Football Family ~ Halloween 2014

  Halloween was a success this year!

Grandpa Stark sent us jerseys from the Dallas Cowboys stadium a few years ago and Tanner is just about to grow out of his. So we figured we'd have him wear it as his Halloween costume one last time. 

It was so fun and easy to put these 2 costumes together. Hopefully it will remain this easy for years to come, but I doubt it.

Our little Witten (Cowboys football player) and his little football

I am their biggest fan!

We went to Grandma Stark's work to go trick-or-treating like we do every year. This year Troy, Crystal and Cadence came with us. Her work really decked out different areas to make it so fun for the kids. 

Grandma and the kids in the Alice in Wonderland section.

We went trick-or-treating up in Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's neighborhood again this year. Grandpa came along with us and Grandma stayed at the house to divvy out the candy. Tanner had a blast and Chase did really well too.

I got all of our pumpkins set up on our front porch before we left.

Our football family. Kollin decided he wanted to dress up 20's style as well as a combo of the team owner. It worked out great!

Grandma Stark and her munchkins.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party at Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's

  Grandma and Grandpa Cannon threw a fund Halloween party for the cousins the other night.

Grandma Cannon always has the coolest activities for these rambunctious boys!

They did a treasure hunt through the house that ended with a treasure chest with many prizes, carved pumpkins, had pumpkin pizza, decorated pumpkin shaped cookies and played shadow games.

All of the boys had so much fun I'm sure they all had a good night's sleep (at least Tanner and Chase did).

Cookie decorating. Tanner loves Ben and Cole so much! He loves following them around and looks up to them. They are both so sweet to him.

Case in point that Chase is quite the mama's boy right now. I felt so bad that he would constantly cry when my dad would try to hold him. He even tried to distract him with so many things but nothing worked.

The shadow games were really fun! Grandma had some ghost and bat shapes that they flew around in front of a flashlight. And then they each got a flashlight and every light in the house was turned out. They were running around having a grand time. 

Scott and Britta went out for Britta's birthday and they came home while this was going on. They thought everyone might have left since it was pitch black in the house. Until they heard the yells and screams of little boys running around with flashlights.

Pumpkin #6!

Tanner's pumpkin that he (I) carved. He got tired with trying to hammer those dots it because it was really pretty tough to do. So I took over and made a cute face. I've never seen these before and it's like Light Bright pumpkins!

Pumpkin Carving 2014

  We had some great pumpkin carving shenanigans going on in this house.

Tanner really got involved this year and loved helping us scoop out the pumpkin guts. 

Chase loved trying to grab any slimy thing he could see. We were mostly able to satisfy him with a spoon to throw around.

 

 

 

 Kollin gutted most of the pumpkins and I ended up carving all of them. It was pretty fun to get my creative juices going since we had 5 pumpkins to carve (4 from when we went to the pumpkin patch and 1 from Tanner's field trip to the pumpkin patch).

We couldn't find the lights we put in our pumpkins last year so I just stuck a flashlight in them just to see what they looked like lit up.

Big smilie face and Jack Skellington

CHD Awarness and little smile

All of them together and big toothy smile

Halloween Time at Pre-School

I volunteered for a day during the week of Halloween at Tanner's Pre-school. 

It was pretty fun and I got to see more of what they do and how Tanner behaves.

He was pretty good except for him occasionally wanting to ask me for things or tattling to me. I had to keep telling him that he had to talk to his teachers and that I wasn't there.

Overall it was a great experience for all of us.

The day I volunteered was the day they went trick-or-treating through the high school. It was so cute to watch these tiny kids walking through huge groups of high school kids that were on their lunch breaks. I was hearing constant comments of how cute they all were. And I even heard a few comments aimed at how cute Tanner was and his costume.

They also each had a "buddy" to hold their hand as they walked though the school. Their buddies are other high school students that in in the Early Child Development Class.

My little Dallas Cowboy

Lining up to go trick-or-treating. I didn't notice while I was there, but Kollin noticed that Tanner is the shortest kid in the class besides one little girl!

Circle time and learning some numbers with Miss Rhonda

Someone touched their face. Ha!

The next day at school they went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch in their costumes. They got to pick a pumpkin, rode a tractor, played in "pock-corn" and went in a corn maze. At least those are the things Tanner said they did.

Tanner getting of the bus with his buddy.

Doing Some Pull-Ups

  Look at this boy so proud of pulling himself up!

First time he pulled himself up!

 

First time I caught him standing in his crib.

 

On the Move!

  Wow, this boy! He is officially a crawler!

He was getting pretty efficient with his worm crawl that he did. He was starting to get into lots of things. Now that he's actually crawling he has gained some major speed and can cover more ground of things to get into. I think we'll start calling him Mr. Hands now!

The ever popular, baby getting the TP picture.

It's pretty fun that he comes when you call. Just like a little puppy!

He has also become my shadow. He will try to follow me anywhere I go to see what I'm up to, see if it's anything he can grab and also to just be close to Mommy.

Pumpkin Patch 2014

  We loved the pumpkin patch so much last year that we are making it a tradition!

It is so fun to be able to walk around within so many pumpkins and pick your own instead of digging one out of a big box at the grocery store.

Mr. Chaser's first pumpkin.

Searching for the perfect one.

We're a pretty cute little family.

Playing in the "Pock-corn"

Yay for riding in a wheel barrow with pumpkins!

Tanner's First Jazz Game

  The other day Aunt Sava offered Kollin and Tanner some Jazz tickets that she got from work. She wasn't able to go since she had to work the next morning.

They rode Trax up to the stadium which Tanner loved. Kollin says that about half way there he was asking to go home though. He says the train made a loud noise that he didn't appreciate.

When they got there they met up with Uncle Shawn and Sava's brother Tommy. Apparently they were on the highest nose bleed row there was!

 

Tanner adores his Uncle Shawn. Even when he feeds him a pretzel.

7 Months Old

This has been a fun month!

Your little tooth that has been taking forever to break through has finally appeared. Now the one next to it is on it's way and possibly one of your top teeth.

You are so mobile now. You usually do this little worm crawl everywhere you go. At least that is your movement of choice. Every now an then over the past few days I have caught you actually crawling for a few strides but as soon as I get my camera to get a video you are back to the worm. Go figure.

You have also been pulling yourself up and cruising on things for the past week or so. You pull yourself up on Dad and me all the time. And also the couch, toy boxes and pretty much anything that is sturdy enough for you. And just last night you stood up in your crib for the first time!

You are finally not so bad in the car. You still have your days but you have been doing much better and not crying the entire time anymore.

You are turning into a huge mama's boy and do NOT like to be put down. You are actually throwing a fit as I type this so I need to hurry. This is the age most babies develop that "stranger danger" and you are definitely one of them. You seem to get overwhelmed easily and only like to be held by me or Daddy. But it's mostly me.

You are still nursing incredibly well. You hardly ever get a bottle anymore. But sometimes you make me really tired since you use me as a pacifier a lot of the time and have been refusing to take your bink anymore. But that's ok. I'm trying to enjoy it since I know it will not last forever.

You are so good at grabbing things and have quite the reach. Most of the time we don't realize you are able to reach something that we though we put out of your reach. But then we look down and you have it in your little fingers. We'll probably be calling you Mr. Hands soon just like your Uncle Clark.

You are still in 3-6 month clothes. Some I've put away and you are also wearing some 6 and 6-9 month clothes. So you're pretty much in between right now. You are in a size 3 diaper now though. How did that happen?!? You also have many pairs of PJ's that the feet have been cut off of now. You just don't seem to like anything on your feet, or maybe it is how the PJ's seem to restrict your leg movement if they have feet since your legs are so long since you don't have a problem with socks usually.

Weight: 17.8 pounds (home scale)

Height: 27.5 inches

Thank you for being our sweet as well as high maintenance boy! We love you!

xoxo

mom and dad

Blankies

  I've been noticing that Chase doesn't have as many home made blankets as Tanner, so I've decided to catch him up a little bit.

I have been on the search for skull and crossbone flannel since before he was born and I decided to just give up on that idea and went with stars.

It is the same size as Tanner's so they are pretty cute together.

I also made another frog blanket a little while ago but forgot to blog about it.

They turned out so cute and I hope he loves them and will use them for years to come!

First Bath! First Bath for the Chaser!

  This little booger is sitting up so well now I decided to give him a big boy bath.

He LOVED it! Especially when Tanner jumped in with him and they had a splashing contest.

 This is going to get wet! And fun!

 

Tanner's First Day of Pre-school!

  The day I have been dreading has arrived.

My baby is going to school!

We have been talking about going to school for a while now and he has always been very excited about the idea. Now that the day is actually here he is still excited!

He was so cute hanging up his backpack and going and sitting at a table to start school. He didn't cry (I came close) and barely even said bye to me. At least he's still willing to kiss me good bye for now!

  This will be a fun year!