"Give Me Something Good To Eat" Night (Please)

Happy Halloween everyone! Tonight we went trick-or-treating with our friends Yasuko and Yuki. We went to a neighbourhood that had some really cool houses all decked out for Halloween. The kids had a blast going from house to house and there were quite a few "trick-or-treaters" out tonight. We did a lot of houses, more than we planned on doing. The boys got quite the stash of candy. It was past Tyler's bed time by the time we were finished and on the way home he fell asleep in the car. He woke up when we got home and quickly checked out what he got before going to bed. Another Halloween night to add to our book of memories.

Cat Dog

Yesterday Tyler received a parcel in the mail from Aunt Janell, Uncle Wyatt, and Cousin Charlotte. Inside was this hilarious stuffed Cat Dog from the animated series of the same name. Tyler immediately took a liking to it and played with it most of the day. He goes around the apartment saying, "Meow Woof Meow Woof Meow Woof". He also told us that Cat Dog went to the bottom store to find a new bottom. LOL You can't really tell from this photo, but Cat Dog are joined together. Thank you so much Janell, Wyatt, & Charlotte. As you can see Cat Dog has been providing a lot of fun for the Smith Family. LOL

Fall Fest

Today all kinds of super heroes, fairies, princesses, animals, and other creatures gathered together for an annual Fall Fest at Tyler's preschool. I had the pleasure of taking Spider-Man to the celebration. The festivities started with a couple of crafts. The gang first make a Halloween necklace with some colourful beads, then they made a fun spider using a gumball from a tree, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes to finish it off. Then it was time to feed the crowd. There was a good spread of food including cupcakes, fruit, sandwiches, chocolate covered pretzels, cheese and crackers, and Halloween cookies. 

After they had a good munch down, they got together for a Fall Fest group photo with their teachers. Then they were read a Halloween story and played Hot Potato. The fun wasn't over yet though. Upon receiving their treat bags, they joined the other classes for a big parade where they marched down the hallway for all the parents, grandparents, and caregivers to see their great costumes. It was a super great time had by all and a great warm up to our big Halloween night coming up.

F is for Fun Field Trip

The letter 'F' was the focus last week in Tyler's preschool class. They counted fish and tested objects to see if they can float. They also have been discovering fall uses their five senses. The children were also asked to bring in a family photo so they could introduce and talk about the members of their family to the class. The 'F' snack this week was yummy floats. And the big event that took place last Friday was the field trip to the pumpkin patch on the farm. Everyone had such a fun time. Oh and Tyler's teacher also told me last week that he is very smart.

Ice Cream Monster

Steve is doing the voice of the ice cream monster that doesn't want to be eaten. LOL

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved our pumpkins. It had been in the high 80's all day and the night was just beautiful to work on our pumpkins out on the balcony. Tyler had painted his pumpkin green and purple at his friend Casey's birthday party on the weekend. Daddy asked Tyler what he wanted his to look like. He told Daddy exactly what he wanted and Daddy drew it out for him on a piece of paper.

Then while Daddy designed his pumpkin, Tyler and I took out the pumpkin guts and seeds. We saved the seeds to bake and eat later on.

When we finished taking out all the insides and Daddy was finished his design, we then switched pumpkins. Daddy started carving out Tyler's and we worked on hollowing out Daddy's pumpkin.

While Daddy worked on carving his pumpkin, Tyler and I sorted out the pumpkin seeds and prepared them for baking. We added some cinnamon and salt. They turned out super delish! We snacked on them before bedtime.

Steve put the candles in our pumpkin friends. Tyler kept asking us if we thought his pumpkin was scary because he wanted us to be scared. LOL We had a lot of fun doing our pumpkins and they turned out really good.

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Tyler saw these in my closet and asked if they were my shoe pants.

Took this photo today using my iPhone while we were waiting for our car to get new tires.

Fun Farm Field Trip

Today was Tyler's first field trip with his new preschool. We met his class at a farm for a great few hours of awesome fun! When we first arrived and assembled together we all got to go on a hayride. The hayride took us through a field where we saw some horses, ponies and even a few cattle. The girls were so excited to see the horses while the boys were excited to see the cows. LOL It was a fun little ride that lead us to the great pumpkin patch. However before picking out a pumpkin, we all went over to see the foal that was born just 2 weeks ago. She was super adorable! Then the boys discovered the tepees.They had a blast going inside and playing, and just running around them. The pumpkin patch even had a bouncy tent set up right in the middle of it! Tyler and his classmates bounced and bounced until it was time to pick out their very own pumpkin.

Soon it was time to get back on the wagon and head back for some more fun. The kids went back to an area that was filled with all kinds of things for them to explore and climb on. There was a huge boat with a slide, firehouse, Victorian playhouse, wooden train, tractor, monster truck and another bouncy tent. After about an hour or more of climbing and running around, it was time for a little picnic. After a quick bite, the children were back at it again with a visit to the petting zoo. Tyler loved petting the goats and sheep. The kids were having a fantastic time and it's too bad we couldn't stay all day. At least we know now how awesome this farm is to visit and we will definitely will be making plans to visit next year. It was wonderful spending time with his class and getting to know his little friends he talks about each day. It was also nice hanging out with the other moms. When I asked Tyler what his favourite part of the visit was his reply was climbing on the monster truck.

Food & Friends

Today Tyler and I were invited over to my friend, Yasuko's house where she taught Rhia and I how to make rice balls. Rice balls are considered the soul food of Japan. This was the first time we tried them and they were super yummy!!! Traditionally you make them with a triangle shape, but it can be kind of difficult to master. The first one I made turned out pretty good, but then I decided to just go with making a ball shape instead which was much easier. We made them using Spam, shrimp, rice seasoning, and seaweed wrap. I sooo can't wait to make some more!!!!

Green Eggs & Ham

Last week, Tyler and his classmates learned about the letter 'E' and the number 5. They made green eggs and ham too! Tyler won at a game of Bingo. It was also picture day! Tyler looked super cute all dressed up for his class photo. So can't wait to see how they turned out.

There's a meeting going on about some big construction job.

Crazy Cache

While Steve was away on his deployment our geocaching had slowed down considerably, however now that he is back we are slowly getting back into the swing of things. This past weekend we decided to get out and find a few. One of the caches we found was really fun and different from the ordinary and I thought I would share it with you. First of all, it was a multi-cache which means you are given a coordinate to locate a container, which contains more coordinates to the final cache container with the log to sign. When we found the second container, we were surprised to find nothing but a note and rope with dots inside the container. The note said we had to wrap the rope around the pill bottle container. When doing so, the coordinates appeared written on the rope.It was very cool!
So now we had the coordinates for the final cache site. When we arrived and after some searching, we found a stick with rope wrapped around it and tied to something in a tree. The thing in the tree turned out to be a cache container. For sure we thought we had found the cache. Wrong! When we opened it up, there was another note inside saying that this was not the cache but a trick and that we had to keep looking. After about 15 mins of looking, something occurred to me that perhaps that there was something more to that stick with the rope wrapped around it. Sure enough, when we unwrapped the rope, there was the cache hiding inside. It was a very cool cache. We like these tricky ones. They are fun and they are the ones we will always remember.

This guy wanted to go for a ride in the cart while we were out shopping today.

Then he talked us into buying him.

Now he is making is making himself at home. We named him Bonaparte. I think he'll fit in just fine here, though he looks like he could use a good home-cooked meal. LOL

Hot Wheels

We finally fixed up the bike Mark and Angie gave us for Tyler. All it needed was new inner tubes. So this morning Steve installed them. When I went out to see if they were done, I couldn't believe my eyes. Here was my little boy riding along on his bike. He looked so grown up, yet I couldn't get over how cute his little legs and feet looked peddling away. He reminded me of that movie where the Muppets are riding bikes. Sooo cute!!! After a little spin around the area, we had lunch and then packed the car up to go to the park for some more practice. Despite having a few little tip overs, he did really good and the best of all is that he absolutely loves riding his bike. 

Learning to Read

Look who read us a book tonight. Tyler made a book at preschool today and we've been practicing reading it. He's been doing pretty good considering since he is new at it. We've been reading to him ever since he was a newborn, so it's pretty exciting to hear him read to us.

D is Done and so is 4.

Last week Tyler's class had another busy week. While learning the letter 'D' and the number 4, they also learned all about dinosaurs and dimes. They also made doughnuts. The fire department was also in for a visit to talk about fire prevention. Tyler's teachers also worked with the children on the important task of calling 911 in case of an emergency. The students also learned about primary colours and what colours create new ones. And instead of finding their names to sign in, the kids were required to print their names.The beautiful flowers on the table are from Kara's wedding.

Caught "Black" Handed

So today during our play date with our friends, Tyler came up to me and said that he and his "bro", Georgie, found some "fireballs". Then I notice some black stuff smeared over his face, and then we notice his hands were pitch black. Georgie comes by and his hands are the same. Turns out they discovered a grill and decided to play in it. Luckily it wasn't hot. Oh my, these guys are definitely double trouble when they get together, but they sure do have fun. LOL

So Very Handsome

Tyler strikes a pose for us.

American History Museum

When we woke up the next day we got ready and went down the street for breakfast. Then we checked out of our hotel and picked up our car. After about 30 minutes of driving around looking for parking, we ended up driving back close to the hotel and parking there, then we walked to the American History Museum. As mentioned in the previous post, Tyler and I have been to this museum but Steve hasn't. Though the time Tyler and I went it was just prior to closing time so we didn't get to see all the exhibits. This time we had all the time in the world and we took our time. We really enjoyed the history. This is definitely a fun place to visit. The dress below was worn by Carol Burnett on the Carol Burnett show during the Gone With the Wind skit. Afterward we toured the museum we were back in the car on our way home after a great weekend in D.C. 

Kara & Ned's Wedding

Friday afternoon when Steve got home from work we got in the car and made our way to the nation's capitol. Steve's cousin, Kara, was getting married and we were delighted that we were invited to the wedding. Traffic was a little heavy and what was normally a 3 hour drive, took 4 hours instead. Though it really didn't matter to us, Kara is one of our favourite people and we would have driven anywhere to share in her special day. Saturday morning before the wedding we had some time to get some breakfast and decided to walk down to Chinatown. Then we came back and got ready to go the wedding.

The ceremony took place in a quaint little chapel on campus. The bride looked absolutely stunning. She picked pretty fall colours for the flowers and decorations. After the beautiful ceremony, we headed over to the reception. Again, everything was to perfection. The weather was just right as well. We shared a table with Steve's aunts and uncle. They were a lot of fun. Both Steve and I agreed that it was by far the best wedding we had ever attended. We are so happy for Kara and Ned and we truly wish them eternal happiness and love.

When we got back to the hotel we changed into more comfy clothes and walked downtown. We planned on going to the American History Museum, however it was closed by the time we got there. So instead we checked out the Navy Memorial since it's been awhile and Tyler really wanted to see it. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a cute restaurant called Ollie's Trolley which dated back to the 1930's. It had some really cool stuff inside.We ate outside on the sidewalk as it was still really warm out. Then we went back to the hotel and it was time to settle in for the night. Overall it was an awesome day! Thank you so much Kara and Ned for sharing your special day with us.

Oh Rats...Show & Tell

This week in Tyler's class they are having Show&Tell. Each month they will have Show & Tell with certain themes to follow, however this month is free choice. Anyway, after class Tyler would excitedly tell me all about what the Show & Tell items his classmates brought in. Most of the kids seemed to be bringing in their favourite stuffed animals to talk about, so I thought Tyler would naturally bring in Winnie. Nope this was not the case for Tyler. Instead of a nice cute cuddly bear, he decides to bring in the plastic rats we bought him at the Halloween store during the past weekend. Today was Tyler's Show & Tell day. When I picked him up after school, he said he got to sit in the teacher's chair and tell his classmates all about his rats. He also said the teacher asked the class if they saw a real rat, would they be so willing to pet it. All the children said "No way!", however Tyler said he would and bring it home, feed it cheese, and look after it until it dies. His words exactly. LOL Should be interesting to see what he chooses next month.

C is for Class

Even though Tyler's class had a couple days cancelled last week due to flooding, they still managed to get a few projects done. They learned all about the letter "C" and the number 3. They also did some reading readiness preparation.

When I Grow Up...

Well, he went from wanting to be a cow when he grows up to being a mailman, to now wanting to be a race car driver. At first, he wanted lots and lots of milk and he thought if he could be a cow this would be a sure thing. Then when Daddy was in Iraq, one of his favourite things would be to receive a parcel in the mail from him. So, being a mailman was his dream job. Now he is saying that being a mailman would be boring, so instead he wants to be a race car driver. Tyler wants to drive a red race car with not one, but two engines. He also wants the car to have a lot of words written on the side, just like a real race car. Whatever profession he decides on, his mommy and daddy are going to be so proud of him. Love you so very much, Tyler xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Dropped In for a Visit

Steve Pretending to Blow Out His Candles...LOL

Happy Birthday, Steve!!!

Today we celebrated Steve's birthday! And because it was his special day we asked him what he wanted to spend the day doing. He really wanted just a family day with the three of us and he suggested we geocaching. We haven't geocached much in our new area since we moved here, so there was a lot to choose from. The weather was absolutely perfect for the outdoors and we had so much fun grabbing all kinds of local caches. Just after spending a few hours on the caching trail, we managed to find a total of 19 caches! Then after our caching was completed, we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for Steve's birthday dinner. Each year I ask him what he wants for his special dinner and this year he decided on roast pork.

Tyler and I made a chocolate cake and I decorated yesterday. So, after our delicious birthday dinner we surprised Steve with the cake. Then after cake and ice cream, we gave Steve his gift and the cards we made him. Overall, it was a wonderful day spent with just the three of us. We don't get many birthdays were we are all together since Steve goes on deployments, so these are extra special times for us. We are very thankful that we can be together.