Halloween in the Neighborhood

AJ got to wear his Buzz Lightyear costume in the neighborhood for trick or treating. He was so excited he was giggling while getting dressed. AJ took Daddy and Grandpa Larry around the block to collect candy. I stayed back to greet at our house but I hear he was quiet - taking in all the strange stuff and strange people.

While I did like the race driver suit, he was darned adorable as Buzz. So much so the high school girls who came to our door at the end of the night and saw him handing out candy in his PJs remembered him as Buzz and all went on about how cute he was.

Halloween at School

AJ got decked out as a race car driver for the Halloween parade at school. Mommy came to watch his class march around the school - they were all very cute.

Come back later to see AJ's second costume for trick or treating at home tonight :-)

Vampire Pumpkin

Instead of carving our pumpkins this year, we decorated with a Potato Head kit to make our pumpkins look like a vampire. This is a good alternative for a two year old who already has trouble getting told he can't play with knives in the kitchen. AJ helped bring the pumpkins in off the front stoop and then proudly posed with his finished product.

Hide & Seek

AJ loves playing hide and seek and peek-a-boo. Lately, he and Daddy dash off upstairs when it is bath time and hide from Mommy. I usually walk into AJ's dark bedroom and ask loudly "Where is AJ?" Without fail our little man announces "I don't know Mommy" from his hiding place in the closet. When I open the closet door he squeals "Here I am!".

Not so stealthy. :-)

Pumpkins + Ponies + Hay = Fall Fun!

It seems like just about every weekend for the past month AJ has visited some sort of Fall Festival. We have been lucky enough to have visitors for some of the fun - Auny Sydney, Cousin Abigail, Great Aunt Bridget & Great Uncle Jim, our neighborhood buddies Vicki and AJ.

So, here is a recap and some photos of his 5 pumpkins, 3 hay rides, 2 pony rides, 2 pumpkin patches, 1 corn maze, 1 cow train and a dozen or so moon bounces. ( we didn't event try to count the ice cream, funnel cakes, candy.....)

Mmmm, chocolate cupcakes for breakfast!

A pony ride in Gaithersburg

That was one big balloon! Uncle Jim had to keep AJ from floating away.

Climbing up and through the hay bales

AJ and his buddy AJ rode the cow train (pulled by a tractor) for 3 rides.

AJ loved petting the ponies and even nuzzled this one nose to nose.

French Fries

Sunday morning AJ joined me for some quick errands. Our first stop was the drive thru window at Walgreens to drop our prescription off. As we pulled away from the window I heard AJ say "french fries?" in a questioning voice. I chuckled and told him no, Walgreens had mommy's medicine, but no french fries. So we went off to run our other errands and returned to Walgreens about 40 minutes later to pick up our prescription. This time as we pulled away, the voice from the back was less questioning and more informative "Mommy, McDonalds has french fries".

Two things I am amazed at here. 1) AJ has been to a McD's drive thru half a dozen times in his life. I'm not even sure how he knew the name of the place. 2) There is a McD's two door down from Walgreens and he knew that too!

Oh, yes I did get him a small french fry :-)

Happy Birthday Grrrrrandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Steve! Sending lots of hugs your way today!

Those Are Mine!

Since the weather started to change last week and get cooler, AJ has been battling a running nose. I chase after him with tissue trying to get him to "blow" a lot right now. Over the weekend I had to pin him down once to get some of the snot that was stuck to his nose and he yelled out in protest "Hey, those are my buggers". I just about fell over laughing.

Boys & Cartoons

AJ and Daddy have been enjoying each others company even more than usual since we got back from our trip.

They got up together one recent morning and cuddled in their jammies while watching cartoons. I came downstairs and what I saw was so cute, I snapped a picture so everyone else could see too.

Pumpkinville

The weather has been great the past week - 70s for a high and a nice, chilly 50 in the morning so you need a jacket. Just like Fall should be. We put the top down on the convertible last Sunday and drove just South of Leesburg to a place called Pumpkinville. They have a petting zoo and farm stand year round but they pull out all the stops for Halloween.

During the hayride we rode past the petting zoo. AJ didn't like the smell.

Pete and AJ had so much fun going down the hay slide that the did it three times! You would be amazed at the speed you can get going down that thing.

AJ discovered that the moon bounce works best when you get someone else to do the jumping.

On the way out we all got to pick a small pumpkin to bring home. AJ was very proud of his selection and held it up for all to see. He quickly snagged one of our other pumpkins and announced "I have two pumpkins". The whole ride home he held two pumpkins in his lap.

I Didn't Know They Were Lost

One night I ran upstairs to change after work and I tried to get AJ to join me upstairs but he wasn't interested so I was rushing when I heard an odd noise. It was a rustling, like a wrapper being crinkled. I peeked out from our bedroom to look down the stairs and saw AJ at the bottom of the stairs very proudly holding up a package of chocolate chip cookies. He hollered out "I found the cookies". I laughed. Then he declared "I'm going to eat the cookie". Before I could say much he added "Please".

He said the magic word - how could I not let him have a cookie?!

Little Drummer Boy

Gramma gave AJ a drum set while we were in IL and he LOVES it. He jumps around while he plays/bangs on it and you can't help but laugh at the energy he puts into it.
Sometimes he even sings along.

Here's some video of AJ jammin while we were still at Gramma's.

When we got home, Pete grabbed the cow bell and they played a loud duet.

The Trip Back to Virginia

We capped off our week with a spaghetti dinner at Grandpa's, a trip to Dairy Queen and then us girls went to the Notre Dame vs Purdue game with Dad. Despite the fact that the wrong team won, we had a good time tailgating and I can now say I have seen touchdown Jesus in person.

It was a full, fun week. AJ was incredible through all the travel and so much fun. Just before the trip he started talking up a storm and I swear he hasn't stopped since except to sleep! The world according to AJ is VERY entertaining (more on that later!).

All the travel and socializing did catch up to him and he finally gave in to a nap on the plane ride home. I enjoyed the 30 minutes of peace :-)

Tales of Travel - Illinois

After a fun 2 days at Great Grandma's in Indiana we packed up the van again and headed North. Just for the record, AJ loves the van and got quite excited to ride in it. So much so that he didn't nap or sleep much on any trip. Even AJ needed a Starbucks run to keep going.

After we recovered from all the the riding (thanks Aunt Megan for driving us) we went with Gramma Lynn and Aunt Sydney to the zoo. AJ wasn't as into things as I expected but he did have fun checking out the elephants and riding the merry-go-round.

Tales of Travel - Indiana

Well, it was a long week of traveling - 4 hours in airports, 5 hours on planes and 20+ hours in the car. AJ had a great time being the star attraction, I enjoyed watching it all.

We started our trip at Dulles airport where AJ marveled at a near antique - the pay phone.

After the uneventful flight we landed and were greeted by Aunt Sydney and Gramma Lynn. After a breif nap in the big boy bed, we met up with Aunt Megan and loaded up the van for the trip. On the way out of town we stopped to see Grandpa and climb on a truck or two.

We drove nearly 7 hours and arrived at Great Grandma's in the wee hours of the night/morning after a stop at Steak and Shake and lots of goofiness in the car. We had a fabulous time hanging out with Great Grandma - we swam, rode the rocking horse, climbed trees and cuddled.