Wednesday, October 31, 2012

halloween!

happy halloween!  matt and i were both able to be off work this year for a day of october fun, and so we were able to take the kids trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood.  and since pat and david were in town from ohio they got to join in on the halloween fun, too!
i had struggled trying to figure out what to dress the kids in but eventually decided at the beginning of october to go with something pretty simple: a dragon and a princess.  i had seen several dragon costumes on sale at the consignment shop in noah's size and sammy's costume was easy enough with a pink onesie and a pink tutu like skirt.  fortunately, the costumes turned out pretty well and i was pleased with them.  surprisingly, noah's costume was a *huge* hit and we were told several times that it was "the cutest costume of the night!"  :D sammy got several compliments also, but mostly about how cute and tiny she was.
our little dragon

our little princess
we walked up and down our street and cul-de-sac before returning home, knowing that the kiddos probably wouldn't be interested in much more than that.  imagine my surprise then when, after we got home, noah insisted on going back out!  he grabbed his little candy bag and my hand and pulled me towards the door.  apparently he really enjoyed his costume and the door-to-door part of the trick-or-treating.  sammy stayed home for that part, and got ready for bed instead.  
the biggest shock of the night was the crazy number of kids in our neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  there were masses of them!  i had bought two large bags of candy (somewhere around 300-400 pieces) and they were all gone by the time we were done walking our cul-de-sac (sometime between 7 - 7:30 pm)!  i think next year we will have to do a better job of rationing and maybe invest in an additional bag of candy...or eight!

more pictures of the pumpkin matt did an amazing job carving!


our little dragon showing off his wings and tail

grandma richards with princess sammy



cousins (and vampires) alia and ben, who stopped by for some trick-or-treating 

off to get some treats



noah's halloween haul

trying to get at that candy


i hope all of you had a happy halloween, too! 

Friday, October 26, 2012

october update

continuing to stay busy here at the king household!  the dust has started to settle from the move and the routine is starting to work itself out with both kids.  the only sad thing is that i know in another few weeks we will be changing everything again when i go back to work.... never static!
samantha has made a wonderful addition to our family, and despite keeping me very busy (as all new babies do) she is a joy to have around.  she and her big brother noah continue to get along beautifully despite some of noah's more violent attempts to play with her -- the other day he threw a small yellow ball directly at her head, which she obviously didn't care for.  needless to say, there was some explaining involved for our son followed by said-ball being removed from the toybox for a while.  mostly, though, it's smiles and hugs and kisses for his little sis.  he frequently tells me when she cries and will attempt to comfort her by patting her on her stomach if she is playing on the floor or in her bouncy chair.  i love to hear him call her by name, either "sam-meee" or "man-tha."  and he has recently started stringing together longer groups of words into sentences!  this has been wonderful for us all, as it has made it much easier to understand what he wants, needs or just finds interesting.  his very first sentence was, much to my amazement, "I like to read."  !!! matt and i were sitting with both kiddos in the loft and noah was "reading" his books to us, then he stopped and said, very casually and matter-of-fact-ly, "I like to read."  it was definitely one of my favorite parenting moments so far :)  since then, noah has continued to communicate in sentences, though not all of them are as eloquent as that one.  usually it's still just two or three words together, but i am continually amazed at his comprehension and verbal skills.  speaking of comprehension, it's pretty cute to hear him make associations.  for example, there is an ice cream truck that frequents our neighborhood.  now, noah doesn't know what ice cream or an ice cream truck is, so when he hears it he promptly tell us it's a "sigh-nen!" (siren) and then commences a chorus of "whee-ooo, whee-oooo!"
we are still working on colors, numbers, and shapes -- every color is blue until we correct him, most counting only includes the number 2, and every letter is P or T for right now.   cars have become a much larger part of his world, he frequently carries around one or two at a time and they stay in his hands at pretty much all times of day unless he is eating, sleeping, or happens to be holding another toy (though this doesn't usually last very long).  we've also started identifying construction vehicles while we are driving around (never a shortage of construction in the dallas area, or around our neighborhood, for that matter!).  noah seems to be really excited when we see "diggers" around town, "mixers" driving down the highway, and "dozers" working on a construction site :)  my son is, most definitely, 100% boy!
speaking of all-boy, we've started taking advantage of the sandbox that the previous owners of the house left to us.  we moved it away from the side of the pool -- a horrible location for many reasons -- to the sport court area, and now noah spends long stretches of time playing in the sand and with the various toys left behind.  thanks, guys!
 i should also mention that we bought noah some season-appropriate shoes (figured the crocs wouldn't be very good through the winter!).  and, lucky me, kid-to-kid had a pair of black converse in his size!  now he's been rockin' the converse ever since!!!


i'm sure there are dozens more things i could write about, but this over-stimulated mommy brain is glitzing when it comes to short-term memory right now.  i'll update this post if i remember anything else!  in the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our family and check back next month for more updates on our little ones (and us, too, i guess).

2012-10-25

Monday, October 15, 2012

our little pumpkins

we made our annual trip to the dallas arboretum with my family this week.  we love to go and see the thousands of pumpkins and mums every year, but this year was a special treat: the chihuly exhibit was also there!  you may have read (way back when) that we saw the chihuly sculptures at the conservatory in columbus when my mom came to visit.  they are more beautiful than i remember and especially in an outdoor, autumn setting. and it's true what everyone says, pictures do not do them justice!  unfortunately, our kids don't really appreciate things like this just yet, but they both seemed to have a good time.  noah enjoyed climbing on -- and throwing :( -- pumpkins.  sammy enjoyed the weather and then enjoyed a nap in the sling.  neither of them wanted to sit still for pumpkin patch pictures, but i did get a couple good ones of each of them.  sadly, i was not able to get them together for a sibling picture.  maybe by next year i will be able to manage getting a pic of the two of them....maybe...




this is what happens when you try to get a 2 month old to lay on pumpkins for a picture....

this is what happens when you try to get an almost 2 year old to sit on pumpkins for a picture....





baby with a baby pumpkin

just relaxing in the pumpkin patch with her apple hat on





going to pick up a lost cousin jonah, but matt had found him at the info desk

chihuly sculptures





(no sculptures here, just a great pic of my niece, olivia)




hey, jared and dad!

noah was really more interested in the steps than the sculptures...

and the kids took advantage of some green space to get some energy out
(does that make it green energy?)   ;)


 dad and jared, deciding which way to go next
 ...they don't really know

aunt shari and cousin alex play with noah



 the misters were a big hit

 
what? i can't take this one home?