Trick or Treat!

Henry was the cutest little lion on the block tonight! Complete with "rawrs," which was the only thing he said...so much for the classic "trick or treat" phrase. I loved his costume, which was SO easy and warm. It was funny to watch him in the group with a big fluffy head and, my favorite part, the tail, swinging behind him. And I couldn't believe he even let me draw some whiskers on him -- maybe he knew there was something special about tonight.

We enjoyed a chilly, but clear, night under a nearly full moon with our neighbors leading the way door to door for goodies. George and I were thankful there were some 3 year olds to show Henry the ropes on his first beggar's night. It didn't take him long to learn how to grab plenty of candy for his own personal

stash.

Henry also loved checking out all the jack o'lanterns in our

neighborhood. He was not a fan of carving our own. He seemed

pretty skeptical of the gooey insides and even let out the

perfect Halloween scream when Mommy reached her hand inside

the pumpkin. After the massacre was over, he was fascinated with the lid, eyes, and mouth which created a new character for our pumpkin. When we showed it to him aglow by candlelight he was super excited and grinned ear to ear.

We tried really hard for a nice Halloween photo of Henry in costume with the great jack o'lantern. We were photo bombed, however, by a neighborhood cat. It was all we could think about -- the "killy." I was just thankful it wasn't a black cat that crossed our path tonight!

Happy Halloween!!

Tractors, tractors big and small

...old or new, I love 'em all!

Someone please save me from the tractor obsession!

We've spent the last several weeks watching a John Deere promotional dvd that came with a toy, given as a gift, multiple times per day. This dvd is jam packed with corny songs about John Deere, too! (Mindy - we'll be thinking of you once your little one arrives and finding similar ways to torture you and Adam!) Lets be clear about Henry's amount of TV time: not much is spent watching anything on TV. We are far too busy being outside, playing with friends, reading books, and checking out our toys to sit still for any length of time. We've attempted Sesame Street on occasion, but he's still not very interested in watching more than a few minutes. So this 15-20 minute video that keeps him motionless with his gaze transfixed upon the screen was sort of a shock to us.

For anyone who hasn't met George, he is a big fan of trucks and cars. Like father, like son, I suppose. Henry has been developing as a fan of trucks, cars, trains, tractors, planes, boats, etc. Despite my best efforts to introduce a few cross-gender toys (such as a baby doll) he continues to gravitate toward these items. Oh, he plays with the dolly. Dolly rides in the dump truck. Not exactly what I had in mind, but you can't say I haven't tried! I would also like to state, for the record, that my ability to imitate engine sounds has improved greatly within the last year.

Back to the tractors story...I may be a glutton for punishment

I was in JoAnn Fabric and stumbled across some very nice John Deere fabric in the remnants section. So I made a bib for Henry. It's now the only bib he wants to wear when eating. I guess I will be making another bib!

Many Faces

The silly phase is here in full force. George and I have been having fun practicing facial expressions with Henry for quite some time.

This is not a recent trend, however. On long car trips he's kept himself occupied with a traveling mirror, making funny faces.

Henry is quite a character and once he's comfortable with his audience, he cranks up his performance.

As you can see in the photos, he frowns, smiles (note the cheesy grin), and acts surprised. "'Prise!" he shouts with eyebrows up

and mouth open wide.

Fun at the farm

We had a lot of fun today at the Schuster farm, running through the corn maze, seeing the animals, going on a tractor hay ride and enjoying fresh kettle corn and such.

More photos of our day

Leaves

Outside raking today. He plops down in the pile. "Push. Leaves. More." He loved getting buried in there.

H at the Park

This was back on September 7th when we were in Richland Center. From the camera phone.

When I dip you dip we dip

Paahhnkin

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Child Labor

It's that time of year again, time for yard clean up. It is relatively easy in Madison, as city crews come to scoop up leaves and branches once you place them curbside. Unfortunately, the schedule they provide to home-owners seems to be more of a rough guideline rather than a reliable calendar indicating which day, specifically, they will be in your neighborhood.

One morning this week, I heard the wood chipper in our area. In a quick, last ditch effort to get a few stacked up before they passed our house, Henry and I threw on some warm clothes right after breakfast and went outside. It was an attempt in vain, but they'll be back again.

Henry loved the task at hand. He enthusiastically grabbed branches and placed them on the pile. Then he'd turn around and shout "more, more branches" and "more sticks." I can easily see why child labor was employed back in the day, they are so WILLING! And for this job, built low to the ground, where the sticks happen to be! I was thrilled to have such a good helper for the job.

Henry mastering even the tricky bigger and forked branches.

No stick is too small -- to the pile!

This is the hard part...careful placement of the load.

Home Sweet Home

What a relief to be home again. No more living out of suitcases. Let's hear it for sleeping in our own beds, sitting on our own furniture, and cooking in a well-stocked kitchen! Not to mention being near our Madison friends again! We are settling into our "Home Sweet Home" once again, reminiscing about one year ago, when we closed on our house, were handed the keys, and could start building our home!

Our time in Richland Center was a challenge near the end. Being transplanted into a small town community, where we didn't know anyone, for 6 weeks was a little difficult. Henry and I spent our days going to the park where they had a slide the perfect size for Henry to master on his own. We also enjoyed a few old-timey pieces of equipment, like merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters, and metal slides. We visited the library and occasionally window shopped downtown. Thank goodness we had beautiful weather so we could get out of the apartment and explore!

That's right, dumper goes EVERYWHERE with us.

Our "neighbors" had rabbits.

Henry was enthralled with them and visited every day.

After the annual resident retreat, we visited Governor Dodge State Park for a quick swim. It was a gorgeous park on a gorgeous September day. We'll be back next year, I'm sure!