Halloween Pt. 2

So we went all out this year on our pumpkins. Well, I guess you could say we went all out in terms of numbers, but kinda rushed the carving part. We didn't start until mid afternoon, and had barely finished by the time Cathy, Dad & Mom left. In fact, Kendall was still finishing his last pumpkin when our first group of Trick or Treaters rang the bell. But it was time well spent. We threw on the ipod, set up 2 carving stations on the back patio, got a nice fire roaring in the chiminea and went to town. And everybody carved a pumpkin! There are no bystanders at the Bacons on Halloween.

Here's Cathy's Spooky Spider.

And Dad's Ghoulish Ghost.

Mom's Bloody Head.
The knife sticking out of the face also served as the light, and it changed colors. Very cool.

My Wolf.

Taryn's Wild Thing.

Kendall's Wild Thing.

Kendall's Bloody Face.

And Kendall's Half Retarded Pumpkin with an Attitude.

Mine & Cathy's pumpkins went by the front door. The place of honor.

We hung skeletons from our garage door. Also, I've decided to leave these up year round - you know, to make the point to all the neighborhood kids.

Here's the graveyard.

We were very happy to find a replacement spider since we lost the one from last year. And this one lit up!

See?

Here's a good shot of our walkway leading to the front door. We have the graveyard, skull fence and creepy pumpkin.

And it's not truly Halloween unless you have blood dripping from the windows.

Another good shot of the walkway, with our scattered pumpkins, spider, and the Gorilla Man lurking in the background.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween Pt. 1

Since Halloween is our favorite holiday, this year Taryn and I hosted. We had my Mom & Dad, and Taryn's Mom & Brother up for the day. We spent the majority of our time carving pumpkins. We had bought 4 @ the Phillips Farms Pumpkin Patch the weekend before, and Cathy brought up another 5. Our place was pretty decked-out (see forthcoming post for details), and everyone was in the spooky spirit. Eli went through a plethora of outfits that day (mainly because we wanted him to get time wearing all of the Halloween clothes that we'd bought for him before he grew out of them, but also because he likes to peepee). He started in skulls, made his way through mummies, and ended up as a monkey. Unfortunately we didn't get nearly as many pictures as we should have due to all of the pumpkin carving.

But to begin the day, we brought out some of Eli's Halloween books and had spooky story time on the floor. We read The Nightmare Before Christmas and disney's Anthology of spooky stories. As you can see, it was a pretty good time.

Here's Eli in his mummy outfit watching his Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Kendall run around doing finishing touches before all of the Trick or Treaters showed up.

I was the only one to get into costume, so I got to answer the door each time it rang to hand out candy. Unfortunately, it was the same costume from last year (bummer), but it's still fun to get into full gorilla getup and go bouncing around the neighborhood. Eli didn't know what to make of the fur. I had to take the mask off to let him know it was really me.

We ended up having about 20-25 kids come to the door, which was a lot more than the year before. And I didn't frighten as many of the little ones this year. Which wasn't as cool, but I guess you gotta draw the line somewhere.

Nummy Apples?

Ever since his bout with the flu, Eli has been having difficulties taking his solid foods. And by difficulties, I mean he's just not having it. Before his illness, he would grab the spoon and try to feed himself, but now he's grabbing the spoon to push it away. So, after much debate, Taryn and I decided to forego our initial desire to have Eli try all of the veggies we wanted him to, and give him some fruit to see if the sweetness would entice him to eat better.

No such luck.

Apples are by far my favorite fruit, and when we gave him some for the first time, I had high hopes of smiles and appetite. Instead, we got the same old routine. Same response to the bananas we tried next. Taryn and I were both surprised. These days we're lucky to get 5 good spoonfuls down.

He looks so angelic, but he's such a booger.

None too excited.

Pushing at the spoon.

After The Show

Since Taryn and I had decided not to make a big fuss about our Anniversary this year, we instead grabbed at the chance to spend a night out together with friends, leaving Eli to stay the night with his Grandparents and his Nonni. It was the first time that we'd left the Lil' Man somewhere without us, and it was really hard. But the night out was well deserved, and very awesome. When we got back into Stockton to pick Eli up, it was a little ridiculous.

On our way out of town, we stopped by Katy & Anders' new place to celebrate their just announced engagement. Congratulations guys! We love you, and couldn't be happier for the two of you! You totally deserve each other - but in that good way where you're both awesome.

After our 'eventful' night out, Taryn and I were both pretty wiped. Taryn had a sudden late-game burst of energy due to the wedding talk and girly giggling. I, on the other hand, had no such energy, and took the chance to doze in the middle of everything with my Biddles.

Phillips Farms

Just 6 days before Halloween, Taryn and I took Eli on his 1st trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We went with Eli's Nonni, Grambot & Grandpa to Phillips Farms - the same Pumpkin Patch that Taryn and I went to as kids. The place had certainly changed. They've added a petting zoo, additional hay mazes, game and food booths, and some new characters to visit during the walkthrough. But they also had the old familiar characters and attractions.

Here's Eli doing his version of The Great Pumpkin.

When we arrived it was at the end of the day, just 45 minutes before the Patch was set to close, and Eli was pretty close to food/nap time - which means he was pretty done. He was certainly interested in everything that he was seeing, but didn't really have the energy to respond.

Here's Taryn and Eli at the start of the walkthrough path.

Here's a perfect shot of his Done face. The poor guy was just so tired.

And yes, his T-shirt says "I drink until I pass out." So fitting.

Taryn and I couldn't help but have a great time. It brought back a lot of memories.

Inside the covered mazes there are different scenes depicting everything from ghouls playing the organ, to witches brewing up nasty postions. Here's Eli and me checking out a skeleton gaurding his treasure chest.

As tired as he was, he did enjoy riding the hay horse.

And meeting Mr. Mouse.

Awesome.

Eli thought the petting zoo was particularly interesting.
He even made a friend.

Big Blue-Eyed reactions to crazy animals.

Here's Mama trying to keep him smiling at the end of the trip. My dad and I were at check-out with a wagon full of pumpkins (literally). We left with 4. Three big ones for me, Taryn and Kendall (who was staying with us as our Manny Nanny), and one small one for Eli. It was a great time, we just wish we had made it earlier in the day before Eli lost his energy.

Halloween Tryouts

Taryn ordered Eli's Halloween costume online, and it luckily showed up just a few days before the holiday hit. And of course as soon as we got it out of the box, we had to put it on and see not only how it fit, but how it looked. And it looked pretty silly ...

He was a bit unimpressed with the hood, but overall he took it like a champ.

Enter The Manny Nanny

One of the hardest things I have ever done is leave Eli to return to the work force. Dave and I had lined up daycare with a lady close to our home who ran a daycare out of her house for children 0-3. Eli didn't last a week before Dave and I knew this was not the right place for our Lil' Man.

What to do!?!

We made an SOS to his Uncle Kendall who fortunately for us came to our rescue. Kendall and my parents had been watching Eli a couple days a week during the summer when I went back to work part time. Eli loves his Uncle Kendall. They share a very special connection you have to see to truly appreciate.
So armed with latex gloves Kendall became...

THE MANNY NANNY!

We could not be more pleased. Eli gets to hang out with his Uncle and practice the art of mobility, do My Baby Can Read, and get the attention he demands. I must say an extra set of hands in the morning is a real help when you are trying to get out the door. We are very grateful that Kendall has been able to help us out. Eli will start a new daycare Nov. 2nd. Keep your fingers crossed that we found a good one. But if all else fails we can always rely on our Manny Nanny!

THANKS UNCLE KENDALL!

Rock N' Rolla Part 2

One more video of Eli rocking , with some tickling thrown in for good measure. Just like his Momma & Daddy, he's especially ticklish in his armpits.

This knowledge shall serve us well in the future ... so watch it, Buddy ...

Rock N' Rolla

Hello Everyone!

It's been a long time since we've been able to upload pictures or videos (or post anything to the Blog due to some computer issues that we've been having). But things seem to be working again (no idea how or why), so we're back with a vengeance. We'll be taking advantage of this window of functionality by posting as many things from the last 2 months as we can until we get caught up ... or get bored.

To start off, here's a video of one of the funnest milestones we've hit yet. Eli has always been pretty strong, and we we've been joking that he would learn to walk before he ever learned to crawl because he likes to stand so much. But just recently (in the last 2-3 days) he's been starting to rock back onto his knees from his tummy. We freaked out of course, and went scrambling around the house looking for the video camera - and this is what we caught.

Hooray for the Biddles!

Dinner @ Nonni's

Taryn & the Biddles made an overnight trip down to Stockton to celebrate Tita's & Nonni's birthdays. I wasn't able to go because I got stuck working - what a drag. But Taryn came home with some pretty fun pictures. Eli's Nonni bought a brand new high chair special for the Lil' Man, with TOYS!

Then Nonni took Eli to the piano for an introduction to music. While his Daddy mainly sticks to the guitar and drums and such, I absolutely appreciate a pre-education in piano. After all, that was my first instrument. Taryn's too. Thank you Nonni for starting things off right! Eli was very impressed with all the noise that he was able to make. Pretty soon we'll teach him chopsticks so that when he learns to walk we can re-create that scene from BIG.

Strike a pose

Here are Eli's 6 month professional shots. Oh man, was it a lot of work. I vow never to do this without David again. Eli fell backwards from a sitting position and bumped his head right off the bat. Which lead to Auntie Casey, our wonderful photo crew and I doing a lot of jumping, funny faces, bubbles, and ridiculous sounds just to get a smile. Pictures sure turned out cute, regardless of the chaos behind the lens.

Right before the head bump....

I did a lot of heavy lifting that day. The photographer saw a photo opt. In the end, many adorable photos of the Biddles and a very tired Momma. Thank you so much Auntie Casey for the help!