Fall Fun

Fall is here but those days are limited as well... in fact, snow flurries are in the forecast for tomorrow. Your days of  outdoor fun are almost over for the year!  We have spent a lot of time driving around in your jeep - you love to drive it up a few blocks to look at the neighbor's cows.  You love to do "burn outs" and drive really fast "like McQueen - kachow!" (McQueen's catch phrase.)

 Halloween was a lot of fun; Mama took off the entire week (I was only scheduled off for Halloween but due to my broken heart from losing Rocky, we spent the entire week together!) It was a tough week but like always...you can make Mama's worst day better.  On Halloween, I took my little Michaelango to Daddy's job to see all of his work friends - they loaded you up on candy!  You just love all of the extra special attention, so you do tricks, and laugh and just really ham it up.  Next, we picked up Great Grandma Bye and went to Great Aunt Theresa's job at Kansas Gas Services; all of the cubicles choose a theme and decorate and hand out a lot of candy... your bucket was FULL!!  We headed to Poppy's job, and then home for a nap, and then our evening started!  Trunk or Treating at the church, trick or treating, and then just visited with the family at Great Grandma Bye's house.  Kendalyn was your Halloween partner and she would take you up to the doors and make sure that you got candy and remained safe with all of the strangers.  Mama, Daddy, Poppy, Uncle Ezra, and Auntie would stand at the end of the sidewalk and let you and the girls be independent and trick or treat -  if Kendalyn would start to walk off without you, you would holler "Ken! You forgot your buddy!"  She would giggle and turn around and come grab your hand.  They were a superhero family and we were Ninja Turtles!

You had your final "Little Athletes" class a few weeks a go - you played basketball, baseball, soccer, and the final class was track.  Go figure, that was your FAVORITE! You love to play basketball and baseball at home but you were not as interested in learning the rules of it -you just wanted to do tricks and do any and every thing that you were not supposed to be doing. (kick the basketball, dribble during shooting class, etc.)  That is to be expected with a toddler class - none of the children were too interested in following instructions - you all just wanted to play! The coaches actually told us they decided to make the final week track after seeing you and how much you loved to run, and boy are they right!  You were the fastest kid at the "track meet" and you actually got a medal at the end!  You were SO proud of your medal and had to take it to bed with you that night, to Nancy's house the next day, and you told everyone about it; we had to call Poppy, Auntie, and Uncle David to tell them all about it! On the way out of class you told Daddy and I "I beat everybody!" You are obviously such a competitive little guy already - Mama told you that everyone was fast and that everyone won.  (I know that is not the way your competitive dad would have responded...ha, that is where you get it from!)

Speaking of races and running, you had quite the running accident this weekend. You opened the hallway closet door and must have forgotten about it; a few minutes later, you challenged Daddy to a race and took off like "McQueen" and ran right into the edge of the door.  You had only ran a few steps but must have just hit it in the worst spot because it knocked you down to the ground and your forehead had the biggest and ugliest goose egg in just a matter of seconds. It was really really bad - I took pictures to send to uncle David, who had just left to head home to Wichita- to see if he thought we should take you to the emergency room!  He told us to watch for but didn't think the hospital was necessary - mama checked your pupils, and we gave you ibuprofen and attempted to ice it as much as you'd allow. By the next morning, the swelling had gone down drastically. Thank goodness!!!! 

This past Saturday, you were the ring bearer in Kyle and Amber Large's wedding - (Amber is the girl that was your summer nanny last year when Nancy closed.)  She knew that she just had to have you  be a part of her special day after she got so close to you last year;  you were SOOOO cute!!!  They had a vintage style wedding so you wore a little vest and knickers with tall socks -  it was stinking adorable.  We had the rehearsal on Friday, and you started out kind of clingy - you were hiding behind Mama's leg...but you met the other ring bearer and the flower girl, and then you were off.  I must say, come Saturday, the other ring bearer didn't hvae anything on you! :) He was not paying attention and ran down the aisle, but you did fantastic holding the flower girl's hand and walking all the way down until you saw Mama and Daddy.  You then told us how you were such a "good boy" and did "your job good!"  Uncle Ezra, Auntie, and the girls were there too and you all had a blast at the reception.  You danced your little hearts out!

I think the holidays will be a lot of fun this year - I bet you are still going to be terrified of Santa, but you have started pointing out toys and very sweetly saying "Maybe HoHo will buy that for me!"  You have never really put it together like that before...so hopefully HoHo is listening and gets you every thing that your little heart desires! :)

You love to sing!  Your current favorite song is "skinny Ma rinky dinky dink". We have to turn it on as soon as we get in the car. You also love the eensy Weensy spider, happy birthday, and the ABC's. You loved calling and singing happy birthday to Kass yesterday!  She loved hearing it too! I could hear her smile through the phone - that's how happy she sounded. Lathan, you have done amazing with potty training! No accidents at all!  That's my boy!!!!! You still sleep in a diaper at bedtime, but you still wake up dry most nights!  I'm so proud of you. Your favorite "cuss word" is "poopy butt". We are working really hard on you not saying that...although you did thank all the "poopy butts" at Poppy's job for the Halloween candy. I didn't think that was very funny...but all the guys did. 

Tuesday, October 28 we had to ua goodbye to Rocky. Mama's "first born" son. It was incredibly hard. For three weeks - on and off - he was in the best office. Originally, they treated him for pancreatitis and he got better - but it only lasted a week. I won't go into the heartbreaking details...but our buddy had a brain tumor and there was nothing mama could do to save him. I tried everything. We said goodbye and he's not hurting anymore. You do not understand - for days mama has bawled. You just tell me not to cry anymore bc he will be home from the doctor soon. I try to explain that he's with Ma, but you just tell me "no he isn't". One time( you cried and said you wanted your buddy but you just don't understand. My heart hurts for you...you've lost two pets in the last six months.  It's just not right.