Tate Farms

Mommy's Little Helper

We had to make another trip to the Dollar Tree because Camden's first Fireman's hat broke.

While we were there, he decided to load up on cleaning supplies

Scrub brushes, Dish Scrubbers, Mini Brooms & Dust pans...

This kid loves to clean! I have NO idea where he gets this from - certainly not from me!

Camden is fascinated with the dishwasher.

He climbed up there all by himself when my back was turned to put away dishes.

Anytime the dishwasher is open he runs over to it and puts his sippy cup in it. He is so helpful!

Cookie Thief on the Loose!

COOKIE THIEF'S MASTER PLAN

Step 1: Head for the pantry when no one is looking.

Step 2: Make sure hoodie is pulled down to hide face.

Step 3: Remove cookie jar lid & reach for cookie!

Step 4: EAT COOKIE!

Step 5: Repeat, cramming as many cookies in mouth as possible, replace lid & make getaway!

Step 6: CAUGHT IN THE ACT! Good thing I'm so darned CUTE!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween! Last year was Camden's 1st Halloween, but he was only 10 weeks old, and Brad was in Israel so Dad & I took Cam to the beach. So we didn't really get to experience Halloween. I was so excited this year for Cam's first real Halloween! We found this Little Devil costume at Party City. Every little devil has to have a pitch fork. You know what that means to Cam- a stick! He loved it!

We were very surprised that Camden wore the headpiece to the costume. He didn't seem to mind at all! He normally takes off hats as quick as you can put them on his head. Later in the night we had taken his headpiece off and he brought it to me and wanted me to put it back on! I think he understand that he was wearing a costume and that was part of it! So cute!

A spooky family portrait. I know it looks like Camden is looking at the flag, but he's not. We have a big talking skeleton on our front door and Cam was fascinated with it.

Nana came over to see Camden in his costume & go to Publix for trick or treating with us. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I like Publix & their staff a lot, so I thought we would try it. All of the employees were dressed up & they had stations around the store where kids could play games for candy. Since Cam was too little for any of the games, he just got candy.

His favorite game (that he made up himself) was to poke the pinatas with his pitchfork. These were pinatas that were for sale, not part of the Halloween festivities. We also did a cake walk where he won a cupcake. I think Daddy helped him eat it. He also got a balloon at Publix, and that was by far his favorite prize of the night.

Camden didn't get a ton of candy from Publix, but he sure did enjoy playing with it. He kept taking it out of his bucket and putting it back in. He carried around this little Dum Dum all night.

Next he discovered our big bowl of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. He kept stealing the candy. It was pretty funny, because he didn't realize it was something to eat, he just thought it was something to play with. Later he started pushing the table around.

I thought it would be fun to coordinate with Camden's costume for trick or treating. So I wore some angel wings & a halo. I took Camden out in the neighborhood while Daddy stayed home and answered the door. I would say that was the case at about 90% of the houses we went to. Our first stop was to our next door neighbors where Camden received a Nestle Crunch. He carried the Nestle Crunch & his Dum Dum the rest of the night. He dropped the pitch fork several times, but he was not letting go of his candy! We just went to a few houses in our immediate vicinity, but Camden really seemed to enjoy it.

Daddy & the Little Devil

Mommy & the Little Devil

Grand Daddy & the Little Devil

Camden has a box of nerds in his mouth. He liked the Nerds the best because they made a fun rattling sound when he shook the box. At one point he apparently chewed the box open and then started shaking it. Nerds went flying all over the den! I think he did it on purpose just so we would get out the swivel sweeper. If his obsession with cleaning supplies continues, I think we will have to dress him up as a janitor next year!

The Cutest Little Devil!

Look who's walking! Finally! He practices all the time now. I'm sure he'll be running circles around my the end of the week!

I'm having trouble uploading my Halloween pictures to blogger right now. I did add them to the Flickr photo stream above. Hopefully I can get them in a post by the end of the day.

Cotton Picking Fun!

We went to Tate Farms on Wednesday. That's our local Pumpkin Farm. Camden was pretty overwhelmed & clingy so we saved the cotton truck for last. Oddly, that was his favorite activity!

I'm sure many of you are wondering about a cotton truck. Well, I can't really explain except to say I live in Alabama, and Cotton is our number 1 crop.

Daddy dumped lots of cotton on Camden's head. He thought that was hilarious!

This was around 5pm & the sun was shining right in his eyes, thus all the squintiness.

Piles & piles of cotton! Yup, this is the closest thing we get to snow in Alabama.

I know it looks like he is licking the truck in this picture, but he really isn't. Cam is doing this new awesome (ha!) thing where he sticks his tongue out all the time. Not like he's sticking his tongue out at you, but like it's just hanging out of his mouth like a dog. Nice, huh? Anyway, I promise he is not licking the rusty wire. 'Cause that would be gross & completely unsanitary, and I would total be able to stop him from licking rusty wire if he decided he wanted to! Aren't all 14 month olds perfectly obedient and immediately stop when you tell them no?

Pumpkins!

Brad & I carved pumpkins last night After Camden went to bed. I spent a long time surfing the web looking for the perfect pattern. I finally found it when I stumbled on a picture of one of the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are. So I printed it out and sat down to trace & carve. It took me half an hour just to transfer the pattern. Then it took me almost 2 hours to carve my pumpkin. It was a lot of hard work, but I think it turned out fantastic! I got the pattern from Pumpkin Glow.

Brad picked out a pattern from a book, but instead of copying it, he decided to free-hand it. Brad is a very good artist, but I think something got lost in the translation. This is after he did some extra carving because at first his pumpkin looked like it had 3 eyes. If you squint really hard, you might can see a face. Or not.