Turkey Time!

In case you missed my post yesterday, read below.... I was having technical difficulties with uploading pictures, so I had to do this posting separately (the joys of technology!) For Thanksgiving Day, we went to the cities for Grandma Carla's family gathering. Grandma hosted the lunch and there were about 30 people there. It sure was fun to see cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! Not only did I like the attention I received, almost everyone was feeding me delicious treats during the day. Mommy blamed it on everyone there for giving me "junk" which meant I was not hungry for the "good stuff" such as turkey, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, cranberries, wild rice, and so on... I did save room for pie though!

Round one... turkey cookie!

My next round of treats involved my silly cousin Sam who discovered a new trick. He licked the back of vanilla wafers and stuck them on his forward. I found this amazing, funny, and delicious.

The next round of food, was after everyone ate the boring stuff. We had several options of pie and Mommy thought I should not get any of it since I didn't eat my lunch. Cousins Lexi and Sam are showing off with their good eating habits. Mommy is trying to convince me that they are eating the good stuff. Notice the cookies they have on the side of their plates??? That is called "bribery" and I know how to get around that one... just ask Grandma!

After all of that food, I played cards with the boys while the girls looked at the sale ads for Black Friday. I am hoping that Mom picked out lots of fun toys for me!We headed back home on Thanksgiving night to sleep in our own beds before heading to Uncle Matt and Jill's new house that was a whopping 4 hours from home. After a good night's rest, we woke up early on Friday morning and Mommy sent Daddy to Walmart at 7:00 a.m. She couldn't bear the thought of entering that awful store, but there were a few bargains that she couldn't pass up on. Daddy survived the shopping in one hour and came home. We quickly loaded the car and Grandma Lois rode down to Janesville with us. We of course had to detour to the outlets in the Dells to shop for an hour or so. We FINALLY got to Uncle Matt's and Jill's house and I was thrilled to see Jill's two cats, Monkey and Dexter. I decided to harass them for two days.

Uncle Matt and Jill bought this cool Doodle Mat for me to use while I was at their house. You basically color with a waterpen and the best feature is that it doesn't make a mess! I also discovered that whenever I was feeling thirsty, I just needed to suck on the pen and magically, the water came out and I was able to wet my whistle. Mommy decided this would be a great stocking stuffer (hint to Santa).
Uncle Matt and Jill had their first crack at making a Thanksgiving dinner together. They have been dating for 9 months now, so I guess the relationship needed a little test. Luckily, they passed it and they are still happily dating and living together.

After two days of eating, we decided to go for a nice walk in the neighborhood to check out the many Christmas lights and trees that people have already put up (overachievers!) Mommy and Daddy decided that when we returned home, we would also begin decorating for Christmas too. The race is on!

Almost Thanksgiving...

Once again, it's been a few weeks, so before I get to Thanksgiving, I will give you an update about the week before...

We picked up my Mickey Mouse picture from the photographer and this is how it turned out. I think I look pretty darn cute if you ask me!

Hunting Update: Daddy did not shoot any deer this hunting season. Uncle Matt is the new "deer slayer" since he shot two this season and two last year. Mommy is totally fine with Daddy not shooting any deer. Daddy's excuse was that he only was hunting bucks and could have easily shot 15 or more doe (I guess we will give him one more chance). When Uncle Matt and Daddy came home from hunting, Daddy showed me the poor little victims (Mommy told me to write that part).

The week of Thanksgiving, Mommy didn't have to work at all, since students only had two days of school and they were not on Mommy's teaching days. We enjoyed the entire week together and Mommy sure loved the vacation. We met up with Shauna and Maddy at the mall to walk, play, and have lunch. Maddy is two years old and she is good and showing me the ropes.

The day before Thanksgiving, Mommy insisted on getting my haircut. She started calling me "Don" short for "Don King" and I started to think this wasn't a compliment. The last episode at Sports Clips was not a fond one, which is the reason for my unruly hair. Mommy decided to bite the bullet, get some ammunition (aka ring pops, juice boxes, and snacks). When we arrived at Sports Clips, I just cruised around for 5 minutes or so until it was my turn. The minute Mommy gave me that delicious ring pop, which reminded me of the most delicious pacifier I have ever tasted, I was golden. Who knew pacifiers came in flavors such as strawberry!?!?!? I was near perfect the entire haircut and Mommy was so proud of me that she promised another ring pop in the future for our return trip.

I will show off my new haircut in the Thanksgiving Blog posting which will be posted today or tomorrow!

All is Well!

It's been a few weeks and yes, everything is going great! We have had busy weekends, except for this one, so I am happy to finally give an update. Last time I wrote, we were just a few days shy of Halloween. I dressed up as Mickey Mouse, because as you know, I love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My costume came from the Disney Store (Mommy cringes at this because she realizes how obnoxious that sounds). I guess it was a splurge and I think the pictures will show you it was worth it! The week of Halloween brought several opportunities for me to dress up in costume. The first Halloween party was on Monday in music class. We attempted to have a group picture, but this is how it turned out.

I was the first one to start crying and the rest followed suit. It was not an easy task to get 8 costumed babes to sit and smile. We decided to just skip it after several attempts

I am now happily shaking the maracas and enjoying music class minus the group picture attempts. Yes, those are Mickey Mouse Crocs on my feet.

During the week of Halloween, Mommy and I went to the Children's Museum. She thought I was old enough to enjoy some of the fun exhibits there and she was right. It was a great place to go for a few hours. I liked the toddler area a lot, but I mostly liked the red sports car at the play bank. I was somewhat obsessed with "driving" the car and had to be pulled away from there a few times so other kids could have a turn. Here are some of the fun things I did there.

I went boating in the little speed boat and mostly tasted the delicious plastic vegetables that someone left in there for me.I went over the bridge at least 20 times. It was fun to walk up and run down giggling.

There was a fish tank and I LOVE fish! I say "fis" with my little lisp and it makes Mommy laugh. A fish tank is on the top of my Christmas list this year.

The log was fun to crawl through and I mostly tried to get stuck in there by standing up.

There was a pond that had buttons all around it. When I pushed a button, and animal picture would light up. I found this quite amazing and was naming the animals (duck, fish) quite well after I figured out what this was all about.

I had a lot of fun in this red car. I decided to just sit on the floor since I could reach the steering wheel a lot easier. It's kind of like Mommy and her seat pulled way up to the steering wheel when she drives...family trait I guess.

On Friday, at Jenny's house (daycare Mamma), she put me outside in my costume for a few pictures. We went to a photography studio that day for some Halloween pictures, which is why I had my costume with me. The photographer was having a food drive and if you brought food, you got a 5 picture studio sitting for free! Mommy ordered some pictures and was hoping to have them to post on the blog, but they are not ready quite yet. We will have to post the picture once we get it.

On Friday night, Mommy's school had a fall festival. There were lots of kids in costumes and I was quite amazed by it all. We only stayed for a short time. Here is a picture of us with Heather (Mommy's job-share partner and Finley the Monkey). I loved his costume and made monkey sounds at him. Hopefully, he didn't think I was too weird! The next day was Halloween. I helped get the candy ready by dumping out the bucket and trying a few before passing them out (just testing for safety reasons). I was anxious to see who would come trick or treating and I also was excited to get some candy from the neighbors houses. Now I know what the hype is all about!

We also put Liberty in her annual devil costume (well, just the headband). I decided I wanted to try them on for size too. Look how thrilled Liberty is about this!

Mommy said these horns are very fitting on me, whatever that means!?!?

It was time to put the costume on again, and this time Mommy attempted to paint my nose black, which I did NOT like (hence the sketchy nose job). To make it a bit better, Daddy put on the "Hot Dog Dance" for me to dance to before we headed out for some candy.

Dad took me to a few of the neighbors' houses while Mommy passed out some candy. We then drove to a few neighbors down the road to visit. Each household was happy to see me and everyone kept giving me candy. This is what I looked like at the end of the night. I am naming this next photo, "Sugared up!"

Before I move on past Halloween (jeez, we have a lot of pictures here)... this is our one family photo on Halloween (not the best) and here is our front steps with the carved pumpkins. Mommy carved the Mickey Mouse one for me, and in the time it took Mommy to carve this one, Dad carved the other two... whatever they are supposed to be???

Since it is getting cooler outside, Daddy figured it was time to break out the hockey sticks. This one is still a bit big for me, but I love pushing it across the rocks and grass. I am actually not too bad about keeping the stick out front and at times, I even use two hands. Mommy is hoping that I will be drafted to the NHL so that she can retire early.

I have had a few playdates in the past few weeks. I guess you can call me a "Ladies Man" since my playdates have been with girls. My first one was with Ms. Lily. She is getting so big and cuter by the day (hard to believe, I know!) Laurie Jo, Lily's Mommy, was telling my Mommy how nice I was with Lily, what a gentleman I was with her, how nicely I shared, etc... Within a few minutes, I gave Lily a whack on the head. Mommy was NOT happy. I really can't explain why I do this... I guess it is the impulsive 17 month old in me. Timeouts are becoming a bit more common where Mommy just says, "TIMEOUT" and I walk to the bench and take a seat. She often has to turn around and quietly chuckle because she can't believe I actually go on my own. She's had a lot of practice this year putting kids in timeout at school, so I just don't want to end up on her "bad side."

My next playdate was with Lauren and Abby. Daddy was hunting in MN for 5 days, so we went to the cities to see family and friends. I had fun playing in the leaves in their backyard (and amazed at their Daddy, Pete who was leaf blowing... loved that machine!) Meggen raked leaves under the slide for us to fall into. I wasn't used to that at first and quickly said, "All done" which is my code word for "No more!" We had fun chasing the cat (who we found in the sink and found the situation very funny) and of course, we played with the millions of toys in their house.

Abby likes to run her hands through my spikey hair. The girls just can't seem to keep their hands off of me. Mommy is in trouble!

Our final recent outing was to the MN Zoo. Last Saturday, was a beautiful day. We didn't even need to wear jackets. Auntie Stefanie, Uncle Bruce, Lexi, Sam, Grandma, Mommy and I all went to the zoo to see the animals and to have a picnic lunch. It was so much fun to have my cousins around and once again, Mommy thinks we need to adopt a few older kids to keep me busy!

I was getting very sleepy from our busy day at the zoo. I have mastered many animal sounds and my favorite animal lately is the bear. Cousin Sam liked pushing me around the zoo (Mommy was a bit nervous at first). Here we are leaving the zoo, hence the pacifier because I was falling apart and was ready for nap. In case you are wondering... Daddy did not shoot a deer in MN (we are soooo sad about that... sarcasm). He still has the WI hunt to look forward to and he is hoping the weather cools off so the deer are out and about. I will attempt to be better about my blog updates. Thanks for staying tuned!