Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Chaplin Pumpkin Patch. Rob was such a good sport in wearing his home made pumpkin attire. Poor Ellery looks pathetic in her picture. She has a cold and watery eyes. She stayed home with Grandma Ellen and never made it into her chicken costume. If you look closely at Mason's shirt you will notice the puckered sleeves. I found the shirt in the boys section and looked at the size and never noticed it was a girl shirt. One would think I would have noticed it when I was tying the rubber bands on it, dying it, or drawing the faces on it, but I didn't notice until I put it on him and saw the puckered sleeves and the tailored fitting. We didn't make him wear it long. He was a good sport in it. I have to comment on the picture of Ellery and Mason together on the rock. She sits up beautifully on her own but she isn't so steady after she receives a giant bear hug from her brother and then a shove. Right after this picture she rolled off the rock and into the hosta next to her. She didn't bump anything or hurt anything, it just scared her. Once I knew she was ok I made sure Rob wasn't videoing. He said he wish he would have been because that was a classic push/fall. Lucky for me it wasn't captured it proved I was standing further than I should have from her and my reflexes aren't as quick as I believe them to be.

Last Round at the Pumpkin Patch

Lucky for everyone this will be the last post related to the pumpkin patch.  Grandma Ellen was in town for a visit and we took her to the pumpkin patch.  She didn't even see half of it, but Mason had a great time as usual.  They all watched the pig races and Grandma Ellen tried buying Mason a pig nose and he refused.  They also went on a train ride and jumped on the giant orange jump a roos.  We did make strides in the pony riding arena.  We watch the pony rides every time but we don't go any further.  This time Mason was brave enough to sit on top of the pony but only for a few seconds.  It has only taken multiple trips for him to warm up to the ponies so maybe by next year he will actually ride them.  

Googlie Eyed Spiders

Mason and I made googlie eyed spiders for Halloween treats.  We took them to his school, the gym, and to our neighbors.  Mason had a great time helping make them and really enjoyed the googlie eyes.  I never knew he liked suckers until we made these.  A few spider bodies were donated to Mason due to the fact that I found him in the kitchen with the open bag ripping off the wrappers and sucking on them.  

Trick or Treat

We took Mason trick or treating and he had a wonderful time.  He would say trick or treat between each house but never at the door.  We also found that he loves suckers.  If a sucker was in the candy dish in front of him he went for it every time.  I also need to learn which candies contain peanuts better for next year.  It doesn't really matter since he doesn't eat candy and Rob and I will be the ones eating it this year, but it does put a new spin on the day.  I didn't think about how his peanut allergy would affect his trick or treating.  We gave Mason a choice each time we went out or to a party if he wanted to be a monkey or a pirate and the monkey won every time.  I tried to put the pirate costume on for a photo opportunity and Mason refused.  

Booooo

This ghost isn't a scary ghost. I don't foresee her scaring anyone with her vibrant eyes and magnificent smiles. 

I want to see Monkeys

I asked Mason if he wanted to go to the pumpkin patch or the zoo today and he picked the zoo.  I was impressed he picked the zoo over pumpkins, but he does love the monkeys.  First stop at the zoo is always gorilla valley.  They also have a mongoose exhibit in gorilla valley that Mason enjoys watching. They zip around the cage nonstop so it is a lot of action for Mason to watch.   Every time we go to the zoo we see something new or different, I think it is because it is so big and spread out.  We went out for a long walk and looked at the elephants, rhinos, sea lions, and then stopped to feed the fish at the covered bridge.  We ended the trip with a walk through the jungle.  Mason was a bit scared to go through the covered areas of the jungle.  I think it is our fault, the pumpkin patch has haunted houses and covered areas that Mason wasn't that thrilled to walk through and I think he was associating the two together.  Once we got through one and he got a high five for his victory he was excited to go through the others.  

Pumpkin Patch Round ?

We went to the pumpkin patch again. Mason requests it almost everyday. Other than it being extremely windy we had a great time. Wind gusts were up to 45 mph and had a bit of a chill to them. We did take a hay rack ride out to the pumpkin patch and Mason was thrilled to watch the tractor pulling us along with all of the orange pumpkins.
Mason had a great time climbing on the pumpkins.

Ellery happy like always. She lets us drag her anywhere and always with a smile.

8 Months Ellery

Ellery is now 8 months old. She is still a tiny peanut but remains happy as can be. She is a mover and a shaker. Her current favorite playing place in the kitchen drawers. We have pull out drawers and she likes to pull up on the lowest drawer when I leave the doors open and feel around and play with items. I am tempted to clear the food out of the drawer and put some toys in it for her. She has a homing device for it. She also likes to play in the water dish in the laundry room and pull herself up onto Hudson's food and water dish in the kitchen. If you turn around for less than a minute you are bound to find her in one of these areas. She pulls up to a stand but sometimes cries for you when she is done because she is scared to lower herself down. Depends upon where she pulls up.
She is talking more and more, she loves to babble. She has the mamamas and babababas down but not the dadadas. She eats anything we put in front of her and is taking sips out of a cup here and there. She has only one tooth, her bottom right and we think she is working on another one but not any physical signs we can see yet. She loves it when we read books and is starting to turn the pages herself. She also loves the mirror and will lean her head into the mirror as if she is giving herself a kiss. She also loves to lean into your face. Rob started leaning into her face and she will place her face up to yours and give little kisses now, it is adorable.

Halloween Festival

Our gym had a Halloween Festival that we attended today. Mason was in heaven, they had fun games to play, jump a roos, pumpkin painting, a cookie walk, clowns, and much much more. Ellery was excited to be involved in the action as well. She was also doted over by all of the girls from the gyms child care center. They tell me she is their favorite and they think she is an urban myth baby because they never see her cry. I assured them she wasn't an urban myth we are just blessed with a happy baby most of the time.

Tired Mason

Mason likes to play around before he puts himself down for his nap. Most of the time he will go to sleep in his bed, but I have been finding him in interesting places. He played for almost an hour before I heard silence today and when I went to check on him I found him asleep in his chair. I guess reading books is exhausting for Mason. His new favorite book of the week is Go Dog Go. I think I had to read it 15 times the other day before I could talk him into a different book.

Stairs

If you asked Mason what he did today he will tell you he fell down the stairs and did a flip. We were getting ready to leave for the Children's Museum and was upstairs playing and coming down for his shoes. I think he was a little excited to go to the museum and came down the stairs a bit too fast. I heard the crash and rushed around the corner to see him going head over heels down. Nothing was hurt but his pride. We ended up having a great time at the museum and one would never know he fell down the stairs except he tells you.
This is also our second fall in the past few weeks. He was sitting at the top of the stairs and dropped his beloved stuffed animal and when he went to reach for it he fell forward and I caught him by his ankle before he went down the rest of the stairs. Thank goodness they are carpeted.

Peas in a Pod

Mason now enjoys crawling into the crib with Ellery. We will be playing and he with either state "I go wake up Ellery" or he gets excited when he hears her and states "Ellery is awake, I go get her" too cute. Sometimes he will look at me and then hold up a finger to me and say "I'll be right back" as he takes off to get her. He also refers to her as his baby sister. When people ask him who she is he says "my baby sister".

School Projects

Mason brings home art work and painted pictures from school. He really enjoys it. He currently is a hat wearing fool. He will play around the house in his Dr. Hat, Police Hat, and his Fireman Hat not pictured. Way to cute. He also points at his art work and says "I made it, look mom". He is a very proud artist!

What's Up

Mason greeted me the other morning with a "what's up". I thought it was cute and funny and was curios where he picked up this saying. He also greeted Ellery when she woke up, a neighbor riding her bike down the street, his favorite stuffed animal, and the dog with a "what's up". I have tried to capture it on video but I have been unsuccessful. I did however conclude my investigation where he got the saying. Rob called me on the phone and his first question he asked me was "what's up".

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch again today. It was a warmer day in the high 60's and wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. We had a good time and Mason was thrilled. He requests to go to the pumpkin patch a lot. He has a lot of fun running around while Ellery and I follow him in the stroller. A goat had escaped and Mason enjoyed following it around and petting it while I followed Mason with the hand sanitizer. I am not a germ a phobe, but I find farm animals really dirty and I become a germ a phobe then. It doesn't make any sense I let him touch elevator buttons, and we apply the 5 second rule to things that fall on the floor here at home even though we have dog and cat dander everywhere, but farm animals get me. He also is thrilled with school buses. He used to take his little people school bus to bed with him but he has stopped doing that and just requests it be in the room with him. He does light up when he sees them on the street. It was a really slow day and they have two gigantic orange jump a roos. The video is from another visit, but this time it was quiet so I took Ellery up on it and wanted to give you a visual of what we did. We had it all to our self until another group of moms joined us with their 1 year olds. Ellery was thrilled and Mason was happy that we joined him since he face planted a few times on our previous visit and wasn't that excited to be on it until we joined in.

Shhhh Sleeping Babies

Mason has been testing his limits at nap time. I let him ride it
out the other day and when I finally heard silence I went to check on him and he was out cold on the floor. I didn't move him in fear I would wake him up.
They both sleep like champions and nothing is more precious than a picture of a sleeping baby.

Happy 96th Birthday Great Grandma Gray

My great grandma turned 96 this weekend and we threw her a birthday party. It was a lot of fun gathering up family we hadn't seen in a few years and celebrating her birthday. I wish everyone with her genes. Her mind and body are still sharp. We didn't place 96 candles on her cake, but I was tempted to do that. How many people can say they have thrown a 96 year old birthday party? I bought the cake at Sam's and they give you number candles so when the lady asked me what numbers did I need I said a 9 and a 6 and she said as in "96" and I said that is correct. She said they don't get a lot of requests for that combo and to wish my great grandma a Happy Birthday from them. I think Mason is anxious to attend her next birthday party. Once the cake came out he sat in the chair next to his great great grandma on his best behavior and wasn't going to move until he ate some of her cake. It made me feel bad for skipping his 2 year old birthday and not getting him a cake. In my defense we were moving on that day.

Mmmmmm Syrup

Mason has found a new love in syrup. He is also requesting a glob of syrup on his plate so he can dip his waffles into it himself. I have switched him over to pure maple syrup, I realize it is full of sugars as well, but at least high fructose corn syrup isn't the first ingredient.

Stickers

We have found Mason has another obsession-stickers. I still think the butt paste would win over stickers but he had a great time sticking the stickers all over himself. He did try to place a few on Ellery, but I put the kabosh on that. Everyday is a new adventure with him. He didn't want me placing any stickers on him, he wanted total control of placement.

Daddy's Home

Rob got back late last night and Mason was calling for daddy at 5:30 this morning and not me. Our precious Mason is wonderful in a lot of ways but sleeping in is not one of them. I would even consider 7am as sleeping in these days. A mom can dream. Needless to say, after our early rise at the butt crack of dawn we all had a good snuggle up on our new leather couch.

Pump it Up

Monkey see Monkey do. For anyone not familiar with breast pump equipment Mason will teach you how to turn it on and where everything goes.

Ever Changing Art

While Rob was in Boston I painted the front sitting room/toy room and kitchen. I wanted to add some color to some rooms and I accomplished my goal. It is a bit more difficult to paint with children around, but it made even more rewarding to complete it. I painted the kitchen a color called green tea leaves and the front sitting room/toy room paprika. I bought some open back frames and hung them up and then added a button clip so I can clip in Mason's art work and change it without having to take the frame down. Mason is very proud of the wall and I am very pleased with it as well. He came home from school the other day with an owl art project and we took down the blue painting and replaced it with our owl. I realize nothing is in the middle frame, silly me only bought four button clips rather than five. I also was going to buy exotic frames and paint them from GoodWill until I looked at the prices. They were very proud of their frames and were asking $14.99 for an 9x14. Needless to say it gave me the excuse I needed to hit Hobby Lobby.

I can stand

I have caught Ellery pulling up to a stand on a few items: stairs, coffee table, toy piano, step stools, and the sit and spin. She has taken a few tumbles off the sit and spin because it spins where you sit. Some of the tumbles are because Mason feels an intense desire to play with anything that Ellery is touching. He also has regressed on his ability to share. If he is playing with trucks or trains and Ellery starts coming for one to play with he scoops them all up into a pile and then lays ontop of them and informs her "NO TOUCH". It it quite a site to see.

Scary Car Wash

I filled my car up with gas today and decided I should buy a car wash for 2 reasons, the car needed it and I used to love car washes as a child and I wanted Mason to experience it. I had two options, the touchless or the soft brush. The soft brush is what I grew up with so I pulled in and told Mason what to expect and what was going on. I either didn't explain it enough or my child is scared of car washes. He wailed the whole time, I traumatized him and since he was screaming and crying Ellery decided she should join in as well. So my fun time at the car wash wasn't so much fun.

Pre-Happy Halloween

If I ever wonder why my children have complexes remind me to look at this video. I just couldn't resist myself and Rob is in Boston so we had some pre Halloween fun. Mason wasn't too thrilled to wear his monkey costume at first. It brought him to tears and kept saying "take off". I didn't listen and continued to dress Ellery in her costume. She is wearing a recycled costume that Mason wore, so give it a few years and then we can see her as a monkey. After Mason saw Ellery in her chicken outfit he warmed up to his outfit and then got really excited when he discovered he had a tail. I think Rob should dress up as a zookeeper and tame a monkey while I will go as a farmer with my chicken.

Rob to Boston

Rob went to Boston for the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) meeting. I went 5 years ago with him and had a fabulous time but since we have two little ones we thought it would be best if we stayed behind this time. He sent me an email with the attached picture. I can't believe he did this willingly. This is usually something I have to beg him to do so I can get a good chuckle. I guess after 7 years of marraige I am rubbing off on him. Not to mention I did get a great chuckle out of it.

Can't Keep me Out

Every night we do the bedtime routine and we are now joined by Ellery in the bathroom. Mason's room has a pocket door going into the bathroom. Mason knocks on the door every night and we walk around through the other door and we ask who is it and Mason replies "Mason". We then use the bathroom and brush our teeth. I am not a fan of Ellery crawling around the bathroom and we have the catfood and water in Mason's bathroom that she likes to play with. The other day we opened the pocket door and let Mason in and then shut it up and Ellery started to cry, but not for long. She is smart enough to crawl to the other door into the hallway and then into the bathroom. I was impressed by with her critical thinking skills along with her perseverance. Kids minds amaze me.

Praying Mantis

We debated in the Chaplin household if we should keep our praying mantis as a pet through the winter. I would have agreed to keep him, but the odor it omits along with uneaten bug remains was too much for me. Rob tried to convince me that he would take care of clean up duty, but I didn't fall for it. Not to mention buying bugs through the winter is a bit extreme. Mason and I had fun going and catching grasshoppers to feed him, but buying them is another thing. We let the praying mantis go and we feared we had domesticated him because he didn't take off into the wild when we released him. He stayed in the same area for 24 hours and then vanished into the wilderness. Every time we go outside and play Mason goes looking for the praying mantis and says "I go get em".

Bathtime

Mason and Ellery love taking baths together. I never had the handy seat Ellery is sitting in for Mason but I think it is great. It allows me to take my hands off her and help Mason and not worry if she were to topple over and it also gives her freedom to splish and splash. Mason is still our little fish, he still floats on his back and plays in the water. He also has discovered how the empty bath tub is like a slippery slide. When I take Ellery out of the water I start draining the tub and let Mason continue to play. He likes it when the water is all the way down so he can slip and slide around on his tummy and bottom.

Happy Anniversary 7 Years

Rob and I celebrated our 7th anniversary today. I can't believe it has only been 7 years and then on the other hand it feels like yesterday. We didn't do a lot to celebrate and kept it low key this year. In the past we have always celebrated with the traditional gifts and this year we opted out on copper and wool. I knitted Rob a wool hat in the past and he finds it too warm to wear so that blew other wool options out of the water and I am not sure what we needed that would be copper. So we agreed on new leather furniture as our anniversary gift and it does have some beading on it so we are calling it copper so it fits our traditional celebrating flare. Rob did surprise me with a bouquet of flowers (gerber daisies, roses, and lillies) all my favs. It was very sweet and romantic. Wish us luck this year, statistics show that the hardest years of marriage are 3 and 7.

Kids for Sale

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!!!!
We went shopping the other day and I had both kids with me so Mason was in the seated cart portion and Ellery was in her car seat in the basket. We were at the check out stand and I placed Ellery where you put your groceries while I placed my cart contents next to her. The lady in front of me asked if she was a blue light special and was tempted to buy her. Also, Mason still requests to take naps. We were late going down for a nap the other day and he informed me that he was ready for his nap and continued to walk up stairs. I will have to stop telling such wonderful stories about my kids or someone might take me up on this offer.

Pumpkin Patch

We found a wonderful pumpkin patch more like a mini amusement park. It is called Vala's Pumpkin Patch. http://www.valaspumpkinpatch.com/

We had a great time and didn't even get to do all it had to offer. A few things we did do were rubber ducky races, play on pumpkins, watch a dragon show, eat cookies while watching pig races, play on tractors, take a train ride, jump on huge orange trampolines, take a family peddle cart ride, walk through haunted houses, play on an old school bus, eat cupcakes, walk through a petting zoo and fed camels and cows, and jump into hay. They also have a Nebraska football corn maze that we are planning on going back and playing in. Needless to say we had a great time .

Pulling Up

Ellery has been pulling up onto things non stop. I haven't seen her go to a full stand, but if it is a few inches off the floor she pulls herself up and starts pounding on it like a drum and talking. She's a non stop kid. I think she is strong enough to pull up to a stand, but I think she slips on the hardwood floors.

I found her and Mason in the pantry this morning and Mason was pumping soap out of a soap dispenser to his hands and getting it all over her while she was playing with potatoes. I asked what are you doing and he says "I need some soap". Ellery didn't mind she probably more than likely followed Mason to destination pantry.

She also likes to put anything and everything in her mouth. A speck of dirt could have been sitting next to Mason and he hardly ever picked it up and if he did it rarely went in his mouth. Ellery on the other hand puts everything in her mouth. I do a mouth check every time I put her down in fear of what I might find. To date I have found: leaves, band aid, waffle, and toast. All things Mason has left laying around.

Lucky #2

We gave Lucky #1 away to Mason's daycare before we moved and just got around to getting him another beta fish. Mason was delighted to pick him out and kept asking for the blue one. We did view a few different blue ones before we settled on Lucky #2 and Mason let me know he wanted him by saying "I want dis one" I let him carry the fish around the store hoping he wouldn't go belly up before we got him home while Mason beamed with proud parent joy. He did request to hold the fish in the car and I was strong on that one and gave him a big fat NO.
It seems that Mason's favorite color is blue. His newest obsessions are singing Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald along with farm animals.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Mason has an obsession with watching and helping me change Ellery's diaper and I don't realize what I say until my mimic calls me out on it. I must say ewwww when I change her #2 diapers and I also must give a range of Ellery uckied or uckied big time. So now every time I change her diaper rather it be a #1 or #2, Mason gives an "Ewwwww Ellery uckied big time" I didn't want to capture a diaper change on video but Mason and I were playing around the other day and I was teasing him that daddy's shoes smell and then he let out an "ewwwww". If you watch close in the video you will see him lean forward a bit and give a sniff, I think it is a good chuckle. For the record Rob's shoes don't smell.

I'm Flying

Mason has started to pretend to fly. He leans a bit forward, pulls his arms back and up into the air and then takes off running. We aren't sure where he came up with this one, but it brings a smile to my face. We let him run around Uncle Tom's and Aunt Laurie's in a diaper pretending to fly. He does it spontaneous and upon request.
He also has an obsession with doing things fast and slow. I need to capture it on video and share but the funniest one is doing his ABC's. He will sing them fast and then slow and also request you partake in the fun of singing it fast and slow. He also will swing Ellery in her swing very fast (thank goodness it has a buckle) and also really slow. He has mastered the concept very well.