Cousin Fun - November Edition

My brother and sister-in-law had a wedding to attend in which they were there DJ and guests, so we offered to keep Fletcher while they did they job/had fun!

We started out at the playground to enjoy the beautiful weather. I like living within walking distance to the elementary school and its huge playground!

From there, we went to feed the ducks at a nearby park. When I pulled up, most of the ducks were asleep. When I opened the car door, its like someone yelled "Attack!". We fed them bread as fast as we could. Grant got nipped by one, so I made sure to remind them to hurry and get rid of the bread.
I really could have sat all day and watched the boys chase (or be chased by) the ducks, geese, and one random kitten. It was fun to watch.
That night, we went to see "Puss in Boots".


(Don't worry, I took these before the movie started, but they were involved like this throughout the whole movie.)

After the movie, we went to eat with my sister, niece and brother in law. For dessert, we came back home and decorated the cookies we had made before the movies.

Grant kind of over did it on the red sprinkles!

Fletcher went home Sunday after joining us for church and a big lunch. Needless to say, Grant and I napped the majority of the afternoon. Grant slept for over 3 hours and I'm pretty sure he could have slept longer than that!

Candy Man

On actual Halloween night, we decided just to hand out the candy we had left over from trunk or treat. When it started to get dark, things got a little slow, so Grant decided to 'spur' on the business...

Happy Halloween

Grant's little school has Noah's Ark Day instead of 'Halloween'. I ordered a mask and shirt a month ago. I'm so glad it came in. It was supposed to arrive the day we needed it, but ended up arriving two days earlier! I was so excited I didn't have to throw something together at the last minute.

My niece was a kitty cat. Usually all smiles, she was weary of us leaving her at the school.

This is the first year we've actually been home Halloween weekend in a while. So we made some plans with our church's Trunk or Treat event. On Friday, I came down with a nasty stomach virus. I was for sure I'd miss all the festivities on Saturday. I did my best and pressed through and felt fine by Saturday afternoon. So I got out of my funk and put the finishing touches on our costumes (ways to make them warmer) and trunk decorations. The first stop was my sister's church for their event.

My little pirate played some games, and won some prizes.

My big pirate helped chase a beautiful butterfly, my niece.

It was a wonderful day, weather wise, for the events. Even a little too sunny!

Next stop was our church event.
Vivian and my sister decided to come with us. You can see her wings really well here.

Grant scarfed down the cotton candy, and pretty much became the usual giant sticky mess.

I didn't get a picture of our trunk, but it was basically a giant 'friendly' skull my Mom and I made. I had a plan of kids reaching into the skull's mouth and drawing coins. The color of the coin told me how much candy to give them. Well, I left the trunk up with the bowl of plastic coins in the skull mouth and when I came back from eating, all but 1 coin was gone. I guess some kids went early and thought thats what I was handing out. So, yea, Greg, I have to buy you some coins to replace the ones I borrowed...sorry. Arrgghhh.
The kids that DID do what they were supposed to got some great candy and Play-Doh. Vivian came by to get some as well. Grant didn't care much for the trunk or treating as he did the playground and bounce house.

Happy Halloween, mateys!

Pumpkin Patch

Ahoy maties! We will be a family of pirates this year. Daniel didn't join us for the pictures, he had the scurvy....(technically a Cowboys game to watch).

We then had an outfit change to match Miss Vivian.

Let's Go Rangers, Let's Go!

There were a few plans set in motion for this weekend, but all of it changed due to one 8 1/2 x 11 paper. However, that was just OK with us!

Friday rolled around and Daniel's grandmother came in, GiGi, so we decided to break open the pumpkin I've had for a while now. Who knew that stabbing a vegetable with a knife could be such a great stress reliever!

Last year, Grant gagged when we carved a pumpkin. This year I told him, "If you feel like you're going to be sick, run into the other room." I started pulling out the pulp and he said, "I think I have to go somewhere!". However, he stayed and did just fine. Here is GiGi and Grant checking out the pulp.
GiGi pulled out seeds so we could roast them. They didn't turn out so well, or did they?? I never had them so I don't know what they are supposed to taste like!
Not too bad!



Game day came and more in-laws came to join the fun! Daniel, his sister Erica, his father James and GiGi all went to the World Series game. Daniel's mother, Grant, and I stayed home to cheer them on there.

After they left, but before the game started I spent some time with my Mom and Dad while my Mom and I worked on my Halloween costume (which you will see on the next post). I got back home just time for the pre-game show and some dinner. Grant didn't care much for the game, as you can see...

The Rangers were losing pretty bad by the time Grant, Grammie, and I started to wind down for the night. Grant was just about asleep and I was just really starting to get into the game when the electricity went out because a transformer blew. So I located the one candle I have and found some matches (while using my cell phone for light). I dug in Grant's toy box for our flashlights, which he plays with and throws in there. I found a few and we all ended up falling asleep waiting for the lights to come back on. An hour later, they came on.

The rest of the family arrived home several hours later and recorded a huge loss for the Rangers. However, they made some great memories.

So all of this, I believe, earns us our Family Night Fun badge. Even though we may not have all been together at the same time, I believe the weekend's events gave us some things to remember.

Cousin Fun-October Edition

Praise the Lord and pass the blue jeans! I believe the 100 degree weather has finally passed for the year. We've been spending plenty of more time outside and we have been able to break out the Jeep again.

Recently, we also got some new neighbors across the street, including one little cute blonde girl with a pink motorized scooter. She rides it up and down the street all the time and my son can't help but stare and yell "HI!". She just waves back. She is probably 7 or so. One time he was driving his Jeep while watching her and ended up hitting a tree. I have feeling this won't be the last time he'll be distracted by a pretty blonde!

This past weekend my nephew, Fletcher, came into town for the weekend while his parents celebrated their anniversary. Congrats, Greg and Winonah!! We decided we needed to take the boys downtown to our local Fall Festival.

Pony rides were, of course, the first stop.

The blow up obstacle course was next. I thought Grant was too little to participate but he proved me wrong.

Vivian showed up for the festivities so we tried to get a good picture of all of them. All we wanted was a good picture of all of them....we tried.

1st round...oops, finger and someone isn't looking.

2nd round...Fletcher, why are you a pirate!

4th round...Ok, this one works alright for the moment...

5th round...ok lets get Vivi in the mix...

6th round....what are you looking at?

7th round...ok this is getting ridculous.

8th round...okay we are all giving up now.

Once that drama was done, we painted some pumpkins.

We walked around, played some games, and had secret conversations with robotic dalmations.

We then went back to our house were Fletcher fell in love with Grant's bunkbed. They spent the afternoon hiding up there pretending to shoot animals while watching "The Magic Schoolbus".

That evening ordered pizza and played some more. They love spending time with each other but sometimes fight like brothers. We are looking forward to cousin fun-november edition in a few weeks!