The last week has been somewhat of a new and unusual occurrence for us. Bob had a business trip, so he left early Monday morning and didn't return until Friday afternoon. Jim and Kathy are in Texas visiting Sue, so that means it was just the kids and I for the week. Since I'm still not a Jacksonville pro, I know where the library is but not an actual city park, we mostly hung at the house. It's somewhat of a production to leave the house, and we seem to attract a lot more attention here than we did in Dallas. On Wednesday, we went to the library and the park. We've been watching a lot of TV. I wish we watched less, but at least we watch educational TV. Thanks PBS. We color, go outside (although lately, it's been like pulling teeth to get them to go outside), watch Lion King in the bed (my personal favorite), and destroy all of my cleaning efforts in 2.2 seconds. Since TV is a big player in the house, we've been seeing a lot of Halloween themed episodes. Ryan has really latched on to the whole halloween idea. He runs around the house saying "happy halloween" and has made up his own halloween song to the tune of happy birthday.
In honor of this auspicious occasion, the boys and I journeyed to the local Wal-Mart to buy a big pumpkin. Sadly, I waited too long and the "big" pumpkin is more of a fair to middling size, but for $4 who's complaining? The boys did great at Wal-Mart after deciding that our seating arrangements needed to be somewhat more spread out. (Ryan kept putting his feet on James and I'm pretty sure James's head was about to explode). In the store, they kept trying to eat all of the fruit we bought, but I told them we had to pay the lady for it. As soon as the apples returned to the cart in a bag, Ry and James both grabbed one, and I handed one to Michael. The cashier was so impressed that they were eating apples instead of candy, that I had to give myself a mental pat on the back. Please, God, help my boys to have good eating habits so that they don't end up like their mom.
Once we got home, it was time for a little Lion King in the living room in order to distract one Ryan Newhouse from the plans to carve a face on his pumpkin. In fact, during nap time, he broke out of his crib tent, sauntered into my room, and said "Mom, pumpkin face." We discussed how we had to wait for Daddy to do the pumpkin face, so when Bob got home, as soon as Ryan saw him, he yelled "Daddy, PUMPKIN FACE!"
Ryan catches some quality chair time while watching the king of beasts. I don't mind the Lion King obsession, but I could do without the lion kisses (licks).
I'm sure he's plotting something. Always figuring out how to be silently devious and three steps ahead of me. Michael can clear a bookshelf, a toy tub, or a drawer in the time it takes to blink.
My electronically fixated child. James loves watching TV, playing Monkey Ball on the iPhone, and all things electronic. I had to physically remove the phone from his hand and place him in front of the pumpkin before he even noticed it.
Finally, it's face time!
The boys were not too keen on touching the pumpkin guts, so we pulled out the spoon, and Ryan went to town. Last year, James was fascinated by the whole process, Ryan couldn't care less, and Michael screamed and cried. This year was totally different.
Ryan works the spoon.
Michael takes a turn.
Daddy gets in on the action.
Teamwork by the Newhouse boys (minus James who was distracted by the World Series pre-game - I will not pontificate on the tragic demise and debacle of the Rangers' World Series run, but suffice it to say, the sadness is palpable in this house).
Ryan works two spoons while Michael begins the decoration process on his small pumpkin.
Still digging.
The art squad decorates the pumpkin with their washable markers. Thankfully. By the end of the night, Michael had sucked so much ink out of the pink marker that I looked over and thought he was bleeding. Nice, only two and already making his own fake blood.
Intense concentration. The design is on the pumpkin, but I had a little extra help from someone primed to create a pumpkin face.
Is that a lefty? He also bats left. Hmm, maybe a future Ranger pitcher? Move over CJ.
The face of bliss. By the time we were finished, Ryan was calling the pumpkin his monster. I guess it's a friendly monster. Unlike most, I'm not a big fan of being scared or the whole halloween/scary thing. We focus on Charlie Brown around this place. Our neighbor has a whole graveyard complete with a box to jump out of, I'm thinking of skipping their house on our trick or treat route.
Not only are the pumpkins great to decorate, they are also good for playing the drums.
My "helper" puts some finishing touches on the pumpkin design. Bob was grateful that I just went with the standard face as opposed to one of those fancy designs.
My three pumpkins decorating their pumpkins.
What a face! Sadly, by the end of the night, I'm not sure whose face had more marker on it - the pumpkin/monster or Michael.
We've lost James to the pre-game, Michael has started coloring his hand, and Ryan has given himself a black eye with the brown marker. It's official, Halloween is here!
The back also needs a little bit of decoration.
Time to light this guy up! Michael refused to take his tray off and continued to color it and himself, Ryan began singing his happy birthday halloween song, and James spent a large amount of breath attempting to blow out the pumpkin's candle.
With our little guy all carved and ready to go, we are ready for those trick or treaters (although, we might have to replenish our candy supply - those stressful Ranger games might have made a certain mommy dip into the stash).
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