Hallo-palooza

The month of October was filled with all sorts of Halloween activities.  Oct 1st, Mikey had his fall concert for first grade.  It was adorable and really well organized. The best part was that it was like 20 min long.  :)  Then, we had some homemade fun with a smorgasbord of snacks and crafts.  After that we went on a Nana & Wardy sponsored farm day.  We threw a couple of trunk-or-treats in the mix too.They had all sorts of fun for the kids!  Here is an overwhelming amount of pictures for you.  Feel free to take a snack break if need be.

Fall Concert:

Mikey painting his Home Depot piggy bank.

The finished product.

ALS Walk

On October 11th we went to tempe town lake to participate in the Walk for ALS.  It was such a nice day!  I didn't have my camera so these are all cell phone pictures.  I had so much fun hanging out with Kirk, Karen, Nick, Jessika, the boys, Julia, Jeff and my Dad!  We were the last people to start the race and so by the time we reached the chalk arrow, it had been wiped clean.  Needless to say, we had a little detour.  :)  Then, we had a picnic in the park with some subway sandwiches!  Thank you Kirk and Karen!!

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive we saw a ton of dogs. Hunter was going crazy!! This great dane scared him a little though!  The picture does not do this dog justice.  His head was HUGE!  We asked the owner how much he weighed and he said he was 185lbs.  His paws were the size of Hunter's face!

Hunter had quite the set-up here.  He had a gatorade, a sippy cup and some trail-mix.  Within minutes, his face was covered in chocolate and all that was left were the nuts.

We couldn't figure out how to get Kirk's chair to go faster, so here are the boys messing with it.  Jackson hitched a ride for a while too!

Farm Day

I think Mikey was in a mood on the Farm day.  Not a bad mood, instead a seriously-get-this-over-with-so-I-can-play mood.  Here are the results:

Any suggestions?

Hunter saw was OBSESSED with the chickens.  He spent about twenty minutes chasing one all over the farm.  He would hold out his hands and say "awww  ki-kiy" which is kitty.  He usually calls everything a dog, so I'll take it.  Here he is chasing them:

again...

...and again.

poor, poor chickens.

All of the grandkids.  Look at how freaking cute Maia is!  Jacob gets an A also.

The duck races.  This is a favorite of Mikey's.

Family Activity Day!
We carved pumpkins, made carmel apples, roasted pumpkin seeds, made rice krispies and had lots of fun!

Mikey has never been a fan of the pumpkin 'guts'.  He is so totally grossed out by them and always has been.

By this point, the boys were acting so goofy because every time they turned around I made them take a picture.

These were crazy delicious by the way.  They have apples so they have to be healthy right?

Goofy face #2

Our finished product.  What a day!



INTERMISSION:
you can take this time to use the restroom and get a drink or a snack.


Continuing on...
Soccer

October also marked the end of Mikey's soccer season.  They were awarded with medals as a team on the stage.  He loved it!

Mikey playing goalie.

I don't really know what's going on here.

Grammy and Hunter

There is Mikey running.  The little kid on the right was like a solid foot smaller than the rest of the kids, but he was a MANIAC!  That kid was born for soccer. He probably would have whooped me at one-on-one.  Thats not saying much, but you get the idea.

Mikey had a little incident while being goalie.  He tried to stop a ball and his cleat got caught in the net.  Wah-wah. Daddy had to go and help him.  He didn't even flinch and just kept on playing!

God? You have a phone call.

Super cool kid. OH! That is the kid next to Mikey that is so good!

Drum-roll Please.....Halloween Day!

Hunter was a garden gnome this year but for all of the trunk-or-treats he would NOT leave his hat on.  No surprise there, but I was experimenting with anything that would make him leave it on.  Well, this was the winning combo people.

Mikey getting his make-up  hardcore ninja mask on.

The boys were less than thrilled with all the photos.  That seems to be the trend.

I LUUUUVE MY LITTLE GARDEN GNOME! ( Either it was my lucky day or he just got used to the hat).

Ooops, there goes the hat.

Mikey's costume had a full face mask but he didn't want to wear it, so we improvised.

The boys were such opposites while trick-or-treating.  It took Mikey about 5 houses before he would even knock.  When he finally got the courage, he would stand there frozen.  After about house #10 he warmed up and started saying "trick-or-treat".  Hunter, on the other hand, didn't have as much trouble.  He would walk right up to the door, knock, then just walk right in when the door opened.  I had to stand right there so he wouldn't go inside.  Everyone we saw he would say "hi" to.  "hi, hi, hi, hi".  We tried to teach him to say Trick or Treat and it came out "Tee-Tee". I love it.

On Halloween night we had a wedding reception to go to that was a costume party.  Mikes mom and dad won the prize if you ask me!  They looked so good dressed like Dog and Beth from Dog the Bounty Hunter.  It was hilarious!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my long-winded 'October in the Thomas House' presentation.  Bring it on November, bring it on.

Things Hunter is doing at 18 months...

I see so many blogs where the author has documented the skills of their children at a certain age.  Most include the words they are saying and their coordination, etc.  I have always wanted to write one of my own.  Here goes:

THINGS HUNTER IS DOING AT EIGHTEEN MONTHS.

-Bathing himself:

-Dressing himself:

-Expanding his creative horizons using markers to color on everything: 

...I mean everything...

Here he decided to use a new medium. Nail Polish. 

 ***How he got a hold of it is still a mystery.  I keep all my polish under the sink in a bag with a zipper and the cabinet is child-proofed.

-Experimenting with the law of gravity:

**He climbed up on the chair and leaned against the window.  We had the window open that day because it was nice out and the screen gave out.  He flipped out the window and onto the rocks outside.  Thankfully he didn't have a concussion but we took him to the ER just to be safe.  He got two stitches that he pulled out within 24 hours.  I think it was more traumatic for me than him. He was back to himself within ten minutes!

-Learning about new cultures:

-Taste Testing:

-Going green with an organic milk bath:

Yes, all the white specks are milk.

-And finally, Testing out some Rock Star hairstyles:

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is what Hunter's hair looks like straight.  For some reason it is growing in a mohawk...

Happy 18 months my baby boy.  It really makes me wonder what the terrible two's will bring...

Splash Park

Haley's First Birthday party was at the Marley Park Splash Park! It was such a beautiful day and that community has the most unbelievable parks!

Poor Mikey was sick as a dog when we picked him up from his mom's house, but he was  a really good sport!

Soccer!

Mikey started playing soccer and is LOVING it.  It's hilarious to me because Mikey loves to play sports, but he is not aggressive!  I think he just hates to make anyone feel bad and he hates being mean.   He was a great goalie and loves running around!

Hunter was obsessed with the other kids.  All he wanted to do was run after them. 

Nap Time

What could possibly be cozier than a pile of shoes on the carpet?  

There is nothing quite like a toddler so tired, he puts himself to sleep.  

10 Random Pictures to Wrap Up the Summer:

10. Mikey is clearly not amused with the matching outfits/mini american flags. Happy 4th of July!

A:

B:

9.) Happy 29th Birthday Pauline! Mike's family celebrated at our house with an excellent dinner made by Chef-boy-Mikey, German Chocolate Cake (her fave) and a healthy round of Pictionary. (I feel like I spelled Pictionary wrong and it's not in the spell checker. Who would've thought. I was going to google it, but thats just ridiculous.)

8.) The Deeder.

7.) What is more fun than modeling your back-to-school loot? Hunter has on Mikey's lunch box. We didn't want him to feel left out.

6.) Here we are learning how blues and oranges compliment each other.

5.) Homemade pizza night. We used whole wheat tortillas and it was surprisingly delicious.

4.) $4.00 for his 4th tooth!? I guess even the tooth fairy has been effected by inflation...

3.) I absolutely love Hunter's feet.

2.) I caught Hunter on his motorcycle with a cell phone. We are going to have to have a serious talk about the dangers of talking and driving, not to mention the bubble-blower in his other hand...

1.) Drum-roll please.....Mikey is officially a first grader. He is doing a great job with reading and writing! We have, however, had a couple of incidents with scissors and his hair/shirts.

Happy end of summer to all of you! P.S HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTI!!