Woody Boots

When Nick and I were getting ready to go to Decatur for Thanksgiving, Carter and Callen were playing in our closet/bathroom. Carter says, "Look, Mom, I have on Woody boots!" and this is what I saw:

(PS: I know that I haven't been a regular blogger of late. My apologies. In addition to just plain old life, we have also had computer issues that are now resolved thanks to the App.le technicians. I promise to try to do better!)

Chest Bumps

About a week ago, Carter came up to me and said, "I want to jump up."

I said, "Ok. Jump up."

His reply? "No, Mommy, like this."

He proceeded to hold his arms over his head, his hands in fists, and jump up pushing his chest out.

Me: "You want to do a chest bump?"

C: "Yes."

Me: "Where have you seen that?"

C: "When they play football and they win."

It was so matter-of-fact, I couldn't even laugh. It continually amazes me what they pick up on.

Here are some action shots of the chest bumping.

The approach

the bump

the landing

Fun Birthday Party

Today, we went to the Mc.Wane Center to celebrate HG's birthday. HG is a precious friend from Carter's class at school. He has been excited about her birthday party all weekend. So, after church and a visit from Uncle Steve and Aunt Emily, Carter and I headed out to the party.

HG was VERY excited about her princess cake. I must say, it was very impressive and VERY yummy!

Carter was pretty excited about it too!!! He was lovin' his party hat! He kept taking it off, putting it on and then tried to make it into a unicorn horn.

After the party part was over, we got to enjoy the center at our leisure. I am sad to admit that this was the first time I have been there since we moved back. Although we used to be regulars at the Child.ren's Museum in Indy, I just haven't managed to get my act together enough to get Carter down to the Mc.Wane Center.

His favorite parts were the submarine (which he kept calling a spaceship) in the Kindergarten and under area and the trains.

This is Carter trying to get in the tank with the fish...hilarious!

Practicing being a paleontologist...
Letting a butterfly land on his shoulder!

Thanks, HG, for letting us celebrate your birthday with you! We had a great time! Carter especially loved getting to explore the Mc.Wane Center for the first time with so many of his friends!

Phone Photos

I have been meaning to post these for a while, but they were on my phone, so it has taken me a while to remember to upload them.

The Friday before Halloween, Callen's class had their Halloween party. I got there probably about 5 minutes after it had officially started and this is what I found:

Callen was perfectly content sitting at the table with her friends, eating cheese puffs and a cupcake. When I walked in, she started shoveling her cupcake in double-time...afraid that it was time to go home and that she'd have to leave some behind.

She was so proud of herself! And please take note: she is indeed the only child in the class whose shirt has been removed!!!
Also, later that weekend, we went to a friend's house. Callen had her first experience in the bounce house {much earlier than Carter had his...if you'll recall the fall festival post}, and she LOVED it. At one point, the entire Willis clan were the only ones in the bounce house and we all had a ball!

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween weekend started off Saturday morning with these Halloween treats from Kris.py Kre.me.

Yum. Yum. {nothing like prefacing a weekend full of sugar with chocolate covered doughnuts!}

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to the house of some friends from Carter & Callen's school for a Pig Roast, some football, and a bounce house for the kiddos. It was a nice time, and while I didn't document it with any pictures, Nick managed to bring home a strawberry on his arm from the bounce house!

This afternoon, after Carter and Callen woke up from their naps, we donned costumes and headed out to our block party. My Die.go and lamb were ready to go!

We really enjoyed the block party. Our neighborhood has lots of children, but our particular stretch of street doesn't have that many, so it was nice to get to meet some of the families in the neighborhood. Sadly, though we have been here almost a year, we haven't been able to make it to any of the neighborhood gatherings before now. At the block party, there was face-painting, a treat walk, a bean bag toss game, and lots and lots of food.

Coloring their bags at the block party.

After the block party, it was time to head home to eat dinner and get ready to trick-or-treat. {Carter helped Daddy get Callen home}

When we got back home, Carter & Callen were excited to see that Bamma and Big Pat had come by to see them! We also had Aunt Emily, Uncle Steve, Aunt Stacey & Uncle David come over, too!
Then, it was finally time to trick-or-treat. We probably went to about 8 houses. Carter had the gig down. It was pretty funny, though. I mentioned that there aren't many children on our stretch of our street, and I think we were the only trick-or-treaters most had. They kept encouraging Carter to take LOTS of candy and then he would grab LOTS of candy for Callen's bag. I had to pull him away at two houses! Our neighbors were very kind.

Finally, we made it back to our house to trick or treat, and Aunt Stacey let them pick through our stash of candy.
Of course, they had to inspect their loot!
And...this is about as good as it gets for a family Halloween picture.

We hope you and your family had a happy, safe Halloween!