The Easter Bunny in Autumn

Shirt care of GrAuntie Michele!

Now that fall is upon us, the leafs have changed color and have covered our yard. We decided to rake them all up because 1.) The home owners association makes us and 2.) that's what normal people do with leafs. Once we got it into a big pile, I was off to grab a garbage bag to fill with the leafs, that is, until Jack Sparrow and his trusty side kick, Blue Bon the Easter Bunny came running towards the pile and jumped in it! Who taught that boy about leaf pile jumps? He had a blast with the leafs! He buried Blue Bon in there, dug him out, then buried his action figures in there and dug them out. That boy was made for Autumn.

"I didn't do it!"

One of things I can't help but love about Jack is his sense of mischief. I know, I know! I should be a bit more disciplined with him when it comes to his shenanigans, but I have such a hard time! He's so cute! A few things he likes to do for attention is purposely walk into the wall... not hard! But enough to make a thump! and then run over to me rubbing his head and frowning so he'll get a hug. I give out free hugs, Jack Jack! No need to run into walls for one!

But aside from minor concussions, Jack likes to get into stuff. If he finds a box with junk in it, oh it is like heaven to that boy! If I leave the candy bowl too close to the edge of the counter, you can guarantee he's trying to sneak a piece of candy (although closing his eyes and grabbing it does not make him invisible contrary to what he thinks!). His latest mischievous act was quite hard on me. In our dining room we have an antique display case. I keep my Star Wars collection of mint/unopened toys in there. Well, Jack finally figured how to open it and brought several boxes out to me. I tried to explain to him that those were not toys and they had to go back into the case. After several days of Jack taking them out and bringing them to us with his lower lip out and his eyes wide and looking like he was about to cry, I finally cracked and gave him one of the boxes that had three toys in it. Oh Rystal, Greeata, and Lyn Me... please forgive me! You are now nothing more then a child's play thing!

The action figure toys are of the three Jabba the Hutt dancers from Star Wars Episode III and VI. Jack is taking very good care of the ladies though. He carries them around and even takes them to bed with him when he naps. The lego men also take the girls out on dates which is so cute! Jack puts everyone inside his dump truck and off they go! Below is a picture of Jack inside the antique case after taking everything out. What an angel pie!

Pumpkin Carving!

The day before last, Jack, Kevin, and I decided it was time to carve our pumpkins. Since Jack isn't to savvy with a knife, Laura gave me the idea to just give a bunch of markers to him and let him go at it with coloring. As you can see from the photos, he put a lot of thought into his masterpiece. Afterwards, Kevin and I each carved our own pumpkins. Naturally, I went for the traditional Reese Cat. It's been my signature pumpkin design since '82. Sadly, it looks the same every year and never improves. That's ok though, I've accepted I'm unique.

Afterwards Kevin toasted the seeds for us. He's a far better cook then I am, and since I recently set not only the stove on fire (twice), but the oven as well last week, we decided it's best if he does some of the cooking. The seeds came out perfectly! We ate them in one sitting and Jack was all about them.

Jack's Halloween costume arrived! GrAuntie Michele made it from scratch. She's the best seamstress I know in the world! You don't get to see it though until Halloween as I always like it to be a surprise... Unless you are a Reese, then you already know what it is. Still, it fits perfectly on him and he loves wearing it, including the hat! The other day he pulled the hat out and sat on the couch with just a diaper on (he's still going through the take-off-all-his-clothes-stage) and the hat while watching a movie. Nothing says "I'm a man" like hanging out in your underwear and a hat watching TV.

Right handed or left? He seems to go back and forth still... We just let him decide what's most comfortable (thanks to the good advice from GrAuntie Michele who is a lefty!)

Just Like His Dad!

Jack and Kevin are peas in a pod. Those two boys are so much alike, it's sometimes like having two toddlers (teeheehee!). Every Sunday Kevin makes Dad's Special Supreme Pancakes. And of course, no pancake is complete unless you have some special helped. I wonder how the Department of Health would like this?

Jack is also going through his "I want to be like you!" phase. He's constantly wearing our shoes, hats, etc. When Kevin gets home every day from work, Jack takes Kevin's shoes and socks off and wears the shoes. It's very sweet!

A Few Randoms...

Today was a great day! Jack and I had a play date over at Aunt Laura's house. Pippa, William, and Oliver were all very entertaining for us! I got to cuddle my Oliver which always makes my day! That baby is so soft and always smells good. Once we got home, it took no more then 5 minutes for Jack to fall asleep for 2.5 hours on the couch. Seriously, he is so perfect.

The other day we got a Halloween surprise from GrAuntie Michele! She hooked Jack up with this awesome pirate shirt. Jack looks so handsome in it... I just love that boy so much.

Jack love technology as most of you know, so he's taken up photography. He's more interested in why the camera does what it does then actually taking pictures. Of course, his muse was Blue Bunny.

And lastly, my little hambone from last week. Can't remember why he was laughing, but I'm sure it was at something completely weird and random.

Have You Seen Jack?

... I can't find him anywhere! OH WAIT! There he is! In the.... bookshelf?

Yeah, so Jack is really into discovering new hiding places. Unfortunately for him, he giggles so loudly that he makes it kind of easy to find him!

My Rant on Halloween

WARNING!

WARNING!

WARNING!

This is seriously a really long rant on Halloween, so if you are in the mood to hear me whine, I highly recommend this entry. If not, I say skip reading this entry and just look at how cute my baby is in his new pajamas my mother bought him!

Jack's Great Aunt Liz, who could practically be his older sister because she does not look like the Great Aunt type, is a fellow blogger. She has two little girls just slightly older then Jack. Well, the other day she blogged about Halloween, and how the fun in it has disappeared and become more commercial. She said she remembered as a child how one of her favorite things to do was to go through her parents closet and make a costume for Halloween. Now, even though I didn't do that, I do remember as a kid wearing hand-me-down home-made costumes and actually being the same thing multiple times a year after year. On occasion, I would get to "make" my costume with what clothes I already had (once I was a hockey player because I was on a hockey league. You can hit way more houses on roller blades, too!).

Anyway, for Halloween last year, I spent A LOT of money on our three costumes to do the Star Wars theme. I mean, a ridiculous amount of money, not just because I'm in debt, but even rich people would laugh at the number I spent. I did want to buy our stuff used, but since it was the first year Lucas Films had released these costumes, I could only buy them brand spankin' new. Now, don't get me wrong, Jack was the cutest chewbacca you've ever laid eyes on, but he wore the costume for about 2-3 hours tops. After that, I've had it in the eBay box for Halloween. When I went to list it on eBay, EVERYONE was selling their toddler's costume for $1. And even my hot Princess Leia costume wasn't go for much more then that . So here I am left with Star Wars costumes that won't sell and we only had 2 hours of fun in them. And by fun, I mean Jack ripping it off because it was itchy and me feeling fat in the skin tight costume that accented my saddle bags perfectly.

So this year we were going to do a Toy Story family theme for Halloween. First we were going to be the cast of Stargate, but everyone kept telling me no one would recognize who we were, so I got really discouraged. So then we came up with Toy Story. Jack would be Buzz Lightyear, I would be Bo Peep, and Kevin would be Woody the Cowboy. I was so excited for all of this! I budgeted the costumes and was shocked at how expensive they were new and used. But I didn't care because I wanted the family Halloween experience for Jack. Then I read Great Aunt Liz's blog on how she cracked and bought one of her daughters a very expensive Halloween costume because that is what her little angel wanted. Afterwards she had buyers remorse, she went back to return it and guess what! No returns at the Halloween Store. She later said on her facebook that her daughter could have just been Snow White since she already owned a Snow White costume. In fact, I'm sure Great Aunt Liz could have made her a costume because she's one of those awesome sewers that can make anything (looking for a Dorothy costume from Wizard of Oz? That's her specialty!)

So this got me thinking... why am I doing all of this? Why am I so eager to spend so much money on something we don't need? So I talked to Kevin and he said that he didn't care and to just buy Jack a costume and we'll take him out trick-or-treating. I thought that was great, except when I went shopping for costumes. Can you believe Target wanted up to $40 for some costumes for a TODDLER? No, not going to happen. I called my dad and he said I should burn some cork and put it on his face as a beard and make him into a hobo, because that is what he and my Uncle Rich did for years as kids. So 1953, but not a bad idea. Then a few people told me they got their kid's costumes at the Goodwill which is like, seriously one of my favorite places to shop. Why didn't I think of that?! So, I'm going to go to the Goodwill tonight and see what I can find.

Anyway, this was just my little rant on Halloween. I'm bummed out because it used to be all about candy and fun, and now it's all about girls getting to dress like hookers (guilty!) and kids wanting to wear the most expensive costume they can find in the store. Jack may just be 2 now and not have a concept of the Halloween thing, but by next year, he'll be begging me to buy him some ultra expensive costume. And when that happens, I will send him to his Aunt Laura's house. She's much better at telling him "no!" then me.

And this concludes my Halloween rant.

Cousin Fun!

Jack absolutely loves his cousins. The other week Laura and the kids met us at "The Magic Park" as Pippa likes to call it. The kids were pretty good and had a wonderful time chasing each other and going down the extra big slides. After we were done, we walked Laura to her car so we could help get her kids buckled in... at least that was the plan until Jack dropped my hand and ran into a pond/marsh up to his knees in water! I had no time to take off my new Steve Madden shoes and roll up my pants so I dashed right into the marsh after him. Jack was laughing while I was screaming words a toddler should never hear their mother say. Once I dragged him out (seriously, I had to drag that boy because he went limp noodle on me and decided not to cooperate) he laughed and thought it was soooo funny... as did everyone else around us. I just scowled at all the onlookers and said farewell to Laura. Once we got in the car, I couldn't even talk to him I was so fumed! I mean, what was that boy thinking!? Aside from that little experience, it was a nice day at the park.

Today Jack told me, "I need a drink", "Go away!" and "No, I do it!" Mr. Independent as you can see. He loves to help me put the dishes away and "fold" laundry. He loves to express himself and is just so wonderful to have him for my tot. This week he has his playmates Tuesday - Friday, and then we are off to Reno on Saturday!

Here are the park pics!

William strutting!

Look closely and you'll see that Jack decided to climb this wheel without adult supervision. So like any good mother, I took a picture and then rescued him.

Look at Oliver!!!! He's such a butterball!!!! As my Aunt Linda would say, "His mom must be feeding him pure cream!"

Shenanigans!

I love my little hambone. Jack is just so full of adventure and curiosity and I love watching him as he learns new things everyday. Right now he's very into playing tricks on us and he loves being scared (like popping out of the closet and screaming BOO! at him). Aside from sleeping with his Blue Bunny, he also likes to bring a few cars with him to play with while he drifts off to sleep. As you can see from the above picture, he likes to pretend he is asleep but he always gives it away because he's laughing so hard.

One of Jack's favorite "games" right now is being naked. When it's time for a diaper change, he runs as fast as he can from me and hides in small spaces so I can't get him. Then, when I finally catch him, he'll let me take off his pants and diaper, and then he runs like Hell and throws his shirt off. Seriously, it's taken up to 20 minutes to put pants on that kid. Being the internet is full of perverts, I won't post the adorable photos of him running around naked, but here are some of him hiding from me so he doesn't have to get a clean diaper.

Today Aunt Jessica surprised us by coming over. Jack loves her so much, and it really put him in a good mood to spend some time with her. Thanks for coming over, Aunt Jess!