star wars halloween

So Jimmy decided a long time ago he wanted to be R2D2, and I thought Gus would make a cute Ewok.  I originally wanted to be Ewok village Princess Leia, but opted for the classic look since my hair isn't really long enough right how to pull off any of her fancy braids.  Nana helped me make yarn breads that we wrapped into buns.  Zach was Darth Vader because I found the helmet at Goodwill for $4 (and it still made noise when I put in new batteries!).  Sadly I got no pictures of him on Halloween because he had a meeting after school (just mean) and didn't get to the house until after dark.  He had to catch up to us Trick-or-Treating.  It was all a whirlwind as usual, but I didn't stress about pictures too much since I knew we would be dressing up again on the weekend for the boys' birthday party.  That one thought in my mind made me much more relaxed than last year.  Still, I wish Halloween was on the weekend every year.

I told my dad he has been channeling Alec Guinness lately, so I managed to convince him to be Obi-Wan Kenobi.... or Baabee-Wan Kenobi as he liked to call him.

Just to confirm my lack of photos this year, I am including these random ones:

The Burches and Speiers did Tangled this year, but I didn't even get a picture of sweet little Kateri as Rapunzel.  Finn was Flynn Ryder.  Jack was a random bar thug.  Audry and Lily were the Stabbington Brothers who they changed into sisters.  I loved Lily as Mother Gothel.  I caught her scaring herself in the mirror once. I am sure those families will post pictures eventually... maybe.  Here is what I did get:

These two girls cracked me up.  I can't believe they wanted to be these tough bad guys.  

I guess they are just happy if they get to be twins

Even Luke got in on the action by dressing like the King (and the not pictured Pete was the mime bar thug for about an hour).  Allie really wins the prize for making Isaiah be the chameleon.  People were impressed when I had Gus dress as the Cheshire Cat at a week old, but I made it before he came out.  She did all this with a brand new baby.  Kudos!

Alright, even with all those cute kids above my favorite costume of the night was definitely Ruby's.

She was Kathy Seldon from Singin' In The Rain.   I love that she wanted to be her and how into character she was.  She was doing the dance for me and practicing jumping out of the cake. Christine can you make one in my size for next year?

Since we made it home with both kids awake, which was quite a surprise, we lit our pumpkins and got a few pictures.  This was probably the last chance we would have had because they were both already moldy and disgusting.  Such is the (short) life of Jack-o-Lanterns in Phoenix.

Another Happy/Crazy Halloween.

gus' 2nd birthday

Gus' best birthday present this year was that Nano was there in the morning when he woke up.

He had been looking forward to it and talking about Nano coming for his birthday for weeks.

Gussy also got his first gummy vitamins on his birthday morning and now says, "I two years old!" every morning when he gets to eat them.

Gus got to open one present in the morning before Dad left for work

Jimmy decided he wanted to get this cash register for Gus (and himself really) after playing with it at a friend's house.  We called every Toys R Us in the Phoenix area and found only one.  We drove about 30 minutes to get it.   At least a trip to Toys R Us is always fun.  Jimmy was so excited to buy it and wrap it and give it to Gus.

Since Jimmy had gotten Hand, Foot, and Mouth the weekend before (AGAIN!!) we were still on watch for Gus (who thankfully never got it).  I was going to take the boys somewhere fun during the day with Nano, but I had to improvise.  I ran up to Target to buy some washable paint and we made it into Fizzy Sidewalk Chalk Paint.  I didn't really follow the recipe because I just wanted to make a small amount of each color, but it worked out well enough after a little experimentation.

The boys and Nano had fun decorating our patio.

A spray bottle of vinegar makes the paint bubble up which the boys thought was super fun.

Cousins had to stay away because of the HFM but Baabee came over in the evening along with Mimi and Johnny.

Jimmy was glad to help Gus open his presents.

Gus was very excited about his Glow-in-the-Dark Dinosaur Train figurines from Mimi and Johnny.

They attacked Nano a little bit.

Then it was time for "cake" (I make brownies because I like them better).

Gus was most excited about the candy corn on top.

We attempted a family picture.  

Even if they don 't look in the right direction, they are still really cute.

Happy Birthday to my sweet and funny little Gussy-Bub.

arizona museum of natural history

We went to the Arizona Museum of Natural History back in August (I only took my phone so the pictures were forgotten for awhile).  For being a seemingly small museum in Mesa, I was very impressed. The museum is very kid friendly and hands on.  There is a whole classroom set up with toys and games where we probably could have spent hours.  I was expecting Jimmy to love it since he is in full dinosaur mode, but even the littler kids were very entertained.

Through the center of the museum there is large scale diorama complete with moving and roaring dinosaurs.  There is a flash flood storm every half hour or so that sends a huge waterfall through the whole thing.  There is thunder and lightening and, needless to say, the kids loved it.

This star exhibit was one of my favorites:

Even the exhibits that kids won't love usually have large puzzles on the ground of something to entertain the kiddos.  

There were lots of things to climb in and on while the parents took a minute to learn something.

Jimmy's favorite spot was definitely the whole room of Pterosaurs. 

It was almost a good thing, I didn't bring a nice camera because these pictures barely scratch the surface of all there is to see.  We never even made it outside to "pan for gold" so I can see a trip back here in our future.

mimi day

Mimi came with us to pick Jimmy up from school one day last month.  

He was very excited to show her his classroom and his artwork.

Then she took us for a special lunch at Mary Coyle.

Of course, there was ice cream at the end.

And Gus thought these ice cream cones were hilarious.

Thanks, again Mimi! We love you so!