Carving Pumpkins

Yes, we're carving our pumpkins on Halloween. That's just how we're functioning lately. E cracked me up while we were carving.

 
He kept putting the pumpkin guts BACK INSIDE the pumpkin. He is so obsessed with where stuff belongs - everything must go in its place!

Then, he saw Mommy and Daddy with spoons and had to have one too to copy us.

Here are the pumpkins:

I've known what I wanted to do with my pumpkin for a long time. Quick, easy, and different:

For E's pumpkin, I chose something with a big smile to match his big smile!

And Camron made this face. I think he was frustrated because I kept shooting down his ideas:

Halloween

We had a busy Halloween. I picked E up and went straight to Maw Maw's house. He loved the chocolate and brownies he got from her! Then we went up to Gigi's church for some more trunk-or-treating. It was freezing, but he loved it! In fact, he didn't want to come home. Then, we carved pumpkins. (Yes, I know it's late, but we got them done before Halloween was over!)

Trunk or Treat

We went to the church Trunk-or-Treat. The games were a bust for E because he was too young for most of them, but he LOVED the live band outside and he liked GIVING his candy to people. Hopefully he'll understand better next year!!

Calvin and Hobbes

With his little girlfriend. Later he was hugging on his other girlfriend. What a flirt!!

Dancing to the music. He was going crazy spinning and hopping and laughing.

18 months/ 1 and a half

E is 18 months! Cam is excited because he can "stop using months and just say a year and a half." I'm excited because he can finally go to nursery at church. E was happy to celebrate the big day with a trip to the park. He's growing so fast and learning so much. We love our little boy!

Daddy's Shadow

E has to do everything daddy does. This morning Cam was browsing his Handyman magazines, and E laid down next to him and started reading too. I'm so glad my phone was nearby! I love little moments like this.

Pumpkin Patch

We went with our friends to a pumpkin patch in Fancy Gap, VA. It was the perfect day - the weather was great, the leaves were beautiful, the pumpkin patch was a hit with the boys, and we got some pumpkins to carve later.

The drive up there was BEAUTIFUL!

Our Family

They had tunnels underneath bales of hay for kiddos to crawl through

The boys loved the hay maze.

In the middle of the maze was a corn pit. The boys LOVED it.

E loved picking pumpkins...

Especially if it meant running away on his own!

After the hay ride

The whole gang

Getting a ride on Pumpkin

When we left to go eat, E wanted to ride in the other car. Apparently he likes to eat his zipper and ham it up for the camera!

We stopped in Mt. Airy. Snappy Lunch was closed, but we found a diner and got to see lots of cool cars.

New Park

They built a park at the end of our street (awesome!) so I decided to stop with E after work. It's a great park. It has a fenced-in toddler area so they can't run off. E loved the grasshopper. He also loved the little bell, chimes, xylophone, and drums!

Translation, Please?

E has his own special language, but there is something he says over and over that we're just dying to understand - BEESA BASE. He says it all the time. Over the weekend, he was singing a song with only beesa base as the words. It was cracking us up, because it almost sounded like he was rapping. Here's a video of it... it was in the car so it's not great, but I wanted to capture a beesa base moment. Maybe someday he'll be able to tell us what it means.

Tennessee Getaway

We both had Friday off, so we set off for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for some relaxation (kind of).

Here's the highlights of the trip:

- I went to drop the dogs off at the kennel, and E cried like someone had HURT him. I've never heard him cry like that. Huge tears. Screaming "Gracieeeeeeee." All the way back to the house he was sniffling and calling for Gracie.

- We got to listen to the VP debate in the car (just what I wanted to do) and we got in to the condo around 11pm. E woke up, wide awake, until after 1am.

- Time Share Presentation at 8:30am. Enough said.

- Celebrated Cam's birthday at the Lodge Factory Store. Only Cam could be giddy about a car full of cast iron cookware!

- E threw up in a parking lot. Yes, we're now those parents. Awesome!

- Saturday, the trip went much better. We found a great place for breakfast, E was happy, and we finally got around to doing what we loved - spending time in nature. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in October? Beautiful. Did a short hike and headed home.

Overall:
Pigeon Forge - thumbs down
Cast Iron - thumbs up
National Parks - big thumbs up!

View from the top of Clingman's Dome in the park.

Beautiful fall colors.

Me and E

Daddy and E

Daddy celebrating his b-day!

Fall

I played at a wedding last weekend and Cam and E were invited to tag along. It was an outdoor wedding, and it was about 50 degrees. That didn't stop E from enjoying fall leaves! Can't wait to get up to the mountains this weekend! The colors should be great!
E also got to go to the fair with Gigi and Pa. He loved the tractor pull, the pony ride, and of course the food!

New Tricks

If we tell E to stop doing something, he loves to keep on doing it with a big grin on his face. Well, he discovered that his finger fits in his nose tonight and I made the mistake of telling him to stop. Then daddy saw it and laughed. Oh boy!