Downtown Trick or Treating!

This afternoon, we headed downtown for Trick or Treating.  Katie Anne and I have never been able to do this activity because it always happens on an afternoon when I'm working.  So, since today was my last official day off on maternity leave (sad sad sad), I decided we'd make a trip downtown and let KA get some candy! 

It was insanely crowded!  I had no idea what to expect, but I never expected that many people to be there - the sidewalks were completely clogged with costumed kids and their parents.  When I saw all that, I abandoned the idea of the double stroller and put SJ in the Baby Bjorn.  Katie Anne made this picture of us:

Both kids were absolutely great during the trick or treating.  Katie Anne stayed right with me and held my hand or walked beside me the whole time.  SJ watched the crowds with amazement for about half the time, and then he fell asleep in the Bjorn for the rest of our walk.  I really needed both of their cooperation because it was tricky to navigate the crowds while also taking still pictures and video, too!  Luckily, they were so fabulous and made it a lot easier for me.  

Katie Anne and I walked for about a mile around Main Street and downtown, and she got lots of candy and had a great time!  Here are some more pictures of her trick or treating.

 

 

 

 Of course, she loved all the candy!  

Let the sugar high weekend begin!

Dora and Boots

This morning, we headed over to Tonsmeire Studios for the kids' "official" Halloween portrait.  Before we left, I tried to snap a few pictures of Dora and Boots in their costumes.  Dora was very into it...

 

but obviously Boots wasn't quite thrilled with the idea of a photo session!

They both still looked totally cute, though!

Luckily, SJ wasn't crying for his first Halloween picture at Tonsmeire's.  He didn't smile, but at least his eyes were open and there were no red-faced tears!  I'll post that picture after I get it back in mid-November.

Halloween Preparations

Okay, so I know I swore off making Halloween costumes for this year, but ... when Katie Anne finally settled on the idea of Dora and Boots as the costumes for her and SJ this year, I had to do just a little crafting to make them perfect and authentic! 

The Dora costume wasn't too hard to come up with ... my parents had given Katie Anne the purple Backpack last year, so we were all set there.  We found a pink shirt and orange shorts on sale at Target at the end of the summer season, and Katie Anne had yellow socks already.  (That Dora really knows how to match her clothes!)  The only thing that we had to make was Dora's bracelet - you can't really find the classic combination of yellow beads and a big blue flower in stores.  However, we found all the needed materials at Hobby Lobby, and Katie Anne did a great job of making the bracelet!

I also grabbed some pink tights and a new teal windbreaker (sticking with the mismatched tropical colors theme that Dora rocks) in case the weather was chilly, so Katie Anne was set!

For Boots, things got a little trickier.  They do make a Boots costume that you can buy ... but it is hideous and does not look like the real Boots at all.  So, I was going to have to whip up a comfortable, authentic Boots costume for the boy.  Sewing for an infant boy isn't something that I've ever done, and I researched making a onesie with all those snaps ... and that seemed very hard and crazy.  So, I found a white romper made out of sweatshirt material online for him.  I also ordered a hat (which I wound up not using after all) and some gray dye.  When the package arrived, I was very happy with the romper, not so happy with the hat, and very nervous about the dye - which was supposed to be used in the washing machine!  

 I debated doing putting the dye in my washing machine - which is relatively new and nice - because I had visions of every load of white clothes coming out gray forever, but I finally decided to just do it.  When I saw this, I was really regretting my decision...

but everything came out fine in the next white load!

I wound up not using the little hat - it came out a different color gray and didn't fit SJ really well.  So, I made him a little fleece Boots hat, and then I bought him some red socks to serve as Boots.  I sewed a yellow patch on his gray suit for Boots' belly and made a long gray and yellow tail for the back, and he was all ready, too!  I think the costumes came out really cute ... pictures in another post!

The Jolly Halloween Party

On the night that we got home from Vegas, the Jollys were having their Halloween party.  Both Saunderses were too tired to go, so Katie Anne and I headed down to Smyrna to celebrate with Jason, Erin, Ella, and Colin and lots of their friends!  The party was at a park, and Katie Anne loved playing on the playground until it got too dark.  Erin had decorated a pavilion for the party and had lots of treats, favors, cupcakes, and pizza for dinner!  The kids had a great time playing together, running around, and pretending to dance and sing on the "stage".  

Katie Anne was a little wild because she was still adjusting to us being home (aka she was still a little mad at me for leaving her for 3 days), so she wasn't the best listener, but she definitely had a great time.  One of the funniest things about the party was when I took Katie Anne behind a big tree to talk to her (aka spank her), Ella came running to rescue her friend!  She put her little hands between me and Katie Anne and said, "No trouble!  Ella no trouble, Katie Anne no trouble."  How could I possibly stand in the way of that kind of self-sacrificing friendship!  Of course, Katie Anne got out of the spanking, and Ella grabbed her hand and pulled her away, saying "Let's go, Katie Anne."  It was very funny and very sweet of Ella to throw herself in front of an angry mommy for a friend!  

My camera didn't take the best shots in the dark - I think my settings were off, but I didn't notice until I got home and downloaded the pictures.  Here are some pictures of the fun!

Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas baby!

From Wednesday until Saturday of this week, Saunders and I were in Las Vegas!  Vanessa McWhorter and I planned a trip to Vegas for Saunders and Josh's joint 30th birthday present.  They both love to play poker, Josh has always wanted to visit Vegas, and it's one of Saunders's favorite cities in the world - so that made it one great birthday destination!  

We took off on Wednesday afternoon for Vegas and - because of the time change - we landed on Wednesday afternoon in Vegas!  We got checked into the MGM Grand, dropped off the luggage in the room ... and the guys spent the rest of the night at the poker tables!  Vanessa and I did some sight seeing and grabbed a great dinner at Diego - a Mexican restaurant in the MGM.  Saunders joined us at the end of our dinner and Josh met up with us at New York New York, but otherwise the boys did just what they wanted - played poker hand after hand - and the girls did what we wanted - window shopping and sight seeing!

 

 

*I will skip a description of the remainder of Wednesday night except to say it sounded a lot like this: SNOOOOOOOOORE ... SNOOOOOOOOORE ... SNOOOOOOOOORE ... and to say that the Joneses learned very quickly that Vanessa was not exaggerating when she said that her husband is a snorer.*

On Thursday, we all got a great breakfast together at Coco's, and then the boys went back to  - you guessed it - the poker tables.  Vanessa and I hit the north end of The Strip, visiting Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, the Venetian, and several other casinos.  Saunders and Josh walked with us for a while, then they hit the poker room at Caesar's Palace.  Later that afternoon, Josh went back to the room to take a nap - one of his "must haves" on vacation - and Saunders, Vanessa, and I went to try one of Saunders's top priority items of the trip ... a look off the top of the Stratosphere!  When we got there, they had four different thrill rides to choose from that blasted you up, around, or off the top of the Stratosphere's already very high 108 stories above the Strip.  Saunders wanted us to try "The Big Shot" which is basically a blaster that shoots you straight up in the air over the top of the Stratosphere.  We all did it, and it was very scary but very exciting, too - and the views were great!

 Modeling at Michael Kors

 Beautiful fall-themed gardens at Bellagio

 The Bellagio's fountain show

 Pulling for the big win!

 

 After our wild ride!

Later that night, we all went out to dinner at SeaBlue.  The executive chef there is Stephen Hopcraft, who was a contestant on Top Chef: Washington DC.  Top Chef is my favorite show, and it was very exciting to watch Stephen Hopcraft expediting and putting the final plating touches on our food!  

After our delicious dinner, we headed out to one of Vanessa's and my "must do" activities - see a Vegas show!  We decided to see David Copperfield's show, and it was great.  We had great seats in the very center of the fourth row.  David Copperfield has an ego the size of the MGM Grand itself - and he has no problem telling you how amazingly famous he is - but he does have an amazing show and is pretty famous, so I guess it is understandable that he isn't the most humble guy around.  All the magic tricks were really amazing and fun to watch.  The best part was that Saunders got to go on stage and assist with a mind-boggling trick involving somehow making a whole green Lincoln convertible appear on stage!  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of us all at the show or Saunders on stage because the staff was very serious about no cameras being used in the theaters.  I wish I had a picture of Saunders on stage holding the rope while the Lincoln magically appeared right in front of his eyes!

On Friday, we had another great breakfast and got ourselves checked out of the hotel.  Vanessa and I shopped the south end of The Strip on Friday while the guys played poker again!  Vanessa and I went to the Bodies exhibit and the Titanic artifacts exhibit at Luxor, and both of those were really interesting.  Saunders joined us in the afternoon at Mandalay Bay, and the two of us went into a really neat ice bar called Minus 5 - everything is made of ice and the temperature is 23 degrees in there!

After we all headed back to the MGM, Saunders took one last shot at the poker tables while Josh, Vanessa, and I hung out at a bar called Zuri.  Vanessa and I were sooo tired ... I can't wait to hear how many miles we walked when she uploads her pedometer's data at work.  When Saunders finished up his last game, we grabbed a quick snack and headed toward the airport for our red eye flight back to Atlanta!  We didn't sleep very much at all that last day, but it was a great busy way to end our great trip!

To sum up our successes, Vanessa and I found cute souvenirs for everyone at various shops all over The Strip and started new fashion trends for ourselves with scarves and headbands.  The guys did great at their poker endeavors and walked away winners.  Saunders made it to the final table in the poker tournament and split the winnings with the rest of the table, walking away with almost $500 - and Josh won about that same amount at the poker cash game tables!  Everyone had a great time in Vegas and got to do almost all the things we wanted to do and see all the things we wanted to see.

Of course, we had a great time on our trip, and some of the best moments when we hang out together usually come at the expense of one or more members of the group!  Here are some of the most memorable hilarious moments...

*Josh's epic snoring.  Not at all funny at the time ... hilarious later*

*Saunders asking a question and then walking away before Josh could answer - repeatedly*

*My heavy-duty ketchup scooping*

*Josh being repeatedly called an "Alabama boy" by random strangers*

*Vanessa's prize fighter belt outfit*

*Posting David Copperfield's brags to Saunders's Facebook*

*Josh's "mole" status at MGM - he rarely saw the light of day during the trip*

*Saunders blowing through security, leaving us all behind, then getting mad at us for leaving him*

*Vanessa's "Jack Sprat" empanadas and my giant plate of tacos*

There were lots of funny times to remember!  We had a great time!

Two Month Checkup

 

Yesterday, I took SJ for his two month checkup.  He got a great report from Dr. Colon!  He's meeting all his milestones, is very healthy, and is - of course - growing like a little weed.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs, 1 oz  - 95th percentile

Length: 23.25 in - 90th percentil

Head Circumference: 16 in - 50th percentile

He's the little big man!

My only big concern was his terrible ingrown toenail...

but Dr. Colon said that's still considered "normal" and, since it wasn't infected, to just keep rolling the skin back and letting the nail grow out on its own.  Hopefully it will clear up soon!  It looks so painful, but it doesn't appear to bother him in the least, so that's good.

SJ also got his first big round of immunizations at this appointment.  I started him on the infant Tylenol in the waiting room and kept it going for 12 hours afterwards, and he seemed to do fine.  He barely cried when they gave him the shots, but he did act like his thighs were sore when I massaged them later.  The soreness was his only real side effect, though.