Trunk Or Treat

Wednesday was our ward Halloween activity. There was crafting, cookie decorating, games, and OF COURSE the annual Trunk Or Treat.

Zach has been totally excited about all things pumpkin, ever since the first day I let him try on his pumpkin costume. His favorite game of the evening was this pumpkin toss. He actually did pretty well throwing the pumpkins so that they would stay on the bars.
His next favorite game was fishing for spiders. He even caught one!!
But only one...
Then we headed out for the Trunk or Treat. He really got the hang of thrusting his pumpkin basket in peoples faces as if to demand candy. Some ran out before we got to them and he was pretty perturbed and sort of stomped away. He was pretty good with "saying" thank you every time. With his little hand clasp sign. We still don't know how he decided it meant "Thank you" to open and close his hand. But I guess it works for him.

Don't ask what I'm dressed as- I guess it's a super chubby ballerina? I'm not even sure.
I do know this is the cutest pumpkin I'VE ever met.
Ooooo... and who's that handsome guy. He's dressed up as.... HIMSELF!
Here's the stash of goodies I... I mean Zach came home with. Not too shabby for a 2 yr old.
More to COME!!

BOO at the Zoo!

Our Halloween celebrations were officially jump started tonight by attending our:Zach RAN straight to this pumpkin and stuck his face through the hole for a picture.
He then wouldn't allow us to walk away until we let him peek through Frankenstein as well. NOTE: he has started to chew on his bottom lip constantly, so you will probably see this funny face in many pictures to come. Any tips for how to help him overcome it? Growl!
No, he's not sleeping. He's just really comfortable.
He LOVED seeing all of the pumpkins. He would point at them and then point to himself since he was also a pumpkin.
He thought they were pretty neat.
You just can't tell because he won't stop sucking on that lip!
There were cute little scenes set up all around the zoo and you could follow the whole story.
Zach RAN through the hay bale maze. He was totally excited, especially when he went through a little tunnel and escaped dad for a second. Too bad it didn't lead very far.
Run Zach Run!
He would also run down all of the hills along the path. I'm thinking we're all going to get a great night's sleep tonight.
He found some pumpkin lights that looked just like him!! He was thrilled.
On the way out we stopped to snap a picture with Captain Jack Sparrow, Zach wasn't so thrilled.

All in all, it was a great time. We LOVE the Zoo!!

Felt Board Fun

I've been meaning to work on this one for a while now. Finally, I buckled down and I'm really happy with how it ended up. Zach LOVES this book "Freight Train" By Donald Crews. It's super simple, just describes each colored car and then tells where the train goes. The drawings are very simple but he loves it- he basically loves anything train related. I figured it would be a perfect felt board story so I traced each car on it's respective color and WHA-LA! We now have our very own Freight Train. We are missing the purple box car because I didn't have any purple but I still think it will be a great learning tool for colors.

Once Upon a Time...

OK, I know I haven't been to very good at keeping up with blogging and what not but I'll try to give you a little bit of an update. I had my very first "official" photo shoot with a happy engaged couple. I actually delivered 5 gigantic prints for them this morning. It was really exciting to see my work blown up to a 20x30. I think they turned out great! Someday, I hope to upgrade my equipment so they can be even better but I'm still really happy with the way they turned out. You can see more at my photography blog in the left hand column.
Jason has been setting up interviews for residency next year and while it's really exciting, it's also a little nerve wracking to be wondering where we will be a year from now. For me that has meant a major purging spree. Jason and I have been married for 7 years now and have managed to accumulate a LOT of stuff. I've now decided it's finally time to just let it go. I participated in a clothing swap this last week where I was happy to unload, I mean donate, 5 large boxes of clothes. I have more miscellaneous items packed up and ready to go to good will. I feel like I'm actually losing weight by unloading the excess that has been cluttering up our home. It feels really good. I might have to be careful that I don't start enjoying it too much or I might give everything away!
Zach has grown up a ton. He went through a little texture aversion phase with his food and mostly stuck to milk and juice, but he's finally seemed to grow out of it. Topping his favorites would have to be animal shaped Mac N' Cheese and Brown Sugar Oatmeal, Oh... and I can't forget just straight cheese. For some reason he LOVES cheese! He has figured out how to run and he thinks it's just hysterical to run from one side of the house to the other, screaming and giggling all along the way.

His favorite thing to do is read. I think I could sit down with him and read every book in our house (and that's A TON!) and he would quietly sit and enjoy every one of them. He has even started to read them to himself. He will sit on his little couch and flip through the pages pointing out certain object and talking to himself. (Note: the book pictured here is actually upside down!) He is such a sweet content kid and just loves to cuddle any chance he gets. How did I manage to get so lucky with this one!

Building the firetruck at Lowe's

Finger Painting

A few days ago Zach had an idea and he was pretty excited to carry it out. He found a bottle of paint then gathered up his bib and insisted on being put into his high chair. How could I deny him? We started with finger painting and then pulled out an old jeep for a repeat of our driving project from his tot class a few weeks ago. He was totally thrilled to get down and dirty. Here are his creations. I thought they turned out pretty neat.

Then, I turned my back and when I looked back I found this. HOW, I don't know. But I thought it was pretty funny. He didn't like me laughing at him very much.

What a Freebie!!!

Have I told you how much I love freecycle?

Well- I LOVE FREECYCLE!!!

Why? Do you ask? Isn't that just a whole bunch of just people are trying to get rid of?

Maybe... but not always.

A few weeks ago, we got THIS...

No, not the boys tangled up and giggling- We got a trampoline! FREE!!

It's in great condition and already it's a HIT.
We had some friends over to roast marshmallows and hot dogs in out fire pit (also from freecycle) and play on the trampoline. The kids had a blast. And believe it or not, NOBODY got hurt. Horray!
Zach also enjoyed making funny faces at mom while practicing our rolling skills in the wonderful sunshine.

THANK YOU FREECYCLE!!

A Special Zoo Trip

When we renewed our zoo pass for this year we got a whole pack of free tickets for the special exhibits and they're expiration dates were swiftly approaching. Last year, they expired before we remembered to use them. DARN! This year I was proactive and we planned a trip specifically for the purpose of using those tickets.

We started with the TRAIN!!

Zach is obsessed with trains so he was thrilled.
Those silly pursed lips are him making the train noise, which coincidentally sounds a whole lot like his cow AND his cat noise.
Then, completely worn out already, we headed home for a nap.
The day wasn't over yet so, after his nap, we met some friends and enjoyed the Sea Lion and Seal show.
Zach thought the sea lion's honking noise was hysterical.
The ball balancing trick was quite impressive. But the hi-light of the day was our trip to the Birds from Down Under exhibit. Jason caught a bird with his food stick right as we walked in the door.
Zach followed his dad's example, putting his stick into the air after the birds.
He wasn't expecting one to ACTUALLY LAND on it. A bird swooped in only moments after we had walked in the door and he latched on to Zach's little stick.
I expected him to immediately drop it. But, he kept a secure hold and the bird stayed for several minutes. He kept looking nervously my direction like"Mom! He won't get off!" But he somehow managed to stay calm.
The bird got a pretty good meal out of it. If only he had known how close he was to a perilous drop.

Zach tried to catch more birds without much luck.
This guy was especially elusive. He would act interested, reach out for the food...
Then snatch a chunk off and high tail it out of there.
It was quite the experience. And I think we might actually go again, even if we ARE out of free tickets. It would still be well worth it.

What a happy kid!

Artwork by Zach

So, I've been REALLY bad about posting lately haven't I? I guess my focus has been elsewhere. Zach is definately growing up so fast. It's tough to keep up sometimes- literally! I have to keep my running shoes on since he never seems to stop running. I enrolled him in a class through the community to get some 'out of the house' socializing in. It's supposed to be a sort of toddler fitness class where they get to dance and run around. So far, the dancing isn't so much his thing but the running, of course, is a hit.

They also have a arts & crafts time. This week we painted with cars. What could be more fun! I expected Zach to go wild, rolling back and forth as fast as he could. What was I thinking? Zach is a very thoughtful kid and, of course, even the rolling of the cars were slow and meticulous. It was like he was intently concentrating on getting the lines just right. Here's his masterpiece:

When Jason got home he was SO excited to show his creation to his dad. He ran the painting over to Jason and then picked up a car to show him just how it was done, rolling it over the picture for him.

Last week was equally exciting. We learned about the animals on a farm, well everybody except Zach who was way too interested in driving the tractor around. Of course! The craft that day was to paint the mud for Mr. Pig with pudding. He loved it and, as you can see, he actually tried to keep the mud in the puddle outline. I tried to get him to go crazy with it and spread it all over (the stray smudges at the top were actually mine) but NO, once again he very carefully painted the picture just the way he thought it ought to be. And then snacked on the "mud" just a little bit.
That's my boy!