Happy Halloween

The Consummate Showman

With the shrinking economy and stock market crisis it appears that tough times are on their way. Down-sizing, corporate lay-offs, and higher energy prices are really hitting the average family. And to make matters worse, it's an election year so people have to deal with annoying political radio and TV ads. Can't they just settle it in a ring with those giant mega-size boxing gloves on primetime TV? Well anyways, I digressed, but in order to help lift the hearts of the masses Little Man has decided to star in his own one man play. He has been spending all his time putting together the choreography, composing the music and designing costumes. In fact, he was recently spotted in a high end retail establishment looking for just the right wardrobe to complement his new role.

"Oh no! The paparazzi have found me again! Quick.... hide!"

Millenium

It's not exactly a lion and a lamb, but a mouse and a tiger is close enough.

As American As Pumpkin Pie

Halloween is an interesting holiday when you really think about it. Entire cities get dressed up in their scariest and/or craziest costume you can think of and then send their children around going door to door to ask for candy from complete and total strangers. There's no family togetherness time, no Halloween carols to sing; only promises of violence and smelly feet if one runs out of candy too soon. Cute little innocent children become ghosts, goblins and other nightmarish creatures. All of this begs us to ask one simple question....... is Halloween not the best holiday or what?!?!? Seriously, could it get any better than this? I don't think so.

In order to fully enjoy and appreciate all that Halloween has to offer it is absolutely crucial to get one little detail right. If everything else fell apart, but you correctly coordinated this one detail then your Halloween Holiday will still be a success. And of course, that one little detail is choosing the perfect pumpkin. Pumpkins come in all different shapes and sizes, everyone knows that, but most people don't know that they come with a personality too. It is therefore essential to choose the right pumpkin for the job. You can't get a cutesy pumpkin and try to turn it into a vampire or a dragon. It simply won't work. That's why we spare no expense and leave no leaf unturned while we search for our perfect pumpkin. Only the finest pumpkin will do for us, so we select them right off the vine. And this year, I think we got it right.So many to choose from... which one should we pick???

How about this one here??

"You mean me, you're really gonna pick me?"

How much do you think this one will cost us??

Let's see how he compares to some of the other pumpkins

OK, you're right. We'll get this one.

Jacque, Jacque and More Jacque

Recently, we had a request for more pics of Jacque on this blog. Well, here we go... Please make sure to keep your arms and hands inside the ride at all times. If you start to feel sick then raise one arm over your head and place the other hand over your mouth. In the event of a water landing your seat cushion also doubles as a floatation device. Enjoy the ride!

You know, sometimes you have to be careful for what you ask for... you just might get it!!

On a different note, Jacque got together with her bff Emily and together they showed off their cake mastery skills by creating a scrapbook cake for a friend's B-Day.

Now that's some scrapbooking I can get into!!!

T-Rex Aint Got Nothin' On Me

You know what they say, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. So Little Man decided to issue the challenge against T-Rex for the world's most fearsome predator. The stat sheet seems to favor Little Man- he has the reach advantage for sure, and not to mention height and weight. In order for this to become a legally sanctioned match the regulatory commision required Connor to sit down. But in all fairness, T-Rex outnumbers his challenger in the teeth department 50 to 1.1 Smart fighters always study their opponent's weaknesses. Turns out T-Rex's major weakness is his big toe. You can almost hear poor T-Rex screaming in agony as Little Man grinds his toe to dust.
With lethal speed and quickness, Little Man finishes the job with an eye gouge and a bucket load of slober into the eardrum. It's a difficult move to counter, especially with the ensuing bout of otitis media with effusion. He'll be out of commision for weeks to come!

"I reign supreme!! ROAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Date Night

"Finally after these past few months I convinced mommy to let me go on a date all by myself. Boy, I thought she'd never crack. I kept on buggin' her and buggin' her and everytime she told me that I have to wait until I'm at least 10 months old. Can you believe that? 10 months!! That might as well be an eternity. By the time I'm 10 months old I'll probably be so busy with everything that I won't even have time to go on dates. But... my persistance finally paid off and mommy agreed to let me go. So I called up Justine (she's been eyein' me lately, I can tell) and she said yes, just as long as we don't tell her parents. I had it all planned out: dinner, dancing and maybe even a movie. I picked her up in the BOB (chicks dig fancy rides) and then I realized one tiny little oversight in my plans...
...Anybody wanna give us a push???"

Stylin' Profilin'

They say you can't wear white after Labor Day, and I totally agree. White is too bland and boring anyways. I say we spice things up a little. Fall is known as the time when colors change and I think we should embrace this concept. Never be afraid to mix it up, that's what I say!

2-Liters of Pure, Sweet Indulgence

With his Tinkham heritage and a love of all things carbonated, Little Man is introduced into a whole new world by his Uncle Jon. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Little Man went straight to work. "If you start practicing right now then someday you'll be able to drink 2-3 of these bad boys per day, just like I do," his Uncle Jon wisely stated. It seems like everything is always a competition between the two. Here they are comparing who has more hair...???

Mommy's Christmas Scheme

Recently, with the cooperation of the FBI, CIA and CTU authorities shut down an alarming operation before it could do any damage. It wasn't concerning the economy, terrorist activity, or the lack of good apple fritters in the world. It was even worse... It was about Christmas!! Yes, I know you might be thinking, "But it's only September and Christmas is still a long ways away." While that is mostly true, X-Mas decorations have already appeared in stores, and contributed to the planning of this dastardly and nefarious scheme. You see, mommy decided that she wanted to get the early scoop on her Christmas presents. She realized that the off-season was the time to make her move. Good ol' Santa is probably off vacationing on some tropical beach somewhere and has left his elves in charge of all the work at the North Pole. So mommy decided to disguise me as an elf so that I can infiltrate the North Pole and find out what her presents are. Don't believe it??? Well take a look at this pic my friend...

I'm sorry to say that I let it progress to this point but mommy tricked me into it by telling me it was a Halloween costume. As soon as I realized her malicious plot I put a stop to things right away!!

Cuz... what if Santa found out and he took away all of my presents, too???

The Boy Who "Coughed" Wolfed

Trying to express yourself isn't so easy when you don't know words, phrases or even a language. But that hasn't stopped Little Man from trying to improvise his own way to communicate. We think he's trying to send us messages via morse code. Listen and decide for yourself.

Beloved Sweet Nectar

It's fun to watch our Little Guy keep growin and growin. It seems like before you even realize it he's almost an entirely new baby as he continues to progress through the stages of development. For instance, we've been noticing subtle clues that he might be ready to move on and start into his first foods. This is a big step in a baby's life and we wanted this to be a special experience for Connor. We feel that it's important for him to start recognizing and building his autonomy. We would hate to shackle him down with our own biased thoughts and beliefs. Not for our Little Man, for him the sky is the limit. As such, we decided to let him choose how he wanted to move forward. Most babies progress with some rice cereal (yuck!) on to bland oatmeal (eww!) only to end up with nasty strained veggies (why?). We encouraged Little Man to think outside the box and to take life by the horns and go for the gusto. As parents, we couldn't be more proud of his decision!!"You mean you're really gonna let me decide???" "I choose the sweet nectar of the heavens.... Mountain Dew!"
"Oh, I'm so excited, I can hardly wait. I see mommy drinking these every day and now after 6 long and grueling months my opportunity has finally arrived."
"Indeed, (gulp) how sweet it is (gulp)!"

Tennessee Fun

A week ago Friday we were hangin out in the morning with the Little Man when he turned to us and said, "Hey, wanna know what we should do today? I say we pack up some stuff and hit the road and take a week off somewhere. You know, just for fun, to get out of D-Town." We had to admit, it did sound pretty enticing.... so, we decided to go for it and away we went! We drove and we drove until we came to a quaint little town just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park called Pigeon Forge. It was a little tough to find accomodations at the last minute, but we finally found something right in our price range.

We quickly made friends with some of the locals. The 3 bears were there, but we couldn't find Goldilocks anywhere. But at least we got to see Bambi and his mom (just stay away from the meadow... we all remember what happened in the movie!!).As always, Little Man insisted that we go to his favorite restaurant for dinner one night.

Overall, it was fun trip and a great chance to get away. Oh yeah, here's some other pics in case you're interested.

A Sea Of Blue

After months and months waiting it has finally arrived..... COLLEGE FOOTBALL!! Little Man was pretty excited to have his first ever football game feature his beloved BYU Cougars. He made sure we were dressed and ready a half hour before gametime. And he somehow convinced mommy to make deep fried sandwhiches (seriously... how cool is that?). All that was left to do was watch the cougs roll to a convincing victory.

His eyes were practically glued to the TV the entire time!

But then we got to the 3rd quarter and things got ugly for BYU. "I can't bear to watch," said a disappointed Little Man.

"Not another fumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Fortunately the cougs prevailed 41-17. Next victim: Washington.