Signs of Halloween

1. A gigantic orange spider spinning a web in your backyard. This web was huge! It spanned two trees that are at least five feet apart if not more! With the evening sun backlighting it, the spider looked like it was glowing orange!

2. Kids are being forced to pose with pumpkins in the pumpkin patch for a "great fall picture" (my kids are especially subjected to this.)

3. A terrified infant is stuffed into a fake pumpkin.

(and here is Luke in the fake pumpkin three years ago)

These kids don't think the pumpkin pot is nearly as cute as I think it is.

4.  FLETCHER'S!!! I prefer to eat them at the state fair, but due to all our illnesses the past weeks, we didn't get to go. However, we lucked out because there was A FLETCHER'S BOOTH AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH!!!

Luke scarfed this one down and asked for another. Aww! I'm a sucker for a corny dog.



5. Babies in ridiculous costumes.

Don't ask about the fork. It was making him smile, okay??

This was Luke's costume when he was a baby and we (Luke & I) thought it would be fun to dress Will in it.

Will did not think it would be fun (remember the fork?)

I think the part he hated most was that his feet were trapped in it. He couldn't move like he normally does, so he was pretty much stuck wherever I put him.

Until he fell over--see that little patch of white flowers/weeds next to him up there??

See them now?? Fell over. Poor guy.

Gee, there is just something about pictures of kids showing raw emotion that I think is so cute! Bad mommy--taking a picture of the baby crying. That is -10 mommy points.  Don't worry, I snapped it quick and comforted him. He was over it in a snap (pun intended)! See??

And of course, how could I leave this out of my post??

Luke in the pea costume!

6.  Pumpkins, pumpkins, and pun'kins.

The tractor in this picture makes it look like we were really out on the pumpkin farm.

Will loved riding in the wagon.

A bad shot because his head is cut off but he was trying to lift the pumpkin and making this guttural, primal sound that made me laugh so hard I lost focus on the camera.

Why so many shots of Will and none of Luke? Well, Luke did his time and posed for a few obligatory shots before running off to play. Will, unfortunately, did not have that option.

Quack, Oink, Moo, Luke is Two!

Today was Luke's second birthday party, even though his real birthday isn't until next week. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun! Luke is very into farm animals right now and asks for his "farm tv" (Baby Einstein's Baby MacDonald) almost every day. In one swift move by super mom (with help from super dad) we transformed this place into Luke's own personal farm, well, as close as we could get it without going broke or springing for real animals. Heck, we didn't even spring for real hay. Anyway, I think everyone had a good time, I know Luke did.

At the beginning of the month, I whipped out these little invitations:

The barn doors opened to read "Oink, Oink, Moo Moo! Luke M*** is turning two. Join us in cowtown for the celebration!"

Just a few short weeks later it was party time. Our little man woke up ready to party today. Grandma Juli was here which made things extra special. Luke LOVES his Juli. When Juli is here, Luke's world IS Juli. Here he is getting in party mode early.

Mama made some pretty realistic decorations. Luke tried to sit on each animal--somehow though, none of the animals would have it. (Sadie made sure I knew that those animals weren't real.)

Cousin Zoe, whom Luke talks about almost every day, poses sweetly in her cowgirl hat. He says it "Zohhhh-Eeeeeeeee.

I was a little nervous about games. Last year we didn't do any games/activities, but this year I felt like we should. I was nervous about getting the kids interested, but I learned all you need is Sadie or Madie. Get one of those two going, and everyone wants to see whats going on. Make sure they are on your invite list if you need a hoppin' party. Sadie helped Luke and little bro Connor at the henhouse. Each nest was full of eggs and you had to find the eggs with your sticker on it. All the eggs had a prize inside, candy, stickers, super balls, etc. She was really good at finding the matching stickers, and her favorites were eggs that had candy inside.

Cousin Maya was riding this horse like she was in a rodeo! I see some barrell racing in her future.

One attempt at getting a family picture. Do you know how hard it is to get a two year old to stand still?

I truly believe that Luke's favorite element of any party is the food. The fact that our parties are generally buffet style, and almost always have chips, is like Disneyland to him. Not only did he eat the fruit and crackers out at the beginning, but once lunch was served, Luke & Maya split two plates. Then Luke proceeded to eat all the fruit dip off Juli's plate before just taking it away and polishing it off. I got him a second plate which he was hard into when I realized the party was nearing its end and we had yet to open presesnts or cut cake. I had to take his plate away to open presesnts. What other kid do you have to take the food away from to get them to open presents? If you remember from last year, this is pretty much the same food story.


Luke opened his presents slowly. As like Christmas, Luke takes the time to enjoy each gift as he opens. It was a little hard to take away his new toys and "force" him to open another one. He has really enjoyed getting to know his toys after the party.

Then it was time for cake. . .

MMMMMmmmmmm! Creative Memories Bakery provided us our delicious (and cute) cake!

We've been practicing singing the Happy Birthday song and blowing out candles so Luke thought it was great.

A second attempt at family photo.

Luke enjoying his cake.

Sadly, the party, and the all-you-can-eat buffet, had to end. Luke with his Great-Grandparents who had driven a long way to celebrate with us. It was wonderful to have them here.

Luke helped Aunt Kim get ready to leave. They tied on their cowboy hats together.

The party's never over until we have a silly picture of daddy.

Haha! I didn't make you suffer through any compare Luke now with Luke last year. But if you enjoy it, you can check out our birthday post from last year by clicking here.