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Tonight in the split second between taking Jacks diaper off and putting him in the tub he peed on the floor. Then he immediately stuck his foot in the puddle and started spreading it around. When I said, "Jaaack ewww" he laughed so hard he peed some more.
Bed time can be rough around here. Jack get this crazy burst of energy right before he gets super tired and grumpy. We are always trying to time dinner, bath, playtime with dad, and bed just right to prevent a melt down.  It doesn't always work. It hardly ever goes smoothly. And sometimes there is pee on floor.

Family Night: Pumpkin Carving

Can you believe that Halloween is Friday?? Time is just zooming by but we have been able to squeeze in a lot of October fun.  Tonight was the big night. We carved our pumpkins. Jack painted his. And helped me gut mine. Well he mostly played in the guts. Oh and tried to put them back in the pumpkin.

 Parker's finished product:

My finished product:

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Frosting

A couple days ago Jack frosted two Halloween Cookies and then his entire body.

 Let them be little. Let them be messy.

The Dragon Suit

I had really great intentions of making Jack a "Wild Thing" costume because he adores the book Where The Wild Things Are. But … I am lacking certain skills oh and a sewing machine. So maybe some year down the road. Maybe. But this year we settled on a costume from Costco. And I have to tell you, I feel pretty great about that decision. 

We were standing by the costumes and I was trying to decide between a dog and a monkey when Jack Vincent got a hold of the bright green Dragon costume. I know I could have taken it away and a while later he wouldn't have remembered. But he was so excited. Even though I thought it was random and well kind of dorky we went with it. 

He wears it everyday. 

He knows that I keep it in the bottom drawer of his dresser. He will pull it out and I will help him put it on. Sometimes he only wants to wear the feet and the head. But he really loves wearing it. He wants to wear his dragon suit and play on his rocking horse. He wants to wear his dragon suit and chase Daxter.  He wants to wear his dragon suit to sit and read the book Dragons Love Tacos. He wants to wear his dragon suit and watch Elmo.

He would sleep in the dragon suit if we let him. 

I love my little dragon. 

He was pretty excited to wear the dragon suit out and about for our Halloween test run. We met up with some cousins to see some pretty spectacular witch displays and Jack had a blast. He loved all of the kids is costumes. Halloween is going to be so much fun. 

Walking Side by Side

There has been a big change since Jack started walking. Or maybe it has been happening slowly and I just couldn't see it clearly until he was walking. Either way everything just feels different.

I used to feel like I would take Jack places. And he would sit on my hip and be adorable. But now I feel like Jack and I go places together. We hold hands and walk around side by side.  I used to feel like it was time to feed Jack lunch. And now I feel like it's time for Jack and I to eat lunch together. All of the sudden it went from me watching Jack play to playing with Jack. 

It really isn't just the walking. He is so interactive lately. He still isn't saying real words but he has no problem communicating. He went through some massive crazy growth spurt and just looks older. 

There is no doubt we have crossed over the line from baby to toddler. 

I didn't know it would feel like this. Like all of the sudden instead of having a little baby I have a little buddy. It is pretty dang awesome.  When he took off walking it didn't just change how we got to from point a to point b. The dynamic between us changed.
Part of motherhood for me has been a lot of wondering. Wondering how I'll handle situations x y and z. Wondering how I will feel when this or that happens. I often wonder how I will feel when Jack is grown. 

My mom is always telling me that each phase gets better and better. Children become more and more fun as they grow. And I really believe her. The reason why a squishy little newborn is so precious is because you can sense all of the great potential in that tiny little being. 

I feel really good about Jacks literal first steps towards independence.
Now I can wonder a little less. I know a little bit more about how I handle this whole mom thing. I am not going to be the mom that tears up at every milestone. And I'm ok with that.
I love that he is walking. I love that he is enjoying new things. I love seeing what he drawn to and where he goes when he wanders off.
Plus he was kind of getting heavy.

Pumpkin Picking

Yesterday we picked out our pumpkins and had some fall themed family fun.
We watched a pig race. And a goat race. Parker won a prize.
We rode a cow train pulled by a tractor.
We slide down big slides.
We ate funnel cake and Jack discovered the wonder that is fried dough.
We let Jack pick out his own pumpkin. He wanted a wide flat one. We could not interest him in any other pumpkin. And there were so many pumpkins. So we brought home the one he chose and I am glad we did because he keeps giving it hugs today.

"The family that plays together stays together." Sometimes we all have to get in on the fun.

Parker met us straight from work. Most of the night he was the man behind the camera. He pulled Jack all over in that little wagon. And Jack loved it. 

And when he wasn't in the wagon he was running away. This is our life lately. Jack runs, we chase. 

Here are our pumpkins all lined up at home. 

I think I am going to let Jack paint his. Don't worry I will post pictures. If you don't know, Parker gets really really into carving pumpkins. He has done some pretty cool ones over the past few years.  I am pretty excited to see what he comes up with. 

It was a beautiful evening with great company and nice weather. I love this time of year. I really do.  I love the L.M. Montgomery quote you see floating around this time of year because Anne said it best, 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers"-

Anne Of Green Gables 

Playing Outside

We finally had some nice fall weather today. Not too hot. Not too cold. It was absolutely necessary to read books and eat pears under the autumn leaves. 

Jack and Dax. This is why we have a dog. 

They are best friends.

"I'll Get You My Pretty"

So if you live in Utah you might have heard of this big hoopla called Witches Night Out. It is a night dedicated to grown women acting like little girls by dressing like witches and dancing like crazy people. Oh and (window) shopping in (over priced) boutiques. It is something else. I have four sisters though and we like to go do things as girls so we tried it out this year. And it was pretty fun.
I like Halloween. I think it is so much fun. So I was actually pretty excited to have a reason to get all dressed up. I decided to go for a twist on the Wicked Witch of the West.
Not the one who is green but still pretty and just really misunderstood who sings on Broadway.
The real one. Who cackles. And has really cool theme music. The one who not only threatens Dorothy but her little dog too.
This costume was so easy to put together and actually came out looking really cool. To fully commit I should have painted my face green but I settled for a ton of green eye shadow and green nail polish. I already had the striped shirt and the jacket. I made the skirt- well I guess it's a tutu. It was incredibly easy. All it took was an elastic waist band and a bunch of tulle. You just tie the tulle to the band. I had extra material so I made "mini tutu bracelet things" for my wrists to get the fringe coming out of my jacket. The hat I found at target and picked because it had a really wide brim and was super tall like the one Wicked Witch of the West wears. I wish it would have been all black though.
 I was pretty happy with the end result.

 I had a really fun night with my mom and sisters. And I was really impressed with their dance moves!! Basically Moms Night Out #2 could be about us. I am joking. But a night out with them is so much fun and very needed from time to time.

My sister Lisa (Left) made a tutu too but used purple as well! So neat! And hers hung better than mine. Here we are drowning in tulle in the back of my moms car.

And here are my sisters defying gravity. I love them so much.