Ugh..family pictures....

I need to work on this one....but I love his face!

He got so sad...because we put his hat on him.  Punk!

Can I just say that I dread the day we set to take family pictures...it is so hard to get five people all looking and smiling in the same direction.  BUT---we now have Adobe PhotoShop and can use the handy dandy  little feature that allows you to combine elements of different pictures.  LOVE IT!   Now I just have to find more time to edit more pictures (not all of the ones I uploaded are edited---I was too busy working on our Christmas card).

Zoo Boo

We went to Zoo Boo at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore on Halloween weekend.  They only do it the weekend of Halloween...which I thought was a bit short, but once we got there I understood why it was only for a few days!  They go all out!  There were inflatable trains, bounce houses, pumpkin patches, mazes, simple games, a gem polishing station, trick or treat stations, all kinds of vendors with anything from cupcakes to entire meals, magicians, etc.  It was great.  My parents were in town for Halloween weekend which made it an even better time!  I am ashamed to admit that I didn't take as many pictures as I had hoped to take while there...or during trick or treat.  In my defense---I was trying to corral three kids at Zoo Boo among thousands of other kids and for trick or treating I was on my own for a bit until Matt showed up later after Kyler's last baseball game (who has baseball games on Halloween???).  Kyler was the bad guy from Scream until his mask got too much moisture from his breathing, Elise was a Japanese princess, and Cooper was riding a dinosaur.  I have slowly been sneaking candy to work to use as incentives for some students...there is SO MUCH...and we only let the kids trick or treat for about an hour and threw out anything questionable.  Cooper would go up and say "tricksa treat", the nice person would tell him how cute he was (and he really was!), they would put candy in his bag, he would reach for more, and they would let him despite my protests telling me "Oh, he's okay.  How can you say no to him?"...so that little dinosaur ridin' cutie pie ended up with the most candy I think.  If he saw a sucker in their bowl he was all over it.  He loves himself a good sucker...and calls them "pops".

Anyone willing to venture a guess at how many pumpkins Cooper threw before I could get to him...while trying to not step on any of the tiny pumpkins in the hay??

Cooper's First Ride in a Cop Car...

and it better be his last.  :)

I could have just titled this "Truck Touch", but that wouldn't have been as much fun, right??  He didn't actually ride in a Police Car, but he did sit in the driver seat and turn on sirens.  Everyone had a great time at the Truck Touch...even the big kids.  We were there when the helicopter came in for it's landing which was pretty cool for the kids to see.  There were clowns with balloon sculptures, all kinds of vehicles, giveaways...heck, they even provided lunch for everyone.  Hot dog, apple, chips/pretzels, granola bars, and water.  I thought it was pretty darn cool.

Everyone waiting for their turn to get balloon animals/sculptures.

Two of my main men...but what is up with Cooper's goofy smile...?

My tired boy...this was also right around the time he was getting sick.  

Waiting in the SUPER LONG line for the helicopter.  It amazed me how long parents would let their kids hang out in it with such a long line....

Haha....I thought this was hilarious.  He wouldn't stop point or trying to touch the Orioles bird long enough to smile for a picture.  I guess 4/5 isn't bad..?

Brothers

He really liked the Police Car!

Getting a lift from Daddy

Shiloh and Tigger...

or if you are me...Shiloh and Miller.  I can't seem to call him Tigger...I forget it all the time and end up calling him Miller.  Weird.
Shiloh is the Siamese and Tigger is the other cute guy.  We rescued them from the local SPCA.  They came in as a pair, and could only leave as a pair.  They are both very different personalities, but awesome cats.  My husband and I often call them "dogs" because they have very canine personalities and mannerisms.  The kids are doing a great job of taking care of the cats, and we only have to remind them every so often.  Most important to me....they are both SO, SO tolerant of Cooper.  Seriously, he could carry them around by their heads and they just stay put until he stops (or we catch him) and then they will carefully dislodge themselves and go into a room where he can't get to them.  Tigger is Cooper's watch dog...if Cooper starts crying about something---Tigger high tails it to where he is to check on him.  It's cute.

Pumpkin Carving!

This is the first time that Cooper has taken part in carving pumpkins! He wasn't so sure at first, but then he was all about joining in with this holiday tradition.  Can you believe that we carved 5 pumpkins...??  And I didn't get a picture of any of them once we were finished??  Ooops.  We did end up cleaning, drying, and roasting the pumpkin seeds later that night.  We had cinnamon & sugar pumpkin seeds as well as with some Old Bay seasoning and a touch of sea salt.  It was yummy!

Crockpot Cooking Linky Party

Well, since it is fall....all I can think of is apples and I'm hunting for new (and easy) recipes that include apples.  My family loves apple crisp, but that can take a while sometimes. This one was listed as a breakfast food, but I bet it would be yummy with some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert, too!   Be sure to head over, and check out the other recipes if you're a busy momma (or daddy) and love your crock pot as much as I do.  I found this yummy recipe in a magazine (I apologize--I can't remember where)  recently:

Breakfast Apple Cobbler
4 medium-sized apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups granola cereal

Spray inside of crockpot with nonstick spray. Place apples in slow cooker and mix in remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 2-3 hours. 

Yield -  4 servings.