Remember Remember Good ol' November

I think anyone's birthday month feels like the best month of the year to them.  At least it does to me.  I love November - I love having my birthday in this month -but it's not just because of that.  I think it's because Thanksgiving and Christmas soon follow, and I love the spirit that's everywhere during those two holidays.  Guy Fawkes Day is the 5th of November - one of the random crazy holidays England has celebrating the execution of the man who tried to blow up the Parliament building.  They all set off fireworks like crazy and have bonfires while burning stuffed dummies of Guy Fawkes.  It depended on where you were in the mission whether or not you were allowed to go out and work.  I loved it though because it meant another holiday in my favorite month!  
Things are going well here in the White house...I should say White apartment or flat.  We're really boring people.  Steve goes to school and I keep Ross on his toes...or maybe it's him keeping me on mine.  Ross has been exploring his ability to roll back and forth.  He doesn't really go anywhere since he only rolls one way from his belly to his back and then rolls back to his belly the way he came.  He does, however, use this ability to do 360s.  He likes to scrunch his nose at you while he's smiling now...I'm not sure if it's just because Steve and I do it to him all the time when we're smiling at him.  He's a good little sleeper and has made record distances when it comes to spitting out his food when he's feeling done with the whole thing.  He enjoys playing with his toys - but likes the basket they are in better.  :)
I'm enjoying being 27 for as long as I can.  It's funny how you'd like to try and fight the system of getting older - pushing, pulling, scratching - whatever you can do, but really it's all just inevitable.  Yet - we still do it.  It's like I'm mentally putting forth the effort NOT to be 28...but it's coming...in  two days.  I'm thinking you just keep resisting until you hit 30 and that's where you resort to just lying about your age to everyone and yourself.  I'm still 17 in my mind - no way mature enough to be 28 - yet here we are 11 years later.  Which reminds me - aside from the age progression - this will be the best birthday ever if only for the date!  I remember dreaming of this day since I was a little kid - the whole reason my birthday is the day it is.  11-11-11.  Once every 100 years!  I better be dead or in the millennium.  Steve has been a total romantic and has gotten me a gift every day this month.  11 days of gifts.  So fun!  Like always - he's so thoughtful. :)  I'm trying to decide what to do at  11:11 on 11-11-11.  It's got to be something amazing...I've got two chances that day too.  We'll see what happens.  Anyway - here are some cute pictures of Ross swinging!

 

 

Ross's First Halloween

We had a really great Halloween with Ross.  The day itself went pretty normal - but we dressed up and went to the ward trunk-or-treat...and greatly underestimated the turn out.  We had bought two measly bags of candy that were gone within about 10 minutes of being there.  I had never been to a trunk-or-treat before so I had no idea what to expect.  So instead of feeling like fools sitting there with an empty bowl we wandered around looking at everyone's costumes.  We ended up getting 3 pieces of candy that were encouraged upon us.  I don't really feel like Ross could trick-or-treat since he can't eat any of the candy anyway - and we're not going to mooch off of him because that's weird...at least to us.   I've also learned I have become a very grumpy adult.  I have major issues with teenagers trick-or-treating.  If they are over 12, aren't going to dress up, and hold a backpack out for candy - they can hit the road!  I will openly refuse to give them candy - it's awkward enough them even asking for it.  I guess I'm the grinch of Halloween, but we only had two bags of candy to begin with anyway!  Okay - I'll step off the soapbox. 
It was a really fun night...we got home with no candy and felt bad because there were trick-or-treaters going around the neighborhood too so we zipped to the store to grab some candy quick.  Good thing too since of the two more bags we got 3/4 of it was taken.  It was fun getting trick-or-treaters for once.  We're never get them in our old apartment.  Steve told me the Mexican culture really gets into Halloween - we had lots of Latinos come - they had some pretty cute costumes too.  After Ross went to bed all worn out from being so cute in his costume - Steve and I watched The Ghost and Mr. Chicken - a classic Don Knotts movie and very appropriate for Halloween.  I'm realizing holidays are way more fun with kids - even though Ross is just a baby - we have a reason to make a big deal out of it now. :)  

Pretty much the cutest pumpkin in the world!

He enjoyed sucking on his leaves.

Dad the posh farmer...this was the only hat I could find for cheap!

Ross wouldn't look at the camera...

Halloween family

Waiting for the trunk-or-treaters to come.  Ross is guarding the candy.

So Snow White here is my visiting teaching companion.  I thought, by far, this was the greatest set of costumes I saw.  She looks like she could work at Disneyland!  I bet they'd hire her on the spot!  They have six kids and used a little doll to be Sleepy.  Hilarious!

Our glowing pumpkins. :)

A random hilariously cute picture of Ross in a blanket. :)

Which one's Ross???

Pumpkins in every form...okay - two of them.

So the life in the Whitehouse has been pumpkining it up lately!  And fattening up unfortunately too - except for in Ross's case - that's actually fortunate for him - he needs a nice chubby coat of baby chub for the winter.  So - like anyone with a can of pumpkin in hand - I looked up an amazing recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - seriously - I googled "best pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe ever."  And this is what I found.  I tried it - and unfortunately I think it's put on maybe 3 or 4 lbs back on this body that doesn't need any more weight...the same goes for Steve...we need to stop this madness.  But of course I had to make more for my primary class...and there were extras left over...do we have any willpower?  Do we?  No - no we don't, and we need a serious intervention...after Halloween...and after Thanksgiving...and after Christmas...and after the always failing New Year's resolutions...okay - we really need it now.  I am happy to say these cookies are now all gone so that temptation is gone - but who's to say what the next one will be?  We need some willpower, and we need it fast.  

Do you see what we're up against???  And I did this to ourselves!

 Okay - now for the fun - non-weight-gaining pumpkin activity.  We carved pumpkins!  Ross's first!  He was quite pleased with his daddy's work and they all turned out to be a cute little family.  I love pumpkin carving...and then as we're happily carving along, I was appalled to find out Steve has never seen It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown... who in their right mind hasn't seen that show?  It's a must!  It was like I didn't even know him!  Okay - maybe not to that extent, but it's a classic movie...and Steve likes movies.  He will have to be integrated shortly.  You can view our pumpkin carving process as follows...

Deciding what to turn the pumpkin into..

He's got his idea!

Ross taking a playtime break while he makes his daddy do the hard labor...

Supervising the construction...

Stopping work for a picture.  Things are going great!

The finished product.  Great carving dad!  It's a Tarzan yelling pumpkin version of Ross!

Why are you so surprised? 

Ross shows his approval by sucking on the stem.  What a great pumpkin carving night.

The family pumpkins...

Enjoying their rightful home.

The latest in our incredibly interesting lives consists of waking up, sending Steve off to school, battling Ross in the war of solid feeding. (He has recently learned if he sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry that way, food gets everywhere - my face, my shirt, my hands and arms, his face, his shirt, his hands, up his nose, up my nose (okay maybe not now, but one of these days!) on the refrigerator, and anywhere else you might imagine.) I think I may need a bib more than he does!  The there's playing with and entertaining Ross, calling Steve to see if he's still alive and not lying dead under a pile of study notes somewhere, attempting to keep up our little apartment while Ross naps, more battling of foods and playing, a spell in the Johnny Jump up, a walk, making dinner, and then Steve coming home for some fun family time before bed.  Steve and I have gotten into a Mario Cart deal recently which causes some competitive disagreements on who is the better Mario Cart player.  Although I win when the threat of no dinner and a couch is laid on the table. ;)  Okay - I jest.  Haha - I just wanted to use the word jest for a moment.  
We did actually get out the other evening on a gorgeous fall day to play some frisbee golf with some great neighbors of ours.  That was refreshing.  Ross and I try to go on walks when the weather works.  It's so pretty here in Oregon with the fall colors that are staying around for so long!  I love it!  
I got Ross's pumpkin costume together and finished sewing on the jack-o-lantern face yesterday so we're good to go there.  I love pumpkin babies.  They are so stinkin' cute!

Ross finally rolled over from his back to his belly tonight.  He just wasn't interested in the slightest before until he saw a toy up above him.  Have a looksy for yourself. I love his naked chubby little body!

 He's such a goof and loves a good cuddle when he can eat your face and try and rip your nose off with his steel-like grip.  He enjoys taking his binky out and chewing on it and putting it back in after a spell (yes I did use that word twice now...it's a good word!), has become interested in what his hands can do once again, and loves sucking on his toes now. 

Another attempted feeding...green beans...60% success.  We both feel like it was a win-win outcome.

Gotta love those toes!

  He's getting bigger by the minute.  I tried to put some 9 month pants on him the other day and his belly just wouldn't have it unless we were okay with it hanging out like Santa Claus or cutting off one of his lungs from the smooshing belly.  

9 Month old pants + Ross's belly = Pooch baby :)

Ross also has a weird thing for my water bottle.  Any toy he's playing with our chewing on gets thrown over the shoulder as soon as my water bottle is in sight.  He enjoys chewing and slobbering all over it and attempting to suck on it.  It's the type where you have to also bite down on it to be able to suck the water out.  He loves it!

Ross laughs lots when his daddy swings and tosses him around, and becomes a stone cold fox when other people are around.  I say stone cold fox, because he goes into a stone face mode staring at people not sure what to make of them, and a fox because he is the handsomest boy in the world.  Anyway - we love him to death and enjoy him more and more.

Things that get me through the day in no particular order...

• Smiles, laughs, hugs, & wet kisses (aka trying to chew on my face) from Ross
• Naps
• Walks
• Oreos in milk
• Chats with friends from the outside world
• Scriptures
• A clean house feeling
• Knowing Steve is coming home...

Some More Laughing

Ross Attempting the Army Crawl...

So we're starting to get somewhere...

And some pictures for fun...

A sneeze :)

Our golden trees and a river of leaves!

I love the contrast of the yellow and blue sky.  It was SUCH a nice day.

These blue eyes melt me every time.

It was such a nice day.  We went for two walks.  One clear over in the city center to mail a package and another to investigate the shops around here.  We had quite a fun time rolling over all the crunchy leaves and being in the sun!

Ross's First Pumpkin Pickin'!

We went back to Duyck's Peachy-Pig farm -  to get our Halloween pumpkins!  Steve came with us and had a grand ol' time.  It really is so gorgeous there.  We trudged around the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkins.  They were a bit more pricey than we were used to so we opted for the smaller ones.  They also have animals all around you can go look at.  We looked at some baby chicks and baby ducks in the barn.  They had rats too...I, of course, wouldn't go near where they were - creepy.  There were tons of cobwebs all around and a litter of kittens a bunch of cats were guarding on the upper level of the barn.  It was a total farm experience!  We ran into a family from our ward - the Mullins.  Oliver, the husband, served in my mission with me!  Haha - he was my zone leader for a transfer before he went home.  It was fun to reminisce a bit.  In the end, we got our perfect pumpkins, some fresh air, and some good company.  A great little adventure.

I love this picture of Steve and Ross...

Sporting the BYU sweatshirt - representing for the BYU/Oregon game!!

Cute boys with the pumpkins

Inspecting the pumpkin...

This is the one!!!

This is the find...

A good pumpkin hunting excursion accomplished.