Debut

As my four month birthday approaches, I thought it was about time I started blogging. My big brother is an old pro at this, so I'm hoping I inherited a few of his writing genes. Besides,this week seemed like a perfect time for me to post because my Uncle Rick and Aunt Margo flew in for my Mormon baby blessing. If you're a frequent reader of our family's blog, you know I already had a Catholic baby blessing; double blessings - just one of the perks of having my mom and dad for parents!

In a Mormon baby blessing, a group of men gather around a baby in a circle while one man (in this case, my Uncle Rick), offers a blessing on the child. The blessing takes place during a regular Sunday church service in front of the congregation. The babies are often asleep, cooing and enjoying the moment. I, on the other hand, had a few things I wanted to add to the blessing so I decided to insert myself by screaming at the top of my lungs...from start to finish. I wasn't sure I could be heard in the back of the church so I dug down deep and gave each scream everything I had. Based on the congregations laughter at the end of my blessing, I'm pretty sure everyone heard me. I even got a shout out from the podium from the bishop, something about being a "healthy baby," awesome. 

While it was a quick visit, we still found time to get to the park. Bodie played with Uncle Rick while I hung out with my Aunt Margo - she laughs more than anyone I know, it's so cool.

Before they got into town on Saturday, my dad and a few of his buddies did a "quick" 80-mile bike ride Saturday morning to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. While I may not know much, I'm pretty sure that riding your bike to ANOTHER STATE isn't like a "quick" run to the grocery store. HOLY COW, my dad is awesome (but I'm pretty sure you already knew that). After his ride, he wasn't even tired and still had tons of energy to play with me...

My big brother has been showing me the ropes around here. Apparently soccer - and pretty much any competitive sport - is critical to our survival. So regardless of the temperature, we bundle up and head out to play in the yard. Because my mom likes to play too, she either "wears" me on a front pack, or puts me in a Bumbo and let's me spectate. This is us during a recent afternoon in our yard.


Bodie has also taught me that if you face plant onto concrete while playing soccer, a section of the skin from your face will be left behind on the ground as a reminder to others that concrete is not soft. After his face slid along the concrete, Bodie got up and shook his head a bit then said, "Hmmm. I think my nose hurts a little. Let's keep playing!" No ice. No band aid. No nothing. What a stud. Speaking of a stud, he's only three and told me he's already a doctor! He even offered to listen to my heart at no charge...

And finally, lots of people ask if I look like my brother. While there are definitely similarities, there are a few differences as well. Bodie had a lot more hair than me at my age. Some friends have remarked that I currently have a mullet (business in the front, party in the back) hairstyle. This sounds pretty cool to me but people are always laughing when they say it, so I'm thinking the mullet may not be a current fashion. Second, I am A LOT bigger than Bodie was at my age. I'm 16+ pounds at three months which was Bodie's weight at almost 10 months. (He's sure made up for lost time, good grief, his gigantic now!) Either way, here are similar photos of us in the same sweater, so you decide...

Fort Bliss

I've recently learned the awesomeness of building forts. Previously my forts have been a single blanket with limited crawl space; which, while fun, they don't hold a candle to the massive room forts my mom has exposed me to - THESE are cool!

My buddy Liam was over and we built this fort and then proceeded to fill it with almost every toy in the house. My mom had us stick our head's out for this photo because she couldn't get inside with all of our stuff - cars, a kid couch, dinosaurs, basketballs, footballs, baseball mitts, and viewfinders (for movie watching!)

This fort was much more orderly - in comparison. We build the fort and then built an enormous car village out of blocks inside the fort. Gates and I played in there all day. (I'm making sure Gates gets an early education about the importance of fort building).

Anyway, if you haven't built one in a while, a fort just brings happiness, no matter what your age so I encourage you to build one tonight!

Spooky Stuff

What's not to love about Halloween. Total strangers give you candy, you get to use sharp instruments to carve pumpkins, and dressing up is encouraged. This year I decided to dress up as the scariest thing I could think of - a skeleton! I told my mom about my plan and my decision to have Gates also go as a scary skeleton. She said three year olds should not be creepy looking, nor should infants. But I was persistent...VERY persistent. I would be dressing as a scary skeleton no matter what. My tricky mom had an idea that worked for both of us. The whole family would dress as skeletons and she'd attached the word "Ha" on each of us making us a family of funny bones. Compromise. This is a new word in my vocabulary.

To be honest, her plan was better than mine - three year olds don't need to be super creepy - and our family ended up winning "Best Family Costume" at one of the Halloween parties we attended. Gates even hung in there in his costume, though I think he was a drooling skeleton, which isn't too spooky.

This year's Halloween included a total bonus -my Grandma flew in for the holiday on a last-minute trip. She said she missed us but I think she just wanted to scared in person by my super spookiness. She helped us carve seven of our pumpkins. We had 10 additional small pumpkins from the gazillion pumpkin patches we'd gone to this month, but even with my offer to help, my mom said, "No way are we carving another 10 pumpkins." Something about being covered in pumpkin guts from head to toe. Oh well.

Halloween night included the typical chaos at our house. More than 400 trick-or-treaters came to our house before 8pm. I took on the job of smoke machine operator. The goal was to cover the yard by continually pressing the buttons on our two smoke machines, strategically placed in our homemade graveyard. I think I accomplished it. Here's a before and after.

Friday we had our big school party (we go to preschool mon, wed, and fri). First a parade, then a Halloween sing-a-long, and finally a party that lasted the rest of the day. Pure awesomeness. I opted for a costume change on Friday and went to school as a NASA astronaut. I think the costume is made out of that fancy, lightweight material they use to warm up runners after a marathon. Keep in mind I had this material on from my head to my toes and by the time we got to the classroom for our party I had an enormous amount of sweat pouring off of me, my eyes were glassy, and I was swaying back and forth. So rather than end up on the floor from passing out, my mom offered me some water and suggested I take my helmet off and unzip my space suit. Whew, being an astronaut is hot.

Another Halloween down. Now to start thinking about next year...