Halloween

Let me preface this post by saying Halloween is crazy around here!! Maybe it's just because we're in an actual neighborhood (v. the UWS in NY), or maybe these people just love Halloween. In any case, it was nuts. Gabriel did great, and so did Judah, but I found myself completely overwhelmed and exhausted by 8pm when we wrapped up our festivities. There were so many kids, of all ages, trick or treating, Gabriel sometimes had to fight his way up or down a set of stairs. I was really proud of him because he is intrinsically shy and takes a while to warm up in new places or times of transition. It took just a few houses to get the gist of TOTing and he was off, marching up the stairs ("I can do it by myself") and reciting the requisite "trick or treat" and "thank you". He got to TOT with a few of his new buddies here, Arden, Jack and Oliver (an owl and twin dinosaurs). 

Judah did great too, Andy and I switched off carrying him around, he was the happiest little reindeer on the block. Gabriel was the cutest train you've ever seen (make no mistake, he was NOT Thomas, but James ... he was persistent that he be James, although many kids came up to him saying "Thomas!!" ... he did great with all of the attention from adults and kids admiring his costume). Andy did a great job fabricating the costume, I can't take any credit for the construction! 

Gabriel received way more candy than we would ever let him consume, so we picked out 10 pieces or so and sent the rest to work with Andy! I love that Gabriel is perfectly content with his little stash on the counter. Great dinner leverage too!

See all of those people in the background? Yea, this was BEFORE it got crowded!

     

Garden of the Gods

Andy had State cross country meet this past Saturday down in Colorado Springs (sidebar: Andy has LOVED being the Asst. XC Coach for the high school team and the team improved leaps and bounds this year over previous years, yea go Coach Goodwin!), so we decided to make it a family affair and take advantage of some outdoor time. The morning was of course dedicated to the race, so the boys and I hung around and played while all of the running heats progressed. Andy's school's race was around noon, so by 1pm we were free to go explore. We chose to go to Garden of the Gods, which has some really spectacular rock formations. Gabriel was instantly awed as we drove up the main road, asking "can I climb up that big rock?". Indeed!

We have a kids climbing wall in our neighborhood that we've helped Gabriel climb several times, and he seems to enjoy rock climbing, but as soon as he spotted a rock that was permitted for climbing he literally started climbing up this vertical crevice without assistance. Andy and I jumped in to spot him, but he did most of the climbing. We were amazed at how natural the hand and foot holds came to him. We had to drag him off the rocks when it was time to go home. 

This wasn't the one he climbed, but ti was just as steep

Gabriel about five feet up, on his own!

Mom, providing a back up spot

Dad took over once he reached over six feet, still just spotting!

Finding a hand hold

Still hanging on, vertical

He was SO excited about his progress

Found another crevice

Another rock to climb, this time not vertical though

PS - Judah slept through the whole thing!

Pumpkin Carving

We decided to carve the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch last weekend. It was a bit of a disaster, although the pictures are decent. Judah was having a meltdown and crying a lot, and Gabriel was in kind of a funk too. But we headed out the the park by our house, carry out pizza and pumpkins with supplies in hand. Earlier today I let the boys select their pumpkin designs on google images. Gabriel pointed to the one he wanted on his pumpkin, the large one, and Judah just smacked the screen and I took that one as his selection. Andy was the artist, per usual, and executed the boys' designs beautifully:

Big Snow (Judah's First)

Denver got about 4-5 inches of snow overnight, plus Andy is on Fall break, so we all got to enjoy some great play time in the snow this morning. This was Judah's first snow. Everything was completely covered this morning, it was beautiful. Gabriel couldn't wait to finish breakfast and go play in the snow, as he is well seasoned coming from New York, but all Judah knew was to get excited when he saw Daddy and Gabriel get ready and head out the door. He stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at them leaving, saying "Da Da". I quickly grabbed his snow suit, put it on over his fleece/footie pjs and headed out the door too!

It took Judah a second to look around and take it all in, watching Gabriel play like a pro. We sat him down and he looked around, then fell over backwards, just laying there looking up at the sky then all around at this strange whiteness that had covered his world. He and Gabriel laid side by side laughing in the snow. We sat him back up and he pushed the snow around with his mitten'ed hands, then leaned over (falling onto his belly now) and starting scooping snow into his mouth! Priceless. We also let Tsali in on the fun, so he ran around playing too, which the boys both enjoyed watching.

We were only out about 30 minutes because it was cold, but for an 11 month old Judah ate his fair share of snow :). I had made pumpkin cookies, so everyone got to warm up by the fireplace with a warm pumpkin cookie.