A Ducky Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Well, our little duck is all quacked out for the night! He had a GREAT time trick-or-treating and we are happy to report that he wore his duck hat the ENTIRE time! We walked our street and hit all of our neighbors that we really know -- probably about 10 houses or so. Bear Cub was just in the best of moods (thanks to that 2-hour nap today!) and was so cute has he walked along in his duck gear. We are SO very proud of our duck!

Bear Cub did fine going up to the doors and with a little prompting, he would say "trick-or-treat" in a very quiet voice. BUT...as soon as the doors opened, he charged inside! So, we got a glimpse at the insides of all our neighbors houses. Pretty interesting for us! :) He was the youngest trick-or-treater that we saw and by far, the CUTEST. Not that I'm biased or anything... ;) We ran out of candy at our house pretty quickly, which was fine with us, since we did have to get BC ready for bed. He stayed up until about 8:30 and he was ready for night-night time to say the least.

What a fun, fun night for us here! I'd say that Halloween 2008 was a huge success! Oh, and we've discovered that Bear Cub REALLY likes candy - chocolate, lollipops, Skittles...oh my. That darn sweet tooth again...

Enjoy the pictures!

(P.S. I'm supposed to be a farm girl, in case you can't tell...Daddy says that he was the paparazzi, as he was the "official" cameraman for the night)

A Spook-tacular Day!

Fun with friends...

The famous levitating cowboy hat trick! Yeah...betcha can't do that one! ;)

(I have no idea how I captured this photo...pretty funny, though!)

Today was Bear Cub's "Not-So-Scary" Halloween party here at the house and it was a success!! How do I know this, you may ask? Well, there are pieces of Play-Doh smooshed on our porch, cookie sprinkles afoot, and Halloween stickers randomly stuck throughout the house. :) It was great fun!

The kids came over in their costumes (so cute!) and quickly got into ALL of BC's toys in the family room. Wow...looked like a tornado went through within the first 5 minutes! It's pretty amazing what 5 toddlers can do! Bear Cub was wearing his famous duck outfit - sans the hat though. You'll see that I was able to take a few photos of him in his full attire, but that was BEFORE the party began. I'm hoping tomorrow night he'll at least wear the hat when we go up to our neighbors' doors. We shall see! But back to the party...

After some playtime inside, we headed out to the porch for some Play-Doh fun! Remember, I was dealing with 2-year-olds here, so each party "event" lasted about 5 minutes. Then it was quickly on to the next! After all the tubs of Play-Doh had been thoroughly mixed, it was time to decorate some Halloween sugar cookies! The kids were happy with this and some quickly ate ALL the frosting off the spoons that I had given them. Whoa...sugar rush!! Bear Cub decided that he just liked the sprinkles, and before I could react, he had grabbed the tub of sprinkles and dumped them all onto his cookie plate. He quickly starting taking fistfuls of the sprinkles and jamming them into his mouth. Pretty funny and I wish I'd had my camera handy for that moment! The boy likes sprinkles!

After that clean-up, it was back to playing on the porch and we ended our fun party with some "sticker art" as I like to call it. The other night I had happily cut out pumpkins from orange poster board. Remember, I was a second grade teacher and some of my most favorite times in the classroom revolved around holiday crafts. I miss that part of my job!! So it was great fun for me to create these little pumpkins (and later I made pumpkin paper bag puppets for the kids...oh yes, I was on a roll!). The kids decorated the pumpkins with some stickers I had bought and then they were on their way home!

Aunt Julie and Little Miss stayed and had lunch with us and as always, it was so nice to have them here. Bear Cub was literally falling asleep while he was eating lunch, so he took a 15-minute power nap as I held him and then he was ready to go for the REST of the day. He has got more energy than I know what to do with! :) Great thing is, he was instantly asleep when I put him down tonight, and I have a feeling it will be the same for me as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Toddlers are precious -- so fun, full of life, and just adorable to watch and listen to. But wow...they are exhausting, too! So it's off to relax for this Mama Bear.

We wish you all a happy and safe Halloween! I'm sure I'll have more photos to post from our trick-or-treating adventures tomorrow! BOO!!

And one last time...QUACK!! :)

Parties, Festivals, and Life in the Hood

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. Wow --- ours was very busy, but really fun! On Saturday, we went to a friend's 2nd birthday party at an awesome park that we'd never been to. I would say that this is the first party that Bear Cub has really enjoyed. He played hard and wanted desperately to sit next to the birthday girl while eating lunch. Oh yea...he's a ladies' man, alright. ;) She, of course, paid no attention to him, but he was happy sitting there with her! He also loves to sing "Happy Birthday" so he was ready for that to begin too. And really, this is the first time that he's gotten into the eating of the cupcake at a party. I do believe that one of his two-year molars is THE sweet tooth. I knew it would come eventually....

Also on Saturday, we hit our local Fall Festival. Not too much for BC, except for the few farm animals that were there. But we basically got there as they were being loaded up, so we got to witness the excitement of the goats, sheep, and pig being loaded into the trucks. The highlights were really us enjoying the beautiful weather, and gawking at the interesting carnies that worked the rickety-looking rides. Yikes!

Sunday was just a very relaxing day and we really enjoyed just being at home.

This week for us...Halloween, of course!! :) Thursday Bear Cub is having a little Halloween party with 5 of his friends here at the house. I have the itch to cut out some pumpkin and bat shapes, so why not do some easy crafts with these mini-students?!?!? :) It should be fun...costumes optional and lots of good Halloween snacks to be eaten. Will BC wear his duck outfit??? THAT is the big question around here. We will soon find out!

Enjoy the pictures from our weekend and have a wonderful week ahead! I'll be sure to post pictures after our little party on Thursday, and of course, after Friday's trick-or-treating adventure as the cutest lil' duck in town. QUACK! (or TWACK! as Bear Cub would say!)

P.S. Cold front coming our way!! Tomorrow's highs are only supposed to be in the upper 60s! Woo-hoo!! We can not wait! Break out the coats...it's winter in Florida! ;)

All smiles after checking out the animals...he LOVES them all!

Check out the bootie on that pig!

In BC's very own words, "Be nike doat" or "Be like goat!" He likes to imitate animals and what they're doing. Apparently one goat had his mouth open wide. He is too funny!

Look at these sweet Dachsund puppies! Bear Cub loved watching them play. And no, Zoe does NOT have another doggie friend. These guys were cute, but not THAT cute. ;)

Judging from this face, I'd say that Bear Cub had fun at our little Fall Festival!

And here's the part about "Life in the Hood." Yup, it's just him with a hood up.

Yeah for the end of the week!!

Hi everyone! Sorry no new pictures to post, but I just wanted to update you all on my friend and my sister. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was going to be a regular week for US, but for these two lovely ladies, it was going to be quite a different week!

First, my best friend gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Wednesday! He is healthy and looks so sweet and cute in the pictures I've seen. Congratulations!! :)

AND, I'm so happy to say that my sister's surgery went really well and she is doing great in recovery. Yeah for that! She's in good spirits and should be going home in a couple of days. What a relief. :)

Thanks for the extra prayers sent their way. It helped make this week a good one for us ALL.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead!

He loves the hat....

I came home from the gym the other evening to find my boys all clean and reading books together on the couch. Apparently, Bear Cub had been wearing his fireman's hat since he'd gotten out of the bath. Too cute!! And what a serious little reader he is...

Monday is back!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great weekend! We really did -- spent some great family time together AND Daddy Bear and I got to go on our date on Saturday. So, what did we do, you may ask? Well, we enjoyed a peaceful, easy dinner at Chilis and then walked around our favorite outdoor shopping center. I know, I know...not very romantic, but just SO pleasant to be able to walk, talk, and hold hands as we went along. We're usually so busy chasing Bear Cub that we don't get to do such a simple thing as hold hands. We were on a mission for THE duck costume. But to no avail, it is not out there. I do believe that the costume we saw at Walgreens some 3 weeks ago was the one and only duck outfit made this year. I just know that for many Halloweens to come, I will be looking for and at every duck outfit that I come across. Anyway, I found an easy duck costume to create, so we spent a good chunk of our time shopping for those little pieces to create our little duck. Funny thing...I'd been trying to convince BC how cool it would be to be a spider, but he continually said "No! Want duck!" Wouldn't you know that when we got home on Saturday night, we showed him some of the duck stuff and he said, "Want be spider!" Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagghhhhhhhh!! Sorry, kid, you are being a DUCK. All I had to say to that comment was "QUACK!" ;)

Bear Cub did awesome with the baby-sitter. In fact, as soon as she arrived, he cheerfully said, "Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!" and took her off to show off his cars. The baby-sitter is actually a friend of mine that I met last year at our weekly story time. She is the nanny of the kids she brings with her. She is great! We play with Emmy a lot, so Bear Cub gets to see "Nanny Amanda" at least once a week. I do believe that is why he was SO comfortable with her this weekend. I was so happy that he did well and she bragged on his vocabulary, his ability to name colors, and just what a cute personality he has. Of course, that makes a mother PROUD! :)Yesterday we were inspired to do some clean-up around home. We had eaten lunch on the porch and as we sat, all I could see was the grime on the chairs and generally what a mess it was out there. Let me tell you...it is as clean as a whistle now! BC helped me scrub the porch chairs and then got lost in the land of pretend as 2 of the chairs became boats that he loaded and unloaded his cars on. He had a blast out there and kept himself busy while I worked (Daddy mopped the floors inside....bless him!) and I loved listening to all of his pretend talk as I went along. Too cute!

Well, it's going to be a typical week ahead for US. But I do ask that if you are the praying type, to please keep my best friend, Erica, in your prayers as she is being induced Wednesday morning. Baby boy #2 will be born! Yeah!! I am so excited for her and her family. :) I can't wait to meet the new little one. And also, this Thursday, my sister is going in for surgery. I know she will be just fine, but added thoughts and prayers never hurt. Love you, Jessica!!

Have a wonderful week ahead and enjoy the couple of pictures. Our weekend was so busy that I didn't get to take too many pictures... :)

Family picture taken on Saturday before our big date.

Hard at work and enjoying our BEAUTIFUL cold front of 80 degree highs! Love it!

Lovin' to pretend....

On this particular morning, we started playing "going to school." We pretended to ride the school bus and then said our happy good-byes and he walked into the front room, which he called "school." I just love him in that little backpack!
Each time he returned from school, he had a different vehicle with him. He told me that his "teach" had given it to him.
Another day at school, with Zoe (who looks strangely like a white fox in this photo) happily following. I promise to put pants on him before he does go to "real" school. :)
Taking a spin on his fire truck while wearing the fireman's hat that Uncle E gave him. Notice though, that the hat is on backwards, so it's more like a strange, plastic baseball cap. He was putting out fires all over the place!

Random chatter...

I like the title of this post because a lot of what Bear Cub talks about is just that...random chatter. He can jump from one thing to the next and you just wonder...how in the world did he get there?? It's pretty funny. We love it when he is in one of his very serious talkative spells. This happens a lot in the car. He can comment on just about anything these days!! It's really fun. :)

So... onto my random chatter....

• Yesterday BC didn't want to sit on the potty at all! We were bummed, but didn't let him know that. Today was a bit better, as I've changed the reward to Skittles...so maybe that's the new incentive?? In time, he'll get it!
• He is dead-set on being a duck for Halloween. Yes, I know...a duck, of all things! We saw the costume several weeks ago and I thought, "Aww...it'll be there when we need it, or he'll change his mind!" Um...negative-o to both of those thoughts. So I've learned my lesson. **Buy the costume when you first see it!**
• He is starting to ask for more hugs at night and is actually beginning to say "I love you" to us. It is so very special, as that is something that I'm sure every parent waits to hear! His sounds more like, "I nuv you," and it is SO precious!
• I feel as if most of my day is spent making "If-then" statements to him. For instance, "If we get your shoes on, then we go to the park." Or, "If you let me wipe your hands, then you can help me feed Zoe." It goes on and on and on....
• He seems to be the most wound-up child that I have ever encountered. He can go, go, go constantly, which amazes us! My mom put it best in one of her blog comments...he's like the energizer bunny!
• Napping....oh boy....I'm afraid it's starting to disappear! I'd say every couple of days we can get him to nap. Other than that, he fights it and just talks away in his crib until I give up and go in to get him. By 4:00 p.m. he can be a tired lil' monster, but like tonight, he's asleep for the night by 7:20, so maybe it's all good. Where does the boundless energy come from??
• And...Mama & Daddy Bear might get to go on a real date this Saturday!! Woo-hoo! My friend, who is a nanny, volunteered to baby-sit, so I snatched her right up on that. I'm so excited, as it's been since our anniversary (July 1) that we've been on a date. And the best part is that I know she loves BC and that he knows her so well that things will be just fine when we leave. Don't know what we're going to do -- except that I don't have to catch any flying forks or milk cups. YES! :)

Have a great rest of the week! Tomorrow we are off to visit a friend of mine that is home on medical leave from school. Her health is fine now, thank goodness, and it will be great to see her. She also lives on a nice piece of fenced-in property, so I know Bear Cub will LOVE being able to run loose. And as for Friday...not sure yet...we'll just take it a day at a time. Although it could involve an extensive search for a duck costume....

QUACK!

A look back at all the fun times in BC's highchair...

Amazing to see how much our Bear Cub changed in a little over a year...
From a baby to a BIG boy!

August 2007 - 13 1/2 months old
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007

January 2008 - 18 months old

June 2008 - 23 months old

Just last night...2 years, 3 months old...our BIG BOY!

Fall Fun!

Ooh! Look at the corn!
Of course...he loved climbing up the tractor tires to play in the sand...
This looks like a good one!
Checking out an "old time" tractor, as Bear Cub would put it!
The family...before the hayride! BC squeezed us all together...so cute!
Can I get this one, please?
He also enjoyed the mural on the fence...
Hang on, lady...we're going for a ride!
Oh my...it's the dynamic duo, once again!
Taking a sippy cup break...it's hard work running around a farm!

Well, we had a busy and fun weekend! Yesterday we met up with Little Miss and her parents at a nearby corn farm for some Fall adventures. We were able to go through a real corn crop maze (Bear Cub led the way...and actually got us out of it!), sit on John Deere tractors, play in the sand, and take a hayride. Phew! What a day it was! Bear Cub had a lot of fun --- he was pretty much all over the place and I don't think he could believe his eyes when he could actually sit on those big tractors. What a dream come true!

We left tired, dirty, sticky with sweat --- but what we came back with was some fresh corn, an adorable pumpkin and a lot of great memories shared with our friends. :) It was a good day.

So, in honor of autumn (and an old bulletin board I used to create in school each year)...

I have to say it...........

HAPPY FALL, YA'LL!!!

Busy days...

Here I told him to, "Act like a squirrel..." Oh, the things you do for a decent picture!
Lately he's been putting his cars into his mouth...working on his 2-year molars, I do believe...
This boy LOVES to pick the berries off our Holly Trees!
Trying oh-so-hard to pick that tiny flower...

Taking some time out of his busy schedule to smell the flowers...
Dear Santa...Please bring me a real golf club, as this metal bat did not do the trick. My silly Mama said it was worth the try.

Working with Play-Doh for the very first time! He liked it!

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Our weeks just fly by. It's been a good one for us - with something going on each day. Yesterday we went for a swim with our friends and today we headed back to the gym for some playroom time and then another swim. Even though our outside temperatures are still VERY warm, I am beginning to notice a change in the pool and noticing teeny-tiny goosebumps on Bear Cub's arms at times, so I do believe our swimming days are numbered for the season. Oh well. That's ok...we sure did have a good run of it this year!

Enjoy the pictures from yesterday -- we had a little photo shoot out in our yard.

Have a great upcoming weekend and I'll post again soon! Maybe we'll have some pumpkin pictures after the weekend.... :)