Karen's Wedding

Kevin had a terrific weekend, and so did we! We were in Chicago for my college roommate's wedding. Kevin spent half the weekend with Grandmom & Grandpop and the other half with Nicole & Joe. We all had so much, we're a bit sad the weekend excitement is over.

Friday night at the rehearsal dinner:

Pretty bridesmaids: The roommates, with Nate (he was our honorary college roommate for several years).

Jumping in the leaves!

Such a treat... the weather here was warm and sunny all weekend. We did a lot of yard work today, including raking a big pile of leaves. Kevin had so much fun jumping in the pile of leaves.

Nicole & Joe came for lunch today. Kevin made sure to invite Uncle Joe to jump in the leaves with him!

Trick-or-Treat

We weren't sure how much of Halloween Kevin would understand this year. Well, he understood that Halloween = candy! Our little Fireman had fun trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

It was a chilly night, so we had to bundle up. Luckily Kevin's raincoat is also a fireman coat, so it matched his costume.

Kevin was not shy. His candy strategy was to take only candy wrapped in blue wrappers. Blue is his favorite color! At first, I wasn't sure if he was more excited to ring the doorbell at each house or to collect the candy. In the end, it was the CANDY!

Grandpop had the important job of passing out candy at our house while me, Nate, and Grandmom took Kevin trick-or-treating. Grandpop & Daddy were also in charge of "inspecting" the candy when we got home. That must be a dad job.

Kevin loves is scary mask from school. He yells "BOO" really loud!

Hide & Seek

Kevin loves to hide in the cabinet of our 1990's prom-bathroom!

(ps - we're taking suggestions on the new paint color. any ideas?)

A fun fall day

Cold. But we had fun anyway.

Last weekend we went to a nearby apple orchard/pumpkin farm. They had great activities for kids (hayrack ride, barnyard, mini tractors, train ride, pumpkin roll). Kevin's favorite part was the apple donut we ate in the Country Store to warm up. We'll try to go back one more time before Halloween to pick more apples.

Kevin really like "swimming" in the corn pool. Is this an Iowa thing, or what!

He knows our tricks

I've been honest about Kevin's love for his binky. For about the last year or so Kevin knows that he only gets his binky at naptime and at bedtime. This has worked great for all of us.

Kevin: For what it's worth, I love your binky too. It's like a baby sedative. Every time you get it into your mouth you instantly calm down, quiet down and fall asleep. It's magical, why would I take it away? Well, you will thank me when your not carrying it to sleepovers someday.

Several months ago we got Kevin a bike, with the idea of giving it to him in exchange for him giving up his binky. We had the bike in the basement. Well, stupid Mom & Dad... On Monday the furnace repair man came over while Nate was home. Kevin was excited to go to the basement to watch the repair man. In a matter of seconds, I hear from the kitchen, "a bike, look Daddy, there's a bike". We told Kevin he could have the bike if he gave his binkies away. We marched up to the kitchen, gathered them up and Nate tossed them out (not really, they are in the glove compartment of his car)! Kevin was so excited for his new bike.

The true test came at bedtime... he is doing okay so far. Kind of restless, but eventually falling asleep. He needs a few nights of detox.

Halloween flashback

He thinks it's funny to wear last year's costume:

Kevin, Halloween 2008. What a cute little guy: