Happy Halloween

BOO!

operation "ditch the pacifier"

I took Henry to Build-A-Bear Workshop today as I wanted to quit the pacifier - cold turkey.  I've been talking it up since yesterday morning, saying, "tomorrow, since you're such a big boy, we get to go to the mall and you get to make your very own bear.....we're going to bring your pacis and put them IN the bear and then you get to take the bear home and sleep with it!"  Sounds pretty cool right?  Well, one minute he thought it was cool and the next minute, I swear he had tears in his eyes.  

Now fast forward to today.....

This place is too cute!

This is how our conversation went when we got there:

Margot (Build-A-Bear lady):  Hi, are you guys here for a special occasion today?

Mommy:  Yep, we're here to trade in our pacifiers for a brand new bear!

Margot, to Henry:  WOW, you are such a big boy to bring your pacifiers and do this!

Henry:  I go poopy in the toilet, yeah Henny!!!  (clap, clap, clap)

Margot:  Alright, let's celebrate that too!

Step 1 - the fluffy filling.  Henry had to operate the foot pedal to fill his new bear with all that good fluff.

The machine was a little loud and it kinda freaked him out at first to see this bear filling up and coming to life!

Next step, you gotta give your bear a heart, but we both had to kiss it first :)

Now here comes the good part, shove the pacis in and say good-bye!  He had no problem with this, it was fun in fact, and he wanted more things to put in the bear.  I sterilized the 2 pacis that he was going to stuff in before we came (and threw the other 2 in the trash, yes, the trash out in the garage even, and no, I don't have a spare hiding around here).

He was dirty after all that stuffing and needed a "bath".  Here's the foot pedal to operate his bathtub :)

Finally, what to wear?  It was a tough decision between a Vikings football player and Spiderman.  He was all about the football uniform from the get-go, and I have a feeling it was because yesterday was Sunday and so we watched (and played) quite a bit of football.  According to Henry, every team that was playing yesterday was either the Vikings or the Gophers (and unfortunately, neither of them were playing).

We had to make a birth certificate too, and so after some hard thinking, he kept it simple and named him Viking!  

Alas, it was nap time when we got home.  There were a few tears with no paci in his crib, but nothing major at all.  He certainly didn't go to sleep right away, as I heard him reciting "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" for quite a while in there.  Then Viking had to do EVERYTHING with us this afternoon!  He even had to sit up at the island and have his own snack (one apple slice and one piece of raisin bran cereal, please).  Henry was even throwing an apple around the kitchen and blamed it on Viking, saying that he was just playing football :)  

Tonight was a different story, oh the sad tears were streaming down his face.  "I need it Mommy, I need it, open him please."  There really were only a few minutes at the most of sad crying and I never heard another peep!  

Good-night Viking and good-bye pacis!

too bright

Whenever we get in the car and Henry sees me put my sunglasses on, he has to say, "too bright Mommy, I need my glasses too!"  The funny thing is, he prefers to wear them upside down, so this is what I see when looking into my rearview mirror.  I took this picture when we pulled over so he could check out an excavator working, therefore he's grinning from ear to ear :) 

funny quirks

Just a few funny (well, at least I think they're kinda funny) things that I want to remember some day.....

Every morning when I tell Henry to go pick out a pair of undies, this is what he has to do - lay them all out in a line on the floor, say who/what's on each one (Percy, Mickey, soccer balls, etc), and then make the agonizing decision as to which pair to wear for the day.  It's quite a process!

Whenever we come inside, and I tell Henry to take his shoes and jacket off, this is how I find them - "one here by Mommy and one here by Daddy."

Every time Henry gets done washing his hands in the bathroom, he has to turn the cold water back on, sit there and drink from the faucet for a while, and then say "that tasty!"

The boy cracks me up sometimes!

Zoo Boo

Our second Halloween event of the weekend was at Como Zoo for Zoo Boo's 25th Anniversary.  The place was slammin', as people were parking 5 blocks away!  Most of the animals were tucked in for the night, but we did get to see ostriches, buffaloes, brown bears, and reindeer.  There were about 150 workers/volunteers dressed up for the occasion, as the kids trick-or-treated through the zoo.  Henry and Greta stayed up until 8pm that night, whoa, party animals!

Aaahh, what could be better after a night of trick-or-treating, than a big glass of apple cider, right :)

Along with our Halloween festivities this past weekend, Henry got to see his Great-Aunt, Tillie, and her friend, Michael, who were visiting from Colorado.  Tillie brought some super cute Christmas presents, and Henry is LOVING his new sleeping bag with construction equipment all over it.  He wouldn't let me put it in his closet when we got it home, it had to stay out in the loft to play with, and he names every piece of machinery on it multiple times a day, oh, and it has to be laid out perfectly with no wrinkles in it, I wonder where he gets that from?  Thank you, Tillie!

let Halloween begin

Halloween has officially begun!  Miss Greta (Henry no longer calls her Gaga, it's now Gwetta) was visiting this weekend, so the kids busted out their costumes and got their party on :)  The first party of the weekend was at the annual Edina Realty Customer Appreciation event.  Pumpkins, a police car, a fire truck, balloons, and hot dogs, what more could you ask for in a party?  Check out that spooky skeleton running through the parking-lot-pumpkin-patch.  

 Yes, you may think he looks like a bit of a bank robber, but nope, just a good 'ol skeleton!  

The skeleton and the owl, just checking out the insides of a firetruck here.

Yes, that IS a nice firetruck!

Posing for pictures.....and he's off.....and she's looking at him like he's crazy!

After a hard day of playing and partying, just snuggling up for a good book from Daddy/Uncle Phil :)

I watch Mickey in Switzerland

Not only does the boy LOVE watching Mickey in the USA, he also loves watching it in Switzerland!  We were talking to Katie on Skype last week and whadayaknow, Mickey was on tv in Switzerland!  It was even in German and the boy still wanted "more" :)  This morning, we were eating breakfast and Henry went over to the computer, "I call Tante and watch Mickey in Switzerland too!"   

Seattle - Mama only

Henry & Daddy has a guys weekend here, while I traveled to Seattle to visit my dear friend, Molly, and her husband Andy (or as Henry calls them, Mowly and Mandy).  It was wonderful!  In the 48 hours I was there, all I wanted to do was go shopping, eat, drink wine and coffee, read, and visit.  Check, check, check, check, and check!  

the very first Starbucks

breakfast of champions, mac & cheese with Starbucks

Who hasn't seen the motivational presentation from these guys?  I didn't get to witness any fish-throwing, though, bummer.  

Seattle had gone a record amount of days without rain, that is, until the morning I arrived, of course!

Here's the troll under the bridge, aka the Freemont Troll, constructed in 1990.  In his left hand is an actual VW Beetle, as if it had been swiped from the roadway above!

Check out the color of the top of the Space Needle, as it just got a face lift with a new coat of orange paint recently.

Here she is from the below, the space needle!

Thanks for a fabulous weekend, Mowly and Mandy!

I do project, Mommy

Last week, we were in "project mode" in the afternoons.  The first thing out of his mouth would be, "I do project, Mommy" as soon as I would come get him from his nap!  So, here we are, busy with our projects.....

caramel apples

painting "pumpkins"

decorating a picture frame (thanks Oma & Opa)

and last but not least, the sticker face game (aka, decorating each other's faces with stickers)!

a zoo day with Owen

What a great morning to head to the zoo!  We bundled up with mittens and matching moose hats for the boys, the car said 37 degrees when we were heading inside, brrrr.  It seriously felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves!

We were the only ones in the polar bear exhibit, getting the low-down from the zookeepers on each of the polar bears.  This here is Neil, and he wasn't having a good morning :(  He was mad he had to search so hard for his snacks this morning, so he was pouting.  I'd be mad too, Neil!  They still have one female refugee polar bear from Duluth (since it flooded there in the spring) who is half Neil's size (a mere 500 pounds compared to Neil at 1000 pounds) but she's turned into the boss of the group.  Well done, lady polar bear!  

Whoa, I mean ROOOAAAR!  Can you believe how close I am to this thing?!

The giraffes were awfully frisky this morning.  They say the giraffes & zebras can only be outside when it's above 50 degrees during the day and at night, so no outside play-time for them, bummer.  I'm guessing they were going a little stir crazy.  Mr. Giraffe, I feel your pain, Henry goes stir crazy, sprinting round and around the house when we can't get outside, too :)

pumpkin "carving"

Once again, this year, we used our Mr. Potato Head-like pumpkin "carving" kit.  It still counts as carving a pumpkin, right?!  I know I said this last year, but these things are absolutely genius for little kids!  I "pre-drilled" the holes and he decorated as he wished, over and over and over again!

Not crazy about the pumpkin guts on his hands here :(

Check out that concentration, tongue out and everything :)

Ta-da!  Now that is one scary looking skeleton!  Boo!

run, go, fast

Here we are on our nature walk (I mean, run) this week, looking for leaves, pinecones, and acorns!  Why walk when you can run, right?   

Within just a few days, we went from wearing this.....

.....to wearing this, brrrrr.  Now, here we are watching the Twin Cities marathon/10 mile run this morning in St. Paul.  Our friends, Candace & Steve, came down from J-town to run the 10 mile.  We made sure they did some good carb-loading on Saturday night with spaghetti!  Steve and Henry bonded over their love of Eddie Vedder videos on YouTube.

"Go fast!"

Probably the best part of the race, the cops on motorcycles with flashing lights and sirens!  They were leading in the first place wheelchair marathoner.

Holy cow, do they ever go fast!

Well done, everybody, well done!