Ten on Tuesday

1. Halloween went off without a hitch. Zane ate three candy bars and still went to bed without complaint. Zane also received a Halloween present from his God Mother yesterday. It was The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Book, complete with sound effect buttons. He specifically liked the sound effect for snoopy being the flying ace, very dramatic. The buttons are a little difficult for him to push, but we "read" the book numerous times and had to look through it one more time before bed. Thanks Aunt Anna. 

2. We did manage to get our pumpkins carved, though it took us until the day before Halloween to do it. Turns out this is actually perfect timing because they looked great for all our trick or treaters. Zane had fun watching/helping us carve our pumpkins and play with the pumpkin insides. He really thought he should be able to put the pieces we cut out back into the pumpkin. Oh and he might have had a few tastes of pumpkin along the way. We made roasted pumpkin seeds, which is my favorite part of carving pumpkins, and Zane enjoyed some of those as well. I was slightly concerned he would choke on them, but he actually loves the chewing sound they make, so far so good. Here is Zane "helping" carve pumpkins 

 

3. In other fun fall news Zane got to play in the leaves this past week. We grilled, for probably the last time what with the time change coming up, and Zane got to play in tons of leaves. He seemed to have a great time, but really wanted to try to put the leaves in the fire. 

 

4. I promised farm pictures and never posted any so here are a few highlights. The main one for me was watching all the kids playing ring around the rosie together. I didn't get pictures of it when all three where playing, but here is Maggie and Zane playing together. Maggie, who can be a bit bossy at times, kept saying "fall down Zaney boy" it was too cute. Another favorite photo from my farm trip was Uncle Able proudly displaying the hot dogs he grilled on the bundle fork. It is the best way to cook hot dogs over a camp fire, problem is bundle forks may be hard to come by these days.

 

5. How about those St. Louis Cardinals!! We made the adult decision not to go to the parade and festivities on Sunday and watched it on TV instead. It turned out to be a good decision since it was cold, rainy, and Zane wasn't in the best of moods. Zane stayed up all together too late Friday night mainly because Zach and I couldn't pry ourselves away from the TV long enough to put him to bed. Here is Zane with his Cardinals puffy finger. He wore this on and off throughout the post season and loved it.

6. Zane has started playing pretend much more lately, which I absolutely love. He pretends to feed his horse, Dale, all the time. Usually he gives him a bite from his snack container or gives him a drink from his sippy cup. I often ask him if Dale is hungry and then he will proceed to go get Dale and give him a snack. He drives his tractors around more and last night tried to ride on his Little People Farm tractor. This is involved him basically laying on the tractor while he crawled around. It was highly entertaining. I know he would enjoy a little riding toy of some sort for the house, but frankly I'm terrified. He would go from calmy riding on it to trying to stand on it in about 2.5 seconds. Here he is feeding Dale. 

 

7. On that note I am getting excited about Christmas shopping for Zane. I am trying to remain under control and continue to remind myself that Zane is one year old, will in no way remember this Christmas, and I do not need to spend a ton of money on toys which he will most likely never play with. I am trying to get my shopping done early, spreading out that finacial burdan a bit and trying to avoid the crowds. I have bought a few stocking stuffers from Target's one spot and I got this awesome Little People nativity set which was only $25 at Target! He thoroughly enjoyed opening his heart birthday presents so Christmas morning should be fun. Here is hoping I am not at work Christmas morning.

 

8. I have started crotcheting again! (No, I'm not pregnant). I use to crotchet all the time. I actualy taught myself how during the 2006 world series run, back when I wasn't really into the game so much as just trying to support my husband's addiction, without going crazy. Now the cardinals are world series victors again and I am taking it back up. However, now I have a one year old who is very into playing with the yarn, because it all feels like his baby blanket. I finally figured out that I can maybe get away with doing it while Zane is awake if I sit at the table. Not as comfy as the couch, but such is life. I also forgot how terrible I am at reading crochet patterns. I am fine once I get started but the first two rows are impossible for me. Maybe I will in list the help of my mother in law when she comes to visit Friday. She is a master crocheter.

 

9. While composting the innards of our pumpkins we decided to pull up the two pepper plants that we thought hadn't produced any peppers, mainly because the squirrels would eat them before they got big. Turns out there were two green peppers on the plants after we pulled them up. Zach ate one and Zane munched on the other one while he explored the yard. I sure wish the squirrels would leave my garden alone, I would love to actually have fresh produce one day.

10. Last but not least. Here is an added Halloween picture of the week. I got these glasses from work, I guess they were handing them out to the kids yesterday. How freaking adorable does Zane look in them. Too funny!