Happy Halloween 2009!

Fireman Luke had a fabulous Halloween this year. He really got into it and seemed to understand some of the traditions of the holiday and that it was going to be special and fun.



We started the morning out with a carnival at Luke's school, where the kids played games, made Halloween crafts, and paraded in costume.



He decided after 1/2 of a lap that he would much rather be a costume parade onlooker than a participant.



Off to Trick-or-Treat!



Paw and Day surprised Luke by answering the door dressed up as some of his favorite treats!



He made us laugh all night because he thought (after going to Day and Paw's house first) that he not only should take a treat at each house, but also help himself in their front doors! Luckily, we only trick-or-treated at homes of people we knew! Here he is after walking through the front door of the Rauh's. He LOVES their piano!



Back at home Luke was allowed to choose a treat from his bag ... of course, he chose the KING sized Snickers bar (smart boy!)


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Pumpkin Carving

Here are a few pictures from our evening of pumpking carving.

Luke watching as Daddy cuts into the first pumpkin:

He seems interested at first, but quickly decides that he has no desire to put his hands into the pumpkins...


...and that he is much better suited as a pumpkin lighter!


The pumpkins visit Luke's "house"


The finished products ... two of which have "happy" faces, per Luke's request:

Lunch at Luke's house

Cookie Monster

Mommy and I made cookies together today. It was certainly a joint effort, as I stirred the batter and decorated each cookie with Halloween-colored M&Ms (aka: "potty treats" ... although this term tends to be a bit less appealing when referring to food).

Mmm ... they are delicious.

In the words of Luke, "I like tookies!"

Two cute boys and one fun day

This week Mommy and I drove up to Sausalito to meet my buddy Jack and Mommy's friend Gina for some fun at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It was a full, and fun-filled day. Mommy woke me up and we headed out right away, eating breakfast in the car. The day was beautiful and I particularly enjoyed the ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.


As you can see, we had a great time. We spent just about all of our time at the "Tot Spot," and I think that the highlight was probably the outdoor stream.




Inside there were lots of places to jump, climb, crawl, and explore.

After several hours of fun, we headed back to Jack's house for lunch, naps, and some more play time. Then, Mommy and I met Daddy in the city and checked out his office and all had dinner together. It was quite the adventure!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We made our family trip to the pumpkin patch today and had a really nice time. Luke is very excited about Halloween this year, and so was especially enthusiastic to go to pick pumpkins today. In fact, he wanted me to take a picture of him before we even left the house!

I think that I mentioned in last year's pumpkin patch post how I was on a quest to find a small pumpkin patch without all the hype that often seems to come along with Halloween these days ... and how we had such a great time at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore. It is very small, has that family feeling, and features apple tastings, a local 4H group who brings in a few of their animals for the kids to pet, a small hay maze, and, of course, pumpkins!

Checking out all the pumpkins and picking the BEST ones!

The hay maze was definitely the highlight for Luke - he had so much fun running around in it

This city boy was pretty unsure about the farm animals that were there for petting - check out his expression when I suggested he pet the chicken. He was having no part of it!

The tee pees were also fun!

So proud of his big pumpkin!

Big boy ...

...UNDERWEAR!


Day #1 had some hits and some misses.

The day started off well, although paranoid Mommy must have asked him about 4 million times if he needed to use the potty (I'm not looking forward to scrubbing carpets), to which he replied each and every time, "No."

Then, as I am switching laundry, I hear him fumbling in the bathroom - he already had his seat on the potty. He promptly tells me that he needs to go pee pee, and we have our first success (and of course, I'm thinking that this potty thing is going to be NO problem!).

Then, during lunch, we forget to tell Mommy that we need to go and have an accident in our chair (better than on the carpet as far as I'm concerned). Several pee pees in the potty later and we're back in the high chair for a snack and the same thing happens (although, this time the chair has no pad to clean because it's already in the washer - nice).

After dinner and some encouragement he decides to try for a #2 in the potty and is successful!

So, what I've learned so far is that:
1) this probably won't be as easy as I would like
2) I will eventually have to scrub the carpet
3) we need a jumbo pack of training pants, not just three
4) girls HAVE to be easier to train because at least they can't direct their pee just any which-way like it's a fire hose, and
5) the whole potty training thing is definitely more work for the parent than it is for the child.

We'll keep you posted!

Bubble fun!

Rainy days

We've had our first two real rainy days of the season yesterday and today. I actually detest the rain, but don't mind the first few days of it. Luke, on the other hand, seems to LOVE the rain ... although, I presume that this too will come to an end once he figures that it means not going outside, for a walk, to the park, etc.

Yesterday Luke went to school in the morning (thank goodness!), but was a ball of energy by evening time with no time outside. What to do? Well ... we put all of the pillows from the couches on the floor of the family room and let him bounce around like a lunatic. THEN, he suited up in his rainboots and raincoat and went out and ran around in the rain. I failed to take pictures of either of these adventures, but hopefully they will happen again since they were photo-worthy.

Today, I decided that I needed a better plan. With no school, I knew I would pay the price of not having anything good planned. So, Luke and I ventured out to one of his favorite places EVER - the SJ Children's Discovery Museum. Seriously, this place is such a gem in our community. We are so lucky to have it nearby. There is just so much for a 2 year old to do. We could have stayed all day!