Trick-Or-Treat!

Who would have guessed, after all the cold, rain, hail, and snow on Wednesday, that we would have such PERFECT Trick-Or-Treat weather?! We had such a great time!

Hannah and her boyfriend, Hudson.

In this picture, Hannah looks so much like Andrew when he wore the Eeyore costume.

It was no surprise that the boys wanted to dress as their favorite Star Wars characters. Darth Vader was an easy costume to find, but R2-D2 took a little more creativity. A few weeks ago, we found this little plastic domed garbage can and thought, hey, we might be able to use this!

Bryan cut out the bottom and made arm holes in the sides and spray painted the top silver and the bottom white. Then, using an R2-D2 toy as a model, he drew and painted the markings. Finally, he used his little blow-torch to burn battle wounds into the body. Great job, Babe!

R2-D2 and Darth Vader

We were intending to dress Hannah as Princess Leia to complete the Star Wars theme, but to save money, we ended up dressing her in the Eeyore costume that Andrew wore on his first Halloween. She made a pretty cute Eeyore, I think.

The force is strong with this one!

Andrew really enjoyed trick-or-treating with his best friend, Noah, who dressed as Luke Skywalker. Luke, I am your father!

Logan was a little slower and stuck closely to his Daddy. After every house he said, "I want MO candy!"

Bryan makes a pretty good R2 too!

This Halloween thing is a pretty good deal!

I have really loved Halloween the last six years; kids make it so fun! I love the excitement they have for their costumes, and how they seem to stand a little taller the moment they put them on. I love seeing their energy as they run from house to house and their smiles as they examine their loot! I love the warm feeling of community as neighbors, who may have never met before, literally rub shoulders and share a laugh on the sidewalks.

I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father allows us joy and even FUN in this life! "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured!"

I *heart* Ohio!

...in the Fall!

Yesterday afternoon, we took a little Sunday drive out to Chagrin Falls to enjoy the beautiful Fall colors.

It couldn't have been a more perfect day to be outdoors! The sky was clear and sunny and the air was crisp and cool. The colors were so bright and vibrant. We went for a nice walk, played at the playground, and fed the ducks at the river. It was so fun to just play and be together.

I was fascinated by this red berry tree (very scientific, huh? You'll have to help me here, Tyson!), and made Bryan pose in front of it.

It's days like these when I feel like I could live in Ohio forever! Don't worry Mom; soon the frigid, bitter winter winds will blow, followed by a nearly non-existent spring and a suffocatingly hot and humid summer, and I'll be reminded why we will be happy to move back West when the time comes. For now, I am basking in the glorious Ohio autumn!

My School Musical 3

I hope you will all come out and support Bryan and me by coming to see our new movie!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Patterson Farm

Hannah's New Trick

Hannah decided she was old enough to pull herself up to standing in her crib today. Who told her she could do that?!
Someone's pretty proud of herself! I think Daddy's pretty proud of her too!

Sneak Peek of Logan's Halloween Costume

Can you guess what it is?

Kids These Days!

Tonight, Bryan whipped up a delicious batch of hot fried scones for dessert. We don't make them very often, so of course, Andrew had to turn up his nose and ask what is in them. We told him that the dough is made from flour, sugar, baking soda, milk, and oil. Then you stretch the dough and deep fry it in oil. They are especially yummy topped with honey.

"Hmmm," Andrew said, "not very healthy." (This coming from the kid who complains at nearly every veggie I put in front of him!)

He then picked up the bottle of honey and examined the label. "So what's the deal with the honey? Did they put in any trans fat?"

WHAT?!!

Time For a Bath!

Me: "Hey Logan, your feet are looking pretty dirty!"
Logan: "They're not dirty!"
Me: "Oh yeah? What's that black stuff under your toenails?"
Logan: "Um....Chocolate?"

The New Family Photographer

Potato Head parts...

...coloring book......fingerprint-covered computer monitor...

I bet you're wondering who took such awesome pictures. There were SEVERAL others, but these were the most recognizable.

Oh, and let's not forget my own personal favorite!

This was taken a millisecond before I jumped up and snatched my camera from Logan's hands. Too late! I guess this is what I get for lingering after lunch to read my scriptures!

Logan looked over my shoulder at the display screen on the camera as I deleted most of his works of art, exclaiming, "Oh, that's a good one!" to every picture. When I was done, he shook his head with a smile and sighed, "I'm really good at taking pichows."

I explained to him for what seemed like the hundredth time this month, "the camera is for Mommy and Daddy ONLY! NOT for Logan!" He calmly folded his arms and looked at me with the most serious expression and said with the deepest yearnings of a three-year-old heart, "Mom, I really need to buy a camera for me, so I can take some pichows." The way he said it was so convincing, that I actually started considering it. Who am I to crush his creative aspirations?!

"...and a phone too," he added. Oh boy. I'm in trouble!

Look Out World...

...HERE COMES HANNAH!

Hannah officially started crawling today! She's been wanting it for a couple weeks now, but couldn't quite figure out how to coordinate her arms and legs just right.

This afternoon, after she pooped through her clothes, I stripped her down and changed her diaper. Then before I could put on a clean outfit, off she went!

(I think I scared her at the end there with all my cheering!)

Diaper Cake

Last week, I made a diaper cake for my friend, Lana, who recently had a baby. I had heard about diaper cakes before, but had never actually seen one until my Mom made one for my sister-in-law this summer. Hers turned out OH SO CUTE, so I wanted to give it a try too.

This was so fun to make! Here is my naked three-tiered cake made with a bag of size 2 diapers and a whole bunch of rubber bands. That's a bottle brush holding the top two layers together.

I kept mine pretty simple, with just receiving blankets to cover the layers and a stuffed froggy as a topper, but you could get as fancy as you like with all sorts of baby items to decorate your faux confection.

On my SIL's cake, my mom went all out with baby spoons, shoes, binkies, hairbows, socks, bottles, teethers, and toys.

You can see my mom's detailed diaper cake-making instructions with pictures on The Thompson Family Tree.