November = Awesomeness

That's right... I just LOVE November! It's officially the holiday season and I'm embracing it with open arms. I about flipped when grocery stores started selling Halloween decorations and now that Christmas decorations are on the shelves I'm absolutely giddy for upcoming time with family.

First, here's a Halloween recap:

Our apartment complex held a pumpkin carving competition and I was stoked that most of the residents went all out! Hefty prizes were at stake so I searched google high and low to find the perfect idea for a family of three.

We carved our pumpkins with the Muehlmanns almost a whole week before the competition (because I was awesome and mixed the dates up) so I was worried our bomb artwork would rot before it could be appreciated by the judges. Alas! I discovered a priceless new trick and found that it worked perfectly for preserving pumpkins: Soak them! Seriously. Spencer's pumpkin had already started shriveling pretty badly by the second day so by soaking them overnight in a sink full of water our pumpkins re-hydrated and looked as good as new up until Halloween night! It even saved all the shrivelly parts.

So after much mental deliberation, I found the perfect pumpkin designs. I hope Spencer didn't have anything particular in mind for his pumpkin because I literally told him, "You're doing this!" Here's how they turned out:

Here's a picture that our manager took for the actual contest:

At first I wanted Colton's little pumpkin to be Yoshi but I couldn't find a picture to make it work from... so he ended up being our little 1up! It was a lot of fun. The Muehlmanns are a lot more ambitious about their pumpkin carving - here's what they came up with:

Mike's is on the left. It's a three-headed dog that I've dubbed "Fluffy" because it looks like the dog in Harry Potter that guards the Chamber of Secrets. Kara's is on the right. It's the headless horseman - I wish you could see his head better because it was awesome.

Sadly, neither of us won but we still had a blast participating. I love how enthusiastic the Huntington residents are about decorating for the holidays. It makes me love October/November/December even more! Just because they were so dope-show, I'm posting pictures of the winning pumpkins. My gears are already turning to see how I can be more competitive next year:

The Steve Jobs pumpkin took first place. Someone had one heck of a small pumpkin saw for this one...

This was my personal favorite. You can't see it very well but chunks of the inside of the pumpkin were carved out in the shape of french fries. Seriously. Pure Awesome.

I can't even handle the cuteness that is "Porcupine pumpkin." How clever can people be?!

And as if Madelyn, who took my sister's wedding photos, wasn't talented enough, she can carve amazing-sauce pumpkins, too!

I didn't feel so bad about losing after seeing what the winners looked like :)

For the ward Halloween party, Spencer and I forgot about costumes until about 30 minutes before the shindig started. We were still debating what to dress Colton up as: a giraffe? a baked potato? a monk (because he's got the perfect mullet for it)? Spencer realized at the last minute that we both still had the costumes we wore to the movie premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. (Dorks? Yes, we are. Proud? Yes, we are.) Here we are over two years ago dressed up as Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom:

Notice how Neville's pet toad, Trevor, is on his shoulder? Well... before Colton was born DeRue bought him a fluorescent green onesie that looks like a frog eating a fly. We decided that he could be our little Trevor. Plus, we lost the plastic frog...

I'm a little sad you can't see the tongue hanging out of the frog's mouth in this picture but you get the point. Looking at these two pictures back to back makes me realize that I haven't seen the sun for over a year. Wowza. Anways... time hasn't been super kind to ME but at least I have a super cute baby to show for it.

So yeah... October was SUPER fun! November's looking up, too. Spencer's family is coming down for Thanksgiving and I am PSYCHED for family fun and lots of food. Thanksgiving will be a little different for me this year... I'm completely off of dairy, nuts, and some vegetables due to the little man and his tendency to get an upset stomach (yay for breastfeeding!). Sooo... it'll be interesting to see how I navigate around all the goodies. Bring it on.

What about December, you ask? Well... Spencer, Colt and I are flying out to Washington D.C. to spend the holidays with my ENTIRE family. Yep! ALL of them. I've already started making lists of things I need to bring. I'm a little nervous about traveling on my own with a three month old... all you moms with flight experience need to give me some pointers when you get the chance.

Now to Colton:

He's basically the coolest toy ever. Spencer and I LOVE playing with this little boy... and I know I'd get a lot more done if I'd just let myself walk away from his cute face every once in a while.

Colton LOVES to smile:

He loves to stick his tongue out:

He loves to stare at things (and people) with his HUGE eyes:

Okay... seriously now. Look at my boy's eyes. They're ginormous.

Sometimes he likes to smile, AND stick his tongue out, AND stare:

He loves to giggle:

He was playing with Spencer in the mirror. Every time he'd start to laugh he'd bury his head in Spencer's neck and smile. I must have taken 10 pictures and I never got a SINGLE one where I caught him smiling before he turned his head. Darn. Just trust me, it's cute.

But don't make him smile or laugh TOO much or he gets a little overstimulated:

He likes to eat. So in turn, he LOVES to spit up. All over Spencer and me:

And because he eats SOOOO much... he also does this a lot:

For those of you who haven't changed the diapers of a baby who doesn't eat solid food yet, yes... they poo yellow. And they poo yellow all over the place. May I suggest putting your child in dark colored clothing? My abundant supply of resolve, laundry detergent, and heavy duty bleach are a testament to that.

But my FAVORITE thing about Colton is the fact that he looks so much like his dad:

My boys look dang good in argyle. Going to church with these two is easy on the eyes. :)

We love you all! 'Til next time...