Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope your holiday was a nice as ours. Love to all of our friends and family. Today and every day, we are grateful for you.  We are especially grateful for Uncle Charles, who is here visiting, and our ward's four missionaries, who helped us put a dent in the obscene amount of food Mark made. 

Grant's Farm

Last Friday, Dillon and I met up with our playgroup friends at Grant's Farm.  Dillon had a blast.  He got to go on a long train ride, hug the goats, feed a llama, and observe an elephant's potty time.  Here we are waiting for our train. We came straight from the gym.  That's why I have yucky running hair.

Dillon hugs everything.  When I pick him up at the gym, he hugs all of the toys bye-bye.

"Hey, man, you want to share my goat?"

No comment.

Dillon didn't actually feed the goats.  He just found empty bottles on the ground and teased the goats.  They didn't seem to mind.

Ah, love is in the air.

The elephant was feeling particularly playful.  Dillon was mesmerized by him.

"Hi, camel!"

Dillon's favorite part of the day was when the camel tried to bite off my hand.  He laughed hysterically, to the great enjoyment of the strangers who also watched the camel try to bite off my hand.  He doesn't even look a little bit sorry.  The camel, that is.

Dillon entertained everyone with his gymnastics moves while we waited for the train back.  Actually, I'm pretty sure I was the only one entertained.  But, that's ok.  To him, I am the only one that matters.

Halloween

We all got dressed up again on Halloween and went Trick-or-treating.  Dillon had a grand time.  After each house, he said, "More houses.  More houses."

At one house we saw a BIG white dog wearing a tutu.  At another house, there was a BIG fake spider and a BIG real spider on the porch.  At another house, Dillon was invited in, he being so cute that everyone inside needed a better look at him.  They had a basket of little candies, a bucket of medium candies, and a bowl of BIG candies.  Dillon was so cute that they gave him two BIG candies and handfuls and handfuls of medium candies. They also held out the basket of little candies so Dillon could grab as much as he wanted while they admired him.  A big group of kids came up as we were leaving.  I couldn't help noticing they were only offered the basket of little candies. 

Before going home, we went to see the G family.  Their dog had glowing pumpkin ears.  They loved on Dillon, as they always do, and he made them all smile. 

And, because you know you want them, here are more pictures of the captain. 

p.s. Remember these guys?  If you like that pea, you will love my friend, Emily.  Check her out at http://www.emilysoutherland.com/

Trunk-or-treat

Presenting...CAPTAIN AMERICA!!!

Presenting, Mom and Dad's last minute costumes...Princess Aurora and Prince Philip!

Saturday night was our ward Trunk-or-treat.  We all had a great time.  Dillon and Daddy both figured out how to wear tights and not break the "no cross dressing" rule.  Very clever.  I was the only Valentine not wearing tights.

 

Mark and I tied for best adult costumes with the P's in an audience cheer off.  We won a pumpkin.  We didn't take it.  I would have, I guess, but I forgot.  The kids contest was a, "no one can win because everyone looks so great" contest.  As it should be.  But, really, Dillon's costume was by far the cutest.   His only competition was L, who went as The Joker.  All the kids got a glow stick as a prize.  He really enjoyed the adult contest.  I saw him standing in the front of the crowd clapping away saying, "Yea, yea!"  My child is adorable.  I can't get over it.  

 

He was a good little Trick-or-treater, too.  At first he said, "Hi." But after a couple people coaxed a "Trick-or-treat" out of him, he was golden.  He was so good.  When we got to a crowed trunk, he would say, "Trick-or-treat," and try for the bowl.  But, I just had to remind him to wait his turn and he would stand there patiently repeating, "Trick-or-treat," until all the other kids had butt in front of him and gotten their candy.  The two year old was the considerate and patient one.  

 

He made the round once, with a double stop at the R's car (by invitation, or course) where he was taught by Brother R how to use 2 hands to scoop out bunches of candy.  At the last car of the night, he picked up 5 mini candy bars in one chubby little hand.  It took him a couple tries to get a good handful, but he recognized a good grab when he saw it and dumped it right into his bucket.  On the way home, I told him that this wasn't even Halloween, and that we were going to go Trick-or-treating again on Wednesday, only on real Halloween you go to houses, not cars.  He's pretty excited.  He must have missed the Wednesday bit, though, because when he saw that we were on our block, and going home, he started crying, "Trick-or-treat houses, Trick-or-treat houses, please!"

 

The kids costume contest: 

 

Tried to get a picture of the Captain with his buddy, L.  Neither kid would cooperate. Dillon was distracted by his glow stick and L was distracted by a doughnut. 

Here is Captain America trying to rehabilitate The Joker with a hug.  He's such a diplomat.  It's like Nonna says, "You catch more flies with honey."

Well, I'm sure I will have more Captain America pictures to post tomorrow.  Yea! Halloween!!

16 October 2010

I sat down to post pictures from last night's Trunk-or-treat. But, I found this. I haven't seen it since I took it on October 16, 2010. (Happy Birthday, Aunt Laurel.) It was hidden on an old card, in an old camera. I stumbled across it just now and my heart melted. I am the luckiest Mommy in the world. That boy is the most perfect thing I have ever done. He was the sweetest baby, 2.5 months old in this picture, but he has grown into such a noble little person. He is kind, he is happy, he is considerate, he is smart, he is loving, and he is mine. God showed me great mercy when he sent that child to my arms. I love him more than life. I can't even breathe, I love him so much.

When I am sad, he puts those little hands on my cheeks and says, "Hold Mommy face. Kiss." Seriously, mmm.

English

How do you mimic a language you don't speak?  When I was working on the international reference desk at the family history library, I learned that people make fun of English by making a lot of s, sh, and t sounds.  Dillon is "reading" aloud to me from my SB-700 manual.  "Chsh chsh ta, chsh chsh ta, chsh chsh ta."  Only, he actually speaks decent English for his age.  I wonder if this is normal behavior.  It's definitely cute.

Dillon really likes applesauce...

...but he isn't very good with a spoon. And I am not a very patient feeder. And that's why...

Darling Dillon

Today, while pooping on the potty, Dillon looked up at this picture which hangs on the bathroom wall. After giving it some thought, he told me that it was a picture of Daddy and Mary Poppins.












He decided he wanted to color. After running around naked, coloring in his armpits, and saying, "Armpits!", he settled in to rip paper off crayons. Later, I found him picking up all of his crayon paper bits and placing them in the dustpan.  

I was making muffins. Dillon ran into the kitchen and said, "By self, shoes!" Indeed, he had put on a shoe by himself. He has been working on this for months. This was the first time he got an entire foot in a shoe. It is even fastened! We took a commemorative photograph.

Dillon had tomato soup for lunch. Dillon loves tomato soup. I love Dillon's face. Also, according to the white boards on our refrigerator, Dillon [hearts] pie, Daddy is a hotty, and Daddy loves Mommy.

Dillon was naked today because of a stubborn bowel movement and a frequent need to sit on the potty.  After the bowel was successfully moved, he said, "Owie bottom. Mommy kiss it."  You think you would do anything for your kids.  Then, one day, you realize that you wouldn't.  And it's for the best.

I put Dillon to bed and sat in the adjacent room to work on a project.  After 20 minutes of silence, I heard him start mumbling to himself.  Then he broke into song, "Clean up, clean up, everybody...clean up, clean up, everybody."  Dillon likes to sing.  His favorites are "Clean Up," "Cow Planet," "Super Stomper," and "Row your Boat." If you know the "Super Stomper" chant, Dillon suggests you add a "Hooray!" at the end.

Yesterday, we went to the grocery store.  He looked up at me and smiled.  "What?" I asked.  "Uchtdorf!" he replied.  He saw that I was pleased and added, "Eyring."  He looked pensive for a while, then finished with, "Monson! Monson."  So, to answer your question, Aunt Cindi, that is what Dillon learned at conference.

Dillon has been really into books the last few days. It's fun. I've been reading him a ghost story "The Teeny Tiny Woman" by Paul Galdone. I wasn't sure how well he understood it but he must have caught on. After a few readings, when I got to the scary part, he whimpered and said "all done" and tried to close the book. I made him sit through it, but held his hand. He fusses at the scary part every time, but keeps making me read it. "Tee Tiny Bone, more."

Earlier this week Dillon went to a friend's house so I could do a Relief Society service thing. On the way home, he gave me a fun run down of what he did. "Bye bye Davy. Bye bye balloon. Fun balloon. Funny Davy. No sad Davy. Throw balloon. Davy daddy balloon.  Throw it ball, gym [that was something he was remembering from this morning]. Davy sword. Fun sword. BANG BANG." It's almost like I was there. :)

My camera is broken

I discovered my camera's brokenness a few days after we got home from Colorado.  August 19th, to be exact.  We went to the park.  The pictures all turned out like this:

When my camera broke, I decided to save the last of the pictures I took in Colorado.  The following were taken of Dillon on August 13, the day we left to come home.  The dancing videos are also from that day.  Make sure you watch Dillon learning the worm.  He's perfected it now, but his first attempts are probably funnier than his current execution.

These were taken on September 19th in Keokuk. We went up with Nonna to take pictures of Poppa's beautiful Bed and Breakfast. She had to go with us so I could use her camera.  Mine is broken.  I'm really very sad.  If you have any idea what might be wrong with it, please, venture a guess.  It is a Nikon d40.