Happy Halloween, one day early

Happy Halloween, or as they say in Iowa, Happy Beggar's Night. They trick-or-treat the night before Halloween here and call it Beggar's Night. Tonight we took Kevin trick-or-treating. At first he was very shy, but quickly got the hang of reaching his hand into the big bowls of candy. It was a perfect night, nearly 70 degrees. What a lucky duck, Nate & I remember many Halloween's where we went trick-or-treating in our winter coats & gloves!

Grandmom & Grandpop come for a visit tomorrow. We are excited!!!

18 month check-up

I took Kevin for his 18 month check-up today. Here are his stats:

28 pounds
34 inches

A big surprise to us; he has only gained 1 pound since his 15 month checkup, but has grown 3 inches! The doctor was impressed with all the animal noises he knows as well as many of his body parts.

Beautiful fall day

By request from Chris... they don't have beautiful fall leaves like this in San Jose! We tried to stay outside as much as possible yesterday, the weather is supposed to get cold soon, boo!

Kevin has fun picking up the leaves, very, very helpful.

Gap Kid at the park yesterdayOur backyard

He is inspecting his pumpkin. We (a.k.a. mommy) are going to carve them this week.

"The Kevin Show"

Kevin entertained everyone on Sunday with his animal noises. Keep in mind, Tanya & Dave had not seen Kevin since he was 6 months old, so they were extra impressed with all his new tricks.

Enjoy!

Hawkeye reunion

I spent the weekend in Iowa City with my college rommates. There was just so much to celebrate...

Karen rocks! She ran the Chicago Marathon last weekend and I think that gives her the right to a some extra attention.

Tanya's baby brother is home from Iraq!

Tailgating at the truck is always awesome

Dave was treated like a VIP. He watched the game with the team on the sidelines!

Pumpkins and more!

Just a cute photo from this week:

Choosing the perfect pumpkin is no easy task!

- More pumpkins, please? -

What have we been up to lately?

In our attempt to make friends with families with babies (as opposed to the geriatric ward that is our cul de sac) we joined the local YMCA. There are tons of kids activities there and I enrolled Kevin in a tumbling class for toddlers. It is a riot! They have baby-sized everything; balance beam, trampoline, floor mats and even a bar. On the second week of class Kevin was really feeling adventurous with his climbing & jumping skills. He missed the mat and took quite a tumble. After a really good cry and lots of hugs, what made him feel much better was the giant rainbow parachute the teacher brings out at the end of class. I think he loves the parachute even more than bubbles. Is that even possible?

*Nate is in charge this weekend. I am headed to Iowa City to meet my college roommates for the weekend!!! I know they will have a great time together.

"Choo Choo"... well sort of, Kevin.

I thought this was funny....

As we were driving to the car dealership last night to pickup Nate's car Kevin was looking out the window and pointing at the trucks. He loves trucks. He also loves trains and gets really excited every time we see one (there were many in Ames this summer). A giant Hummer SUV pulls up next to us and Kevin was so excited and started yelling "choo-choo, choo-choo". I tried to explain that was a truck, not a train. He didn't catch why I was laughing.

My helper

Kevin has definitely reached the age where he likes to "help" us with projects. He thinks it's fun to clean, fold laundry and even rake leaves. Boy, I am I lucky to have such an energetic helper! Earlier in the day he got to take a manly trip to HomeDepot with his dad.

These hydrangeas are from my yard and make me so happy. Dan, Lana, Jimmie & Thelma came for dinner yesterday and these flowers looked great on the table.

Come on Kev, the Cubs need your help!

Yesterday was not a good day for the Cubs, but we were cheering them anyway. I was so happy that the jacket Kevin got for his birthday last spring still fits, so he was wearing it all afternoon. Let's hope tonight goes better, if I can stay awake....

Playtime at home

Just some photos taken while we were playing yesterday :)