Twinkle, Twinkle and some bedtime exercise

Halloween Festivities

We had a whole weekend of festivities, mostly Halloween related. We carved our pumpkin Saturday morning, inside because it was a little chilly. Now, last year, Jake had a blast with the pumpkin and loved getting slimy. This year, complete opposite reaction. Didn't want to get close to the pumpkin (once it was open, no problems with it before it was open), and he certainly wasn't going to stick a hand in to pull out pumpkin guts.

Hmmm...

Thinking about trying with the scoop

Cosmo on the other hand, LOVED the pumpkin and tried to eat it the whole time we were carving

EWWW...no more pumpkin

So he fed Lightning McQueen to the skull

Sunday we headed to Grammy's to trick or treat there and at the Morrow's. And I forgot to take pictures with my camera there. But Jake had a blast running around with 4 dogs at the Morrow's and got to practice knocking and saying Trick or Treat. On the way to Grammy's he decided to show off some and about a block away informed us that we were going to Grammy's house. Impressive, kid.

On Halloween, we had plans with our neighbors who have a little girl a few months younger than Jake. Jake and I have hung out with Carrie and Savanah a few times over the past month or so. It is nice having kids so close in age. Our original plans fell through, but we still went to their house and had dinner then took the kids trick or treating together.



Happy Halloween!

Arg! Our little pirate getting ready to trick or treat

Daddy and baby pirate!

Pirate Family

TRICK OR TREAT!

Trick or treating with daddy

We were really impressed with Jake's Trick or Treating skills. He did great with saying Trick or Treat and knocking on doors and made it much longer than we planned! We originally planned on hitting just a few houses right around ours, but instead Jake and Savanah made it a good block down the street. By the end Jake was asking me to pick him up once we got to the end of each driveway, but always walked to the doors to get his candy.

It was so fun to have him really "get" a holiday and made me so much more anxious for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

The Great State Fair of Texas

Yesterday Josh took a day off of work and we headed to the State Fair. We took the DART train down to the fair, which was great since Jake's new obssession is trains. It was packed, with a lot of people going to the fair, and a lot of people heading to where ever they go on a daily basis. It would be great if we could take advantage of it more often because it is great. Anyways, it was a little chilly and windy so we were all bundled up at the beginning of the day. Fortunately it warmed up a tad bit so we weren't in our jackets all day.

We stopped to see the animals first, which Jake loved once he adjusted to the amount of people there. It was packed. He loved seeing the little goats and attempted to kiss a few of them and had his jacket licked/chewed on by one! He also got a kick out of Elsie the cow and tried playing peek a boo with her. (He tried to his kiss her too, that's his new thing, kissing like Cosmo kisses.) We headed to the dog show where I think he hit on his first girl. He petted her head and hand, said baby, the hugged her hand. Adorable.

We met up with Grammy and her co-workers for lunch before moving on to the rides. I took Jake on a ride, then Josh took him on one, then we let him go on the swings by himself. He LOVED the swings. So much so that he cried when it was over. It was so cute! We headed to the ferris wheel, since I figured Jake couldn't go to the fair for the first time and not go on the most famous ride there. He was kind of ambivilent about it, but liked to look out and see everything. After a walk through the car show, we headed home, on a full train again. We had a blast and hopefully we can make this a yearly trip.

Goat trying to eat Jake's jacket

Peek a boo with the goats is funny

With Big Tex

On Jake's first amusement ride

Daddy and Jake on the flying elephant

Yea swings!

Not sure what this face was

Pumpkin Patch...take 2

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch today after a rained out attempt last weekend. Jake loved the pumpkins, then he loved the bounce house, then the pumpkins, then the truck for the hayride (for a long time), then the bounce house again, and finally the pumpkins again. After wadering around for a while we found a good carving pumpkin and Jake got two little pumpkins. We also got some pictures, but normal Mr. Smiles and Giggles was distracted by the "cuck" (truck) pulling the hay ride. I think he would have stayed on the hay ride all afternoon.

We haven't had too much going on recently. Josh's rugby season officially kicked off last weekend with a picnic that Josh did a great job planning. And yesterday they spent the day driving and playing rugby. Most of our weekends now will have at least one day of rugby.

Jake is still all over the place and talking up a storm and singing! He sings along with a bunch of songs, and knows bits and pieces of his ABC's. Smart boy! It is so cute to see him singing along with the TV, radio and his toys. He also loves "helping" in the kitchen. This is such a great age and I am so looking forward to the holidays this year!

So proud of himself for building with his blocks

"Hi baba!" Watching me in the kitchen

Showing off his glasses (he learned this at storytime)

What happens when you try to fold clothes with a toddler

Yea pumpkins!

On the hayride

With "gammy"

Bounce house!

Sweet, sweet smiles

It's the little things

The new little things Jake does are the best parts of being a mommy. When I am rocking him before bed he will randomly reach up and put both his hands on my face and just look at me before giving me a kiss then wrapping his arms as far around my neck and burying his head in my neck. He just started this and doesn't do it often but I love it when he does.

He will also randomly (usually when he is tired) grab my arm and put my hand on his face or head and cuddle with it. And in the past few days when I say I love you after buckling him in his carseat he will respond with a very emphatic "Awww eww!" He is just an amazing little boy and it is such a blessing to be his "baba."

Rugby, Swimming, Football...Oh my!

Our weekends have been packed fulled and don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon! Two weeks ago we headed to Denton for Josh's alumni game. His one chance a year to play some rugby. I didn't get to watch too much of it as I chased Jake all over the park, when he wasn't trying to run onto the field to find daddy. We were hoping for a little bit cooler weather, but it wasn't to bad of a day to spend the day outside.

Last weekend we headed to Denton, again, for my alumni meet. It was great seeing girls from college and amazing that none of the alumni drowned. It's funny how easy it comes back, at least for 50 yards or so. We also went to dinner with some of the girls, followed by the football game. Poor Jake didn't get a good nap in, he just slept in the car on the way to Denton, so we didn't know how the game would end up going, but he once again did great. He is so much calmer and more reserved when we are is public. Jake got to meet Scrappy, the mascot, and thought that was the greatest thing ever! The other two times Scrappy was in the stands Jake insisted on going to see him. We got home late that night though and Jake is still catching up on his sleep.

Jake has been talking like crazy and picking up so many new words. Just in the last few days he has started saying jacket, carseat, truck, clock, play, run, high chair, pumpkin, climb and a few other ones I can't think of right now. It is truly amazing to watch him learn these new things everyday.

Rugby guys

Stealing daddy's shoe

Yea Scrappy!

Train at the mall

Go Mean Green!

We headed to Denton yesterday for the first of 3 weekends in a row up there. Yesterday was for the first football game in the new stadium. We got there early because we had to get Jake a new shirt for this season and wanted to have some time to check out stadium and we knew it was a long walk from where we were going to park and the stadium. So we walked through campus a little bit on the way to and from the bookstore then headed to the stadium. Like I said, we knew it was going to be a long walk, we just underestimated how long! We decided not to take a stroller so we didn't have to deal with it at the stadium so I carried Jake in the sling on my back. It took us about 25 minutes to get to the stadium and another 20 to get through the crowds and activities and get to the other side of the stadium where some friends were tailgating. It was a hike!

Jake did great during the game, he hung out in the stands the whole time going back and forth between Josh and I and playing. He loved the fireworks and cannon after we scored. He kept asking for more. Unfortunately North Texas lost and after the first half we didn't have many fireworks or booms from the cannon. We stayed to the end though and hiked back to our car when it was over. I am really excited to go to more games this season now.

Jake and I had a playdate with Ausin and Kathleen at a playground last week. The boys didn't really play with each other but it is always fun to hang out with them since the boys are so close together. We are planning on trying for another playdate this week; hopefully the weather cooperates and doesn't get to hot.

The only picture I could get of both boys together, they were watching the guys mow