Happy Halloween

from my dinosaur family

Caden Update

It's been a while since I've mentioned what Caden's been up to...so here we go:
- He's taking naps every once in a great while now, but he still has a "rest" time in his room where he has to stay there until his CD stops playing (about 40 min.). It works really well...if he stays in his room. In the picture above, he came down stairs after the music was off, joined his dad for football, and you can see the end result. Football puts me to sleep too :)
- Last month, when we had the hurricane winds, he said, "Wow, it's really winding out there!"
- Today he was singing I've Been Working on the Railroad and at the end he sang, "strumming on the old man Joe" rather than "strumming on the old banjo". I got a good laugh out of that one.
- He has trouble with some prefixes...in his mind lots of words begin with "a". So if you ask him where something is, he'll say "ahind" rather than "behind" or "apposed" instead of "supposed". He also has trouble with will + not = won't. He often says, "willn't".
- His favorite past time is still either tearing or cutting paper. He will still sit for a long time doing this...it's so nice! He does enjoy coloring a lot too.
- He had a rough period of about 2 weeks where he was crying/screaming before preschool, and then stopping about 2 min. after I'd leave. It was rough for all of us. Friday was good though...hopefully next we will be good too!
- He's still good at making us all laugh...the things he comes up with sometimes!
Again, there is so much more, so I'll have to think about it...

Abigail at 18 Months

Abigail is 18 months old today!

A few things about our Sunshine:
- She is very opinionated about her clothes. If she's wearing a hoodie, I have to have it zipped or snapped half way up and put it over her head or else she'll just rip it off...reminds me of the Hulk.
- She babbles...a lot, but still not many words other than Mama, Dada, and Caday. She does do elephant and sheep sounds really well though!
- She will answer questions with a nod or a shake, and is pretty good at getting her point across. She likes to point at things and then just nods. Sometimes she just stands there and nods - not sure what that one means.
- Funny Bunny is still her main squeeze (as you can see in the pic)- need to look into how to wash a surface washable only toy...
- She wants to do almost everything by herself including going down the stairs (which of course we don't let happen). We get our hands pushed away quite often during the day.
- When she has a cold she becomes a major Mama's Girl.
- She loves to boogie! She just recently started dancing, and she just wiggles her whole body...so cute!
- She's a very loving little girl. She loves to give hugs and rest her head on your shoulder or leg. When her Aunt Erin was here last, Abby literally hung on her most of the time.
- She enjoys "Ring Around the Rosies", especially the falling down part.
There's so much more, but I can't think right now. I'm sure I'll add more soon!

Family Halloween Craft

The other night we went to a Halloween Party at our library. As the kids left, they handed out crafts. We all had a hand in putting this together. Abigail was good at tearing the pieces of foam out of their packaging.

The final product.

Tiny Helping Hands

Abigail loves to give a helping hand, even if her hands are tiny. For example, the other day Caden asked me to get a cup off the bookshelf (not sure why it was there). Anyhow, Abby heard him ask me, walked right over to the shelf, grabbed the cup, and gave it to him. In these pictures she's helping Caden put his shoes on. She loves to help him with his shoes and jacket. It's nice to have a little helper and an even smaller one too!

Picnic at the Park

This past Sunday we planned on going to the Frances Slocum State Park for their Heritage Days with Nana and Papa, but discovered on the way there that the road to the park was closed. I was quite disappointed, and Caden even cried. So, we turned around and found another park to eat our lunch, and the kids still were able to play. Oh well. There's always next year.

It didn't take Caden long to make new friends.

Kids Eat Free Website

You may already be aware of this website, but this is the first I've heard of it. A friend of my mom's sent it to her. Thanks Marilyn! I think I'll look into this next week on my birthday...one of the few days I refuse to cook :)

http://www.frugalliving.tv/free-stuff/kids-eat-free.html

Pumpkin Faces

This year we tried something new for making faces on our pumpkins. I found a kit at K-Mart (see post below) that really worked well! I was really excited to use them, hoping the would work well, and they did! The kids had a good time, and it was so fast and easy!

Jason had Caden start with the mouth and work up from there. He did well with figuring out where to put the pieces, but he did try to put one eye off to the side.

Abigail's is a little sillier.
She didn't do too bad though, just the mouth is a little goofy.

The final products.

In My Opinion

I bought this kit at K-Mart the other week for $4. It comes with 3 sets of eyes, 3 sets of ears, 3 noses, 3 mouths, and 1 set of horns. It says ages 5 and up, but it worked really well for Caden and Abigail (with some help of course). I was really excited to use them, and they worked as well as I was hoping. I highly recommend something like this since carving is pretty much out of the question for a few years.

(an example of a face that could be made)

This is what the backs look like.
I'm sure they could be easily snapped off, but I'm hoping to get a few more years out of these!

Blanket Time

The other day, while I was doing the dishes, Abigail came into the kitchen with her Smurfs and sat down. I got her a blanket to sit on, and she thought this was great. I turned around to start my dishes again, and I heard a thump. When I turned back around, there she was laying flat on the floor. I think she thought the blanket was going to be softer than it was. Either way, she stayed there and played the whole time I was working. That's something her brother never did! It was so nice.

Arms Full

Abigail has been having a great time lately with her stuffed animals. These are 3 of her favorites. She tried to get them all in her little toy stroller, but that didn't quite work. Then she emptied out the Mega Bloks wagon and placed them in there. She only put 2 at first facing each other (just like when she and Caden ride in our wagon), but I showed her how she could fit more. It's fun to watch her figure things out on her own. I love how she gently places them in their seats and will fix them if they fall over. She takes good care of them.

My Little Fix-its

I think they're trying to figure out if anything else needs fixed.
(These are older ones too, from Sept. 8th.)

Talk About Relaxed!

She loves to relax!
I found these pictures from Sept. 10th that I forgot to post.

1st Kiss for "Mama"

I received my first kiss from Abigail today while changing her diaper. She usually stands to get her diaper changed, and today was no different. So, when I was leaning around her to secure the front of the diaper, she gave me a little peck on the cheek :) So sweet!

She has also within the last 2 weeks or so finally started calling me Mama. It's music to my ears!