halloween and happy endings

This is my first attempt at writing a blog. I love writing and I figure that this will be a great way to chronicle our days!

So, today is Halloween... also known as the eve of all saint's day! Last year, at this time, Jack was a tiny newborn, whom we dressed up as a silly banana. If you want to check out his famously adorable video, here is the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Eif6wDDCUtY. It's so funny to watch that video now. it is truly remarkable what a difference a year can make. He still has the dancing in him, though! Jeff actually had a night off, so we were able to spend Halloween together as a family. I made a little spaghetti dinner and then we dressed Jack up as a pumpkin. My original plan was to make Jack a scarecrow costume, but time and gumption slipped away from me. Luckily, my mom had picked up this costume for him months ago, as a back up. Thanks, Mom! Surprisingly, we did not have any meltdowns dressing him up, nor did we have any resistance to wearing the pumpkin hat! Seriously, isn't he a sweet looking pumpkin? I wish we had some video of him, because he was too cute waving to all of the trick or treaters and walking back and forth with his little hippo push toy. It was fun to pass out candy and see all the cute kiddos. Jack got a kick out of everyone walking by. Of course, he really had no clue what was going on, but he was smiling and laughing, so we think he enjoyed the festivities! After our candy ran out, we headed over to my parent's house (they live about three minutes away from us) to show off the cute pumpkin. We also stopped at their neighbor's house, because Jack has a new girlfriend who lives there! It was fun to spend some time with our new friends. My mom is out of town, but my dad was home, and he was really happy to see his dressed up grandson! He was snapping all kinds of photos of the pumpkin on the move (crawling up the stairs, crawling into cabinets, rummaging through toys). He also received one of Jack's most cuddly hugs. Rudy, the dog, also joined in on the Halloween celebrating, by giving Jack lots of kisses.

Today also marked the end of our Baby Adventures Class at the Nature Center. We have had the best time at this class. Jack has become pretty adventurous and has also become quite the explorer. I've loved watching him play and learn and recognize familiar faces and activities from week to week. In addition to all of this goodness, I have reconnected with a long lost friend, who has a daughter a few months older than Jack. Here is a picture to commemorate our final class. This was taken near Lotus Pond. Here are a couple of other random nature center photos. I could make a collage of all the awesome pictures I have from this place. It's so beautiful there, especially during this season!