Halloween Fun!

Although this year wasn't Alex's 1st Halloween, it was the first one he could really participate in. We went down to the campground on Saturday for dinner, costume contests and trick or treating. Alex took home 1st place. But how could something that cute not win?? Especially dressed as a dragon!

Last night was his first time trick-or-treating. He walked right up to the doors with Reagan, held out his bucket and was thrilled to be getting things in it.

We quickly learned that we had to empty his bucket after each house because if we didn't, he was hesitant to hold it out, I am assuming he thought they might take the candy out of it.

It was a lot of fun even though it was cold and rainy.

Such cute kids!

Walking in the contest with Daddy.

Hamming it up for the judges.

The winners - 1st - Alex, 2nd - the lamb, 3rd - the butterfly.

Time for costume #2 - Thor. Goes with Sissy's Black Widow costume.

First time eating a sucker! LOVED it!

Helping sissy carve the pumpkin.

Touching pumpkin guts for the first time.

Not a fan. Pretty sure he was thinking "why in the heck are you doing that??"

Decorating the pumpkin Nana gave him with face stickers.

Ta da! Done!

Finished pumpkin (with help from daddy).

Reagan's finished pumpkin.

 **I have more pictures from Halloween night that I need to add. Stay tuned!

It's Madness!

If you know me at all you know I am obsessed with UK Basketball. So when I discovered that Matt, mom, dad, Kathy, and anyone else I knew was going to be out of town the night of Big Blue Madness, I was left with 2 options - 1) Stay home with Alex and watch on TV or 2) Take a 1 year old to a basketball scrimmage that doesn't start until 7 p.m. (keeping in mind he typically goes to bed at 7:30).

I am sure you know which option I went with. And to make things even more fun on myself, I took Reagan along as well.

It ended up being a great time. Alex got sleepy one time, didn't fuss, but just snuggled with mommy. We did leave before it was over and I am pretty sure he was asleep in the car before we got out of the parking garage. They both loved every minute of it and Alex was only concerned when the fireworks were the ones really close to us.

I will say, I was even more excited when they did a special moment with the banners. The one thing I hated to miss the most this year was when they raised the banner for the championship at Rupp. So when they brought out a player from every championship team, including Wah Wah Jones, and raised all 8 of the banners again, I was beyond thrilled. And it helped that we were sitting in the end zone where the banners were so we had an up close view of it.

Here are some pictures from the kids' 1st Big Blue Madness:

Only would have been better if Daddy was with us too!

Sleepy boy. Funny thing is, this was during the loudest part of the night - the boy's intros.

First Trip to Kings Island...

One of Matt's most favorite things in the world to do is to take Reagan to Kings Island. So he was very excited to take Alex there for the first time. We finally made it on October 7th and although it was chilly, we had a wonderful time. Alex rode rides with Reagan and then even rode one by himself! The lines were super short due to the weather and we were all able to spend the day together. Alex behaved all day and didn't even take a nap. But he sure crashed when we got in the car!

Hanging out with Snoopy!

On his very first ride, with Daddy!

Riding with sissy! He thought this was great!

Cute kids!

More fun!

So big!! So sweet!

The traditional picture of Reagan in front of the tower, now with an addition.

Riding all by himself! I will admit, mommy was a nervous wreck but it was great.

Having so much fun!

Calm and Gentle Child...

Yeah right!! Our child is nuts! Here is a prime example:

Fall = Orchard Fun!

Every fall we like to take the kids to the Orchard at least once, to play and to pick out a pumpkin. Last year Alex was really little so he didn't care much. He had a lot more fun this year on our visits.

Visit 1 - Boyd's Orchard

The trip to Boyd's Orchard turned into a family affair and was a ton of fun!

The whole crew!

Having a blast with pumpkins and gourds.

 

The traditional chair picture.

He was pouring food on the back of the goat and thought it was absolutely hilarious!

Tasting the apples from the Orchard.

Then I decided to take the kids to Evan's Orchard the weekend Matt was out of town for the UK/Arkansas football game. We had never been there but it turned out to be a great time. It was really windy so we didn't stay very long but the kids enjoyed the time we were there.

In the fortress made all of hay.

He couldn't pedal so mommy had to push him around but he still had a good time.

Walking in the big wheel!

 

Dancing Machine...

I know I have mentioned it before but Alex is quite the dancing machine!

Here he is just jamming to some of daddy's music. As soon as he hears it that little leg starts going...

This video is from earlier this week. His Nana bought him these 2 Snoopys from Hallmark and he just thought they were great!

Fun With Food...

I know, it has been an extremely long time since I last posted something to the blog and I have plenty excuses but instead of wasting time with excuses, I will just bombard the blog with new posts. :)

Life with a toddler, as I am sure you can guess, is extremely different than life with a newborn. One of the biggest differences in my opinion is meals. We went from feeding a crying baby whenever he was hungry a simple bottle, to a toddler that eats at meal times with the family, and eats what the family is eating, to an extend. However, our very stubborn toddler likes to do it all by himself. So that includes a much bigger mess than I had ever anticipated.

We have gotten lucky that he is not a very picky eater and has taken to most foods we feed him. He is particular about some textures - peaches especially - but overall it is not too bad.

I wanted to share a couple of the funnier good moments that I was actually able to catch with the camera.

Ravioli Fun:

I also like to call this one, "monkey see, monkey do" since he caught on to Matt and I blowing off his food when it is hot.

Here is the final result of him feeding himself raviolis...

He went straight to the tub after this!

And here he is eating butter noodles. Finally saying yes to something, for a while it was no to anything you asked him.

Another funny time with some turkey soup:

So good, it required 2 spoons!

Such a ham!

And I thought he was done so I tried to take the bowl away, guess I was wrong!

Finally, we will call this "like mother, like son" because this child LOVES his french fries, especially with ketchup.