Halloween Party

This year, for the company sanctioned Halloween party, they moved it from downstairs to the museum. A little less convenient, but considering how much Thomas liked the museum the first time we went, I figured it would be worth the hassle of going 3 blocks away... ;)

Henry was quite the hit in his giraffe costume. He didn't have a say in costume choice, but he didn't seem to mind it one bit! (Thanks to one of the fellow photography club members for this cute photo of us!)

Thomas, on the other hand, picked out his Halloween costume. He was super excited about finding a rocket ship on the rack at the store (never mind the fact He shoved it back when I found it, but when he re-found it 30 seconds later... Woooo!) and had so much fun playing with it that evening. "Rocket Ship! Whoosh!"

I had been trying to get him pumped for wearing it to the actual event and was not having much luck. I figured we had a 50/50 shot of him wearing it long enough for a photo, so I dug out his Halloween shirt Grannie sent him last year so he would be in theme, if not in costume. 

The photo above was the best I got. He wouldn't even put it on for me! Argh! I will try again, but don't hold your breath for a cute "toddler in a rocket ship" photo...  

Henry was happy to do double duty on cuteness photos since his brother wasn't playing along. Look at that cute little giraffe head! Awwww...

He was drawing all kinds of attention! A coworker's daughter was all about Henry. A sequin fell off her Ariel costume and she was trying to give it to him. Very Rainbow Fish, if you know that particular children's book...

I finally got Thomas to leave the exhibits and go upstairs for the Brick-by-Brick main display. The boy loves Legos, so I just promised him he could play with 'blocks' and he let me carry him away. Here he is impatiently waiting for the (biggest ever) elevator to arrive.

Also note the new shoes. He was super concerned about a superficial hole in his Thomas the Train shoes and Brittney promised him we'd buy him new ones - in the future. Which to Thomas meant as soon as we get done with our road trip...

Cue a freak out in Target when he sees the Lightning McQueen shoes! But they don't have his size and he was sooo upset. I was looking them up on the Target app to just order them right then, when I noticed they were supposedly available in his size at the store we was currently in. After some frantic scrounging around, we found the last pair of size 7's misplaced in a size 9 box...

Hallelujah! 

The exhibit upstairs was totally geared toward kids or the young at heart! Thomas wasn't sure what to think about all the Legos and a whole wall to stick them on. 

But he was quickly in the thick of it amongst the fairies and ninjas building something. The boy loves his Legos! 

I wandered with Henry over to the large sculptures and they were pretty cool! Some people are talented, not matter what the medium. The sculptures were pretty creative and well executed. My favorite one was behind glass, so it didn't photograph well, but it was a guy "opening" his chest and Legos spilling out. (Which was not nearly as morbid as it sounds.) 

But, coincidentally there were a few skulls that totally fit the theme of the day.

So...

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween Cookies!

We hadn't really tried decorating cookies since last Christmas, so I figured it was time to try again. Except this time I thought it would be fun to try actually making the cookies with Thomas. He's so interested in "cooking" with mama these days!

Also I need to thank Brittney up front for taking photos. The majority of these were hers! It gave her a chance to practice her photography skills - while I got to have fun with the kids *and* have a well documented time. Perfect! 

He seemed more interested in stacking the containers than mixing cookies, but as long as he was happy, whatever!

Henry was sure he was missing something exciting! And as a side note, is he not adorable in his fest? Eeek - the cuteness! 

Thomas wasn't too sure about me rolling out the dough. But when I pulled out the cookie cutters, he was on board!

They use cookie cutters in class with play-dough, so he knew right away what to do! I tried to help him push them down enough to cut through, but that was a mixed bag. Sometimes he'd smash the center of the cookie trying to push harder, other times he'd reposition the cutter 10 times. It made for interesting designs! 

Then I would try to get them to the cookie sheet in one piece. I say try because he was not patient with me and I had to move fast before another cookie cutter would be smacked down. See the truck? We let Thomas help pick out the cutter designs. :)

then Thomas decided he wanted to help move things with a spatula while mama was distracted. On a related note, his new favorite phrase is "I did it!!" He's totally saying that here... :)

See that focus and determination? I got forbidden in helping with the cutters "No mama! I do it!"

Patiently waiting for the oven timer to announce the cookies are done!

Patiently waiting for mama to roll out the dough for more cookie cutting. And who said coffins can't be bracelets? 

After a few rounds on the dough, I decided to hand it off for some play time. He was so proud of himself rolling out the dough like his mama! 

Decorating time! We quickly learned (once again) to give him his own decoration bowls. His first attempted at sprinkles ended with sprinkles everywhere. Those things are pretty hard to control - even more so with toddler hands!

He did much better with sprinkle placement using his fingers. I didn't put any photos of him with the icing, but he actually did a great job squeezing it on the cookies! 

Me discussing sprinkle choices for my dinosaur. I was giving the purple a little time to dry to make better orange spots on it. There's an art to decorating, you know!

Heather decorating a plane. Such focus!

he was pretty pumped about the whole event! It did take some effort to capture a true smile, but he was having a blast!

Apparently focus is key! Look at Brittney's purple icing control for her bat! ;)

The final products! The one dinosaur is labeled TOMMY because he wanted to eat it before dinner and I said no - so he licked it. Had to make sure no one else would eat it... "/

Henry didn't get any cookies, but he seemed happy enough with his veggie purée! This kid loves his food - look at that gaping mouth ready for the next spoonful! ;) 

Thanks again for the photography, Brittney! You're now the official event photographer! 

Eight (29.5) Months

Another month, another chance to try and wrangle smiles out of my sticker bedecked boys... Although they must have felt bad for all the chaos last month, look at these two happy guys!!

How on earth did I get so lucky? Two smiling faces! They aren't even upset about having to sit next to each other...

Henry is now sitting up like a champ, no need to lean on the armrest this month (although I kinda loved that pose)!

Thomas was even happy to leave his sticker on. It certainly didn't start out promising, I had to bribe him to even get him upstairs. But once had his applesauce, he was golden! 

Henry discovered his sticker this month and was trying to pull it off for a closer look. Thomas seemed to know that was a bad idea.  

Without pausing from sucking down his fruit, he reached over and stopped Henry right before he yanked it off. So helpful!

Henry looks pensive here. Thomas was doing something on the floor and he was eyeballing his big brother. Luckily I have good reflexes, because shortly after this photo was taken, Henry tried to lunge off the chair!

These boys...

It's like they have no fear!

Thomas was happy to take photos, but would not let go of his applesauce. I tried get him to do poses where he would hold it off camera, but it wasn't so successful - his arms aren't *that* long...

This particular one he was doing his "Yay!!" from tumbling class. I think his arms are supposed to be straight up, but close enough. 

And last, but not least, Henry doing the "sticking tongue out for concentration" move while trying to reach his sticker Momma stuck on the chair.

Told you it was genetic! ;)

Reindeer Farm

There's a reindeer farm up in Palmer that I've seen mentioned on the "Things to do" list and thought it would be fun to take the boys. After all, who doesn't love reindeer?

Since it is October, they were having Halloween themed events - hay rides, pumpkin patches, haunted houses, characters, and more!

Well the "pumpkin patch" was probably a warning sign, but I figured maybe people just went crazy for the pumpkins...

It really wasn't at all what I was imagining. I was thinking red barns, decorations, reindeer roaming around in big open pastures... Maybe I was overly optimistic, but it was a bit of a letdown for me. But I've decided that part of being a good parent is finding fun in less than ideal situations, so I tried!

Right off the bat, we ran into a friend from tumbling class! And what a coincidence, they were wearing the exact same jacket! (Yay for awesome & affordable kids jackets from Costco!) Xander actually looked at the camera and smiled for me - Thomas was playing coy... Shocking!

This old tractor was being used for hay rides when it broke down. They had intended to tow it off, but it quickly became a huge attraction for the kids. Thomas was super excited about the tractor!

Look at him steering that big 'ole thing - such intense concentration requires him to stick his tongue out. (That's genetic...)

By far his favorite part was when he spotted this trio. He caught on right away that it was Anna! Not sure he cared about the Sven or Kristoff, but he was super excited about Anna. I know it's hard to tell here, but he kept asking about her the rest of the day. :)

Thomas, Reindeer.

Reindeer, this is Thomas. 

He wasn't too sure about the reindeer. I wasn't too sure about pushing a stroller around an active reindeer pen, but I was committed at that point... Once I let Thomas sit in it, he did not want to get out. Apparently he was nice and cozy with his hands in his pockets!  

Henry wasn't too sure either. Aren't they cute in their coordinated jackets and Monster hats, though??

Heather tried to get a cute photo with Thomas and this was the best she got. Toddlers...

All-in-all we made a fun day of it, but I can't see us going back anytime soon. The zoo is way closer and more fun! :)

Blood Moon

Earlier this year we had a blood moon and I had no interest in intentionally waking up in the middle of the night since someone was doing that for me... A few months and one moon photo shoot failure later - I was more than happy to wake myself up at 2am! Matt on the other hand, was unimpressed enough by the first one that he didn't want me to wake him up. :(

Happily, my furry babies were super excited to hang out with their mom while she tried to once again figure out photographing the moon!  After a rough start of finding a hat and gloves in the dark, we were ready to go. I played with my zoom, shutter speed and focus until my fingers were a little numb and I think the photos show an improvement. (Except for the photo that took while I was tripping over my tripod, but that's on par for my klutziness...)

Ta-da! The Blood Moon: 

I think I did a pretty good job on the shots! Still not able to zoom in super close like I'd prefer, but I think I'll need a longer lens for that. I managed to get the focus better thanks to reading up on moon photography - apparently the moon moves faster than you would think so a faster shutter speed was necessary. Plus the shorter shutter speed keeps the stars looking like points in space.

Granted, you can't see the stars in that photo because the settings are keyed in to the moon. So I decide to do a little photo manipulation to show you both: 

Pretty cool, huh? I used a radial filter on the moon to keep it the way I wanted, then upped the exposure outside the filter so you could see the stars. Matt teases me about photos not being "real" once I start messing with filters, but I always argue that I want the photo to look like what I saw. And that is what I saw at 2 in the morning. 

It really was a perfectly clear night for the blood moon. :)

Next on the list of night photography - star trails! If only the forecast would show something other than the dreaded "cloudy"...

Fancy Henry

It's hard to tell from my previous post, but I did actually take my fancy camera with me to Texas. It's so much easier to whip out my phone for photos when running around that I found myself not taking many with the Nikon. But I did get some - not surprisingly - of Henry while we were there!

The lighting in the hotel room wasn't great for photos, but I just love his hair in this one! Poor guy definitely got his momma's hair - most of my baby photos my hair is sticking straight up...

This kid will stick anything and everything in his mouth! The wipes package had the added bonus of sounding fun, so they were a Henry favorite.

New and exciting toys at Grannie's house! He was super excited about all the choices!

He wasn't too sure about the ball that tries to vibrate away though...

Luckily it was a super nice day, so even though there was no A/C, it wasn't miserable. Plus it made for some play time outside! Grannie gave Henry this super crazy flower to play with. At first he wasn't too sure what to think of it...

Then he decided he loved his crazy flower!!! It was the coolest thing ever!

Unfortunately, his exuberant shaking of the flower did not end well for the flower... Poor guy was pretty upset. The blue flower we tried to replace it with was deemed nowhere near as cool (thus why it's discarded on the ground...)

I finally thought to take off his bib to show off just how "Handsome Like Daddy" he truly was. Which is right when he let loose with a huge amount of drool... Ha!

That's more like it! What a cutie-patootie, huh? :) 

Whirlwind Trip to Texas

Just a warning up front that this is a long one! I thought about splitting it up into "All the food I missed and gorged myself on", but the food ties in to the rest of the photos as well. So I'm just apologizing up front and throwing it all together. If you are worn out already, just scroll through and look at the photos (you know who you are!)

The lead up to the trip was a ton of planning - mostly on what food I *had* to eat, but also who all I wanted to see. And there was no way I was going to be able to see everyone I wanted to see, which was a high bummer. It also made me appreciate how much I got to see Brittney when she made trips back - if you saw me, you should feel super, duper special!

Henry got to make the trip with me since I am still pretty critical to his survival, but Thomas and Matt got left behind to have some man-time. I think I missed them more than they missed me... Anyhow, since Henry was coming along and it was a work trip, that meant that I needed some help during the day! My mom very graciously offered to help, so we flew into DFW, rented a car and started out on our trip.

I said I wasn't sure where I would stop first, but who was I kidding? I knew. And it had to be Chick-fil-A. The displaced Texans up here heard they might build one in Washington state and we decided a weekend trip to Washington to get a chicken sandwich wasn't *that* unreasonable! I don't even think my parents were all that surprised that after an exhausted overnight flight, I still stopped to get in on the way to their house. 

Then promptly handed off the grand baby and fell asleep.

I forgot that Heather had left her first jeep behind when she drove her new one up to Alaska, so I had to get a photo op of the two Henrys! No, my child was not named after her jeep - it was a family name on Matt's side. Though now Heather is threatening to name her new jeep Thomas - ha!

Before we left my hometown to head to San Antonio, we had to stop and get fried pies. I even had a nice chat with the lady working the counter about how much I missed them and I hadn't seen any up in Alaska. This of course led to the usual, "Yes, it gets cold - but it's not that bad!" and "No, it's not dark all day in the winter..." and "Yes, it is light all day in summer..."

Luckily they had apricot, so I didn't even have to settled for peach or another second-best pie. 

In all my planning, it never occurred to me that in order to drive from Dallas area to San Antonio area I would have to drive through West, Texas. It was only when I was about 5 minutes away I realized we were going right past the best kolaches in the state!!! Ah-ha-ha-ha!!!! I controlled myself and only bought a half dozen. If they kept a little better, I might have gone crazy...

After an epic journey, I finally go to the new home of my bestie, Theresa! And we finally got to meet each other's newest kids! All three of her kids have grown so much - a downside to not having seen them in so long. :(

We hung out and played for a while until heading off to bed. We had an early start in the morning to get the older two kids over to swim lessons! Anna was a champ and kept waving to us from the pool. Wallace is not quite as fond of the water, but his class still looked like a lot of fun. It made me want to put our two in swim lessons - apparently they have a few places for them in Anchorage.

After swim lessons, more Chick-fil-A! Also note that I remedied the fact I forget strawberry jam with the first chicken biscuit. Matt put me on to that condiment. I know it sounds weird, but it is just perfect with it!

After swim lessons, Theresa and I took off on our much anticipated shopping trip! We were both in pretty dire need of new clothes. The selection in Alaska is a little limited, so I was hoping to "stock" up while in Texas. Both of us had individual shopping goals, but one we had in common was to find cute boots! We both have struggled with this in the past, so we were determined! Perhaps the pile of boxes shows we were a little too determined? Whatever - we both have new boots that we love - win!

Such was our focus on shopping, we both overlooked the fact we never ate lunch. What-a-Coincidence that one of my food places was right across the street! And you might notice the drink looks a little small - I had to borrow Theresa's kid sized drink (don't ask me why she got a kid sized one) because the monster drink that came with my combo meal wouldn't fit on the dash! I had to get the #1 with cheese combo though - it's tradition!

After way too short of a visit, we had to head to Houston. Her sister and crew showed up right as we were headed out, so we got a quick hello and goodbye with all of them. (Considering that Theresa and Josh both got sick that following week, I'm kinda glad we bugged out when we did!) 

Mom had to ride in the back with Henry the whole time. My usual happy all the time baby was *not* happy in the car! I chalked it up to him being lonely - he has his brother for company 99% of the time he is in the car. That and stopped occasionally seemed to help - which is how he got to see the madness that is Buc-ee's! Overwhelmed by the plethora of choices, I ended up with a way-too-big bag of wasabi peas and a coke "slurpee". Henry had some serious eyes on my awesome drink...

My friend, Rachael, just happened to be in Houston for training as well, so we ended up getting to see quite a bit of her while we were there. And she had her son's car seat in her car, so she could even drive to dinner the first night - I was pretty down with driving at that point. I suggested going to dinner somewhere in the Heights with the side purpose of seeing our old house. 

It's hard letting go of something you invested so much time and energy into. And then to see it look so different with a new fence... it was kinda sad. It is definitely no longer our house. And it's the wrong fence. It was obviously supposed to be a white picket fence. Pfffft....

I had no choice but to drown my sorrow in a bowl of Chicken Inferno from Jenni's noodle house. It wasn't actually on my list, but when I was thinking of places to go in the Heights, it sounded so good! Somethings don't change, and that's even better!

The next night we met up with one of my mentor's from my last job and we decided to just hang out at their house and catch up. Him and his wife are now empty nesters so I think they enjoyed the company and of course playing with the baby! Ian even had a surprise gift for Matt - a bottle of Spicy Ketchup from Whataburger! (Matt is obsessed with it - good choice, Ian!)

My only request for dinner was Blue Bell!

Jamie took it up a notch and even made a pie to go with the ice cream. The best! Henry may have even got to try some ice cream - which turned him into a pretty mad baby when I wouldn't give him more. Whoops!

The next night was with Brandon and Sonia at my absolute favorite Tex-Mex restaurant in town - Lupe Tortilla. There was a group of three of us that started going at lunch and then someone quit and we had to replace him. Then someone moved to Africa and we didn't replace him. Then I quit and moved to Alaska and I got replaced... No hard feelings, Sonia! :)

There are always taunting photos sent across Facebook when someone in the group makes it to Lupe. We all deeply love their queso and especially the one who moved to a state that doesn't seem to believe in queso. Ok, I might concede that Angola may not have that much queso either...

Have I mentioned how much I love their chicken biscuits? The class I was taking was pretty hard - statistics and I are not friends because my friends don't make my brain hurt. The chicken biscuit did make it better. :)

I have absolutely no photographic evidence, but I did make it over to see the Thurmonds. They moved back from Norway shortly after we moved to Alaska - poor timing all around! Allie was actually up in Alaska earlier this year and met Henry. She was super bummed that Thomas hadn't been able to make the trip, but Henry was more than happy to give her double the amount of cuddles to make up for it. And they very nicely got us some delicious barbecue for dinner - I found out there was a bundt cake bakery near my hotel, so I provided dessert!

Thanks to trying to meet a few people at our Houston office after class on Friday and the unbelievably bad Houston traffic, I didn't end up getting to eat lunch until waaaaaay past when I should have. I was getting hangry! Luckily my hanger was somewhat tempered by the thought I would get some delicious fried chicken - not to mention fried pickles!

Henry was happy for the short break from driving before the long haul north. :)

The original plan was the spend the next two nights with Matt's parents, but unfortunately a nasty storm took out the power to a lot of homes in Dallas. So instead I went back to my parent's house, then drove over to Dallas early Saturday. My mother-in-law was happy to tag along to my favorite brunch stop, Cafe Brazil. Matt made me these crepes for our anniversary this year and I loved them, but that was months ago!

After brunch, we headed over to see Matt's brother at his new auto body shop. He seemed pretty happy we made the drive over and I was curious about his new shop. We have a project for him to work on when he gets done with his current ones, so it was cool to see where the magic is going to happen!

Then we went back and hung out at the house for the rest of the afternoon. We were packing up to head back to Weatherford just as the power came back on. Of course...! But I was trying to time it so Henry would sleep on the drive back and he was falling asleep sitting up - time to go!

Well, my plan almost worked... He woke up and commenced winding himself up about 30 minutes away from the house. So we did the logical thing and stopped at my last "must-go" restaurant - Waffle House!

Matt and I have missed Waffle House's hash browns so much! It eventually came out that I was on a visit from Alaska and the usual conversations. Then I told them how much I wished their was a Waffle House and how we have been trying to make hash browns like theirs and failing miserably. The cooks were so excited about the whole thing, they were giving me all kids of instructions and tips - I can't wait to get home and try them (technically Matt is in charge of the hash brown experimentations!). I will update if we can get it to work!

In some ways it was a ridiculously overwhelming trip trying to do as much as possible in as little time as possible, but it was so nice to see the people that we did. I swear I cared more about the people than the food, but I am awful about photographing people and great about taking photos of food!

And I'm sorry if I missed seeing you, it certainly doesn't mean I don't miss you! We miss all of the friends and family we "left behind". Luckily, there will always be a next time!

Seven (28.5) Months!

It's that time again - another month, another photo session! I miss the days of the cooperative kids, we have progressed into full on uncooperative this month. So I figured I would give you all a taste of the hilariousness of trying to get a toddler to tolerate a photo shoot.

I'll start with the best one of the two of them that was captured. Perfect, right?? 

Not so much, but it certainly captures the two of them pretty well. Henry is sucking on those fingers about 80% of the time and Thomas is in 'fine' form when the camera is aimed at him 90% of the time...

Thomas is done with the sticker, thank you very much! In my head, Henry is saying "Bro! Leave the sticker on! She's going to be all upset if we don't just sit here for a few pictures. We can do this!"

Except they can't...

Well to be fair, one of them can. Look at that happy baby - sticker and all!

He even got all GQ with his poses! This boy is in a stage where he loooooooves the camera! Or maybe he just loves his mommy who is hiding behind the camera - either way, I'll take it!

Then we went down to the floor so he could show off how well he is doing holding his head up. Look at that neck control!

Thomas wanted to join in the fun on the floor. As a side note - look at all those teeth! He is finally catching up to every other kid his age on tooth count.

I tried to persuade him to get back in the chair for "just a few more photos". He instead decided to stand on me. 

Finally got him in the chair, but only because he wants to read his alphabet safari book.

No, he will not put it down. Yes, he will hide behind it.

Then he decided to hide under the chair cushion when he decided he was done reading and I tried again to get him to sit in the chair. 

I even tried to compromise on standing in the chair. While he was fine with standing there, no smiles were forth coming...

"Maybe if I fold in half, she'll leave me alone..."

Finally - a smile! I can't even remember what combination of cajoling or silly faces worked in the end, but I somehow got him to smile. Totally worth it. There isn't much I wouldn't do to see my little guys smiling at me. :)

(You probably noticed that I still lost the battle on the sticker. Oh well, maybe I can figure out a way to photoshop it in!)

Zebra Cake

Sometimes I will find a recipe and think how much I want to try it. How it's quite possibly the coolest recipe I've ever seen in a particular genre. And then I forget all about it!

In my defense, I was this easily distracted before kids... 

Which brings us to this Zebra Bundt Cake. I actually found & fell in love with this cake recipe less than a month before Thomas was born. So I can guess why I never got around to it...

The other day I was scrolling through old notes on my phone - the majority of which are entitled "Pies:", "Donuts:", "Cupcakes:" or "Bundt Cakes:"! I figured a Bundt Cake would be a pretty easy, but fun cake to make while I was in the baking mood. But unlike the other notes which had links to multiple options, the Zebra was the lone Bundt Cake.

Well, why not?? It was a little more complicated than a normal bundt cake. And my batter was a little thicker than it was supposed to be - nothing some beating on the counter wouldn't fix. I can neither confirm nor deny how much chocolate glaze I ended up eating.

In the end it was a fun and tasty cake that my coworkers helped me devour - there's no way I could / should eat an entire Bundt cake. Just don't refer to it as marbled - as if it was that easy!

; )

Plane Power

I have no idea when exactly Matt discovered the Kickstarter campaign for a paper airplane motor controlled by an iPhone, but it’s been quite a while. Of course, he contributed to it - as did a ton of other people. The guy ended up with a ton more investment than he requested. Due to this and some manufacturing hiccups, Matt just got his in the mail today! There were already people selling theirs on ebay while we were still waiting. 

But waiting time aside, Matt loves it! He got a deluxe package with two steerable motors, one non-steerable motor and a boat that propels itself around in the bath tub. Unfortunately for Matt, he had to charge them all up before he could play with them - poor guy!

In the mean time, Matt’s dad and Thomas got to work on putting the boat and pull motor together. It was a bit of origami to get it to work, but they eventually figured it out. And the boat is honoring the paper airplane motif by being technically paper, but it’s Tyvek paper so it won’t disintegrate in the water.

Once they were charged up, Matt tested out his new toys. He has learned many lessons from flying things in the house (*cough* 10 different helicopters *cough*), so he was smart enough to cover the TV with a blanket before letting loose. The dogs also have learned their lessons and quickly hid upstairs in the bedroom.

Thomas didn’t hide in the bedroom, but he did sit on the chair out of the way and tried to avoid getting too close to the action. Smart boy! He also is surrounded by the pieces needed to complete his boat. He was more interested in playing with them than letting his pawpaw install them.

But the best part of the night… I didn’t have to cook! Matt had been mentioning to his mom about how she cooked pork chops for them growing up and that he hadn’t been able to figure out the trick. So she surprised him (and me) with a pork chop dinner. It is so nice to be able to play with the kids in the evening and not stress about cooking - best present!

And for the record, the trick is to use water and flour to coat the pork chops. So simple I would have probably never figured it out. And they were quite tasty - I might give it a try some day for Matt, but I make no guarantees they will be as good. :)