Trick or Treat!

Yay! Halloween! I love Halloween. Jacob calls it the Devil's Holiday.
This year Kaitlyn wanted to be Lilo and she wanted Zac to be Stitch. Well, Kaitlyn was Lilo, sans the hair (she refused to wear the wig even though she had worn it previously). Zac was not Stitch. He was Captain Adorable! (He had a onesie that said so, all I had to do was make the cape.)

Here they are at Grammie's door! Zac's first "Trick or Treat" moment.

Then we went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner, and to church for Trunk-or-Treat.
Nana was there and helped take Katie around to the games.

Grammie followed Zac around the Cake Walk. He loved walking on the square mats and kept going around-and-around in the circle. He even won a cookie!

This was my favorite costume of the night! Way awesome.... and a little scary for church, but what are ya gonna do? Cool, huh? He's carrying his own head!

My Marshmallow Man

Zac had his first Marshmallow pop. Mmmmmm. This boy loves to eat. It is his first priority.

He has a major sweet tooth and follows anyone around the kitchen grunting. He is a bottomless pit. We've tossed around calling him, "Groceries" because he can pack 'em away!

Hillsborough County Fair

I have lived in Hillsborough County for 21 of my 27 years and I never knew there was Hillsborough County Fair. Who knew? Apparently everyone else.

Once we found out, and we learned that Monday night free for kids and the rides were a fraction of what they normally charge, we made a point to go!

Kaitlyn loved driving!

But her favorite ride by far, was one where she went round-and-round in a worm, while a bird chased them.

I love her expression below!

Zac was happy to be held and watch his big Sissy. Look at those chipmunk teeth! They got there first taste of Elephant Ear that night. Mmmmmmmm.

King of the Mountain!

Zachary's favorite perch is up on the top of his sister's bed! He climbs up and down her bed, over and over again, squealing with delight when he reaches the top corner of her bed.

Here he is blowing raspberries to express his elation in dominating the mountain.

Swaptember

This past year, our family had Lowry Park Zoo Passes. In September, they swap memberships with the Florida Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. We loved exploring both! Here are some pics of our experience at MOSI:

We learned about hurricanes and tornados. They have simulators of these natural disasters and cut-outs of the different types of people who help out during these disasters. One of which is a firefighter.

Katie also got to play a weather girl at the Bay News 9 Action Center.

Zac was strolled around most of the day. He is such a cutie and a completely happy baby when we're on-the-go! But he loves him some buttons! He wanted that camera.

Kaitlyn's favorite place was "Kids-In-Charge". They can run all over the place, exploring and learning. . . and making an unholy mess! Here, she and I built a pyramid.

It was a fun way to exhaust the kids before heading back for nap time! My favorite time of the day.

In Case You Didn't Know...

Jake is our Ward Troop's Scout Master. It is a life long dream of his to spend many hours each month corralling, encouraging, and camping with adolescent boys. Haha! Just kidding! But he puts on a smile and gives it his all anyway!

Truthfully, he does give it all he's got and has great aspirations for Troop 267. Below is a picture of their second Court of Honor. Almost all of the Scouts reached 1st Class this summer, which was a Troop goal. This weekend he will be camping out in the freezing cold with them. I shudder to think of it.

Yikes.

This image can still illicit a frustrated growl from Jake. He had just given Katie a bath, (I was out playing Bunco) and he was talking on the phone. When he got off the phone, this is what he found...

Needless to say, it took a couple days for Kaitlyn's leg to return to its natural color.

Best Friends

This is from August, but it is still adorable! Katie and Zac like to do whatever the other is doing. They are great play buddies and keep each other busy! This scene was too cute and just had to be photographically documented!

Zac Is Walking!

Jacob made an ode to Zac's last six months of growth this weekend. From rolling over in April to toddling around the house a few weeks ago, it is hard to believe he will be a year old next month. Our little munchkin is growing up too fast! Sniff. Sniff. (Note: Crosby blog historians will notice that this video is set to the same tune we used for Katie's "first steps" video. Enjoy!)

Sweet Deal on Disney DVDs!

This deal totally rocked for me!

Once it was rung up at the register, with a completely baffled look on his face, the cashier asked, "How did you do that?"

(However, at the Brandon Toys'R'Us, Beauty and the Beast was priced at $29.99.)

More Ulta Fabulousness

Yet another deal from Ulta Beauty!
A $5 off your $10 purchase coupon that is good for the next two weeks!
It is good online, as well as in-store.

Thank you Slickdeals.net

Bonus!

Yesterday I saw this sweet little deal on slickdeals.net and decided to take advantage of it. However, the coupon was only redeemable at an Ulta Beauty Shop. "What in the world is an Ulta Beauty Shop?" I thought to myself, and more importantly, "Where can I find one?"

As it turns out, there is one in Regency Square in Brandon, and they are having their Grand Opening. Therefor, when I got my free shampoo, I got a bag of free samples too! A delicious smelling hand lotion, beautiful eye shadow, frizz spray, and a travel size conditioner. They won't let you use 2 coupons at once, or separate your transactions. I went back a second time to get the free conditioner and got a second bag of goodies. Double the glee!



Also, the store itself is awesome! They have everything for every price range. I found my near-to-impossible to find favorite nail polish there, and they have these fabulous little .99 cent bottles perfect for Kaitlyn. They even have some $2 Maybelline Mascara on the checkout counter. Head on over and get some happy!

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My, Oh My, July, July

We have made it to the end of July in one piece! Woo Hoo!

Here is a brief summary of this month's events:

We started the month off with Kaitlyn's 3rd Birthday Party. It was a ton of fun! (Thanks to all those who participated!) Due to the insane heat of Florida during the summer, a pool party was a must. Kaitlyn swam a total of 8 hours that day. That girl loves the water.

We had a "Cars meets Toy Story" theme. Kaitlyn loves those movies. She made off with quite the haul that day due to all of our uber generous family and friends. We had a cupcake tree for her to blow out candles, but apparently that doesn't count as a cake because she keeps reminding us that she didn't have a birthday cake. Never mind the hours Mommy spent making seventy something cupcakes. Sigh.

Kaitlyn has an unmatched love and adoration for Jesse and Bullseye.

In Baby News, Zachary started scooting like a mad man in June and has become a pro at sitting up. As of yesterday, he has started crawling on his hands and knees occasionally. Below is a picture of how I often find him after his naps. Look at that face!

Once we reached the middle of the month, it was time to celebrate Jake's 32nd Birthday with some apple cake and bowling!

As you can see, he could hardly contain himself.

This was Katie's second trip to a bowling alley. The first trip resulted in her attempting to bolt down the lane and slamming down, head first, onto the hardwood. This visit was much more successful. The only tears came when it was time to leave.

Katie's favorite hangout was at the ball return. I can imagine they work like magic to little kids.

She made sure to give everyone a high-five after each of their turns, no matter if it was a gutter ball or strike.

Katie loved when it was her turn, even though she almost always got a gutter. She would shout, "I win! I win!"

Since Zachary has become such a pro at sitting up, it was time to move from the kitchen sink, to the bathtub with his big sister!

Zack loves it! I often find him crawling to the bathroom.
He wants to spend all of his time in the tub!

Here are some shots of him scooting around. He is just so adorable and always smiling...

or drooling.

One night last week I went out to run an errand. This was the angelic face awaiting me when I returned home.

He was so out he didn't even flinch from the camera flashes.

But here are some more of the Pudgers, playing with his favorite toy, his sister's Mac truck.
He is such a stinker. But how can you fuss at that sweet face?!

Last week we went to Anna Maria to leech off of a friend and her beach rental. It was a beautiful beach day. I, of course, left my camera in the bag at the condo instead of taking it with me to the beach, so I have no pictures to share. Zack didn't love the noise and waves of the ocean, but he loved wading in the pool. I am guessing it reminded him of bath time. Kaitlyn also preferred the pool to the beach that day. She has become a pretty good swimmer and insisted on jumping in the pool and swimming from one side to the other with help from her Grammie.

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. Jake and I celebrated it Saturday by going to dinner and a movie. We saw "Despicable Me". Two thumbs way, WAY up! It was fantastic! Super funny and super sweet.



We then went to one of my favorite places that we don't get to go to often because it is on the other side of Tampa. It is called TooJay's Deli, and they have the best chocolate layer cake and brisket dip. Yum! Jake's mom spoiled me yesterday with a delicious flank steak, crashed hot potatoes, strawberry mandarin salad, and chocolate molten lava cakes.

I have decided, I am going on a diet and starting an exercise regime.

Zachary's Quilt

I was cleaning up my room after watching the Hoarders marathon yesterday, and found my sketch pad still out in a stack of papers on top of our scanner. I had been meaning to post about my latest (and by latest, I mean last year's) quilting adventure and still hadn't done it.

The first "quilt" I ever made was for my baby girl. I was determined to sew each square by hand, and I did. Right now that quilt sits folded in my daughter's closet, shredding at multiple seams. So much for a cherished heirloom.
Dang it.

When I attempted Zachary's quilt, I planned on using my sewing machine. I was also determined not to do all squares. I had been saving this adorable dinosaur fabric since before Zack was even a twinkle in my eye. I wanted to incorporate more triangles in his quilt. Dinosaur scales, triangles, it makes sense to me. Anyway, I searched the internet for "dinosaur quilts" and "geometric quilt patterns" but never found anything I really thought would work for me and my novice sewing abilities. So, I pulled out a pad of graph paper and got sketching. This is what I ended up with:

I also ended up finding a second dinosaur flannel online. The fabric is actually titled, "Sporty Reptiles", but some of them look like dinosaurs. I paired it with my saved dino fabric, some textured greens, a polka dot orange flannel, and a yellow flannel. I cut all of the pieces with pinking shears and prayed that my sewing machine's stitches would hold up better than my own. A lot of the corners don't meet up, some of the fabric was more elastic than I had realized; and the over all "look" ended up being a little more colorful than I thought, but c'est la vive. I'm very new at this.

I have no idea what a professional quilter would think of this. I'm sure I don't adequately understand the idea of color theory in the world of quilting. But in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out. It now hangs over the back of Zack's crib and he chews on the satin binding quite frequently.

Hopefully, a year from now, it won't be shredding at the seams and stuck away in the closet like poor Katie's quilt.

Zachary,

my pudgy little angel?

Yes, Mama?

Do you know that you are 6 months old today?

I am? What does that mean?

That means you can stop growing now. You're sleeping better at night, you're eating yummy food, you are rolling everywhere... you are getting too big. You can slow it down now.

What if I don't want to? I want to get moving! I've got to follow my Sissy around!

She gets to do all of the fun stuff and has all of the fun toys.

She gets to eat all of those yummy deserts!

I want chocolate.

Your time will come Pudgers.

It will?!

Most excellent!