Happy Halloween!

Ok, ya'll are just too smart.  Every single person guessed right - our little mister was a sock monkey for Halloween!

Now tell me that's not the CUTEST sock monkey ever?!!

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving this weekend:

 (Please to be ignoring my didn't-have-time-to-blow-dry-because-the-baby-didn't-nap hairstyle.)

 Cole actually liked the guts - he was really excited!  Except he kept trying to eat them...

I let Cole draw the face...mostly.  I had to help a little, or else we'd have had a pumpkin carving like this:

(Channeling his inner Jackson Pollock)

Even though I helped a wee bit, Cole was pretty pleased with the end result:

 "Cole, where's the pumpkin's nose?"

I love his big smile - it matches Cole's giant grin! :)

Potato Lovin'

I'm going to give all you parents out there some top-secret information that the CIA of baby and kid toys doesn't want you to know.

Babies totally don't need toys.

Like, ever.

Most especially, MY baby. 

Yesterday he played with a bag of potatoes for an HOUR and a HALF.  A bag of potatoes.  He took each one out of the bag, one at a time.  He moved them to the table, one at a time.  He felt their weight, balanced them on top of each other, tossed them on the floor, put them on the dogs. 

For an hour and half.

I even found a potato in my underwear drawer.  Like potpourri, I guess...or a little reminder from my little man!

And then, the day before yesterday he played with a jar of paper clips for an hour.  Putting them in the jar, taking them out, moving them one at a time.

Yup...so all this little man's getting from Santa is a bag of potatoes and a jar of paper clips! 

PS.  I seem to remember another family member having a potato obsession some time back...maybe Chloe's been teaching Cole some tricks.

Chores

What?

Oh yeah, that's just my not-quite-17-month-old doing chores.  Just some dusting, you know. 

Thought I'd start him helping out around the house early.

As you can see, he absolutely hates to help out:

It might mean more work for me to do later, but he's so excited to be helping, it's worth it!  Pretty sure he won't always be so thrilled to help with housework...

Train Park

Last Sunday Cole and I dragged Chris (willingly) away from the football games to check out the Medford Railroad Park:

 It was a park full of miniature trains we rode around on a track - even through tunnels and over bridges!

 Cole thought it was pretty cool!

 They also had mini train models all set up (for some reason these things always make me think of "Beetlejuice" - am I the only one?!).

It's been a lot of fun discovering things to do in our new town!

Daddy Wrastlin'

Every night when Chris comes home, he and Cole have their "Daddy" time...which usually involves lots of "wrastling", running, and especially laughing.

Can't you just hear Cole's giggles in these photos?

Fall leaves

Saturday is our self-proclaimed Family Day.  This Saturday, we packed a cheese and crackers picnic and headed to Lithia Park in Ashland to enjoy the perfect weather and gorgeous changing leaves.

 His little plaid shirt and boots KILL me. SO ADORABLE.  CAN'T HANDLE THE ADORABLENESS. MIGHT SELF-DESTRUCT!

 Collecting some leaves:

 The duck pond...Cole kept trying to say "Quack, quack!"

 SOOOO excited!

 It was literally a perfect day - the leaves were incredible!

 Just peeking through the leaves is the outdoor Elizabethan Theater at the Shakespeare Festival:

It was truly a perfect day!