Halloween

Kendry's very first Halloween, albeit probably the easiest Halloween for the next ten years of his life since we didn't trick or treat, was quite a success. Crafty person that I am, I just couldn't bring myself to get a store bought costume for Kendry, let alone spend the crazy money I've heard some mothers shell out each year for a costume that will never be used again. No, I was going to be Supermom and make the costume myself. I wanted to make something basic that he could wear like regular clothes and not be uncomfortable in, not to mention easy to clean up since he would no doubt spit up all over it. (Kendry is still a major spitter-upper) Granted, my costume idea wasn't all that original given the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean over the last few years, but I'm still quite proud of myself. The best part? I found some parrot fabric and made a little stuffed parrot that velcroes to the shoulder of the costume. Kendry's favorite part? His sword - obviously because he can stick it in his mouth.

We also carved our family pumpkin a few nights before Halloween. Unfortunately, mommy forgot to leave Kendry's binky with him at daycare that day, so he refused to take his morning nap. Thus, we had a very fussy baby who did not have much patience for pumpkin carving, photos, or mommy and daddy getting their kicks by sticking the pumpkin stem on his cute little head.

Fall

I love fall - the colors, the smells, the cooler air... And I think I truly appreciate it more than most because I grew up in Alaska where the fall season barely even exists. Seriously, the summers in Alaska are great, but it starts getting rainy in August and by October its snowing. And once the snow sticks, well...you know the rest of the story. Here we have a REAL fall season that lasts all the way through...well, Thanksgiving anyway, at which point all my fall decor is put away, regardless of the weather, so I can make the most of the Christmas season.

One thing I never had growing up in Alaska was a pumpkin patch to visit in the fall, so naturally I am determined to make that a part of Kendry's childhood memories. Okay, I know Kendry is not even six months old yet and probably won't actually recall the fall of 2009, but that is beside the point. So when our friends Josey and Jen visited with their kiddos two weeks ago I had already located a harvest festival, complete with pumpkin patch, for us to visit. What I had not planned on was the weather getting incredibly cold that week - cold as in waking up to 25 degree temperatures. Maybe I can't call myself an Alaskan anymore for complaining about 25 degrees, but since just two weeks before that it was still in the 90s here, you can imagine our struggle to get acclimated. However, we were undeterred by the cold temperatures and drove the thirty minutes up the Lewiston Grade to visit the harvest festival, where we promptly FROZE OUR LITTLE TUSHIES OFF!

Of course, we stuck it out long enough to pay the $12 to get each of our families into the festival, then another $8 or so for a tiny concession-style lunch. But we didn't buy anything from the vendors, and you can bet we weren't going to trek the 1/4 mile out to the pumpkin patch to select (and pay more money for) a pumpkin, let alone hang around and take pictures of Kendry freezing amongst the pumpkins. In about an hour we were back in the warm car and headed back home. Mission unaccomplished.

Now, as most wives know, after lugging your husband to a dud of a harvest festival once, chances are he won't be too great a sport about finding another one to attend, especially if it costs more money. Of course, little did I know that the real pumpkin patch to go to in this area is only ten minutes from our front door. So, rather than putting us all through another bad patch experience, I caved and resorted to Wal-Mart because, let's face it, you can't beat two beautiful giant pumpkins at just $2 each. This last weekend we brought home our commercial pumpkins and did Kendry's very first "pumpkin patch" photo shoot. I think it looks authentic, don't you?

What can happen in a year...

It is with great joy that we remember back to a year ago, when we first received confirmation that we were finally pregnant!

"For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him."
1 Samuel 1:27

Kendry's very first photo (as a tiny embryo):Kendry's second photo (7 weeks gestation):

Kendry on his birthday (5/8/09):
Our precious boy today (4 months old on 9/8/09):

What a miracle God had done in our lives this year! We are blessed beyond measure!

My Chefs

For Justin's first Father's Day this last June I gave him two aprons - one for him and a matching one for Kendry. I was quite proud of my gift for many reasons:

First of all, I had purchased the fabric to make Justin an apron well over a year ago and it had just been sitting in my sewing stuff, waiting to be used. Don't ask me how I got so busy that I put off making it for over a year. Seriously, there is no way I was any busier last year than I am now that we have Kendry. Your busyness perspective certainly changes after having a baby, doesn't it?

Secondly, I needed to be really creative with my gift since when Father's Day rolled around I was actually unemployed, hence I really had no spending money for a gift but still needed to come up with something clever. It was his very first Father's Day after all!

Thirdly, Justin loves to cook, so an apron is a great tool for him. You as the reader should already know this if you know anything about Justin or have read some of my previous blog posts.

Which brings me to reason four, which I will admit is a bit of a selfish reason. You see, Justin loves to wipe his hands on anything available when he cooks, meaning that he might go through a few kitchen towels and washclothes by the time he has the meal prepared. This is fine for him, but since laundry is my household duty I really needed to find a better solution. As I've said before, Justin is the main chef in our family. If you figure about four dirty towels/washclothes per meal, times 4 meals each week....well, thats laundry that piles up pretty quickly. In my opinion, towels are for drying stuff off, not cleaning them off! So, an apron was our solution. He has something he can wipe his hands off on, and my towels/washclothes should stay cleaner (I hope!)

And when Kendry gets a little older he has his own apron to help out in the kitchen. Here is Kendry already helping daddy make homemade pot pies for dinner yesterday:

"Rollin' rollin' rollin'..."

A little over a week ago Kendry rolled over for the first time, and just this week we caught it on camera. I suppose I should use the term "rolled over" a bit loosely because, as you can see, it appears that he is actually tipping over more than he is rolling over. But regardless of how he accomplishes it, our little boy can now move from his belly to his back. He still isn't quite sure what to think about it once he gets there. The sudden rollover of his body seems to startle him more than anything, so we encourage him quickly afterwards to keep him from crying.