Coop's Clefty Pumpkin/October's Catch-up

This past week I've really been feeling the Halloween spirit. In my house growing up, there were always special traditions we celebrated each year come Halloween time. We had the house dressed in spooky pumpkins, skeletons, bats, and ghosts. Of course we'd make a point to watch every Halloween tv special-maybe  even more than once. When I was really young, back in the VHS days my mom recorded Disney's Halloween Treat (the one with the talking mirror, not the talking pumpkin) and Garfield's Halloween Adventure. For almost 15 years I watched this dusty old VHS before it became nearly impossible to even find a player to watch it.

After days of searching  I finally found what I was looking for. I now have the same videos to share with my little guy. Let the traditions begin!

Trip #1 to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm:

You'd think he's screaming bloody murder here, but surprisingly he was cracking up over the sheep. When he's nervous or a little scared, he leashes out this crazy laugh. Just like this.

Apparently being fed nonstop in a petting zoo isn't enough. Rope is pretty tasty too.

Someone got a little impatient waiting in line for the hayride. Really, when this 18 month old runs out of snacks this is usually the outcome.

Last year's hayride pic:

The beautiful girls in Coop's life-Auntie Rachel and Cousin Kristen or "Kitten" as Coop would say.

Seriously, this is the sunset we had that night. Unbelievable right?!

Since Coop was only 6 months last year, he wasn't really able to actually soak in and enjoy anything Halloween-ie, so this year I had the overwhelming urge to intoxicate him with everything Spooky. Surprisingly enough, he still hasn't learned fear which I guess is a good thing. Just walk through the doors of Spirit Halloween and you'll know what I mean.

Trip #2 to Bishop's:

Where'd my baby go? All of a sudden I'm a mother to a boy. Like a rough-n-tumble, skinned knees, " I wanna play in the mud"  kind of boy.

I think we made Coop's dreams come true this day. Not only did he play in a real train, he also had the chance to ride on the running train through the pumpkin patch. All day he was whistling, Hoo hoo.

Hay covered trampoline. The first night he stepped foot on this he was terrified, second time around he was a pro, jumping and cannon balling away..

Cute little petting zoo. The City of Wheeland. They even have a Goatel 6, where They'll leave the light on for ewe!

Our first of many pumpkin carvings. Following tradition, we were rockin' out to the classic Halloween party songs.

Of course he tries to eat it. He's Cooper James, he'll eat anything.

A few of these may have been consumed prior to baking.....

Final product: Clefty Pumpkin!

Giving Mr. Pumpkin kisses goodnight.

Halloween tradition checklist, 

1. Decorate the house-check
2. Go to the pumpkin patch-check
3. Get awesome Chicken Costume-check
4. Carve a pumpkin-check
5. Have a marathon of Halloween Specials-FINALLY check

Monday we will go to the Historic Downtown to do all the trick-or-treating. I will have many pics of Coop dawning his chicken suit. The boy loves anything with a beak and thinks they're all ducks so really, he's a "duck" for Halloween.

Have a Happy Safe Halloween Everyone!

Chasing Shadows

Cooper is loving the open space in our family room. It makes me question whether I really want to fill it with furniture because the result of the empty space is awesome. It is Coop's dance floor after all. This boy knows how to bust a move, and this video is sure to prove it. I don't think I could love this kid anymore than I do already. Surely it's impossible.

Settling In

Let me start off by saying the Douglas family finally has a home! In the last 2 months we've survived a major career change, long distance move, and we finally  got the keys to our beautiful new home. Just when things started feeling a bit stagnant living with another family, God worked his magic and found us a wonderful solution in a new dwelling. We couldn't be happier.

Just before the move, Coop made our shared little room into his "chill" spot.

The smaller picture was taken in September 2010 when Coop was 5 months old. This pic was taken September 2011, just one year later.

Once again, Chillin' with the Suz

Future underwear model???

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***I'm very scatter brained trying to catch up on all of this lost time. So bear with me through this post 'cause it's a jumbled mess. You'll notice nothing's in order, and I might jump from one thing to another without any relation. Well, here it goes....

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September was a month of Birthdays. Here we celebrated two monumental ones, a 1st for Miss Madilynn Rose, and the big 18 for Cousin Liz. There was much fun to be had.

Cousins

What's a first birthday without the famous smash cake?!

Madi reminds me of a Precious Moments doll in this one.

Catch a glimpse at that first tooth!

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A dear friend welcomed us to take a peek into the homeschooling world by inviting us to join in fall festivities with the kids. There were six older children enjoying crafts, spooky cookie decorating, and we must not forget group readings teaching what causes the season change.

This was supposed to be bobbing for apples for the home school kids, but our kids decided to taste each apple to make sure there weren't any worms of course. The bucket may have also been used as a cleaning station for the vroom vroom and sippy.

*Pre-apple tasting*

Such a girl, so sweet and delicate eating her apple....

Then there's Coop. Such a boy, eating apples off the ground and making the silliest of faces.

Let's just say the bobbing for apples was not a successful station..It was mauled by two hungry toddlers before the games began.

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There's nothing better than waking up in my own home, brewing a pot of Pumpkin Spice coffee, and watching the  majestic sun rise out my window. This is heaven on earth.

Oh wait...there is something better than the above. His name is Cooper and he greets me with his crooked little smile every morning. Rain or shine.

Luckily the rain hasn't hit to hard in our area. The backyard is Coop's sanctuary right now. He would literally spend all day and night out there if I'd let him. He has his own patio to play cars on, a large grassy lawn to chase the dog, and a small orchard with lemon, mandarin, and orange trees. Not to mention the avocado and persimmon trees. This boy loves helping me pick up fallen fruit and maybe sneaks a bite or two out of it.

The twinkle in my little guy's eyes are back. He is home at last!

Mornings are usually spent chasing and tormenting the kitty. Or the, "Mow" as Coop would say. She really loves it or she would easily disappear under one of the beds.

This past weekend Coop had the chance to speak with his Grandma Billie. He really soaked it up, it was one of those awww moments.

Not too long ago Joel was playing with this crawler. I guess Coop inherited it when he was helping me organize the garage. Like father like son, obsessed with trucks.

Coop's Pumped Up Kicks

Notice the rotting mandarin in Coop's hand. Nine times out of ten he's usually gnawing on a dried up mass of fruit. Lovely, I know.

Important lesson learned: Lemon peel is nasty.

First big rain of the season, I loved every second of it!

The other night Coop was bathing when Joel surprised the begeeses  out of him. This is Cooper's scared face:

Then a short game of peek-a-boo was played and all was good again.

Oh the joys of being home. Now back to this beautiful evening.