Halloween, Then & Now

Halloween 2009





Halloween 2010





Can't wait for 2011! We're taking costume suggestions now.

Fall Saturday with the Boy

Sam at the Farmer's Market. Baby + produce + free samples = awesome

View from the Top

Crowder's Mountain, Sunday, Oct. 24


Sure, I get to pose for the photo, but I wasn't the one who had to lug him up there on my back. Somehow, it was uphill, BOTH ways. Sam found the trip so exhausting that he fell asleep on the way back and fussed every time Bruce jostled him. Have you ever walked three miles down a mountain while trying to hold your torso perfectly still? Bruce has.

Monkeys on Parade

Sam, carb-loading before the annual Sherwood Forest Halloween "Parade."


Getting excited as everyone lines up to parade around the neighborhood in their costumes.


Showing off his mad walking skillz.


Checking out the ladies.


Woah! Is that Batman?



Sam's view of the parade from his stroller.

This is what defeat looks like.

The baby of a lazy mother.

Why sure, it may look like a precious monkey baby to you, but this picture really represents my defeat in the Halloween costume department. My plan, for months, had been to make Sam an owl costume. But procrastination got the better of me, as usual, and when I was frantically shopping for giant sheets of felt online to make the owl wings, I ran across this monkey costume. It was both inexpensive and pre-assembled. I fell for it hard. I am weak. But it is being delivered to my house (free!) by Friday, and Sam will at least be in costume for the neighborhood halloween parade (as opposed to the probably wingless owl he would otherwise be dressed as). Don't judge me.

What my baby would look like if I were Martha Stewart.

Apple Season!

In the middle of dinner Sam stops all eating and points at the fruit bowl and grunts his "I want that" grunt. Figuring he wanted to play with a ball, we gave him the apple.



He didn't want to play with the ball, he wanted to eat an apple.





So, we let him eat expecting he would get bored and do what he does with the rest of his food - throw it on the floor.



As you can see, that's not what he did. He ate nearly the entire apple. One small but energetic bite at a time. Now, at dinner, we have to hide the fruit bowl (which led to a broken bowl, as it was hidden in my chair and I sat on it).

Hiking with Sam

Bruce shouldered the burden happily on this hike. It was a beautiful day, and Sam had a ball. Was one of those days, one of those walks, when Marley's absence was felt sharply.