Halloween post

Happy Halloween everyone!  It has been very fun to have a toddler to dress up for Halloween.  Our Calvin dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes.  We had fun showing him off at the ward Halloween party  and at the "Screamin' on Main" Halloween dance last week.  We are looking forward to some trick-or-treating tonight.  We carved three pumpkins this year.  I love Halloween. 

Calvin and Hobbes and "Dad"

Trunk-or-Treat.  The eyes even wiggled back and forth.

At the dance.

My Halloween decorations.  Thanks to my mom for letting me borrow the tombstones!  Thanks to my mother-in-law for the pumpkins!

Invader Zim, GIR, and a spooky pumpkin.

Hobbes

Lots of pictures again.  I wanted to make a Hobbes for Calvin.  I found a pattern and proceeded to make him.  He cost between $20 and $25.  He looks very home made, but that is part of the charm... He took about a week to complete.   I made the body and sewed it together, then I added the face, then I sewed every black stripe on by hand.  I made the body first, and Calvin loved throwing it around.  After I added the head on and showed it to him, he made an "oh" sound, like now he understood what it would become.   I am planning to use it as a Halloween prop, then wrap it up for his birthday. 

Right after I put his face on.

First stripe.

Both arms.

Arms and legs.

Head and beginning of back.

All the back stripes.

Completed back.

Completed front. 

Pinterest Fun

I found this idea on Pinterest to let your baby play with cooked spaghetti.  We gave it a try today.  I prepared the pasta while Calvin took his nap.  I put food coloring in the water while the spaghetti was cooking.  I did green and orange.  The rest of the story will be told with pictures.

The finished spaghetti.  Waiting for nap time to be over.

A little trepidation at first.

Tasting it.  He put his head in the bowl. 

Touching it.

Pulled most of the orange spaghetti out of the bowl.

We moved to the kitchen so I could supervise while washing dishes.

He spent a lot of time just eating.

He lost interest, but then I gave him a spoon and he was able to explore even more.

The final mess.

Bianca came to see what she could eat.

Playing with the bowl during clean up.

I saved most of the spaghetti.  I think we can get a few more play sessions in with it.  I think he had fun.  Now I have to go clean up the rest of the spaghetti off the floor. 

Enjoying the Harvest

We put a pepper plant in our garden this summer.  Mark chose the Cajun bell pepper variety.  It is small  and SPICY.  We decided to try it for the first time yesterday.  We bought a one topping pizza from Papa Murphy's and added our peppers to it, along with some black olives.  I knew the peppers were hot, but I didn't realize how hot.  I couldn't get the heat off my hands.  I decided to take my contacts out and my eyeballs felt the heat. Ouch!  Now I know to make Mark handle these peppers.  They didn't taste too bad on the pizza.  It was pretty neat to eat something we grew ourselves.

Another Gardening Post

We decided to try and grow vegetables this year.  We built a 5 x 4 foot raised bed in the backyard. We planted a tomato plant, a bell pepper plant, some lettuce seeds and some pea seeds.  We started really late, so we might not get to try everything, but we have enjoyed the peas and the lettuce.  It was a good learning experience for us.  I hope next year our garden will be more successful.

Before.

After.

Bonus picture of Calvin wearing earmuffs.

Stuff We've Been Up To

Calvin flushed the toilet.  He was very proud of himself.

Playing in the dirt.

We went huckleberry picking.

Napping in the tent.

Calvin got 5 teeth during August.

Peeking in the cupboard.

Played on the playground.  He climbed all the way to the top.

Celebrated Great-Grandma's birthday.

Third Anniversary

We celebrated our third anniversary this year at Lagoon.  Our little boy was teething and sad, but he was with his grandma.  I feel very grateful for her watching him.  It was so fun to walk around and ride the roller coasters and have it be just the two of us. It was fun to experience all the adrenaline with Mark by my side.  I am always amazed at how much he loves me.  How did I get to be the one he fell in love with?

July

I started nannying for the Lamberts in July.  Calvin and I have a lot of fun playing with the girls.  We have done a few fun things.  Calvin has been crawling for a month now.  He loves exploring and getting into things he's not supposed to.  We celebrated the 4th at the Cousin Carnival and the 24th watching the Mendon firework display.  Here are a few pictures of things we've been up to.

Check This Out

Reunion in Riverdale

Yesterday our family attended a family reunion.  Mark's mother's family lived in Riverdale, Idaho.  There were close to a dozen people in the family.  The house they grew up in is still in Riverdale, and boy is it tiny! It was fun to see some of Mark's aunts and uncles that I had never met.  We got to see pictures of ancestors which is always neat.  There is a resort in Riverdale, complete with a water slide.  It is fed from a hot spring.  We took Calvin swimming there.  It was Calvin's first time swimming in a real pool. He enjoyed the warmth of the water. 

Flower Bed

A couple of weeks ago, we put in a little flower bed in front of our stairs.  We got a bunch of free petunias from Mark's mom.  We put a little brick border between the bed and the grass.  The flowers are still alive, and I am doing my best to water them everyday.  Hopefully I can keep them alive. We were also planning on planting a tomato plant that day, but our neighbor ran over it in his car.  It was tragically killed in the accident.  We haven't been able to bring ourselves to replace it yet...

Before

After

6 Months

My little buddy is 6 months old now. I love thinking back about the birth of my sweetheart.  I would just like to record a few of the things he is up to.  At six months, Calvin can roll over from his front and his back.  He can sit up by himself. He likes to get up on his knees and rock back and forth. He has started experimenting with his facial expressions.  He is very vocal... Especially in sacrament meeting.  He is 18 lbs. 10 oz. He is 26.5 inches tall.  He is generally happy.  He loves his mom and dad a whole lot. He loves his puppy Bianca. He likes to explore his world by rubbing his hands on stuff.  For example, sometimes he will spit up and then rub his hands in it.  I love this little baby so much.  I look forward to watching him grow.

Fun Times Ahead

 

Please excuse the mess.  I just wanted you to see how Calvin can now get himself up on his knees and likes to rock back and forth.  He already scoots backwards on the floor, and can turn himself left and right.  We're pretty excited for him to be learning to crawl. 

May Day

Our family visited Mendon for the 151st annual May Day celebration.  Every year one junior aged girl in the community is selected as May Queen.  They hold a ceremony in which all the young girls in the city braid the five maypoles.  The May Queen is crowned, and everyone sings to her.  It was neat to participate in such an old community tradition.  Two years ago, Mark and I were featured in a little program after the maypole dances.  We did a thirty second polka.  Last year, we did not attend because I was graduating.   We are looking forward to attending next year.

Bunny Bite

I've been trying to think of something to post about for my second monthly post.  I know most of you who check my blog have already heard about this, but Calvin got bitten by a bunny at Easter time.   Blossom had just been brought home to stay.  She was being cute and running around the living room.  Calvin was having some tummy time.  She jumped over his back a couple of times.  Then she paused at Calvin's hand.  At first I thought she was just smelling him, but then he started crying.  I picked him up and Mark noticed blood on me.  We washed his finger off, put a bandage on it, and then I nursed him to make him feel better.  Poor little thing.  It was difficult to keep a bandage on his tiny thumb because he kept putting it in his mouth.  It split open a couple of times.  Now it is all healed and he has four scars on his little thumb.  Next time we will have to be more careful around baby animals. 

The injury.  The bite went through his thumb nail.

He was pretty brave.

Yard Work

The Lindsays have been blessed with good weather lately, and we have been trying to take advantage of it.  We were able to do some cleaning up of our yard during General Conference weekend.  The front yard is cleared of leaves and garbage.  Most of the doggy poop is picked up on the side yard.  All the dead, dried out weeds are gone.  Finally, the fire pit is cleaned of cigarettes and is usable again.  Now to attack the leaves in the backyard and take down the old, broken trampoline.  We are looking forward to making our backyard a fun place to be. 

Calvin was very helpful by taking a nap.

Look at that hottie!!

Bianca helped too.

Enjoying the fire.