Carving Out a Magical Holiday!

Saturday night we finally got around to our annual Halloween pumpkin carving fun. Ky helped me made his vampire Mickey pumpkin (thanks Grammy Meme), while I drew a Mickey onto our larger pumpkin, taking inspiration from Ky's coloring book (he also helped by coloring on the pumpkin once he saw Mommy do it). After Kyle went to bed, Chris and I hollowed out the pumpkin and I carved/painted it, while Chris baked the pumpkin seeds (he found a delicious recipe on Youtube and did this all by himself! I think he's started a nice little tradition for himself!). I also baked some pumpkin chocolate chip bars so we had quite a festive spread :)

Saturday at the Park: Last of the year?

This weekend, though beautiful, really started to veer on the chilly willy end of the fall season. After visiting Grandpa and Grammy Meme to pick up some Halloween costume props, we headed out to the park - the windy stroll there definitely made us question our decision, but it was either the park or the Zoo, and the park was definitely the less crowded, less expensive option - a win win overall. Once we got there, we warmed up by sliding down slides, running around the cushioned ground, and bouncing on the bouncer. Such fun in the sun! Sadly, my best pics from the afternoon got deleted on account of a dumb phone update .. bummer!

Best Babysitters Ever! Thank you all :)

Last week I worked a crazy long, two-day volleyball tournament at work. I didn't get home from work until about 8:30pm both nights, and had to depend on different sources to help out with Kyle duty. Thank you to everyone who helped out! Kyle loves spending time with you all. Here's a pic of Kyle reading with Uncle on Monday night. What a pair.

GG and Dzia's Neighborhood!

GG moved in across the street from us! She is now living next door to Dzia - very nice for her and very convenient for everyone :) Kyle and I stopped by to visit the two of them on Friday after work. He got a kick out of wearing GG's shower cap as a hat and twisting around with the phone cord ... something he had never seen before!

Here's a phone shot.

A Cousins' Weekend

Right after swim class, our family filled weekend commenced. Auntie Robo picked me up from class and the two of us headed down south (roughly 4 hours south to be exact) to celebrate with cousin Aubrey and her fiance Trevor ... the two just bought a new home down in Springfield and will be married this same weekend next fall. We collaborated on a Pinterest inspired gift and ordered them a lime tree plant, which we then adored with cornonas and fully grown limes. Due to the long drive, we were really only down there for 3 hours, but it was a fun drive, a beautiful fall day, and a lot of fun to see that side of the family. While we were on our adventure, Kyle and Chris went to cousin Kayla's 5th birthday party at Pump It Up. Kyle really enjoyed bouncing on all the mats and sampling the cake. Yesterday was cousin Reagan's baptism, along down south (think Homer Glen, Orland Park, Sox territory ... Kyle sported his Cub's hoodie to make a solid impression). It was another beautiful fall day, with good food and good company. Congrats to Reagan's parents, cousins Sean and Kelly.

Ky checkin' out the "wa wa"

Saturday Morning Swim Class!

Kyle's still at it ... kicking along like a little fishy. 

Here are a few blurry iphone shots of his class from last week.

Halloween Arts and Crafts

Yesterday we tried out markers for the first time! We colored shapes and faces on a few of the foam pumpkin cut-outs my mom gave Ky. Here's what we learned:

1. We're not exactly ready for markers (crayons = good; markers = not so good)
2. Markers are messy
3.When the caps are on, Mommy = Happy; Kyle = Frustrated
4. We need to try them again soon :)