Halloween 2010

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, we did all our Halloween fun on Saturday. First up was the annual party at the Colemans {of course, since we've known them less than a year, it was a first for us!} and it did not disappoint! Lots of friends from our new WA ward, tasty treats and fun costumes. This was one of the faves:

"Bun in the oven and the baker" + their little girl as Alice in Wonderland.

Spiderman, the "Gruesome Twosome" and a stick figure. {It was pretty cool to see when you turned out the lights!}

Blue from Blue's Clues, cowgirl, fairy and you can see Popeye in the upper left picture.

Brandon as... something spooky!!

Sean went as an extreme Oregon Ducks fan! Very fitting, since we won the game that night!

Lack of time and ideas led me to one of my stand-bys: a witch with awesome eye make-up!

After the party, we all headed over to the church for the carnival and Trunk-or-Treat. Ethan wasn't too into the games, but did enjoy the fishing game and the bean bag toss.

Ethan was so anxious to dig into his candy when we went around to the cars for the trunk-or-treat, that he didn't even go to all the cars!! But he had fun and has loved having his own little stash of treats. We came home, got him ready for bed and then dropped him off at another family's house so we could share a baby-sitter and headed to the Colemans for a scary movie. Supposedly a classic. Yeah, I think we did more laughing than jumping in fright. Some parts were just plain weird and only a handful of scenes were creepy or suspenseful. Probably for the best, though, since I'm not really a huge fan of scary movies!

Sunday we went to church and I took my class candy corn cupcakes {idea borrowed from Our Best Bites, of course!}.I didn't get a very good picture, but the cake part was layered yellow, then orange, with a white frosting top - just like a piece of candy corn! So clever, I know.

After church, we just hung out at home and I made Ethan up a special Halloween dinner:

Mummy hot dog, Halloween shapes mac-n-cheese, monster apple and green milk!

Oh, and what did our little guy dress up as for the Saturday festivities?? A stud-muffin of a pilot!! Though I had several inquiries as to whether he was supposed to be Maverick from Top Gun. You can totally see the similarities, right?!

Thanks again to my Uncle Steve who got the jacket for Ethan last year and made my job so much easier this year when it came to putting together Ethan's costume - I just had to buy the sunglasses {got a 3-pack from Amazon for $10 w/ shipping}.

Pumpkins: From Patch to Porch 2010

I liked the title for last year's pumpkin patch post so much that I decided to repeat it! It's tradition to go to the pumpkin patch for our pumpkins, but this was the first year we didn't go to Lone Pine and I was a little bummed. We asked around and though there were a couple farms in the general Portland area I wanted to try, but time restraints led us to Bi-Zi Farms. Of course, we {unknowingly} go on opening day and it was packed with people! They do things a little differently there. It's a flat admission to get in and it includes a hayride, pumpkin of any size, free hot chocolate, corn maze and all sorts of activities for kids. I had mixed feelings about it, though it was fun to do the hay ride since we had always opted out at Lone Pine.

Here's what we did do:

* Explored the fire truck that was there. {The sun was right in Ethan's eyes!}



* Hay bale maze for Ethan.



* Hay bale pyramid for Ethan. He loved this and made it all the way to the top {which nearly gave this mama a heart attack as my over-active imagination envisioned the whole thing collapsing or him tumbling from the top}!



* Mini tractor ride for Ethan.



* Corn maze w/ the Colemans {unplanned, but we met up with them just after we got there}.



* Played on the vintage tractor with the Coleman kiddos.



* Corn bin for Ethan. Think ball pit/sandbox but with corn kernels!



* Petting zoo/feeding the goats.

Is it bad when I look at the turkeys and start craving Thanksgiving dinner w/ all the trimmings?!

Love this picture of Ethan. Look at that smile!

* Hay ride to and from the pumpkin patch. {Good thing it was pulled by a tractor and not a horse [since I'm allergic to horses]!}

He was so excited for the hay ride and wanted to be right on the edge {thus giving me more heart palpitations}!

* And, of course, the pumpkin patch!

The search for the "perfect pumpkin" was on!

Much to big for this little guy!

A little better....

Almost....

Better search some more, with eager help from the Coleman boys.

Could this be the one?!

Found it!!

Our pumpkin patch loot {though the medium orange one belonged to a Coleman boy}.

Unfortunately, Sean's pumpkin {the biggest orange one} proved to be a dud and had to be replaced at the last minute with a $2 Walmart special. We carved them all up the Monday before Halloween. Ethan was insistent that "Daddy help him make an alien pumpkin".

I went with a Frankenstein's monster take on the classic jack-o-lantern.

And Sean went with a 3-eyed monster.

Here they all are, pre-lighting.

Ta-da!!

Stay tuned... the Halloween post is coming up next!

Leading the Nation in Push-ups

That's what my new Ducks shirt says. And in case you don't follow college sports, Oregon is currently leading the nation both in football [8-0 so far this season] and in push-ups [the Duck mascot does the same number of push-ups as the current Oregon score each time they score a touch-down. So, with last night's win over USC with a score of 53 to 32, the Duck did over 200 push-ups!]

I got my shirt on my recent trip down to Oregon, along with new shirts for my boys. I couldn't pass up Duck shirts at 3 for $20! Ethan's is along the left and Sean's is the upper right one {which, as you can see in the bottom right picture is actually a very bright yellow}.
And since we're on the subject of Duck football... have you seen the new "Return of the Quack" video?!

Yep, I think it's safe to say that at this house, We LOVE our Ducks!

Puddle Jumpin' and Comfort Food

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that, living in Washington, we get our fair share {ha! That's an understatement!} of rain. Add to that a little boy who longs to jump in the puddles every {single stinkin'} time we set foot out the door and you have the makings for some serious puddle jumping once I gave the okay. We got his boots on, zipped up his raincoat and let him have at it. Meanwhile, I grabbed the camera and popped the trunk of the Explorer to give me some shelter from the rain as I snapped these shots...

Getting ready....

Here's the jump...

And the splashdown!!

I also snagged this video of our little "water monster".

And I love this shot of some serious puddle stomping. :)
Then, after Ethan took a shower to warm up, he and Sean made a Costco run while I made spaghetti for dinner. My first attempt at homemade sauce and it was YUMMY!! Lots of fresh veggies, though the tomatoes came from a can, and some lean ground beef all simmered together on low heat. We had that and some crusty artisan bread {from said Costco run} that I split lengthwise and spread with a little {homemade} garlic butter and toasted up. Comfort food at its finest. We had nice full bellies and even Ethan gobbled it up! Though, I did have to pick the parsley flakes off his bread because he "didn't want grass" on his bread!! Ha ha!! Love that kid! After dinner dishes were cleared, we carved our pumpkins {pictures to come} because Ethan had been begging to "poke our pumpkins". I love this time of year.