Pumpkins, A Boy Who Turned 3, Disneyland, 6 Months Home & Halloween!

Wow! Is this year flying or what!?! I can't believe that October has come and gone and that as of October 20th we have a 3 year old!!! And as of October 28th we have been a family of 4 for 6 months!!! As a family we were busy this month, as a mommy, teacher and part time "photographer" I didn't have time to BREATH this past month! Every single weekend we had something going on. Every. Single. One. Weddings, photoshoots, the pumpkin patch, quick trip to Disneyland, birthday party, and Halloween- whew what a month! I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm just going run down all of these things- I feel as if I'm not giving enough significance to each of these events, but if Idon't do this all in one post, they are never going to be seen... So here goes nothing!

Pumpkin Patch 2010:

Mid October I did a pumpkin patch photoshoot day as Allen's Uncle Jim has a small pumpkin patch and lets me use it whenever I need to! :) Of course we brought our kiddo's to the patch for some fun and photos. Also our good friends brought their 3 boys to the patch and I had one other family that found me through facebook and they brought their adorable daughter out for photos. I didn't advertise too much (only on fb and only for about 5 days) so I didn't expect much for this 1st year- next year I think I will have a better turn out! Calen and KatieJoy had a blast out in the patch- they both LOVE the outdoors and poor little KatieJoy desires so badly to keep up with big brother - she tried so hard to keep up after him and our friend's oldest 2 boys! The weather was overcast and just perfect that afternoon so I was super pleased with how the photos from the day turned out and of course loved the dirt-filled bath tub that night! ;-)

Calen's 3rd Birthday:

On the 20th Calen turned 3 years old! Where oh where did the past 3 years go? I can't believe that my 1st child is already 3 years old- next year he'll be 4 and in preschool!!! YIKES!!! We had a small dinner with an ice cream cake for him on his actual birthday and then had his party the day before Halloween with his first bounce house that he (& KatieJoy) had so much fun in! He really got the concept of the fact that he was no longer 2 but was now 3! He also totally understood that the party and presents were for him and that it was his day to celebrate- so fun to watch those concepts be understood as he'd hold out 2 fingers and say "I'm no longer this many, but now this many" while holding out 3 fingers! Such a little smarty-pants. :) Calen just amazes us with his language skills and congnitive skills daily! He is super social and beyond his years in many MANY ways, yet he has his things that he holds to that show his true age- like the fact that he is UBER scared of Monster's, Inc and freaks out at the sight of Sully; he doesn't really like the dark and still prefers to sleep in our bed if he's allowed to; fights VERY age appropriately with his little sister ;-) and he also still loves to be held when he's in a cuddley mood. In fact, the day that he no longer wants to be cuddled will be a day that I think a piece of my heart will die- LOL! I think I still have a few years though before that happens. Calen is still all boy- he LOVES anything to do with the movies Cars and Toy Story and talks non stop about racing which would make you think that he loves fast rides at Disneyland, but that is NOT true! He's still a bit of a scaredy cat at the unknown... He's loving, stubborn and all around adorable through both of those traits. I just can't believe he's 3!!!!

Mickey's Halloween Party- Disneyland

The weekend after Calen's actual birthday we headed as a family (plus my very adorable pregnant sister) to Disneyland to dress up as a family and hang out with our dear friends, Eric & Dolores and her sister Gina and their niece, Lexi. It was our first time trying out this event at Disneyland and it was FANTASTIC! We are very much looking forward to going to this event each year now! I talked Allen into dressing up as a family- I mean, come on!, how many years are the kids going to like dressing up with us? So we went to Disneyland as characters from Peter Pan- Calen was the BEST Peter Pan ever, KatieJoy was a super cute Tinkerbell, I dressed up as Smee, my sister was Tiger Lily and Allen, bless his heart, dressed up as Captain Hook- HAIR and all! We had so much fun that night- many of Disney's cast members commented on our coodinating outfits and once we met up with our friend's we had the biggest blast! Somehow, our kids made it to closing that night and didn't fall asleep until after 1:30 am!!! How I will never know!

The next day we hung out at the Disneyland Resort- it was crowded but we still managed to have fun just hanging out and walking around. We do disneyland so often that we never feel like we have to push to do everything- if we miss something we can just do it the next time we're there... it's super nice to feel that relaxed about our trip as it makes for a much smoother trip. The ride home... let's just say that after the GrapeVine KatieJoy had enough of the carseat and decided to cry, no more like scream, all the way home- it was NOT pretty! Oh well- she'll get used to the drive someday, right?

6 months as a family of 4?!?

Yep, you read that right! As of the 28th of October we have had custody of our sweet girl for 6 whole months! I'm not sure where the past 6 months have gone- I'm so much busier with 2 kids! We are well on our way to finalization with KatieJoy as we had our final post placement meeting with our awesome social worker on the 18th! We are hoping to finalize on my birthday in December and while I know I already long to have a couple more kiddos, we probably won't be back in process for at least a year or 2 unless we get a sudden sibling call. This is slightly unfortunate as we know that there is a HUGE need for families for boys in Korea right now- but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will call us to adopt again when He is good and ready. (however, if any of you want more info about adopting from Korea PLEASE let me know! HUGE need for families this very moment to step into the process!)

KatieJoy has really turned a corner in just the past month... we see her smiling a TON more and without being prompted, we get a LOT of hugs and kisses and she laughs so often that I know she's in a bad mood if I don't hear laughter! She is getting so big and beautiful, with the most adorable smile and gorgeous CURLY hair- why God chose to give me a child with curly hair is beyond me- what in the world do I do with curly hair?!? I must admit though- KatieJoy is the perfect fit for us- she is the most stubborn baby girl I've ever met with the BIGGEST temper when she doesn't get her way (which is often!) but she is also the sweetest, most tender-hearted child too. She loves her big brother and us so much- she is fierce in her love and shows us she loves us in many ways... I can't believe that it wasn't even a year ago yet (not until nov 6!) that I knew about her and longed to hold her. I am simply amazed at what can happen within a year and am so completely in love with my family & with what God has blessed me to care for...

Halloween

This year, we had quite a few opportunities for the kids to dress up: Disneyland, our church's Harvest Fest (which was friday night) and then Calen's bday party which was Saturday. With all the dressing up beforehand and halloween being on a sunday this year, we opted out of trick or treating on sunday! However, we still had lots of Halloween fun between all our activities and we also carved a pumpkin yesterday evening to light for the night! Calen LOVES Halloween- he loves pumpkins and all the festive other things that go into halloween- I think it's because he knows it's his birthday when the pumpkins come out, but I could be wrong... he might just love the holiday's like his mama! ;-) Calen has developed a love for Peter Pan and each time he got to wear his costume he was so stoked- it is now just for dress up but I think he'll still enjoy wearing it- it's a good thing too, that way I get my money's worth! KatieJoy also likes to dress up in girly tutu's so her Tinkerbell costume was perfect this year! YAY... now, what do I do next year to top this year's family theme off?!? Ideas?!?

Well- if you made it to the end of this long post I'm AMAZED!!! and thank you as always for being interested in our family's little adventures! :)

Love you all!

~mandy~