maniac

What?

Josh: Howie, what's your favorite animal in the zoo?

Howie: The poo.