No Time to Turn Around

I heard the phrase "no time to turn around" yesterday from Scott's mom, and I thought it was very applicable to this past week.  It was a fun week, but a really, really busy one!

After dinner on Tuesday night, we decided to carve our pumpkins.  Ava, of course, wanted to pick out the most complicated design.  We settled on a few mid-range ones, with a standard Scott "creative one" to round out the bunch.  This year's bonus carving said "FREE BEER."  When I came outside this morning, I noticed that pumpkin was gone...apparently it's a free lunch to some animal, too.  On the other hand, my follow-the-directions pumpkin won the contest at our little party last week - hooray!

Doesn't Ava look innocent? Ha!

Scott's deranged squirrel (it's supposed to be a cat, and he went off-pattern...)

Here's my content winner...!

And then when that day was over, we woke up and had a one year old son to celebrate!  G turned one this past Wednesday...it was fun to think about how far we have come in one year.  Things were so crazy for us that the time flew by this past year...

"I'm ONE!"

Normal messy face after dinner...

 

What is this delightful little treat?!

 

Sooo messy, but he loved it!
Note to self: remove shirt before giving a child a cupcake

Thursday night I needed to leave work a little early so I could pick up Ava from her after-school club.  Scott took G up for his one-year check-up with the doctor.  He's shot up on the percentile charts...50% for weight, and 83% for height.  Awesome, G!  We have one healthy little boy!

And then Friday was Halloween, of course!  Ava "the mermaid" and I headed over to a neighbor's house for dinner, and then to head out to beg for candy.  We noticed that trick-or-treating started really early, but then ends super early, too.  Around 7:30pm, we seemed to be the last ones roaming the neighborhood.  Ava and Fletch got tired, and they both just wanted to head back home.  Ava got to the point where she would tell people "no, thank you" when they tried to give her candy.  When she's done, she's done!

G "the dragon" had stopped over for a few minutes with Grandma Deb, but he was a little cranky so they headed home to hang out with Daddy while he handed out candy.  Scott had a nice bonfire going, and had made some turkey dumpling soup for the neighbors when they would stop over.  Yum!

After we were done trick-or-treating, our neighbors hosted a party at their house.  Most of the kids headed downstairs to their movie area to watch Hotel Transylvania, while the dads sampled beer from the bar, and the moms snacked and chatted away.  Ava made it until midnight...I think I was more exhausted than she was!

Some of my favorite memories of Halloween 2014:

1. It was a really chilly night, so everyone was dressed warmly.  Fletch had on at least three layers, hat, mittens, etc...but when we walked outside, he looked at us and said "I don't have any shoes on!"  As Emily said, "parenting fail!"  But a hilarious one!
2. We each took a coffee mug out with us while walking with the kids.  Other parents noted that it was a great idea.  We didn't have coffee in there.  It was wine, and it was delicious.
3. At one point during the party, Ava made her way back upstairs.  I noticed that her shirt was missing (from underneath her costume) and she had a tattoo.  I had to ask Emily what the heck was happening in their basement!

Grandma Deb with the kiddos!

My pretty mermaid

My angry dragon

Super cute costume...too bad he didn't want to have his picture taken!

Ava was keeping G on the couch, no matter what!

Saturday was even more busy, as we had a bunch of housework to do in the morning.  I then dropped off the kids at Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey's house, and headed to the far side of the cities for a co-worker's wedding.  It was a great night, and we wish them many years of wedded bliss!

Carey, Em and Dee

Sunday morning was an anomaly...we gained an hour, and there weren't any kids around to wake us up early.  We both were up and moving by about 7am...but we were able to go out to breakfast and go grocery shopping, without any young kids slowing us down.  It was great!

After that we headed over to Scott's grandma's house and picked up his Chevy Biscayne.  It stalled once while driving it in town, and then it started to lose power on the highway back to Rosemount.  We did end up needing to call a tow, but it's now tucked away in the storage unit for the winter, so that's a relief.

Good thing we made it home, though, because we had a birthday party to get ready for!  Ava's 1st birthday was a little more extravagant than G's...although he had streamers for decor, and she didn't. :)  What a lucky guy!  Haha!

Waiting to open gifts...

G decided opening gifts wasn't everything that he had hoped for!

New hat from Great-Aunt Steph!

The ball/monkey thing was a big hit from Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey!  Both kids loved it.

G took a few sideways, shuffly steps...pretty happy that so many people were there to see it.  He's cheering himself on in this pic!

More cake!

Note to self: good job on removing the onesie!

Who was the messier one?  G (top pic) or Ava (2nd pic)?

After a really great dinner, cake event, and gift opening, everyone went home, and all kids/hubby were in bed by 8pm.  I was so exhausted from my previous six days that I thoroughly enjoyed the mindless task of assembling some of G's toys.  And when I went to bed, I slept very hard!

So, Happy 1st Birthday to G, and Happy Halloween to all!  This witch is pooped and is heading to bed!