Pumpkin Fun...

This weekend was full of Halloween festivities and Pumpkin Carving was definitely one of them. We decided to carve the pumpkin Wy-man picked out at the pumpkin patch a couple weeks back. It was perfect size.

I cut open the top and let him 'gut' away.
As many of you know, Wy-man is picky about his hands getting sticky, so it didn't take long before Dad-d had to help out.

Dad-d was even a trooper and cut out the face so I could continue to snap photos. (Imagine that...)

Wy-man was quite pleased with the end product. So much so he wanted to take a bite! I had to explain that we don't take bites out of our pumpkins. ;-)

It was great weather for pumpkin carving and playing outside. Wy-man didn't want to sit by his pumpkin for long...he would have rather been mowing the lawn. (This is his "Mom, I've had enough of you. Please let me go play" smile.)

And there will be more Halloween posts throughout the week...Until then, enjoy!

Halloween Craft Time

This past weekend Wy-man and I had some free time so we decided to make a fun Halloween craft project. I remember seeing an idea like this at his daycare last year so I thought I would give it a try at home. (And come to find out, one of my great friends, Kendra, did something similar with her two girls and it is one of the most adorable projects I have ever seen. Her's turned out way better than ours. She even framed hers and I think I am going to steal that idea from her so I can get out his craft every Halloween.)

As we began this project, I mentioned to Wy-man that we were going to use paint and he immediately became ecstatic. (He must love it when they paint at daycare.)

Step one of our ghost making was to paint the foot and make footprints on black paper. (I wasn't able to get a photo of this since I didn't trust him to sit there patiently with white paint on both feet...because of course we couldn't just tickle one foot. It had to be both!)

I then thought it would be fun to do thumbprint pumpkins on the envelopes. And as you all know, Wy-man is in the "My do it!" stage so he had to paint his own thumb...

(too bad this one had his eyes closed, but it was too ornery not to share with you)

We let the paint dry and a couple days later created thumbprint eyes. (This is when he sang me his ABCs...and that video is posted from earlier on in the week.)

Here's the final product that we sent out to a few family and friends...Wy-man was quite proud of his ghosts!

And, Mama wanted to get a little creative so I even drew a spider and spider web as a part of the return address label. (I am such a nerd, I know!)

I just love doing projects like this with him - not only can I cherish the keepsake that we've created, I am able to capture photos and memories that will last a lifetime!

Them Bones...

Tomorrow is Wy-man's Halloween Party at daycare so Mama needed to come up with some treats for him to bring. I did some searching online and came across the cutest idea - Bones!

So Wy-man, Mimi and I worked diligently to get these treats made. I was super impressed as Wy-man even helped put the marshmallows on each end. (Although, I think he ate three for every one he contributed to the cookie sheet.)
And here's a look at the bone cemetery after they were covered in white chocolate.

We then packaged up 3 bones for each kid and paired them with raisins, m&m's and candy corn.

Now Wy-man has a treat basket that is sure to be a hit with all of his friends...

And Mama can't wait to bring the extras to share with her coworkers too!

These treats were super easy to do and are super cute. If you have any other great treat ideas, I would love to hear them so I can keep them in mind for next year's festivities.

Wednesday's Words of the Week

Well, I missed last Wednesday's post so I have two weeks worth of Wyatt-isms.

1. "My Sweaty" - Our little guy definitely takes after Dad-d and sweats pretty easily. After running around the house/yard like a wild man, Wy is always so sweaty. He will come up, rub is sweaty head against my leg and proclaim: "My sweaty!"

2. "My ____ (Dad-d) Soon?" - He loves to ask when he is going to see someone certain. So you can fill in the blank with any name and that is how Wy-man asks me if he will be seeing someone special in the near future.

3. "Slow down!" - Lately when we have been driving too and from daycare, Wy-man will tell me to slow down. I don't drive that fast but I find it interesting that he is already aware of his surroundings and how fast/slow we are going.

4. "Go way" - We are in that terrible two's stage right now and my sweet Wy-man is starting to show more signs of it. "Go way" (meaning "Go away") is just one of those. If he doesn't want me close to him he tells me to go away. It is so sad yet so cute all at the same time.

5. "Leave lone" - This would be the next of the terrible two's mention. He is meaning to say "Leave me alone" but has shortened it to "Leave lone." He does this when he is pouting after getting in trouble.


6. "I'm mad!" - If he gets upset with Dad-d or me he likes to share his emotions with us. Lately, the common theme has been "I'm mad" completed with the folding of the arms and sticking out the pouty lip!


7. "My naughty." - I am used to picking Wy-man up from daycare and having them telling me what a great day he had and how he was such a doll. But this past week I have had her tell me two times that he wasn't doing well on listening and was refusing to clean up toys when asked. So when I ask him when we get him how his day was he will tell me, "My naughty, mama." So at least he knows...but let's just hope he knows to change his ways. ;-)


8. "My no like this!" - Two nights ago we were eating dinner and I cut up canned peaches for Wy-man. He used to love them but it had been a while since we had them. So he picked one up to try it, held it in his mouth for 2 chews, spit it out on his plate, looked up at me and said, "My no like this." It was so adorable.


9. "Thif Way" - Wy-man's new thing is telling me where I should turn. 'No mama, thif way!' pointing his finger in the opposite direction I am going.


10: "That funny?!" - This last one is probably his most favorite thing to say in the past two weeks. He will do anything or say anything followed by a 'That funny mama?!" wanting me to laugh. Lately he has figured out he should try that when he gets in trouble. It isn't working on me, but it has worked on Dad-d a couple times. ;-)

Gotta love this little guy (who's not so little anymore).

ABCs

Last night as Wy-man and I were finishing up our Halloween craft project, I was able to get him to sing me his ABCs. Pretty darn good if you ask me!

Swimmin' at Dad-d's Work!

Believe it or not but today was the first time Wy-man has gone swimming at Dad-d's work. It is such a kid friendly pool that I am kicking myself for not taking him sooner.

We enjoyed our time doing many activities.
Like going down the slide...
Running through the water fountains...

Shootin' hoops...(Joe Krabbenhoft would have been so proud!)

Just call me Air Jordan!

Working on his flutter kicks...(I bet you can't tell by that statement that Mama used to be a swim instructor for years!)
And learned about cause and effect...(he quickly learned that when he unplugged a hole, he had to move fast to avoid be sprayed in the face.)

It's fun times like these that make me realize all over again how lucky I am to be a mama!

Such a Helper!

Today was a day full of yard work for Mike and Wy-man. After mowing two lawns (ours and my parent's--since they are in Italy), Mike also wanted to fertilize/winterize our yard. And of course, Wy-man was right behind him following in Dad-d's footsteps. It was too cute not to capture!

School Picture Day

Today is Wy-man's school picture day...he was dressed to the nines and looking pretty spiffy. I wanted to take a photo but he wasn't havin' it (which may be an interesting sign since it's photo day).

But, I was able to get in there and snap a photo with my phone while he was quietly reading his "Geez-sus" (meaning Jesus) story book. It was the most precious site!

Wednesday's Words of the Week

Last week I started recording the crazy/funny things that Wy-man says, so I thought I would try to make this my weekly Wednesday post.

Here are the words of this week:

1. "Peek-a-goo!" - He loves to play peek-a-boo with this blanket or towel (after bath time). I just think it is so cute when he says it.

2. "Dancing St-arrs" - I like to watch Dancing with the Stars on Monday nights (and Wy-man likes to watch it too...he will get his boogie on). Now when he wants to dance, or sees a promo throughout the week, he asks for Dancing St-arrs and really draws out the R in Star.

3. "My go first!" & "Wyatt's turn." - We all know when children enter the sometimes Terrible Twos they want to do everything themselves. Well, Wy-man has become adamant that he gets to try everything first! It is so cute yet can be frustrating at the same time.

4. "Pah-kin Patch" - As you saw from two of my recent posts, we visited the Pumpkin Patch and Wy-man was SO excited. Except he couldn't quite enunciate when he says Pumpkin. Instead it is Pah-kin.

5. "Dinkle St-arr" - Wy-man is now into singing songs and he pulls out this method right at bedtime. (And mama falls for it every time.) So lately he has been wanting to swing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star but when he makes the request it comes out at Dinkle St-arr. (Once again accentuating the R.) And while I know I should get him to say it correctly, I love it so much I haven't been able to ask him to fix it.

And that concludes this week's edition of Wyatt's Words of the Week.

The Official Pumpkin Patch

Wy-man and I ventured out to give the pumpkin patch another shot - and this time it was the real deal. It all started with a hayride out to pick the pumpkin of his choice!He quickly found one, but without Dad-d there to help, Mama wasn't sure she would be able to carry the camera, Wyatt and the pumpkin. So I took a few cute photos with this pumpkin before we began searching again. And I am not sure why he wanted to bit the stem, but I got it on camera!

Here's the pumpkin we landed on. Once we brushed off the dirt, it was perfect!

And of course I wanted to get one more photo while on the hayride back to pay for our pumpkin, but Wy-man wasn't too thrilled.

But he did let me put the pumpkin next to him and take a few photos.
After our pumpkin find was safely placed into the car, we got to enjoy a pony ride...

And check out a few of the animals on hand.

He couldn't wait to pet the donkey...

But kept calling him a 'horsie' when he tried to summon him to come back and be pet.

And to end the day, he 'drove' the car and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

What a fun day for Wy-man and Mama! Too bad Dad-d was out of town.

29 Ain't So Bad...

Today I turned 29, and thanks to my mama (and the rest of my family) I celebrated in style.

As most people know, I like to celebrate my birthday for as long as possible, so my mama didn't waste any time and began the celebration last night. When I showed up to pick Wyatt up (Dad-d is out of town for work so Mimi and Papa watched Wy-man while I taught Zumba), she had tons of goodies prepared. (And I forgot to take a photo of the cupcakes to show you how good they looked.) She had made treats for me to take to work - I soon got that feeling of grade school birthday celebrations all over again and I LOVED IT! (As did many people from my work since they were able to reap the rewards.) :-)

Then, tonight when I got off work I went by mom and dad's for dinner and this is what I saw when I arrived!

Those of you that know my mama, know that she loves to throw a fun party...and tonight she didn't disappoint. The table was set with formal place settings for all (even Wy-man), and each plate was adorned with a matching birthday napkin.

And I, being the birthday girl, had a special place setting with the birthday plate and mug! Who wouldn't want to eat a scrumptious meal on that fun plate?

Mom tried a new recipe especially for me...Chicken Bowtie Festival (my favorite entree from Johnny Carinos). Man was it yummy!

We then completed the meal with an almond cake that she had made (to match the colors of the b-day napkins,of course). And Wy-man had to help me blow out the candles. (It's a good thing this cake was topped in fondant that could be peeled off since his 'blowing' of the candles was mostly 'spitting' at the candles.)

And to top it all off, she sent me home with 29 beautiful pink roses...and the leftovers! :-) I am one lucky lady to be treated so special on my birthday. The one thing that would have made it better was having Mike here to celebrate with me. Well...just another reason to have another birthday celebration when he gets back, right?! ;-)

I told my mom that she should have saved all of this for next year...I think I am going to need all the support I can get when I turn 30!

Thanks mama for such a fun party tonight! I love you!

Halloween Decorations

As I mentioned on Facebook last week, my mom came over one day, busted out my Halloween decorations and went to town. Here are a few shots of the finished work. I think my favorite area is the black buffet table in the kitchen and the Fall centerpiece she made for me. She's so crafty!

Thanks Mom for this wonderful early birthday gift. I love your work.

Now I have photos and can recreate it on my own next year.