Pumpkin Carving

I look forward to our tradition of picking out pumpkins and carving them before Halloween. {We learned quickly that "before Halloween" in South Florida literally has to be right before Halloween when our jack-o-lanterns from the first October here rotted after just a few days out in the Florida sun.} We waited all the way until Halloween Eve to carve this year's pumpkins...

Dad got started right away on his while I finished getting everything set up.


Kyle was having a hard time understanding why the top wouldn't just come off of his pumpkin.


Ryan had fun just hanging out with the family.


First, Kyle got to make his pumpkin into a scary Mickey.


Then he got to help Ryan and me with carving another big jack-o-lantern.



Dad played with Ryan while Kyle and I finished cutting the top of the pumpkin open.


After the cut was finished, it was time to lift open the top see inside.

(I took a video of Kyle opening up and cleaning out his pumpkin. Once the lid was open and Kyle got busy cleaning out the insides, he was focused on the task at hand and had a hard time coming up with any real answers to all the questions I was throwing at him over our Halloween plans. I tried to capture him saying he was going to get "yots and yots" of candy and some of his excited chatter that I've been hearing ALL WEEK about the Halloween party and trick-or-treating, etc., but he was busy and didn't want to take his focus off of his pumpkin.)

Stephen gave up on the spoon and dug into the guts--it's much faster that way!


Kyle decided to follow in his father's footsteps.

Here's Stephen and his cyclops pumpkin.

Kyle didn't want to make "a mean one," like Daddy's. He wanted to make our pumpkin "really happy!" He told me to make 2 eyes, one triangle nose, and a smile, even modeling what it should look like. Here's what we came up with as a team.


The finished pumpkins:



Once it got dark, we lit up the pumpkins and set them outside. Kyle insisted on posing in the pumpkin patch, even though he looked this this:

{This is one of his new things. I have to force him to keep his clothes on!}

May all your chocolate wishes and candy corn dreams come true. We wish you a Happy Halloween. Have fun and give out lots of treats, {and maybe a few tricks along the way....}

Trunk or Treat

The Palm Springs/Miami Lakes annual Trunk or Treat was held on Saturday. There was a pretty good turn out this year. Here are the people who dressed in costume for the event, {and made it ON TIME for the picture!}


Our family had a Toy Story theme this year. We went as Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear.


After taking a few pictures, it was time to strap Buzz into his spaceship and make the jump into hyperspace...or walk through the parking lot and collect candy.

Buzz and Woody save the day, again!


Several people really get into all things spooky and go all-out in decorating their cars/trucks. This was an especially scary place to trunk or treat, but Kyle kept wanting to go back to see "the mean guy."



One of the favorite costumes was Strawberry Shortcake's older sister......or is that mister?

Kyle was quite the charmer. He got SO many compliments on his Woody costume/how cute he looked, and many of the ladies gave him extra candy. I was so proud of him for always saying, "thank you" and "Happy Halloween" after he got candy. It's amazing how quickly a kid can pick up on how this Halloween thing works, and he wad well-rewarded for all of his efforts.....


Since Ryan was buckled into the stroller, it took people a few minutes to figure out his costume, but once they put the whole them together, they couldn't get enough of his cuteness. He didn't get any candy, though. A glow necklace was enough of a treat to keep him busy.


I am in love with these Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head costumes. They were a 2-for-1 deal and SO easy.



The funny story of the night: As we were walking around and Kyle was collecting candy, several people started congratulating me: "I didn't know you were expecting!" "You're expecting? Congratulations!" "Are you expecting? That's so soon-exciting!"

After a quick laugh, I had to squelch that rumor ASAP! No, I am NOT pregnant. Maybe it was the over-sized costume or the fact that there are SEVERAL pregnant people in the ward right now and I just got tossed in with the bunch, but somehow my name came up in a discussion of all the people who are currently pregnant. At least people asked me about it and just didn't start spreading the rumor without knowing the truth.

One family was giving out hot dogs as their treat. By that point, Kyle's candy pumpkin was practically full, so he sat down to eat his hot dog and help pass out candy.


We quickly ran out of candy, said our good-byes, and loaded up Woody and Buzz after a fun Halloween activity. Kyle was already talking about wanting to go trick-or-treating again~!

Toga! Toga! Toga!

Our good friends, the Fabianos, hosted a Toga Party last night.


I was SUPER excited about it and had so much fun putting our costumes together. (It's amazing what you can do with about 6 yards of $1.50 fabric, gold spray paint, wire, and safety pins! Throw in my black wig from last year and Stephen's Caesar goblet from Vegas, and we were all set.) Emperor Stephen and his queen: {Kyle kept saying, "Mommy, you're a princess!"}

Ann & Daenen

Heidi & Dan

Sandra & Hugo
Jenn & Troy
Rich & Maritza
Carlos & Jackie

Date nights are rare around here, so we were so lucky to be able to have a friend babysit for us so we could go to the party and enjoy a night out with good food, friends, and fun, PLUS togas!!!! The Fabianos love throwing parties and never disappoint. They had several kinds of meat/cheese/bread, fondue, chicken wings, grapes, a dessert tray, and plenty of sparkling cider.

We had fun mingling with the commoners...

My fellow royal ladies

Then citizens from around the empire gathered together for some games. Emporer Stephens' team took on the Trojans (Troy's team) for the title of "Best Team at 20 Questions, Roman Style."


Emperor Stephen's team conquered the Trojans!!! (And there was much rejoicing!)


After the games, the Senate met to bestow honors on the best-dressed citizens.

In third place.....

The Coopers

2nd place Female went to Jenn, while 2nd place Male when to Carlos, but they could barely stand on the podium together to receive their honor, seeing as they are such bitter rivals~a Dolphins fan vs. a Jets fan.

First place, and highest honor in all the Republic went to Troy and Jackie!

Before parting for our journey home, we got all members of the group together to document the fun that was had by all.

What a fun way to celebrate Halloween before the candy starts flowing tonight!

29 Weeks on the 29th

We've been busy, busy, busy! Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity: early voting, a quick lunch, a trip to the bank for a money order and notary, picking up our car from the mechanic, getting a {laughable} appraisal from Carmax, and grocery shopping, all along with household stuff of laundry, meals, dishes, baths, etc. {Not exactly a true day off for Stephen, but it feels good to get so much knocked off the to-do list.}

Ryan has also been busy lately, now that he's becoming more and more mobile. He's not truly crawling, but does more of a lift-scoot-drop-repeat. It works for him and {usually} gets him where he wants go, but every now and then I have to pull him out from the latest place in which he's trapped himself. This new stage of the slightly older Ryan keeps Kyle on his toes, too. Kyle's starting to learn that he can't just leave books, toys, and other treasures on the floor because little brother will get to them and put them right into his mouth.

Being busy is making time fly by, but we have many fun things to look forward to in the next little while. Kyle can't wait for another Halloween party and to get, "yots and yots of candy." We are also excited about a road trip in a few weeks, AND Stephen has a JOB INTERVIEW!!! {Wish us luck....}

Go Dallas

I have no means of transportation in which to leave, so I've had plenty of time to get some things done around the house today. Plus, the garage was much easier to empty and organize with no pesky car taking up valuable workspace. I was also able to rework Ryan's wardrobe, packing up things he's outgrown and pulling out the next size. One outfit I rediscovered was this one:


Since we don't have any Rangers gear, I figured we could still show some Dallas love in honor of game one of the World Series. Go Dallas!

Life Happens

We would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most....

...{Speaking about our family relationships} Since “no other success can compensate for failure" here, we must place high priority on our families. We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time.
---Dieter F. Uchtdorf

On the way to the park today, I was thinking about all the things that need to get done before we move and started making a mental to-do list. One of those items is to sell our car, which led me to think about how I want to unload it soon before anything goes wrong on that "ticking time-bomb."

The weather at the park was perfect, the kids had a wonderful time, and we piled into the car to head home. (Actually, I had a few errands to run after leaving the park and before getting back home.) As luck (or lack thereof) would have it, the car wouldn't start. Luckily, we weren't alone today, so a friend was able to drive us home. The poor car is still at the park, waiting for Stephen to get home and help me with a solution.

Here we are, forced to slow down and stay home, unable to cross off anything from my to-do list. And, you know what? Other than being upset/frustrated about the car issues--I'm okay with it. The boys and I are able to just spend some time together, and that really is what matters most.



(P.S. I know Ryan has been taking over the blog lately, but you can head over to my curriculum blog for an update on some of the things Kyle and I have been up to in "school.")

Countdown

Stephen's vacay is over, but that means that we're on the countdown again. He has 6 weeks of school and only 17 clinical days left. He also has one more week of vacation in the middle of that time, so the last few weeks of school should fly by. In only 7 weeks, Stephen will graduate, and we will be moving back to Texas. The countdown is definitely on.

Speaking of countdowns, can you believe there are only 2 months until Christmas? I need to get going since I also have A LOT of packing to do. That task is made even more difficult since I keep getting sidetracked, trying to fulfill Kyle's the latest list of demands or having to save Ryan from things like this:

He just loves to crawl in or under things that he can't quite get out of. His new favorite spot seems to be in between the couches, since he's discovered the basket of diapering stuff I keep back there.

I guess having these types of distractions isn't such a bad thing.


I know who to blame if I'm down to the wire when it comes to being ready for all the events we're counting down to....