trunk or treat

For months, Brooke talked about being Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween.  The Hawkins gave her the cutest dress-up for her birthday, and it was going to be perfect!  I ordered her some red shoes to go with it, and debated ordering a red wig, but chickened out at the last minute.  I wasn't convinced that she would wear it, and I didn't want to waste money. I'm glad I listened to my gut, because she decided that she wanted to be Cinderella instead!  She made this decision probably a week before our Ward Trunk-or-Treat, and since she already had the whole costume, I couldn't say no.  I had been looking for a dog costume for Colby so that he could be Pupcake (Strawberry's dog), but could only find a brown dog costume.  It worked out in my favor since Brooke changed her mind.  He was then "Bruno" from the classic Cinderella movie. 

He didn't want to sit still for a picture though, hahaha.  This picture seriously cracks me up! That kid was determined to just scoot down the driveway, and when Brooke grabbed his tail to keep him in place, I snapped a picture. 

As part of our "family costume", Brooke wanted me to be the fairy godmother, and Kevin to be her prince.  (At first, she wanted him to be Lucifer the car, which is hilarious on so many levels!)  I didn't want to spend a ton on our costumes, but I loved that she was excited about dressing up together.  I had a long purple dress that I wore to wedding, so I bought matching fabric to make my cloak, and pink ribbon for the front.  I found several patterns online, but it took WAY longer than I expected.  I felt like people didn't know who I was supposed to be, but Brooke was happy, so that's all that really mattered to me.

Again, to avoid spending a ton on costumes, we did a makeshift prince costume for Daddy.  He was supposed to make riding boots out of black garbage bags (it actually looked really good during our trial run), but he opted out at the last minute.

Brooke and Brooks are the cutest little friends.  They have kind of a love/hate relationship, hahaha.  Both kids are pretty headstrong, so I laugh at their disagreements.  Like, when they were fighting over whose name started with a B, hahaha!

This picture is not from the ward party, but Grandma and Papa came over on the actual Halloween evening, so I wanted to document it :)  I made a big pot of soup and Rhodes rolls, which we enjoyed together.  They helped pass out candy while we took the kids trick or treating down a few streets.  Overall, it was a great Halloween, and we had lots of trick or treaters, just like last year!

green meadows petting zoo

Every year, Green Meadows petting zoo comes to Lynn Creek Park, which is 5 minutes from our house!  They also have a tiny pumpkin patch, but you really go for the animals, hay ride, and pig races.  The first year we took Brooke (as a 4.5 month old), we didn't end up going in because it was $12 per adult, and all we wanted was a picture of Brooke by the pumpkins.  We have gone back the last few years with our play group, and have absolutely loved it.

Brooks Taggart, Whitaker and Elias Smith, and Brooke.

Brooke loved that baby cow.

I was surprised at how fearless she was with the goats!  When she was given her first handful of feed, she went right over to the fence (without me), but as soon as the goat's tongue got her hand, she kind of dropped the handful.  She kept going back for more feed, and eventually just held her hand there while the goat licked her hand clean.  I just tried to ignore the fact that her hands were going to be disgusting!!  She was loving life, and those little goats.

Her second favorite was the little chicks.  The year before, she had been equally obsessed with them. They don't allow kids to pick them up, so I would hold them and she would kiss them and nestle her head next to them.  

Colby wanted in on the action as well, haha.  It's hard with him in the stroller because I couldn't hold him and the animals, but I tried to take him in and out so that he could get closer to the animals.

Both kids were pretty happy with the pumpkins they picked out, and Brooke insisted that she could carry her pumpkin to the car by herself.  She is a determined girl, but she must have given up at some point as evidenced by the last picture!

Thanks for another great year, Green Meadows!

carving pumpkins

We had never carved pumpkins with the kids, so we figured that this was the year to do it. We had a few small pumpkins from our pumpkin patch outings, and I think I purchased the big one at Costco.

Brooke was intrigued at the whole process, but wasn't too keen on the slippery insides. I let her help with the carving tools, but it wasn't super kid-friendly.  Colby just wanted to hold the gigantic spoons!

The kids lost interest and just played in the garage while Kevin and I finished the carving.  I attempted to do a giant sun (from Tangled), but it didn't turn out that great (hence the lack of pictures).  Kevin was pretty proud of his pumpkin though :)

celebrating grandma

We had plans to picnic at the pumpkin patch as part of Grandma's birthday celebration, but the pumpkin patch decided to open late that day, so we picnicked at the park instead.  We enjoyed our food, opened gifts, had cupcakes, played a bit, then headed over to the pumpkin patch.

Brooke had another cute Halloween outfit courtesy of my Mom, and she was excited to wear it!

She wasn't excited about taking pictures though (surprise), so I just went for candid shots as to not ruin the experience:)  Colby, on the other hand, is oblivious to my picture taking, haha.

Brooke was smitten with the cute cinderella carriage, and really didn't want to leave that area.

The girls remembered these wagons from last year, and they pulled them all over the big field.

Colby was content to scoot himself all over the hay-strewn field from pumpkin to pumpkin.  I knew this would not bode well for his eczema, and I was right.  His poor cheeks looked awful by the end of the afternoon.

He loved the bounce house and slide with Auntie Mel Mel.

Coming to the Flower Mound pumpkin patch is another one of our Fall traditions, so I did make Brooke take one family picture. And of course the group shot!

Arlington Pumpkin Patch

This was the first of several pumpkin patches of the season, and by far the hottest!  One thing I don't love about Texas is how hot is stays at the beginning of Fall.  I just want crisp air!  Especially when we go to the pumpkin patch, haha.  All the kids had very rosy cheeks, but still had fun. 

We had the place to ourselves for almost 2 hours, and the kids kept themselves entertained while the moms chatted. The only downfall was that we were seriously lacking some cold water.  By the end of the outing, I'm pretty sure the kids had all shared water bottles. As usual, Danielle captured some super cute pictures of the kids playing together. (Brooke and Brandt)

 And some great still shots of my babies!

This picture of Colby perfectly captures the state of his poor little cheeks!  I seriously want to cry looking at this.  Out of nowhere, he started getting these rough patches on his cheeks, and I couldn't figure out if it was just dry skin, or something more serious.  Brooke had little eczema patches as a baby, but eczema lotion always did the trick.  Those same lotions were not helping my little guy, and his constant teething drool and dry straw didn't help the situation.  I asked the pediatrician about it, and after using his suggested remedies, and many other remedies from friends, I took him to the dermatologist.  I had to wait over a month to get in though, so we dealt with the rough patches until the first week of December.  I will post about that visit later, but I am happy to report that it is no longer an issue! 

colby-11 months

Our big boy: uses the "more" sign without prompting, likes to open drawers and pull clothes out (which makes me nervous because he has almost caught his fingers multiple time), started scooting on his bum to get places, and bottom left tooth came in after a few restless nights.

We finally transitioned him from the pack-n-play in our room to his crib upstairs.  We kept him in our room a lot longer than Brooke, but he woke up a lot more during the night and I didn't want him to be so far away. Once he was consistent with 10-12 hours in our room, I knew he would do great up in his own room.

Before Colby was born, I remember being worried that I would be able to love him as much as I loved Brooke. He has surpassed all of my expectations and has stolen a very big part of my heart.  He's just a good boy and so full of personality.  It's hard NOT to love this little chunk.