Happy Halloween!

Well, we have definitely been in the Halloween spirit here this week. We started the other night when we carved our pumpkins. We thought Noah would get a big kick out of doing it, and he did think it was pretty cool when Wes cut into the pumpkin with a knife.

After that came the cleaning out of the pumpkin. Wes started to stick his hand in and then immediately declared that he did not like this part and could I do it. I had no problem touching the gooey pumpkin innards so I happily volunteered. Noah, however, was unsure.

In fact, when I invited him to stick his hand in, he said, "No." Obviously we know where his aversion to pumpkin goo comes from! Of course, being the wonderful Mom that I am, I couldn't let him off that easily.

Please note that while Noah may be laughing, he is also trying to escape from his chair as quickly as possible.

So, after attacking him with the pumpkin crap Noah lost interest completely and Wes and I ended up finishing the pumpkin ourselves. Actually, carving the stupid pattern took so long that Noah had gone to bed and I had made all the treats for his school Halloween party by the time Wes finished! I think it looks pretty good.....

.....even if Wes did accidentally cut off the cat's tail and some of his whiskers!

Yesterday we continued the Halloween fun with Noah's class party. All the kids were supposed to dress up. Noah had picked his costume a few weeks ago...Thomas the Train. He was totally into it until we saw this kid in his costume...

All of the sudden Noah realized that his store bought Party City costume was completely unacceptable in comparison to this Thomas costume.

To be fair, I can see his point. Anyway, long story short, he stalked this poor child and his costume the whole time while periodically collapsing into fits of frustration because the child would not trade costumes with him. I tried to explain to Noah that I would never be the kind of mother that would selflessly stay up til 4 in the morning making him an intricate costume but that just seemed to piss him off even more. Sigh....

Thankfully our trip to the South Carolina Aquarium's Fish or Treat was a little more successful. There were no Thomas costumes to be jealous about so Noah happily wore his own crappy costume while he walked around collecting candy and looking at fish.

He wasn't real interested in the collecting candy part. He really just wanted to look at the fish. And hang out with his pals the bumble bee (aka Ellison)....

.....and the panda bear (aka Ellison's sister Kennedy)

We almost made it through the aquarium without any problems...until we encountered this....

Apparently we are not a fan of divers dressed as clowns! Again, I can see his point. More than a little creepy!

That's okay though, nothing a little candy can't cure!

Tonight should be fun...Noah will probably want to eat every piece of candy that gets thrown in his bucket! I will post pictures of Thomas the Train on a sugar high this weekend!

Noah Hits the Road

For his birthday in May, Noah got a big green car that he can drive himself. The only problem was that he has not been patient enough to figure out how to work it yet. He won't sit still long enough to figure out coordinating steering the wheel and pushing the gas pedal. As a result the car has been gathering dust in our garage for the last several months. Until the other day....

Noah has a new buddy from down the street. Her name is Clayton and he is obsessed with her. They are the exact same age and they play really well together. Every time they get together they run towards each other and hug and then take off running to play. The other day the got the car out of the garage and worked out a system. Clayton steers the car and Noah pushes the gas pedal.

Now the little green car is unstoppable. Look out neighbors!

Fall Fun on the Farm

Hallelujah, the cool weather is finally here! My poor little Florida baby walked outside this past Saturday and squealed, "It's cold!!!" He then proceeded to take a walk through the neighborhood with his blanket wrapped around his head and neck.

We took advantage of the arrival of fall and headed over to Legare Farms on Johns Island where they have a pumpkin patch and corn maze. From the moment we arrived Noah was in heaven. He took off running and never stopped! The first thing he wanted to do was see the animals.

Petting the horse - but a little weirded out by the wet tongue!

My sister, Jessie, posing with Bullwinkle the cow. Mere seconds after this picture was taken that cow actually licked her ass! I am NOT kidding!

After petting the animals, Noah headed over to the playground where his favorite activity was running up and down "Mulch Mountain".

Digging atop the "mountain".

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch. Noah ran up and down the rows of pumpkins so it was very hard to stop and try to pick out a good one. Eventually I just told Wes to pick and I continued to chase the kid. He finally slowed down after he bit it in the dirt on his face. I thought we were facing an all out meltdown after that fall but all he did was scream, "Oh no! The orange shirt, it's dirty! Oh No!" Never mind his face, let's make sure our new shirt is okay. He is definitely my son.

Wes with our big pumpkin and Noah carrying his "baby punkin".

After the pumpkin patch we debated about whether or not to do the corn maze. It was three miles worth of maze and we didn't know how long it would take or long Noah might last. Finally, we just decided to go for it. I was afraid Noah might get bored and not really understand what we were doing but as usual I was wrong. He took off running and said, "Momma, we gettin lost!" He led the way most of the time, picking which way to turn. We were actually out in about 20 minutes. As we walked out of the corn he turned and said, "We made it!" He kills me sometimes.

Following Daddy through the corn.

Stuck in the middle of the maze!

Noah leading us out of the maze.

We had a really good time and now every morning when I ask Noah what he wants to do he says, "Go to the corn maze!"

Cold Turkey Hell

Okay, I am in serious need of a 12 step program or something. It may not be crack or even cigarettes but I have a serious addiction...to running. Unfortunately my broken 4th metatarsal made me have to stop running entirely for 6-8 weeks and I am on the verge of a breakdown. I just keep going back to the wonderful 8 mile run that I had before I broke my foot. (Actually, technically, my foot was already broken when I did it, but my genius doctors just hadn't figured it out yet!) That 8 miles was awesome and I am itching to get back out there.

This morning I actually caught myself yelling at random joggers in my neighborhood as I drove past. Who do you think you are? I've never seen YOU running before! Where were you when I was out pounding the pavement in 90 degree heat and 100% humidity? On your ass on the couch, that's where! And now you get to enjoy the fall weather while I am stuck on the stationary bike like a hamster on a wheel! I even got really snarky in front of Noah. He pointed to a girl and said, "Oh! She is runnin!"

"I guess", I replied with a smirk, "If you can call it that".

Yikes!

See, I am not in a good place!

Wicked Weekend

Oh my, we are at it again!

This past weekend I drove up to Atlanta to spend the weekend with my Mom and sister and we went to see the musical Wicked. It. was. AWESOME! I had read the book and enjoyed it, but the musical was even better. I bought the soundtrack and am working on learning the words to all the songs. The thing that I liked best - besides the music and beautiful sets - was the message of the story. It was all about perspective and our perception of people, and how very often we are completely wrong in our opinions. It also dealt a lot with how, as a society, we often have our truth fed to us by those in charge. There was a quote in the show that went something like, "Truth is not facts or logic. Truth is simply what everyone agrees on as true." It sounds very postmodern but I think it is a valid point, especially right now with all of the presidential election drama in our country. If you listen to the news all you get are soundbites and innuendo that often lead you to false conclusions. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican I think that it is important that we guard against accepting agreed upon truths and make sure that we research and learn for ourselves what the facts are, so that we can have the most accurate perspective of both candidates.

On a lighter note, I recommend everyone see this show. It is wonderfully entertaining and fun! Here are a few pictures of us posing in our cheesy souvenir t-shirts!

9-1-1 Phone Call

I usually let Kelly do the blogging, but she is in Atlanta this weekend which leaves me with the responsibility of keeping everyone up to date. This is a story I just have to share.

So, Noah went to bed last night around his usual time (8:30) and I was really tired so I read for a little while and went to sleep about 10:00. It was great because I fell asleep right away and didn't toss and turn and didn't have a million things running through my mind. But, my wonderful sleep was rudely stopped by thunderous banging on my front door. I looked at the clock and realized it was about 10:30. The banging didn't stop, but just got worse...so, I jumped out of bed and ran to see who it was before they woke Noah.
Much to my surprise 6 or 7 Charleston City Police officers were standing at my door peering in the glass window. I opened the door and one of them said to me, "we got a 9-1-1 phone call from this address." I looked at him bewildered and said, "no you didn't because I was asleep and my son is asleep." He verified the address and sure enough they had gotten a call from my house. In my head I was freaking out thinking that maybe Noah had gotten out of bed and somehow grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. But no, the phone (the only one we have) was sitting in its charger. I picked it up and was shocked to find that it was completely dead with no dial tone at all.
I assured the police nothing was wrong, but they said they had to search the entire house to make sure I wasn't holding someone hostage. Once again, I looked at him bewildered. Then I began the house tour for the police. They searched everywhere: closets, bedrooms, bathrooms, under beds, and they even went into Noah's room with him sleeping. Thank goodness he didn't wake up. Finally, the police left and about an hour later, after the adrenaline was no longer flowing through my vessels, I went back to sleep.
Guess what! Next thing I know there is banging on my door. I again looked at the clock and it was 4:30 in the morning. I ran to the door and this time was greeting by one very tired looking police man. I told him something was very wrong with my phone and he suggested I have it fixed. I thanked him for that advice (I never would have thought of it on my own) and he left and I went to bed.
You probably know it, but I had a very unpleasant conversation with Comcast today where they assured me something is wrong with my phone line and they would get someone out to fix it. It is now 9:30 at night and no one from Comcast has been to my house. Needless to say, Comcast is about to be out one customer and if the police show up at my door tonight...well, I wouldn't want to be the Comcast operator who answers the phone!

Goofing Around

Wes was out of town (again) this weekend so Noah and I were all set to have a weekend by ourselves. Until I broke my foot - don't ask. Suffice it to say I cannot run and am not happy. Anyway, because I am really supposed to stay off my foot, my Mom and sister changed some plans around and both came down to help out with Noah. After a fairly relaxing weekend we decided to spend some time playing outside this morning. The weather was beautiful and Noah had a blast kicking the ball with Bebe.

They also watered all our plants which is one of Noah's new favorite activities.

Of course, while they were being useful, Jessie and I were bored so we decided to have a little fun of our own.

We decided to practice our cartwheel skills. I figured this was probably a slightly stupid thing to do on a broken foot but I was bored - and also careful to only land on my left foot. You can be the judge of who is a better cart wheeler, Jessie......

....or me......

Please note the left footed landing!

Obviously we have too much time on our hands...see....!