Trunk or Treat #2

I mentioned before that we always to to my parents' ward Trunk or Treat, so that was #1, but Shauna is the only one who took pictures there and she's in California for the week. So, those pictures will come later.

I've actually been forgetting my camera everywhere I go lately. So, part of waiting to post this stuff is just because I'm at the mercy of those who are much better at remembering theirs to send me the pics!

Luckily, my friend Kelly is generous AND prompt. She sent me the pics from our own ward Trunk or Treat- which was last night- to me this morning. It turned out great. A friend in the ward decided that we really needed to have an event this year, and she was great at pulling it together. It's Fall Break for the schools around here, so a lot of people are out of town, but we had a great turnout! My trunk is a mess, plus I just have a little sedan, so we joined in on Kelly's car and handed out our candy there. She did a great job decorating, as did a lot of people in the ward. I was amazed at the theming! I didn't even dress up. Such a slacker. Anyway, here are just a couple of pics of C in his costume. I think he liked giving out the candy more than getting his own! Weird kid : P Here he is with Kelly's son Kaiden giving candy out of Kelly's car. Kaiden's a bit older than C, but they like to hang out together. C always likes older kids.

He especially loved to give out the eyeballs!

He loves the "big tummy" on his costume. We looked at lots of them, but he was determined to be "a monkey WITH a banana"!

Anyway, we had lots of fun. I think Christopher is good on the candy front, but we will be going Trick or Treating in my parents' neighborhood anyway. You just have to! Plus, he LOVES wearing that costume! After this we picked up Joel from work and went to dinner at Costa Vida (I have been eating there way too much lately.....), and we had to bribe him to take the costume off before we went in the restaurant!

Autumn, new business, Halloween

I haven't posted in a few days, mostly because our computer got infected again and it seems kind of hopeless that we'll get it back at all. I don't know why this keeps happening! I'm just praying my brother can save most of my pictures. We already lost most of the ones we had from the first couple of years of C's life. Which all makes me even more grateful for this blog! Anyway, my mom gave me a laptop so I could at least check email and I thought I should post, even if I can't put up pics yet.

I opened for business last week and it was great. A little bit of stress over baby-sitting, but mostly it went as planned. My first client and her husband brought sparkling cider and flowers, and gave me an official "first dollar", it was really thoughtful of them. I'll post some pics of the salon when I get the new computer. I turned out great.

I've decided I love Fall in Colorado and will really miss it if we move away. But there are so few days that are really Autumn! We're already talking about snow and I definitely will NOT miss that!

We went to our first Halloween party this past weekend. We always crash my parents' ward Trunk or Treat so we can see old friends. C was thrilled to wear his "monkey with a banana" costume, and of course, he was adorable. Our ward is actually having one this year too, so we'll go to that on Wednesday. I should have pics from both; and of course, Halloween, soon.

I had a fun weekend I will also be posting pics from soon. We've been very busy lately! I really function better that way. Throwing myself into my new business and attending more of he social church stuff lately has been really good for me. I think I did OK after everything happened this summer, but I did get a little angry for a little longer than I would have liked, and I sort of felt lost and frustrated. Luckily, there has been an increase in new, younger couples and families in our ward lately and I've gotten to meet new people and I love it.

Lots more to come in the next couple of days!

C and his pumpkin....

It's been a tradition since we've lived here to take pics of C out in front of our building in the Fall when the leaves are changing and all over our landscaping. Since we didn't get any pictures of his pumpkin yesterday, I convinced him to take it down and pose for me a little bit. He picked a pumkpin based on it being "little-big, like me!"
I know this looks a lot like one of the shots from last year, but he really is watching leaves fall this time! I didn't have assistants to throw them over him. Plus, they were all wet!
Always in motion....
twirlingShowing off his pumpkin

......more pumpkin pics

C wasn't quite tall enough, but he loved this one
Terrifying Dracula!
I think this is supposed to be the one-eyed-purple-people eater, but I didn't see a horn....
The one picture I got of actual pumpkins!
These butterflies were all over just this one type of flower. And you could walk right up to them and they didn't care at all! I think there are 3 in this pic.

"Pumpkin Patch"

Yesterday we went to Nick's Garden Center (the Pumpkin Patch, to Christopher), where they have a Fall Fest. We did it a couple of years ago with our church playgroup, and decided to go back this year. It was Joel's day off, so it was even better since he could come along. They have a great little setup, and it's all free. Christopher loved it. He was really excited to go pick out his "big little pumpkin." Of course, not-so-smart mom forgot to take pictures of that part! But I got some great ones of him having fun. There will be another post of pics, since I can never narrow it down enough! C finding his way through the Hay Maze
In the bouncing castle
With Daddy waiting to go on the hayride
The cute little tractor that pulls the hayride
We found out C is just over 3 ft tall! He was thrilled cuz he's obsessed with the number 3 right now.

Momma's Boy

Not the best pic of either of us, but we took it together and C loves it. My mother still calls him a Momma's Boy and says he's too attached to me, but recently I've realized that mostly he's just in a phase where he wants to have more control than he does. I know I posted about him saying he hates me and Joel. And now he more frequently says to me "I don't love you anymore, get a boy at the new boy store" in a sad little voice. He know it hurts me, I just can't hide it, I've tried. But mostly he only says these things when I'm making him do something against his will. Mostly right now it's things with scheduling. He wants to have control over where we go, and when. Most days wherever we leave for in the morning, he'll say "I don't want to go there!" but when we get to that destination, after a few minutes, he's fine. Then when we go to leave that place, he doesn't want to go wherever we're going next! It's mostly just frustrating because it takes us longer to get around, he puts up quite the fight!

So, it's the same thing if I leave him somewhere. He just wasn't ready to be away from me. But just as often as he cries when I leave him at my parents', later when I walk through the door, he immediately puts a hand up and says "No! I don't want to go home with you!" So, I just can't win!

I've also noticed that he uses the momma's boy thing to his advantage. When we try to put him to bed, and he says "I just want to cuddle you, mommy," I can not resist. He knows this, so he'll use it to stay up a few more minutes talking with me. Little manipulating devil. If only he weren't so darn cute!

And finally....."a day in the life of me at the ballpark"

This is 3/4 of (usually) the Command Center staff. We always have Wally and I, barring emergency surgery, having a baby, or other reasons to miss on either of our parts. I do the maintenance, engineering, stadium ops, and other random calls; Wally is in charge of security checks, opening gates, atms, and other random calls. Then we always have a member of the Denver Police Department. Shown here is Detective Holly K. She does more than half the games. Then we also have a Denver Paramedic. They've gotten more and more random, the one there at this game took this pic for us. Don't we look happy?? : P During the DNC and playoff and World Series games last year, we also had a member of the FBI in there with us. Fun times.
This is before the game. My view looking towards most of the CC. The paramedic sitting there is Tim. Before the game, one of the bike medics sits with us to dispatch any batting practice assaults. Their dispatcher doesn't get there until later. Just this year the bikes got these nifty neon, reflective shirts, mostly because of the DNC. They love them SOOOOO much. lol : P.
This is my view of the ballpark from my seat. In fact, I think I scooted over to the left a bitto take this pic, because usually I can't see much more than first base. I watch most of the game on TV. As you can see, the more people standing on the concourse, the less we can see. Our view is blocked most of the time during games.

more "A day in the life of C at the ballpark"

Then they head over to the interactives area, where he plays Tball. I think his swing and follow-through were better when he was 1 1/2!
C as (I think) Jeff Francis.
Then they'll head almost halfway around the ballpark to the playground. Joel hardly gets to watch the games anymore because C will insist on going back and forth between Tball and the playground. Occasionally stopping in the 3rd inning to see Dinger. I don't know why Joel complains so much about it. It's not like the Rockies were worth watching much this year anyway : P
Not sure what this is supposed to be. A Rockies milk truck? I just like the pic of C.
More sliding. He really loves slides. Except at McDonald's, because he's too short for the equipment to get up to them, but he still insists on going there and making me eat that disgusting food......sorry, little off-subject......

As promised....

My boys in the Command Center with me. They usually come in and see me as soon as they get in the gates, 2 hours before game time. Sometimes they take the Mallride to 16th street first and bring me back a Jamba Juice : ). When they get in the park, the Rox are usually having batting practice. Matt Holliday has almost hit them walking across the back pavilion concourse twice! If only he could do that more during games....
C sitting on the counter next to me, in front of the security camera monitor.
Detective Holly giving C a Junior Officer sticker. He's gotten several of course....