Happy Halloween!

Things We Love About October

I love October because it's the start of the fun fall season. I try to make the most of the cool weather, to keep my mind off the fact that it will soon turn very cold. Anyway, here are some fun things we did this month:



We hosted our first ever "Spooky Night at the 'Burbs" party. We built haunted houses, and our friends brought creepy treats (see the earth worms below!). Of course we finished it off with a viewing of our favorite comedy, "The 'Burbs" with Tom Hanks.

I took the boys to pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Tommy carefully picked out a "Joey one," "Tommy one," "Mommy one," and "Daddy one," and arranged them all on our front porch according to size.

They also had a petting zoo and some other fun stuff...

In other fun news, we made our biggest purchase of the year---a luxurious week-long "staycation" for me (along with the removal of all four wisdom teeth)! What a way to spend a week! And the boys only broke four household items during my "absence"--our cd-rom drive, my sun glasses, a favorite serving bowl, and the volume dial on our speaker system. Hmmm...I guess the boys do need a little supervision after all! In all seriousness, Jon's parents helped out with the boys (and they didn't break anything that day!), and two of our friends brought dinner...we were very grateful for their service!

Also, the boys are taking swimming lessons, and Tommy made a major breakthrough last week (the second to last lesson) in getting over his fears! We were so proud!

Last but not least, I painted our dining table and chairs black! This was inspired by, among other things, my sister's BLOG! So blogging serves a useful purpose after all! I'll probably post a picture or two next time.

Photos for the Fans

These pictures are especially for our blog's biggest fan (you know who you are!)...

Notice the green fork?

Tommy's new Halloween costume (maybe)...it's a bit small, but he loves it!

Tommy displaying his new camera smile during our Mommy-Son date at the Children's Museum.

Tommy launching his boat at the Children's Museum.

Also at the Children's Museum. I think a child-sized grocery store was Tommy's dream come true!

The boys coloring on the spiffy easel I bought at Ikea for $14.99! (Not as cool as the one my dad built for me as a kid, though!)

Joey lounging at the Minnesota State Fair. I think he was recouperating from all the Deep-Fried Food on a Stick.

Jon and Tommy on the Super Slide at the Minnesota State Fair.

For the Family Journal...

We don't want history to slip away, so here are some other updates for our "family journal."

• Jon and Christy celebrated our SEVENTH anniversary! We are best friends and love each other so much!
• The anniversary, in and of itself, was a milestone. But the (possibly) bigger milestone was leaving Tommy and Joey overnight with their grandparents for the first time, while we enjoyed 24 hours of freedom at the Waterpark of America hotel and indoor water park. It was very fun for everyone!
• Joey learned to walk and got his first haircut, so he's officially a big boy now. He also learned to push the handicap button on public doors, so get ready world, here he comes.
• We got our first gas grill and patio dining set, and have already entertained friends with them three times, the most recent being our Ward Choir Party, which was really fun. (It was Jon's first time doing "mass grilling" and he did great.) All BYU fans who read this blog, the fun will really begin in a couple of weeks!

What's Out of Place in This Picture?

Answer: Instead of ice, there is a pancake in the cup.

And this baby was the culprit. Tommy thought it was so hillarious when Joey tried to "drink" his pancake, that he had to do it to--amidst uproarious laughter.

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Answer: A baby is driving the car!

And the culprit this time was the boy on the left! He carefully led Joey into the garage, opened the car door, and let Joey do the rest. Drivers Ed 101. Maybe Tommy's old enough to babysit too.

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Answer: That's a very smudgy toenail polishing job.

But then again, it was done by a three year old. With a permanent market. On our white carpet. Without a trace of the marker on the carpet...I would say it was the work of a master!

Spoons, Bikes, and Photo Shoots

I've missed taking a lot of cute and funny pictures lately...

• Joey with a green spoon in his hand. I had approximately 30 hours to take this picture--he held it for that entire time, asleep or awake, while we ran errands, played with toys, ate meals, and everything in between--but I let the opportunity pass me by.


• Tommy riding his decorated trike and Joey pushing his decorated scooter in our ward bike parade on the 25th of July. I can't even tell you how cute they were riding and waddling along with the bigger kids...but we forgot our camera!


• Joey making his most recent funny face: the "underbite smile." Even though he makes this face a lot, I've tried, without success, to capture it on film. It does look somewhat like Butch here:




• Tommy carefully shovelling the contents of my flower bed into the basket of his trike. He was so proud of his "gardening" that I couldn't bear to stop him. I did take a picture of the flowers before too much damage was done...
  
  
  
  Since I'd missed so many pictures, I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot. Enjoy:
  

Joey coming to grab the camera. He loves technology.


Cute Joey.

Stop!!! Don't eat that crab apple!

Cute Tommy. I hope his grandparents know how much he LOVES this trike.

Since I don't have girls to dress up, the least I can do is put the boys in matching clothes. My sister gave them these cute shirts. Despite the obvious height difference, someone at Costco asked me if they were twins...must have been the shirts.

Pictures from Disney World

Tommy at "Philharmagic"--by far the coolest 3-D movie ever.

Tommy and our cute niece Ashton.

All of us looking hot--and I don't mean attractive--on the "It's a Small World" ride. Tommy and Jon after driving race cars.

The classic family portrait in front of the castle.

Swimming with Manatees (and Other Fun Adventures)

My camera is out of batteries, so I can't post any pictures yet, but we've done some really fun things lately. Can you guess what they were?

TRUE or FALSE:

1. I accidentally bear-hugged a manatee in the Crystal River.

2. Tommy's favorite ride at Disney World was Pirates of the Caribbean.

3. Jon and I performed "Phantom of the Basement" for the Holts' Got Talent show.

4. I saw an alligator.

5. We saw seals at Cocoa Beach.

6. We ate at CiCi's Pizza two times in one week.

And here are the answers (I know they should be upside down or something so you don't cheat, but I'm not sure how to work that...)

1. True-almost. I went swimming with a manatee mother and its calf in the Crystal River, which was very cool. The water was shallow, and we were snorkeling in wet suits, trying to float so that we wouldn't kick up silt or water and scare the manatee away. So I didn't actually bear hug the manatee (I did pet it several times), but I did end up on top of it a couple of times and have to manuover myself off without accidentally kicking it.

2. False-Pirates of the Caribbean was one of my favorite rides, but it scared Tommy a little bit. Tommy's favorite was the Dumbo ride, but it scared me a little bit!

3. Completely true. And we won first prize--a package of Red Vines wrapped in gold paper!

4. False. That was my goal of the whole trip since we were in Florida, but it never happened, even though there was a sign posted right outside our condo that said, "Don't Feed the Alligators."

5. False. We saw dolphins swimming in the ocean at Cocoa Beach. It was only about my fourth or fifth time to visit the ocean, so I thought it was amazing.

6. True. Enough said.

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To sum things up, we spent the last week of June in Orlando with Jon's side of the family for our bi-annual family reunion. We had a great time. It was so great to spend time with those from Utah, and we loved all of the "vacation" activities, as well as the special evening events, like interviewing Jon's parents, having a family birthday party, and, of course, the talent show. We love our family (both Jon's and Christy's!) and cherish the time we get to spend with them!

3-Year Old Conversations

One morning we were listening to the birds singing outside when Tommy suddenly asked, "Mommy, why do the birds say tweet, tweet, tweet?""That's just how they talk, Tommy," I replied."Maybe they want a treat and some cookies," he answered!

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A couple of evenings ago we were outside, and he was looking way up to the top of a tree where a bird was singing loudlly. "Mom, that bird is talking to me!" he told me excitedly!

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As we were driving home on the freeway last night, Tommy started asking Jon to drive "over that bump...over that funny bump." (We weren't sure exactly what he was referring to, but it's not unusual for him to comment on going up hills, down hills, under tunnels, and around corners when we're driving.)So, anyway, Tommy said, "Daddy, let's go over that funny bump!"Jon: "Do you like that bump in the road, Tommy?"Tommy: "Yes. It's like a flash light."Jon: "How is that?"Tommy: "I don't know."

Happy Third Birthday, Tommy!

It's hard to believe that three years have gone by since Tommy was born. He's so amazing! We love him so much that it sometimes overwhelms us, especially when we watch him sleeping. There's just so much spirit bundled into that little body. We feel the same way about Joey too.

Tommy had a wonderful birthday, including a great Finding Nemo birthday party with several of his friends and cousins. Here are some pictures...

Tommy and Joey playing at their new sink (Joey's b-day present)



A birthday cake, a juice box, and a party blower--what could make a kid happier?

Lots of friends, some with shaving cream in their hair!

Tommy in his "seat of honor" with Seth helping open a cool gorilla

Look how he loves his present!

The pool, along with the slip 'n slide, sink, and shaving cream made the party crazy! I mean fun!

If you'll humor me, here are some things I love about Tommy:

• The sweet little songs he makes up about whatever he is doing
• When he asks me to read "one more scripure" at bedtime
• His "Crazy Smile" that makes Joey laugh so hard
• How he recognizes and loves gospel principles
• When he quietly drives a car up and down his leg or his pillow
• His "big jumps" down the stairs (when they don't result in a sprained ankle)
• If there's a sewer grate or a manhole cover, you can be sure Tommy will want to ride his trike over it.
• How he already knows his ABCs
• How he starts riding his trike around and around the car the second we go out to the garage
• All the funny things he says...too many to name
• His big hugs and sweet little kisses
• How mine and Jon's kisses make his hurts go away (although sometimes he wants me to kiss his foot, his bum, etc...)
  

I know any mom or dad could make a similar list about their children, so if you made it to the end of this one, I appreciate it. Actually that wasn't even the end. I could go on and on about both Tommy and Joey. Despite the difficulties, being a parent is definitely worth it.

Happy Birthday, Joey!!!

Our sweet little Joey is ONE YEAR OLD! And as a friend said at church today, he is a character. He loves to laugh, makes lots of funny faces, has a "speed crawl," is also a "distance crawler," and loves his family and friends (but especially his mommy). He already goes up and down stairs and basically has no reserves about crawling ANYWHERE. He eats dirt when he gets the chance, chases the vacuum around while Christy's cleaning, plays in the toilet under Tommy's supervision (yikes!), says "goo" with his mouth closed (try this one at home--it's harder than it sounds), and insists that we heat up his milk (yes, milk, not formula) first thing in the morning. We love his thighs and arms (he's still got the rolls), his chubby cheeks, his BEAUTIFUL blue eyes, and his two teeth (actually now he's got six). Here are some pictures from Joey's big day:

We love you, Joseph Porter Holt!